Taking a look at Texas's RB room with transfer Velton Gardner

What the rest of the rotation at RB looks like with Gardner transferring in?

It was widely reported last week that Texas was trying out tight end Davis and wide receiver Niblett at running back after the injuries to Baxter and Christian Clark. Davis received snaps in fall practice as a bigger H-back in short-yardage and goal line packages.

Niblett also got some time in practice working at running back in camp in the last couple of weeks. He even got some praise from Sarkisian directly, who said that Niblett was really coming on strong in the last week of practice for the Longhorns.

"As I've said, we have six guys that I feel very comfortable with playing in the game. And I would say coming out of Saturday, I would say seven. Ryan Niblett has really come on here in the last week and a half, and have been very impressed with him, not only offensively but also on special teams. And so that's a credit to him. I told him that today on the field, I was really proud of him because he just continues to work."

- Steve Sarkisian on Ryan Niblett

The speed and experience at receiver and as a returner on special teams that Niblett brought makes him a guy who can get good reps in at multiple positions and on different sides of the ball. His great speed and reliable hands was a good fit to try him out at running back in the emergency situation.

Adding Gardner to the fold gives the offense and defense more consistency and reliance in practice coming from the running back position for a pretty simple reason. It wouldn't be conducive for any defensive player or any other position player on offense, for that matter, if Texas wasn't getting good practice reps from the backfield this fall camp and entering the season in a couple of weeks.

Gardner brings plenty of proven experience from multiple years of running back reps at Kansas and SMU over five seasons. He's rushed for over 1,200 and triple-digit carries during his collegiate career.

It's noteworthy that Gardner has over 150 career carries on zone runs, which is Sarkisian's bread and butter for the ground game blocking schemes. He's had good hands and ball security over his career, with only one drop and no fumbles so he's a good find that Sarkisian and staff targeted as a worthy option from the portal this late in camp.

Projection: Gardner 3-5 carries per game, Davis situational H-back in short-yardage/goal line packages

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