Right Choice: Texas running backs follow Tashard Choice's lead to find ground success

NEW ORLEANS — When the Texas running backs gathered for the first time this past offseason, Tashard Choice wrote a big question mark on the whiteboard in the position group's meeting room.

"I told them all, you guys are the question mark," the Longhorns' running backs coach recalled while speaking at UT's Sugar Bowl media day at the Superdome on Saturday.

Bijan Robinson wasn't walking through that door. Neither was Roschon Johnson. So, who among the running backs was going to step up this season?

It turns out that a few players could have raised their hands.

Jonathon Brooks was a Doak Walker Award contender until a knee injury in November ended his season. Freshman CJ Baxter stepped up after the injury and had a big game at Iowa State. Sophomore Jaydon Blue then ran for 121 yards against Texas Tech. Senior Keilan Robinson has rushed for three touchdowns and scored on a 95-yard kickoff return over UT's last two games.

As a unit, Texas is averaging 189.1 rushing yards per game. That ranks 23rd nationally. With Bijan Robinson leading the way, Texas averaged 188.2 rushing yards over last season's 13 games.

"Honestly the things that we've accomplished as a unit was no surprise to anybody in our room at all," Keilan Robinson said. "We heard a lot of noise and all that kind of stuff. We were like, 'Just wait.' We're going to show you all just what we can do. It's no surprise to any of us that we've been producing the way that we've been producing, but it just feels good to finally get that little bit of recognition that we have been getting."

For Texas, it's not just about one running back

When talking about the running backs, Baxter described the unit as a close but competitive group because "we all know we're very good in our own way." Baxter said Brooks and Robinson are the veterans who provided the younger running backs with a blueprint. He said that freshman Tre Wisner provides energy, and that walk-on Ky Woods is the glue of the room.

And what does Baxter add?

"I think with me being a freshman, of course, I like to learn from the other guys," Baxter said. "I think I bring to the room just my work ethic. I'm going to be there every day, I'm going to be myself."

How about you, Blue?

"I think I bring a lot of things," Blue said. "I'm a back that can catch, block. I'm very explosive, so I pride myself on being a versatile back."

When asked why the Texas rushing attack hasn't been slowed after Brooks tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a 29-26 win at TCU on Nov. 11, Robinson praised the way the players practiced. He also credited Choice.

Tashard Choice is making an impact for Texas

A former NFL running back, Choice is in his second year at Texas. Before he was hired to replace Stan Drayton as UT's running backs coach in December 2021, he had worked on the staffs at Georgia Tech and North Texas.

"I think I can speak for many people on the team and everyone in the running back room: He's probably one of the best coaches I've had in a while just in terms of his relationship with us and then the way that he pushes us as a coach," Brooks said. "He brings a lot of energy to the team and he makes the best of us come out with the way he pushes us."

To get a feel for the way that Choice coaches, take a look back at the Big 12 championship game on Dec. 2. After Baxter scored on a 10-yard run in the second quarter of a 49-21 win over Oklahoma State, TV cameras caught Choice coaching Baxter on the sideline instead of celebrating. Nearly a month later, Baxter said that Choice was talking to him about a run that he had messed up earlier in the seven-play drive.

"He's always found a way to coach me and get me to improve, which I love about him," Baxter said. "I don't want to get patted on the back every second of the game."

While developing his coaching style, Choice said he has borrowed from his mentors and former coaches. Names like Gary Brown, Skip Peete, Tyrone Wheatley, Curtis Modkins and Eric Bieniemy.

"One thing that I learned is you never stop coaching," Choice said. "Even when it's success, good or bad, you're always coaching them. Great players want to be coached. They strive for it, it's like an obsession."

Continued Choice: "When a coach told me something, it wasn't 'Coach, why you say that to me?' It was 'Well, why is he saying that to me?' To get me better. And I try to teach them the difference between the player and the person. The player can never do anything right. I told Bijan Robinson that. I said No. 5, you can't do a damn thing right on his football field. I said but as a (person), I love you more than anything and he understood the difference. So when I'm coaching them on the football field, I'm not talking to Bijan, I'm talking to No. 5. And then when he comes into my office, I take the No. 5 off when I'm talking to Bijan Robinson. I taught my players that.

"So now when they understand that, they understand the coaching. 'So, Coach is going to always coach me, he's trying to get me better.' Then at the end, when you get an opportunity to go into the NFL, you will thank me later. They get it.

"If I can do that, give them a vision of what I think they could be and if they don't meet my expectation, I'm not happy with it, I'm not satisfied," Choice added. "It's not what you think, it's what I think of you. And I'm going to think more of you than you think of yourself because that's what a coach's supposed to do. He's supposed to give you vision. I learned that from them coaches, man, they taught me a lot. I don't know much, but I do know the great coaches that coached me, and I try to gain something from it."

In Monday's Sugar Bowl, Choice's running backs will go up against a Washington team that ranks 37th in rushing defense. The Huskies are allowing 133.8 rushing yards per game.

In the 2022 Alamo Bowl, Texas failed to establish the run against Washington. With Robinson and Johnson opting out of that bowl game, UT ran 18 times for just 51 yards. Washington recorded a 27-20 win.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas running backs continue to find success under Tashard Choice