Tre Wisner gets the RB1 totem in win over Texas A&M

Tre Wisner gets the RB1 totem in win over Texas A&M

For all of Steve Sarkisian’s reputation as a quarterback whisperer, his style of play is based on the ground game.

In his first two seasons on the Forty Acres, it was Doak Walker Award winners Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson. Last year, Jonathon Brooks was a second-round NFL Draft selection. But a month ago, Sarkisian still didn’t know who would take over for Texas. Former five-star and presumed starter CJ Baxter was out for the season in fall camp, as was prized freshman Christian Clark.

The 2024 season will be the first since Sarkisian became head coach in 2009 that he will finish without a 1,000-yard rusher. In Saturday night’s 17-7 win over Texas A&M, Sarkisian found the answer to the running back he had been looking for all season: DeSoto Eagles graduate Tre Wisner.

Wisner totaled more carries (33) on Saturday than he received in the first four games combined, rushing for 186 yards against a Texas A&M front that boasts two potential first-round NFL draft picks in Nic Scourton and Shemar Stewart was. He began fall camp as a third-string running back and finished the regular season as a bell cow. In the last two games combined, Wisner carried the ball 59 times for 344 yards.

His emergence comes at the perfect time for a Texas offense that has scored 30 points just twice in the last month and a half. The Longhorns’ offense was reduced to screen passes to replace the running game, and because teams were not afraid of ground attacks, they were able to launch exotic blitzes.

But quarterback Quinn Ewers, who entered Saturday’s game completing just 32.1% of his passes beyond 10 yards, hit Matthew Golden on a 44-yard pass, in part because Texas A&M had to respect the run.

With Wisner as the de facto RB1, the Texas offense has an identity again heading into the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff.

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