When the top running back in the 2020 class signed his letter of intent with the Texas Longhorns there was plenty of excitement. Texas was able to keep Bijan Robinson away from the Ohio State Buckeyes, Southern California Trojans and the Alabama Crimson Tide. He only ended up taking visits to Texas, OSU and USC.
He was one of the highest touted running backs that signed with the Longhorns. In terms of all-time recruits, he ranked 13th in school history according to 247Sports Composite rankings. Only Jonathan Gray in 2012 ranked higher than Bijan. Easy to say the expectation level for Bijan was through the roof. Especially after you look at the records he set in Arizona. So is Robinson about to take hold of that running back position?
Last week in the wild win over Oklahoma State, Robinson ended up playing the most snaps of any running back. He has started the last two games but split time with Keaontay Ingram and Roschon Johnson. After Ingram’s injury, it was split between Bijan and Roschon, the former played the most snaps. He was in on 47 of 82 possible snaps. That is a play percentage of 57.3%. Johnson was in on 39% of the plays.
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Of the 47 snaps, Bijan touched the ball on 15 plays (32%). Roschon was the target on 28.1% of his opportunities. It is one thing to come in following an injury but when you know you are the guy, it gets a bit different. Johnson has been dealing with a lingering shoulder injury this year. Could be a reason that Robinson is seeing more opportunity. Against the Cowboys defense, Robinson averaged 4.5 yards per carry. With more carries as the weeks go by, it feels like he catching up to the speed of the game.
Robinson still has the fewest carries of the backs and Sam Ehlinger, but has the second-highest yards per carry. It seems that the coaching staff likes to use him between the 20’s. However, when the team approaches the red zone and goal to go situations it is Ingram or Johnson. Given Bijan’s receiving ability, he should get more looks and that may just happen while Keaontay recovers from the high ankle sprain.
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