As the distributor of playing time, Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian has had a problem on his hands this season.
During an offseason attempt to revamp its rushing attack, Texas added transfers Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown and signed four-star freshman Derrek Cooper. In years past, a Sarkisian offense has leaned on one running back with a suitable backup - think 2022 Doak Walker Award winner Bijan Robinson along with Roschon Johnson - but the Longhorns were taking a different approach to begin this season: Smothers and Brown split carries while Cooper occasionally factored into the mix.
Brown and Smothers both had 53 carries over UT's first five games, workloads exceeded by at least nine other SEC running backs. While speaking about his backfield two weeks ago, Sarkisian told reporters "it's a little bit of a different world for me that way, where historically we've had kind of one guy with a backup, and now we're trying to incorporate three guys, and they're all very talented players in their own right."
Sometimes, though, problems solve themselves.
With Smothers sidelined and Cooper limited Saturday night, Brown carried the burden in a 34-27 win over No. 7 Ole Miss. He rushed 23 times for 157 yards and was only the second Longhorn to get 20 rushing attempts in a game this season (Smothers had 21 against Ohio State). He also recorded UT's first 100-yard game.
"A great performance," Longhorns center Connor Robertson said. "The guy's a great player. I'm really happy with how he played, really happy with how he's seeing these zone plays."
Did Raleek Brown cement his RB1 status?
Brown set Texas up for a first-quarter score on a nice cutback run that picked up 23 yards and temporarily featured quarterback Arch Manning as an impromptu blocker. In the final frame, Brown broke off a 47-yard run as the Longhorns were driving to break a 24-24 tie.
A heavy workload isn't uncommon for Brown, a 5-foot-9, 193-pound veteran who split the first four years of his college career between USC and Arizona State. He logged at least 20 carries in three different games while earning all-conference honors at Arizona State last year.
"I feel like I get better the longer the game goes and the more I get involved," Brown said. "For most running backs, it's like that."
MORE: How did new Longhorns RB Raleek Brown get that 'Band-Aid' nickname?
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NO. 11 TEXAS VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE
When/where: 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
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With Brown leading the way against Ole Miss, Texas produced 207 rushing yards. The Longhorns also threw for 212 yards. This was the first time this season that Texas had 200 rushing yards and 200 passing yards in the same game.
So will Texas continue to feed Brown in the weeks to come? That remains to be seen. Smothers' status for future games remains uncertain and Sarkisian said Cooper was "banged-up and sick" following a game in which he recorded just one offensive touch. Sophomore Michael Terry III also inserted himself into the conversation after scoring on one of his eight carries against the Rebels.
Now the No. 11 team in the Associated Press poll, Texas (5-2, 2-2) will host Mississippi State (4-3, 2-3) this weekend. Mississippi State has a top-50 defense on the Football Bowl Subdivision level at 124.6 yards per game.
"We're continuing to be a work in progress," Sarkisian said of the run game. "I was proud of (Brown) tonight, knowing he was going to have his number, we were going to have to lean on him."
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This article originally published at After his Ole Miss performance, has Texas football's Raleek Brown earned RB1 status?.