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Brooks getting some national media love (including Heisman talk) from CBS Sports' Cover 3 Podcast (skip to the 8:24 mark):

 

 

 

 

 

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  • We have been using the RB talk thread and it's time we started a dedicated thread for Jonathon in the football board.  This was leading into the season.  Let's get some highlights

  • South Austin
    South Austin

  • Shit like that is how you know Sark is one of the good ones. 

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There’s usually one player on the Texas squad that I cannot help but root for.  It is most definitely the small town phenom Brooks this season. 
 He is so talented and tough. Thought he played his ass off yesterday in the loss. There are great things in store for him. 


I would liked to have seen Baxter in at the goal line. OU would have bit on that little play action boot fake. Let Quinn stroll in the end zone.

For a fake or to actually run? If run, go watch the play preceding the Whittington jet sweep.

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After losing Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson to the NFL, the Texas Longhorns running game entered the season with a good amount of uncertainty. Steve Sarkisian places a significant emphasis on the run to set up other aspects of his offense, and while Quinn Ewers‘ improvement provided Sarkisian more aerial options, Sark wasn’t going to abandon the ability to punish opponents on the ground.

Since the beginning of the season, Jonathon Brooks‘ efforts have not only erased the uncertainty surrounding the run game, but his efforts have maintained award-winning quality play that in my mind has him as the Longhorns’ midseason offensive MVP and the frontrunner for the Doak Walker Award.

Brooks didn’t begin the season as RB1. CJ Baxter did, but Baxter suffered bumps and bruises versus Rice and Alabama to where Brooks became the bell cow Sarkisian relied on. Old hat for an old Hallettsville Brahma, Brooks has rushed for at least 100 yards in the past four games and is the current leader among Power 5 running backs in rushing yardage with 726 yards. In all of FBS, only Troy’s Kimani Vidal is ahead of Brooks with 835 yards.

Brooks tallied 164 yards versus Wyoming, 106 yards and two touchdowns versus Baylor, a career-high 218 yards and another two touchdowns against Kansas, and 129 yards and a score versus Oklahoma. He couldn’t top 60 yards in either of the first two games versus Rice or Alabama, but he found the end zone versus the Owls on a screen pass for the first score of the Longhorns’ season and was the closer on a memorable final drive in Bryant-Denny Stadium following an outing in which he found the end zone. His 726 yards and six scores have come on 108 carries.

Somehow, Brooks has eluded weekly honors from the Doak Walker Award, who issues national running back of the week accolades. In week one, Colorado’s Dylan Edwards took home the honor. Then in order, North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton, Florida’s Trevor Etienne, Kansas State’s DJ Giddens, Kentucky’s Ray Davis, and Florida State’s Trey Benson have earned the distinction.

Brooks was listed as a candidate for his week three and week five efforts. Though he hasn’t won an award of the weekly variety from the Doak Walker Award yet, he’s the top back in the country right now and my No. 1 candidate for the honor at the end of the year.

Texas has won the Doak Walker Award five times, tied for the most with Wisconsin. Ricky Williams won back-to-back awards in 1997 and 1998. Cedric Benson added the program’s third in 2004. D’Onta Foreman earned the honor in 2016. Robinson earned top back billing in 2022.

Should Brooks take home the program’s sixth Doak Walker, it would be the first time two different players from the same school were named the nation’s top running back in back-to-back seasons.

Right now, in addition to being the Longhorns’ midseason offensive MVP, he’s in prime position to make that a reality.

this would pretty insane considering how bad we were at RB for so long, i still remember trotting our kirk johnson. 

 

hope brooks has a record day on houston next week

9 minutes ago, BigHornedLurker said:

this would pretty insane considering how bad we were at RB for so long, i still remember trotting our kirk johnson. 

2017 was rock bottom for me. Our top rusher at the position was Daniel Young at 373 yards.

21 minutes ago, South Austin said:

2017 was rock bottom for me. Our top rusher at the position was Daniel Young at 373 yards.

There’s a name you pulled from waaaay in the back of my memory bank. Good lord we sucked. 

None of those guys could hold on to the ball, either. Obviously KI was the worst but I remember Daniel Young being bad.

51 minutes ago, South Austin said:

2017 was rock bottom for me. Our top rusher at the position was Daniel Young at 373 yards.

Angry Season 2 GIF by The Office

2 hours ago, BigHornedLurker said:

this would pretty insane considering how bad we were at RB for so long, i still remember trotting our kirk johnson. 

 

hope brooks has a record day on houston next week

The offense is just different this year. The last 10 years everyone’s game plan was to stop the run. Nobody has come out and focused on stopping the run this year. DCs are way more focused on stopping the passing game 

Edited by Codaxx

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Went to the Brooks jersey retirement in Hallettsville tonight.  They did a good halftime tribute, lot of Brooks merch being worn.  Local artist raffled off a custom Brooks helmet he made that’s pretty badass.  

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this would pretty insane considering how bad we were at RB for so long, i still remember trotting our kirk johnson. 
 
hope brooks has a record day on houston next week
Good you remember that, I mostly remember him haunting the sidelines while thinking about what he was going to film for YT the following week.

 

Cross-posting.

 

FYI - ESPN announced their mid-season All-America team.  (Just 1 team - no 2nd team, etc..).  

Look who's on it.

 

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Can’t find a link but I’d love to see every play he’s had this year. 

On 10/13/2023 at 3:16 PM, South Austin said:

2017 was rock bottom for me. Our top rusher at the position was Daniel Young at 373 yards.

 

On 10/13/2023 at 3:38 PM, Texasborn91 said:

There’s a name you pulled from waaaay in the back of my memory bank. Good lord we sucked. 

LOL. I tuned out UT football during Herman's 1st season back in 2017, so I never really saw that trainwreck of an offense. But from watching YouTube highlights over the years, the 2017 UT offense seemed more competent than the Shawn Watson offenses under Coach Strong back in 2014-2015.

LOL. I tuned out UT football during Herman's 1st season back in 2017, so I never really saw that trainwreck of an offense. But from watching YouTube highlights over the years, the 2017 UT offense seemed more competent than the Shawn Watson offenses under Coach Strong back in 2014-2015.

Rock bottom was Texas Bowl with Swoopes playing QB and playing without an offensive line
2 minutes ago, Eskimohorn said:


Rock bottom was Texas Bowl with Swoopes playing QB and playing without an offensive line

I think the past  RB woes are more about shitty OLs and poor QB play, than talent at RB

Edited by Codaxx

All I got - Brooks and Sweat went back to Hallettsville last weekend where they retired his jersey.

On 10/11/2023 at 4:21 PM, LTtxfan said:

After losing Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson to the NFL, the Texas Longhorns running game entered the season with a good amount of uncertainty.

Only if you were a media type who would rather write the easy storyline than do a little research.  We were all pretty damn excited to see what Brooks could do with more carries, and equally excited about the freshman phenom Baxter.  No Longhorn I know thought RB was a position of uncertainty.

6 hours ago, TheMailBox357 said:

But from watching YouTube highlights over the years, the 2017 UT offense seemed more competent than the Shawn Watson offenses under Coach Strong back in 2014-2015.

Here are the numbers (and keep in mind that Shawn Watson was effectively neutered after two games in the 2015 season):

2014:  Points per game - 21.4; total rushing - 1,786; total passing - 2,599

2017:  Points per game - 29.5; total rushing - 1,815; total passing - 3,365

So not a huge spread, but yeah, the offense in Herman's first year was significantly better than Strong's first year.  

But the fan reactions at both of those coaches' first OC hires had similarly level of indignation. 

34 minutes ago, Eskimohorn said:


Rock bottom was Texas Bowl with Swoopes playing QB and playing without an offensive line

I saw the shitshow live and in person.  59 yards total offense.  And then I went to the next game in South Bend, 163 yards total offense.  Thats 222 yards total offense in two games, or the same distance I hit a 4 hybrid. 

57 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

I think the past  RB woes are more about shitty OLs and poor QB play, than talent at RB

Kyle Porter would like a word with you.

54 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

Only if you were a media type who would rather write the easy storyline than do a little research.  We were all pretty damn excited to see what Brooks could do with more carries, and equally excited about the freshman phenom Baxter.  No Longhorn I know thought RB was a position of uncertainty.

I was worried about it because of the OL and because Bijan is a special special back.

the OL has been playin (overall) better than before. Hope it continues to improve.

3 minutes ago, lilMAC25 said:

Kyle Porter would like a word with you.

Malcolm Brown would like a word with you. You have Ingram and Brown that both have multiple NFL seasons (is Brown still in the league?)and never broke 1K season in college. 2010, 2014, and 2017 were the worst rushing teams. They happen to correlate with bad QB and OL play.. 2010 Gilbert completed 59% for 10 TDs/17ints. 2014 Swoopes 58% 13TDs, 11 ints. 2017 Elhinger/Beuchele 59.7% 18Tds/11ints. 2023 season is probably the best situation any runner has seen at Texas in a very long time. Brooks was named mid-season All-American and has never been the focus of opposing DC through 6 games. The running game is rolling, because of the passing game. Sark has even said "we pass to open up the run" in a press conference this year.

1 hour ago, markstanco said:

I saw the shitshow live and in person.  59 yards total offense.  And then I went to the next game in South Bend, 163 yards total offense.  Thats 222 yards total offense in two games, or the same distance I hit a 4 hybrid. 

Nice flex

35 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Malcolm Brown would like a word with you. You have Ingram and Brown that both have multiple NFL seasons (is Brown still in the league?)and never broke 1K season in college. 2010, 2014, and 2017 were the worst rushing teams. They happen to correlate with bad QB and OL play.. 2010 Gilbert completed 59% for 10 TDs/17ints. 2014 Swoopes 58% 13TDs, 11 ints. 2017 Elhinger/Beuchele 59.7% 18Tds/11ints. 2023 season is probably the best situation any runner has seen at Texas in a very long time. Brooks was named mid-season All-American and has never been the focus of opposing DC through 6 games. The running game is rolling, because of the passing game. Sark has even said "we pass to open up the run" in a press conference this year.

Beat me too it. MB was a good NFL running back for 8 years. He woulda been a helluva good college RB behind even an average OL. A QB seems to suck too if they have paper mache for an OL.

3 hours ago, Bevo said:

All I got - Brooks and Sweat went back to Hallettsville last weekend where they retired his jersey.

Thanks for the scoop!

18 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

Thanks for the scoop!

He drives a black little Mercedes SUV that a friend describes as a mom car. And Sweat drives a big, gray truck that may or may not be a Dodge RAM. Never mind, Sweat's truck is a GMC.

Edited by Bevo

1 hour ago, Bevo said:

Nice flex

I thought so too for Charlie.  Thats nearly a 300% improvement!

10 minutes ago, markstanco said:

I thought so too for Charlie.  Thats nearly a 300% improvement!

I assume the 222yd 4 hybrid usually falls a couple feet from the pin.

Pretty unreal. This guy is leading P5 in most categories that mean anything and still seemingly underrated by most of the fan base because of what we had last year. Feels good man. This is what Bama/Georgia/OSU fans have felt with their skill players for the last decade. 

99 yards, then 98 yards. Sark got to make sure he gets to 100 to get another Doak winner. 

99 yards, then 98 yards. Sark got to make sure he gets to 100 to get another Doak winner. 

As much as I’d like to see him go over 100 every game, I don’t want him being any more dinged up than necessary going into the next game. He got up slow a couple of times.

He needs to do a better job getting north and south quickly on short yardage instead of dancing so much.  Everything else is very very good though.

Brooks is sitting at 923 yards for the season with 212 receiving yards. His rushing average is 6.4 yards and his receiving average is 9.6 yards. He has 8 TDs and two runs of over 60 yards. In the Kansas game, he averaged 10.4 yards per carry. Alabama, where he averaged 4.1 yards per carry, was his "worst" game. He has zero fumbles for the season. 

He is indeed a bad ass mofo.

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