With CJ Baxter sidelined for the 2024 season, junior running back Jaydon Blue needs to be everything, and more, for a Texas Longhorns team looking to win a national championship.
season-ending knee injury, one man will be expected to step up and become the next star ball carrier in Austin., the second running back to be recruited and brought into the Steve Sarkisian system at Texas, is where every eye and thought immediately went when the announcement of Baxter's injury came about.
Baxter followed Blue and mostly stole the show, as the Florida native was the No. 1 running back recruit in 2023. With Jerrick Gibson, the No. 3 running back in the 2024 class, rounding out the position, it's easy to see how Blue would be a bit overlooked. In 2023, Blue ran for 398 yards and three touchdowns on over six yards per carry as the Longhorn's third rushing option. Blue saw the majority of his workload after the injury to Brooks in the TCU game. In the final four games of the season, Blue averaged 90 scrimmage yards per game, including a monstrous performance against Texas Tech and an impactful 184 yards on the ground, in the air, and in the return game.
Blue saw just three total carries of high leverage between the Oklahoma State and Washington games, the two most important games he had to play in all year. Those numbers are low, but his success rate was high. All three plays came in the Washington game, where he saw two goal-line carries and a 3rd and fourth attempt.
In hurry up, the Longhorns looked to punch it in. Blue saw an overly stacked box and wasn't able to fully convert, but he was able to bring the Horns to the one-yard line. One play later, AD Mitchell did the rest. Week Two: the Longhorns find themselves in enemy territory, staring down the massive maize crowd in the Big House. Texas will face one of the scariest defensive fronts in the country in Michigan, with likely top-10 pick Mason Graham clogging up the middle. With Wisner and two freshmen behind him on the depth chart, Blue will need to be able to take north of 20 carries, just like Baxter did as a true freshman against Iowa State in the absence of Brooks.
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