By Nick Moyle Published 7:36 pm CDT, Friday, August 30, 2019
AUSTIN – The plan was to preserve Roschon Johnson’s redshirt at all costs. He came to play quarterback, not running back, after all.
Then Tom Herman’s phone lit up. It was a text from Johnson. He wanted to meet.
“What’s going on?” the Longhorns’ third-year coach asked.
“I don’t think it’s fair to those other two guys (Keaontay Ingram and Jordan Whittington) that they’re going to have to take all those reps,” Johnson replied. “If you need me, play me.”
The level of maturity struck Herman.
Here was a true freshman, one of the top dual-threat quarterback recruits in the nation, volunteering to burn one game of eligibility to help out a positional group that had been decimated by injury after injury. But with junior Daniel Young (ankle) and fifth-year senior Kirk Johnson (clavicle) both ruled out, Johnson was willing to sacrifice.
And that’s how he became tenth-ranked UT’s third-string tailback for Saturday’s season opener against Louisiana Tech at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
“I thought it was really mature of him to do,” Herman said of Johnson. “The new four-game redshirt rule certainly helps. So we’re going to play him.”
Despite never playing the position, Johnson has taken to it quickly. Offensive coordinator Tim Beck said his speed – Johnson was clocked running 21 miles per hour – and twitch have helped offset some of the unfamiliarity.
And Johnson did rush for 4,900 yards as a three-year starter and All-American at Port Neches-Groves. The ability is there.
“He’s done a great job,” Beck said. “He’s an incredible athlete. And very selfless right now, what he’s doing.”
Herman said the team will “assess” how to utilize Johnson going forward while Young and Johnson rehab. Ingram and Whittington will still receive the vast majority of carries, with Johnson set to serve in a more limited “as needed” basis.
Johnson is also one of only three scholarship quarterbacks on roster, so the team needs to preserve him in case anything happens to starter Sam Ehlinger and/or backup Casey Thompson.
“A lot of it will have to do with how Danny and Kirk are after the first four games,” Herman said. “Luckily our schedule is such that we have a bye week after the four games. So we’ll have a good five weeks of those guys healing and we’ll go from there.”
