Hi. Bye.
After one season on the Forty Acres as the replacement for Tashard Choice, Texas Longhorns running backs coach Chad Scott was fired on Tuesday as head coach Steve Sarkisian seeks improvement on the ground following a horrid regular season running the football.
As lead backs Quintrevion Wisner and CJ Baxter dealt with early-season hamstring injuries and the offensive line struggled to replace four starters, the Longhorns finished the regular season 101st in rushing yards per game and proved
unable to create explosive plays.
If that’s an indictment of Scott’s inability to develop the roster he inherited when Choice left to coach for the Detroit Lions in February, it’s also an indictment of the room that Choice constructed, including his unwillingness to target a running back in the transfer portal during either window over the last year.
The result is that Baxter will depart after all three of his seasons at Texas were impacted by injuries, especially the last two years when he tore two knee ligaments that cost him the 2024 season and had a hamstring strain derail his 2025 campaign.
Since Sarkisian wants to target a running back in the transfer portal with attrition that could hit a significant portion of the room, which adds consensus four-star standout Derrek Cooper and late flip Jett Walker, getting a position coach in place that he trusts more fully is a pressing concern.
Scott might feel hard done after being scapegoated for issues that arguably went beyond his ability to fix, but change does seem necessary in terms of personnel and coaching, so Tuesday represents the first step to elevate a running backs room that was previously among the best in college football during the Sarkisian era.
Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte doesn’t start coaching searches without having a replacement in place, so it would be a surprise if Sarkisian operates differently as Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reported Tuesday that former Florida running backs coach Jabbar Juluke is a leading candidate.
Juluke served as the assistant head coach and running backs coach for fired head coach Billy Napier since following Napier from Louisiana. Notably, Juluke has a relationship with standout Gators running back Jadan Baugh, the sophomore who could rank as the top running back available if he enters the transfer portal.
So if the Horns could secure Juluke and then Baugh, those additions would address major roster and staffing deficiencies.
