Choice elevating running backs
AUSTIN — An emotional tug of war unfolded inside Roschon Johnson when word of Stan Drayton’s impending departure reached him last December.
Drayton had been on staff as Texas’ running backs coach since 2017, outlasting even former boss Tom Herman when the program underwent regime change following the 2020 season. And he’d shepherded Johnson, a star quarterback out of Port Neches-Groves, through his unexpected (and wildly successful) move to the backfield.
“It was definitely bittersweet,” Johnson said Thursday at Big 12 media days. “From a selfish perspective, it’s like oh, man, my coach is gone, he’s not going to be here with us anymore. But at the same time, I was super happy for him because I know he had been high on getting a head-coaching job. And I know he’s very deserving of that.”
Drayton, 51, finally has a team of his own as Temple’s new head coach. He’ll be missed around campus, both as a developer of talent and keen recruiter who helped the Longhorns sign Bijan Robinson, Keaontay Ingram, Johnathon Brooks and Jaydon Blue in recent cycles.
Losing Drayton stung. But hiring Tashard Choice away from Georgia Tech helped Robinson and the others reach the acceptance stage pretty quick.
“Man, he’s meant everything to me,” Robinson said. “When he came in he didn’t make nothing slow down, you know. Coach Drayton got us to a level of trying to be great, and (Choice) came in and he just elevated it even more. He’s a young coach, and he has a lot of energy, but the most important thing is his teaching. He’s teaching me so many things that I might not have learned before, that I might not have seen before.”
Choice, 37, is best known for his work with the Dallas Cowboys, where he rushed for rushed for 1,139 yards and eight touchdowns on 4.6 yards per carry from 2008-2011. He also twice led the ACC in rushing at Georgia Tech and played in 88 career games for four different NFL franchises.
The clout Choice’s name holds with the current generation of Longhorns has helped facilitate the transition from Drayton, a more soft-spoken man than his fiery and often thunderous successor. The narrower age gap between Choice and the players has also engendered a different dynamic.
“Going from him (Drayton) to coach Choice, he’s more of like a — he’s our coach, and we respect him a great bunch,” Johnson said. “But he almost serves as that big brother that tells you the ins and outs of the game and is there to kind of push you and make you better at the same time. So they both kind of shared similarities, but I think the age difference and experiences that coach Choice has had as a player definitely plays a part in how he goes about coaching.”
To crib an infamous line from Charlie Strong, the cake is baked for Choice.
Texas has question marks all over the field heading into Year Two with Sarkisian. But there’s not a lick of concern regarding the backfield, a stacked group headlined by Heisman candidate Robinson and supplemented by Johnson, junior Keilan Robinson, Brooks and Blue.
Texas averaged just below 200 rushing yards per game in 2011, second in the Big 12 and 26th in the nation. B. Robinson, Johnson, K. Robinson and Brooks all averaged at least 5.8 yards per carry.
So for Choice, this offseason’s focus has been centered on rounding out the games of the veterans and bringing along the youngsters. B. Robinson, for example, has emphasized pass blocking and route running.
“He’s teaching me so many things that I might not have learned before, that I might not have seen before,” B. Robinson said. “We watch film all the time and we just get to the (nitty) gritty.”
One thing Choice doesn’t do often, though, is fire up tape of himself.
Johnson only recalls a couple of his new coach’s old highlights sneaking into their film sessions this offseason. He expected more.
“I thought he would kind of be more of a showy guy on what he did back in his heyday, but he really doesn’t,” Johnson said. “In the time he’s been here he showed us maybe one or two clips when he was playing. But it’s just great to have somebody like that who’s been around great players like Roy Williams, Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, Marshawn Lynch. He knows what winning is.”
Johnson’s still keeping tabs on what Drayton’s up to out in Philadelphia. But life with Choice has been pretty good these past seven months, and his presence might just make one of the nation’s best backfields even more formidable.
“I’m always trying to coach you on what could be,” Choice said. “I’m never seeing you for what you are. My job is to give you vision, to make you realize there’s more to you and to pull everything out of you.”