{"id":783096,"date":"2026-05-09T00:34:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T00:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/783096\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T00:34:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T00:34:22","slug":"the-hidden-rb-trend-behind-steve-sarkisians-most-explosive-offenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/783096\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden RB Trend Behind Steve Sarkisian\u2019s Most Explosive Offenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Sarkisian<\/a><\/strong> isn\u2019t one to split his backfields very often.<\/p>\n

[Sign up for Inside Texas for $1! Get the latest on the Longhorns HERE]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In his 17 seasons as a play-caller between college football and the pros, he\u2019s had just three seasons where there was a 15% difference or fewer between his primary RB and secondary RB in carries. Just three other years were below 22%.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Someone like Lincoln Riley<\/a><\/strong> has been at 16% or below in three of his four years at USC Trojans football. In his best two seasons at Oklahoma, he worked with a committee.<\/p>\n

These numbers are not traditional in college football, especially in the NFL. In the modern era, many teams rely on two backs with complementary skill sets to shoulder the load, allowing both to stay healthier throughout a season and fresher throughout a game.<\/p>\n

No one would criticize you if you said Bijan Robinson<\/a><\/strong> and Jahmyr Gibbs<\/a><\/strong> were the two best RBs in the NFL. In 2025, Robinson took 60% of his team\u2019s carries, but Tyler Allgeier<\/a><\/strong> still took 30%. The Lions were even tighter, with Gibbs taking 55% of the carries and David Montgomery<\/a><\/strong> taking 36%. The top two backs in the NFL are below 65% of their team\u2019s carries.<\/p>\n

Sarkisian used a committee at USC in 2007 and 2008, but at Washington, he immediately relied on a singular back to tote the rock for over 55% of the carries each season, whether that was Chris Polk<\/a><\/strong> or Bishop Sankey<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

At USC in 2014 and Alabama, his next two collegiate stops, he relied on Javorius Allen<\/a><\/strong> and Najee Harris<\/a><\/strong> to work as true bell cows. Harris was even backed up by future NFL starter Brian Robinson Jr.<\/a><\/strong>, who is now (Bijan) Robinson\u2019s backup in the NFL.<\/p>\n

But you\u2019ve seen two distinct times when he\u2019s gone away from those ideas and leaned into a two-back system: 2017 with the Falcons and 2023 with Texas.<\/p>\n

In Atlanta, Sarkisian had arguably the best RB duo in the league in Devonta Freeman<\/a><\/strong> and Tevin Coleman<\/a><\/strong>. The two-back system was a staple of his offense, and it led to a 10-win season. He likely returns to that style if Freeman doesn\u2019t get injured in 2018.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Sarkisian relied on the duo of Jonathon Brooks<\/a><\/strong> and CJ Baxter<\/a><\/strong>, and though the stats skew slightly because of Brooks\u2019 injury, they would still meet most \u201cshared backfield\u201d thresholds in other games.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is Sarkisian\u2019s offensive output, with every year he finished top 20 in both yards and scoring highlighted.<\/p>\n

Of course, his two seasons at Alabama are going to be at the top no matter who was at running back, but two years in particular stand out:<\/p>\n

2008 USC and 2023 Texas.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those were the standout years of production at two of his stops, and they both came with his heaviest committee or shared-backfield usage.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Sarkisian used three different backs to lead a top-15 offense and a 12-win USC team alongside Pete Carroll<\/a><\/strong> and Mark Sanchez<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t adopt that method at Washington, mostly because of recruiting reasons, but he clearly tapped back into it in Atlanta, where he liked pairing his RBs together. Even when Freeman went down, Ito Smith<\/a><\/strong> saw 26% of his team\u2019s carries. That\u2019s the third-most usage of any RB2 in Sarkisian\u2019s systems, behind only Baxter and Coleman the year before.<\/p>\n

He went away from it when dealing with superstar talents like Harris and Robinson, but once Robinson was gone, Sarkisian leaned back into the idea with Brooks and Baxter, and that became Texas\u2019 best offense under Sarkisian.<\/p>\n

Due to Baxter\u2019s injuries, Texas hasn\u2019t been able to reclaim that identity over the last two seasons, forcing Tre Wisner<\/a><\/strong> into a bell-cow role while the likes of Jaydon Blue<\/a><\/strong> and Christian Clark<\/a><\/strong> weren\u2019t trusted enough to see more than 10 carries per game.<\/p>\n

But now, heading into 2026, Sarkisian is back to that RB pairing with Raleek Brown<\/a><\/strong> and Hollywood Smothers<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This pairing shares some similarities with Freeman and Coleman from Sarkisian\u2019s Atlanta days. Freeman was a 5-foot-8 bowling ball who excelled in the passing game and was incredibly slippery as a runner. He had elite change of direction and was a mismatch in both the run and pass game.<\/p>\n

There are shades of that in Brown\u2019s game. Standing at 5-foot-9 with a compact build, he has the ability to break explosive plays while also doing the dirty work in short yardage and the passing game.<\/p>\n

Smothers is more like Coleman: a speedy outside-zone home-run hitter who is big enough to compete between the tackles.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not saying these are perfect comparisons. Freeman, in particular, was a 1,500-yard Pro Bowl all-purpose threat for two seasons in the NFL. But stylistically and rotationally, the principles are similar.<\/p>\n

Whenever you see Sarkisian push for a duo of RBs, it\u2019s usually for a reason. Most of the time, it\u2019s about talent \u2014 having two players who deserve carries while also not having a singular player you trust to have the ball in his hands every snap, like Sankey, Harris, or Robinson.<\/p>\n

But these offenses also tend to perform better for Sarkisian, and it\u2019s often when the team as a whole has the most success. It\u2019s sustainable, efficient, and makes life harder for opposing defensive game plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Sarkisian isn\u2019t one to split his backfields very often. [Sign up for Inside Texas for $1! Get…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":783097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,1718,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-783096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-regwall","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116541815591835532","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}