Texas' Injury Woes Lead To Intriguing Transfer Portal Move

The Texas Longhorns' entrance into the SEC has not been kind. The college football season hasn't even begun, and the Longhorns lost a pair of running backs to season-ending injuries.

First, it was CJ Baxter who was ruled out for the year with an LCL and PCL tear. Then, Christian Clark suffered a torn Achilles and was also ruled out for the season.

Suddenly, the Texas Longhorns were down a pair of running backs ahead of Week 1.

On Wednesday night, Steve Sarkisian's team grabbed one from the portal by landing Velton Gardner, who entered the portal after spending the past two seasons at SMU.

Gardner posted a photo on his Instagram from PT Graphics with a caption that read, "Big time transfer RB VJ Gardner is going to Texas! The 5’9 190 RB from Dallas, TX chose the Longhorns after playing for SMU last year. Gardner brings more explosiveness to the Texas offense."

Gardner spent the past two seasons with SMU, rushing for just 505 combined yards and two scores in a limited role.

Prior to that, he was in Kansas for three years. After playing 10 games as a freshman with the Jayhawks, he played six the following year and then just three in 2021, which marked his final season with the program.

In his college career, Gardner has rushed for a total of 1,024 yards with six scores, but he could enter a perfect situation in Austin after the recent injury woes.

Before the addition of Gardner, it was between Jaydon Blue, Jerrick Gibson, and Quintrevion Wisner who were battling it out for the job.

With the addition of Gardner, it will be interesting to see if he can emerge as the starting running back for the Longhorns.

Texas begins the season on August 31 against Colorado State, so Gardner has less than two weeks to get acclimated.

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