Texas' leading rusher departs, marking the fourth running back exit. His explosive rivalry game performances leave a void, forcing program recalibration.
Texas' running back room has taken another hit as Quintrevion Wisner announced his intentions to enter the Transfer Portal on Friday morning.
His departure marks the fourth Texas RB to enter the portal after Cedric Baxter, Jerrick Gibson and Rickey Stewart Jr.
Wisner has led the Longhorns in rushing the last two seasons, gaining 1064 yards on the ground in 2024, and 597 this season (missed three games). The junior from DeSoto, Texas, averaged over 4.5 yards per carry in both of his seasons as RB1.
Along with his overall consistency, Wisner had a knack for performing in rivalry games. In his last four games against Oklahoma or Texas A&M, he gained 639 all-purpose yards, with 553 of them coming on the ground.
Wisner averaged a whopping 138 yards on the ground in those contests, gaining over 7.5 yards per carry. He was a big game hunter, and that's something Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will miss dearly.
Wisner was primed for another big role in 2026, making his decision a bit of a head-scratcher. After losing three RBs to the portal, Texas was bound to enter the portal itself, searching for a new RB, perhaps displacing Wisner as RB1.
But it's also possible that Wisner's exit was the product of another tough decision Sarkisian had to make (like the firing of DC Pete Kwiatkowski).
To say the Longhorns struggled to run the ball this season would be an understatement. Besides its rivalry games, Texas's rushing attack was basically non-existent against SEC competition.
A lot of the blame has gone towards the offensive line, and rightfully so, but the lack of explosiveness in the RB room deserves some blame as well.
The Longhorns' top two RBs, Wisner and Baxter, lacked the burst and speed to generate consistent big runs. While Wisner had his own qualities, such as his shiftiness, perhaps Sarkisian is looking to take the RB room to the next level, and to do that, Wisner had to be a casualty.
RBs James Simon and Christian Clark are now presumably RB1 and RB2 for Texas's Citrus Bowl contest against Michigan, but that won't be the case heading into next season.
The Longhorns already have a highly-touted four-star RB Derrek Cooper ready to take the program by storm, and many expect them to be looking for an elite RB (maybe two) once the Transfer Portal opens in early January.
There's a mass exodus occurring in Austin, giving Sarkisian and his staff the freedom to be aggressive the rest of the offseason.