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Texas running back Keaontay Ingram brings back memories of UT 1,000-yard rushers

Ingram is on pace for 800 yards in the 12 game regular season. Add a possible Big 12 Championship Game and a bowl game and the days of the 1,000-yards rushers at Texas may be back.

AUSTIN — Keaontay Ingram ran 19 times for more than 100 yards against Baylor and brought back memories of great rushing attacks for the Longhorns.

Tom Herman has tried to take it easy on Keaontay, saying “I think that he is a 20-carry guy. I'm sorry, he's a 19-carry guy, but, yeah, he'll continue to. We got to be careful also, he's a guy that got here in June and he's played a lot of football, a lot of wear and tear on his body already, having won all the state championships that he won at Carthage and being kind of the work horse for them too.”

The Longhorns have had work horse running backs for years who hit the 1,000 yard mark. The tradition includes Chris Gilbert and Roosevelt Leaks. Earl Campbell was non-stop in the late 90s and early 2000s.

From 1995 with Shon Mitchell leading the way to 2007 with Jamaal Charles, the Longhorns had a 1,000-yard rusher every year but one.

1995: Shon Mitchell, 1099

1996: Ricky Williams, 1272

1997: Ricky Williams, 1893

1998: Ricky Williams, 2124

1999: Hodges Mitchell, 1343

2000: Hodges Mitchell, 1118

2001: Cedric Benson, 1053

2002: Cedric Benson, 1293

2003: Cedric Benson, 1360

2004: Cedric Benson with 1834 yards and Vince Young with 1079 yards

2005: Vince Young, 1050

2006: Jamaal Charles, 831

2007: Jamaal Charles, 1619

But for the last ten years. there has only been one 1000-yard rusher. And D’Onta Foreman went over 2000 yards in 2016.

2008: Colt McCoy, 561

2009: Tre Newton, 552

2010: Cody Johnston, 592

2011: Malcolm Brown, 742

2012: Johnathan Gray, 701

2013: Malcolm Brown, 904

2014: Malcolm Brown, 708

2015: D’Onta Foreman, 681

2016: D’Onta Foreman, 2028

2017: Sam Ehlinger, 385

Where did all the rushing go? The blue-chip recruits continue to show up on campus, but injuries and offensive struggles have made it hard to hit the 1,000 yard mark.

Now Herman has Ingram. But Ingram is still sharing time with Tre Watson and Daniel Young.

“We feel great with Tre as well as Danny,” Herman said. “We feel like we have got three guys that at any given time can do what we need to do to win. But if we got to hand (Ingram) the ball 22 times to win, then we'll hand it to him 22 times.”

Ingram is on pace for 800 yards in the 12 game regular season. Add a possible Big 12 Championship Game and a bowl game and the days of the 1,000-yard rushers at Texas may be back.

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