What is Texas Getting With SMU Transfer RB Velton Gardner?

AUSTIN — “Sark After Dark” was in full effect Wednesday night, as the Texas Longhorns landed SMU transfer running back Velton Gardner, per a post on his Instagram page.

The Dallas native will be entering his sixth season of college football as a grad transfer after playing three years at Kansas and two seasons in his hometown with the Mustangs.

Gardner announced in February that he’d be entering the portal and has now finally found the final destination of his collegiate career. He joins a running back room that’s headlined by Jaydon Blue along with sophomore Tre Wisner and freshman Jerrick Gibson.

So what does he bring to Austin? To put it simply, speed and experience, the latter of which Texas is currently lacking at the running back position.

The Longhorns will be lead by Blue this season, but Gardner, who first enrolled at Kansas before the pandemic, immediately becomes one of the team’s oldest players. What he could provide as a potential mentor for the likes of Wisner, Gibson and even Clark during the season could end up proving more valuable for the future of the program than the carries he’s likely to receive in a depth role as grad transfer.

During his career, Gardner has played alongside running backs like Chicago Bears’ Khaili Herbert, current Kansas star Devin Neal and former Cincinnati Bengal Pooka Williams Jr. He’s seen what it takes to play at an elite level and is better suited than most to rub off some of this knowledge on the Texas young guns.

However, his speed could certainly earn him more than just a touch or two every game as well.

Gardner has flashed his breakaway speed on occasion during his lengthy career. Though he’s never had a full-time role as the lead back, he has six runs of 30 yards or more and four runs of 40 yards or more in his career, including this 61-yard touchdown during the 2020 season with Kansas in which he avoided defenders without being touched while sprinting past the defense down the sideline.

Take a look:

You don’t score a 61-yard touchdown untouched unless you’ve got some high-speed jets for feet. Gardner isn’t necessarily an Xavier Worthy-type of fast, but he could be due for a long touchdown run at some point this season.

Gardner’s experience lines up with what coach Steve Sarkisian said the staff is looking for in a potential new running back when he spoke to the media on Monday.

“We definitely have a spot that we can utilize,” Sarkisian said. “Again, a lot of times this late in the game, it’s probably not a traditional transfer, maybe more of a graduate transfer, something of the sort. So we’re kind of looking at all of our options. We just don’t want to take a body, to take a body. If it’s someone that can help us in some capacity, maybe limited role, bigger role, whatever that is, we are we are looking at all options.”

In five total seasons, Gardner has tallied 229 carries for 1,024 yards and six touchdowns while adding 22 catches for 73 receiving yards. During the 2020 season with Kansas, he posted a career-best 72 carries before finishing with a career-high 368 rushing yards two years later with the Mustangs. At SMU in 2022, Gardner had a career-high 100 yards rushing on 11 carries in a 45-16 win over Lamar.

No. 4 Texas kicks off the regular season at home against the Colorado State Rams on Saturday, Aug. 31.