Michael Terry III, the nation’s consensus No. 1 athlete in the 2025 recruiting class, made a wild mid-season position switch for the Texas Longhorns, moving from wide receiver to running back after his scout-team reps started turning heads. This wasn’t some minor shuffle, it was a “really challenging” move that coaches initially weren’t even considering for the guy who dominated high school fields in San Antonio.
From “Tweener” Prospect to Wide Receiver Hope
When Terry arrived on the Forty Acres, the coaching staff faced a tough call. This dude was a legit do-it-all in high school, playing everything from wildcat quarterback to running back, wide receiver, and even defense. But his physical profile, listed at 6’3, 216 pounds, made him a total “tweener.” He was tall for a modern running back, at the upper end of wide receiver height/weight, and he’d need to bulk up significantly to play H-back. Coach Sarkisian himself admitted, “He was an athlete by label, right, and so you try to figure out, okay, where’s the best way for this guy to have success? And looking at his body and his structure and his skill set, we initially thought wide receiver, maybe even an H-back, might be the best place for him to go.” So, they settled on wide receiver, and Terry put in all the work through spring, summer, and preseason camp at that spot.
Necessity Sparks a Scout Team Revelation
Then, midway through the season, Texas ran into a wall. Injuries piled up in the running back room, and then their biggest-bodied back, Jerrick Gibson, bounced prior to the Kentucky game to preserve his redshirt and hit the transfer portal. Suddenly, the Longhorns needed a scout-team running back to mimic Kentucky’s big boys, 223-pound Seth McGowan and 6’2, 227-pound Dante Dowdell. Who stepped up? Michael Terry III, out of pure necessity. It wasn’t long before the defensive coaches started chirping at Sarkisian: “Hey, the new scout-team running back is giving our first-team defense problems!” Sarkisian took a look at the tape, saw what his defensive coaches saw, and just like that, Terry made the mid-season switch to running back.
The Mental Grind of a Mid-Season Shift
Sarkisian called it a “really challenging” move, not so much physically, but mentally. “You’re learning the offense as a receiver, and now all of a sudden you’re going back to running back, and you’re trying to learn protections, you’re trying to learn run-blocking schemes, you’re trying to learn the nuances of the fundamentals, the techniques at the position,” Sarkisian explained. Terry had never been a full-time running back, but he attacked the work, and he just kept grinding. Sarkisian is clearly proud of him, especially since Terry chose to stick it out through the offseason rather than hopping in the portal for an “easier” path, even with Texas landing two top-tier backs from the portal and signing the No. 7 ball carrier in the 2026 class, Florida’s Derrek Cooper. New running backs coach Jabbar Juluke has been putting in serious work with Terry to get him up to speed on all the nuances of his new position. He’s now tipping the scales at 229 pounds.
What’s next for Terry? His commitment to the grind, learning a whole new position mid-season, and then sticking with it when others might’ve jumped ship, speaks volumes. You gotta love that kind of dedication.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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