For three straight NFL Draft cycles, the Texas Longhorns have had a running back drafted. Could Quintrevion Wisner be the next to follow his teammates’ path to the NFL?
Wisner’s 2026 NFL Draft profile tells of exciting talent, and his unexpected production in 2024 accelerated his timeline. We’ll take a look at some of the highlights from his 2024 game film and determine if he’s on track to take the torch from Bijan Robinson, Jonathon Brooks, and Jaydon Blue in the 2026 NFL Draft cycle.
Quintrevion Wisner Forcing NFL Draft Evaluators To Look His Way
The Texas Longhorns, under Steve Sarkisian, have been a pipeline of offensive talent for NFL teams. In the past two cycles alone, nine offensive skill players have been selected from the Longhorns’ ranks.
Wisner is on pace to keep the movement going in 2026. He came to Austin in the same recruiting class as Arch Manning and fellow Texas RB CJ Baxter. Manning was the most heavily anticipated recruit of the 2023 class, and Baxter was by far Texas’ most heavily anticipated RB recruit — a consensus five-star talent.
Wisner had a respectable résumé, to be sure: At DeSoto High School in Texas, he racked up 846 yards and six touchdowns on 125 carries in his senior season, as well as 35 catches for 466 yards and four TDs. He also played a hand in bringing DeSoto a state championship.
Wisner had offers from almost every Big 12 school (new and old), as well as offers from SEC powerhouses like Texas A&M, Ole Miss, and Florida. But the chance to don the burnt orange doesn’t come around often. For in-state players, it’s a special thing.
Of course, coming to Texas meant that Wisner would have to wait his turn behind Baxter. In 2023, Wisner ranked sixth on the team in carries, with a meager 12 attempts for 73 yards and a score, behind Brooks, Baxter, Blue, and Savion Red.
The Longhorns came into the 2024 offseason with the expectation that Baxter would take the lead role from Brooks, but a catastrophic knee injury in August changed things. With Baxter lost for the year, someone had to step up. It was Wisner who did.
Ahead of schedule, Wisner thrived as the primary back for Texas, amassing 1,064 yards and five TDs on 226 carries, while also adding 44 catches for 311 yards and a score through the air.
Baxter has been cleared for football activities ahead of the 2025 season, so he and Wisner will share the load. However, Wisner isn’t a footnote in the RB rotation anymore. He’s one of the main elements, and in the process, has become a legitimate 2026 NFL Draft prospect.
Wisner’s Deep Dive: How Does the Texas RB Set Himself Apart?
At 6’0″, 194 pounds, Wisner greatly contrasts the 6’1″, 232-pound Baxter as a physical specimen. No one will ever mistake Wisner for a through-contact brawler or a people mover, but there’s always a place for runners like him in the NFL.
The run below is a small one — a red-zone TD against Clemson — but it shows you several things. Right away, you can see Wisner’s near-elite acceleration, his vision, ideal blend of patience and decisiveness, ability to press behind blocks, and his ability to vary his tempo and footwork.
Quintrevion Wisner stepped up when CJ Baxter’s spring injury cleared the way for a higher-volume role in 2024, eclipsing 1,000 yards.
Listed at 6’0″, 194 pounds, he’s a *smooth* operator. Elusive laterally, but also plays patient behind blocks and has rapid linear acceleration. pic.twitter.com/mbTNJaqMAS
— Ian Cummings (@IC_Draft) June 17, 2025
Much more smooth and fluid than solely imposing, Wisner makes his money as a running back who can make the most of the vertical space he has. He’s a certified splicer, in the sense that he can reliably identify small creases in gap defense with his vision and rip through with explosive athleticism.
The play below is another tremendous example. It’s a strong-side wide zone run where the center is executing a reach block on the linebacker crashing down. Wisner doesn’t waste any time or space getting to the front-side A-gap, but he’s able to use a small throttle glitch to help seal the LB behind the center, before getting skinny up the gap.
Quintrevion Wisner is a certified splicer. Keen vision and creative instincts paired with a predisposition toward efficiency and wicked acceleration.
Love how he uses a little throttle glitch to help seal the LB inside the reach block, then propels ahead for a chunk gain. pic.twitter.com/r0x5uW74wY
— Ian Cummings (@IC_Draft) June 18, 2025
Also note in the play above that, while Wisner is undersized, he’s not scared of physicality. In fact, one could argue he could indulge his space-creating potential a bit more than he does in his current state, as he often defers to forward finishes in crowded areas.
Having said that, Wisner does have a degree of cutback vision, and when he uses it effectively, the results can be enthralling.
He’s showcased the ability to quickly feel backside creases, and in those moments, he can reduce, redirect, and re-accelerate to attack those creases.
Here’s some of that cutback vision I’ve been looking for from Quintrevion Wisner. It’s definitely there — just needs to be a constant. Really like how he reduces and accelerates on this transition. pic.twitter.com/8G8r4nFWgO
— Ian Cummings (@IC_Draft) June 18, 2025
You’re starting to get the book for Wisner. He’s a vision runner who excels at making quick work of openings with his fast gap processing and turbo button. But while he’s a strong vision runner, his creative instincts might be a bit more limited at this point.
While Wisner is one of the more consistent RBs at generating 5-9 yard runs, he at times leaves more on the table. The play below is a good example. It’s a zone draw that’s fairly simple for Wisner, from an execution standpoint: Just bend upfield and use your burst to rack up yards.
But Wisner misses something here. Right tackle Cameron Williams has his man contained with outside leverage, and on the boundary, there’s another blocker ready for Wisner if he bounces outside.
Wisner has the lateral agility to make this cut, but he settles for the respectable linear gain. This lack of opportunism and full-field recognition shows up at times, and chances for big, momentum-generating plays can be lost as a result.
Quintrevion Wisner can reliably create 5-9 yard gains with his ability to flow to lanes and accelerate upfield — but I also think he can be more consistent with his peripheral vision.
He has a blocker on the boundary if he decides to bounce this outside at the 2nd level. pic.twitter.com/P4THNHNHAh
— Ian Cummings (@IC_Draft) June 18, 2025
In a similar vein, while Wisner has a predisposition toward efficiency as a runner, there are times when he could be more efficient, frugal, and controlled with his setup space usage. He’s springy, nimble, and explosive, but a lack of control with those traits can result in wasted field.
The next play visualizes this well. Wisner has a potential backside opening developing on the wide zone run, but he’s not patient or measured enough with his footwork. He drifts too far vertical, gets snagged on his offensive line, and the opening closes before he can reach it.
I really like how springy and nimble Quintrevion Wisner is as a mover. The next step in his development is reaching that higher echelon as a creator.
He doesn’t always use his set-up space efficiently. Here, he drifts too far vertical and gets snagged on his OL. pic.twitter.com/GJEjZgfOGB
— Ian Cummings (@IC_Draft) June 18, 2025
As it stands, Wisner is a promising change-of-pace back with the burst, agility, and vision to maintain a role.
However, to reach his ultimate ceiling within his mold, there are two areas of emphasis for Wisner. He has to be more consistent with his full-field and cutback vision, as well as more consistent with his setup space usage.
The margin for error is slimmer in those intangible areas at the NFL level, but especially for running backs who don’t have the size and strength to work through contact, or the verifiably elite long speed to make up for lapses in vision and spatial processing.
The good news is that Wisner’s utility expands beyond his running ability. While he’s not a game-changer in the passing game, he can catch passes out of the backfield on swings and screens, and accumulate RAC with that same burst and agility that makes him dangerous on the ground.
If you’re awake rn, here’s Tre Wisner catching a pass out of the backfield and generating RAC pic.twitter.com/3rFtm035PI
— Ian Cummings (@IC_Draft) June 19, 2025
Additionally, while Wisner struggles at absorbing power in pass protection, he does compete in that phase. His quick gap processing enables him to pick out blitz threats, and he’s more than willing to square up surging linebackers, reposition his feet, and slow their roll to the quarterback.
Without high-end size or elite creative efficiency and speed, Wisner may never be a team’s unquestioned lead back at the NFL level. But he should end up being a very valuable part of a rotation, and as his 2024 campaign showed, he can surprise when given starter volume.