Senior running back Johnathan Gray remains 145 rushing yards shy of breaking into the top 10 on Texas’ all-time rushing list.
Ricky Williams sits at the top with 6,279 career yards. Cedric Benson is second with Earl Campbell in third. Also on the list are Jamaal Charles (4th), Vince Young (6th) and recent graduate Malcolm Brown (9th).
Gray entered the 2015 season with 2,118 rushing yards, placing him 15th on the list. In eight games this season, Gray has run for 402 yards, giving him 2,520 career yards and moving him to 12th on the list. Gray needs 141 yards to tie Eric Metcalf (11th) and 145 to replace Hodges Mitchell (10th).
Gray, a 5-foot-10, 211-pound running back, is from Aledo, Texas. He was a four-year starter in high school and totaled 10,889 career-rushing yards. Gray helped Aledo win three consecutive state championships. He was a four-time all-district running back.
In 2012, as a freshman at UT, Gray recorded two 100-yard rushing games. He finished the season with 701 total yards, the most on the team. Gray’s sophomore year was his biggest rushing year. Gray finished with 780 yards, second on the team, and he only competed in nine games that season. An Achilles injury against West Virginia kept Gray from playing in the last four games of the season. Gray returned in 2014 and totaled 637 rushing yards, second on the team.
This season Gray’s lowest rushing game was against Rice, tallying only 13 yards. However, Gray recorded his first 100-yard game of the season against Kansas State with a total of 103 yards. To date, Gray has recorded six career 100-yard rushing games in a Texas uniform.
Gray has four games left. His opponents are Kansas, West Virginia, Texas Tech and Baylor. In 2014, Gray rushed for a total of 301 yards against those four schools.