Texas Football: 2023 starts off with a bang with 5-Star RB Rueben Owens

The success on the recruiting trail of late for newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff with his 2022 class just extended to the following cycle entering the weekend. On the night of Feb. 25, the 2023 Texas football recruiting class landed its initial commitment which came in the form of the elite five-star El Campo 5-foot-11 and 190 pound running back Rueben Owens.

Sark and the Longhorns landed the commitment of Owens by way of an announcement on his Twitter timeline on Feb. 25. That was met with raucous positive reactions from the Longhorns fan base, after figuring out how the foundation of their 2023 recruiting class could be built.

This is a huge commitment at a position group that Texas is going to be very strong at for a long time. Running back has at least one notable blue chip commit/signee for each class dating back to the 2020 cycle, with the elite former five-star Arizona native rusher Bijan Robinson.

https://twitter.com/ii_rueben/status/1365138776637472769

In the 2021 signing class, Texas hauled in the vastly underrated four-star Hallettsville running back Jonathon Brooks. And in the 2022 recruiting class, Texas has a commitment from the ultra highly coveted four-star Klein Cain running back Jaydon Blue.

Now that pipeline of talent at the running back position only continues by landing a commitment from the El Campo, TX, product Owens. The 2023 class now starts off with a bang by getting a solid foundation built up at the skill positions.

The competition for Texas football to land Owens

Texas was one of nearly two dozen schools to send a scholarship offer to Owens ahead of his commitment decision. The other highlighting schools on his offer sheet included the Oklahoma Sooners, Baylor Bears, Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Penn State Nittany Lions, Texas A&M Aggies, USC Trojans, and Virginia Tech Hokies.

There is no 247Sports Composite, Rivals, or ESPN recruiting ranking in yet for Owens. But the Top247 ranks him as the nation’s No. 26 2023 high school prospect, No. 2 running back, and the top overall prospect out of Texas.

In two years playing for El Campo High School thus far, Owens has registered more than 2,300 rushing yards, 30 rushing touchdowns, 114 receiving yards, and one touchdown catch. He’s a very versatile running back that can make an impact in the receiving game, ground game, and blocking game.

Owens has a big enough frame already to make an impact in college as a blocker out of the gates. And he’s just now going to be entering his junior year in high school. The balance, speed, elusiveness, and agility that he brings to the table as a jump cut back is also pretty incredible for the point he’s at in his high school football career.

Texas is actually the first Big 12 program to land a 2023 commit as of the evening of Feb. 27. The Longhorns are also roughly one of a dozen football programs that have at least one commit in their 2023 recruiting class.