Could Texas and Texas A&M battle it out for 5-Star RB Rueben Owens?

A name that a lot of Texas football fans became familiar with early on in the 2023 recruiting class is the elite five-star El Campo running back Rueben Owens. As a former Texas commit, Owens is a target of the 2203 recruiting class that will continue to remain on the coaching staff’s radar throughout the offseason.

Second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian and running backs coach Tashard Choice will continue to make Owens one of the top priorities of any targets of the Longhorns 2023 class. Texas once held the commitment of Owens for a few months last offseason. But he re-opened his recruitment pretty soon after he originally committed to the Longhorns.

It looked like Owens committed a little too fast for his liking. He’s now probably going to take his time to cycle through all of the programs pursuing him on the recruiting trail right now. And there are surely some big names after him at the moment.

Some of the more notable programs after Owens on the recruiting trail are the Longhorns, Texas A&M Aggies, Georgia Bulldogs, and Alabama Crimson Tide. There could be some other contenders that emerge in the race to land a commitment from Owens.

Could Texas football and Texas A&M get an inside track with 5-Star RB target Rueben Owens?

Yet, there look to be four or five top schools in the mix right now for Owens.

Owens recently took to social media to confirm the fact that his recruitment is wide open right now. Since Texas held the lead in the Crystal Ball Predictions for Owens in this tweet, that is certainly something to note.

Texas will continue to have to really push to eventually get a commitment out of Owens. It certainly looks like Texas sits in a good position with him at the moment. But this recruitment is anything but decided ahead of spring ball.

There is one interesting indication of how priorities could be lining up for Owens, though. According to a report from Inside Texas on Feb. 7 (part of the On3 Network, paid content), while the likes of the USC Trojans, Alabama, and Georgia, are standing out to Owens, he might be wanting to stay local.

IT notes that there are rumors that Owens might want to stay in the state of Texas, which would obviously impact his ultimate decision when it’s announced. If this is the case, it would give the edge to the Aggies and the Longhorns over the trio of USC, Alabama, and Georgia.

Realistically, it is still too early to tell if this is the path that the recruitment of Owens will go down in the months ahead. If this were the case in reality, then Owens would already have his list of top schools potentially narrowed down to just Texas and Texas A&M.

Texas currently holds a commitment from one prospect in the 2023 class as of Feb. 9. More could be on the way soon, but it’s hard to tell where that could come from right now. If one thing looks to be certain, it is that the recruitment of Owens will have to be a patient process for all involved.