Texas A&M trending in recruitment of four-star RB Rueben Owens

2023 El Campo (Tex.) High four-star running back Rueben Owens II put on a show at Overtime’s OT7 tournament in Las Vegas last week and caught up with On3 National Recruiting Analysts Chad Simmons and Sam Spiegelman on the latest in his recruitment.

Texas and Texas A&M have long been involved in Owens’ recruitment, but the Aggies keyed in on the four-star last fall and have been working to close the gap on the Longhorns. The efforts of running backs coach Tommie Robinson, who offered the four-star all-purpose back at LSU and took over his recruitment when he arrived in College Station, has helped the Aggies not only close the gap on Texas, but there’s a feeling Texas A&M has even taken taken the lead for the junior out of El Campo.

Coming out of the week in Las Vegas, Simmons has inputted a prediction in favor of Texas A&M to land Owens, while Spiegelman has flipped his prediction for Owens from the Longhorns to the Aggies.

With two predictions in favor of Texas A&M from Simmons and Spiegelman, the Aggies now lead for the No. 2 running back in the country per the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, with a 65.6% chance to land Owens. Texas trails in second with a 29.4% chance to land the four-star.

Owens is coming off an official visit to TCU and is set to make an official visit to Louisville this week. Simmons noted that he does not see the Cardinals as a contender at this time, and sources close to Owens’ recruitment back up that sentiment, but the Horned Frogs made an impression on Owens on his official visit and are a legitimate contender in his recruitment.

Texas A&M last had Owens on campus in April and is tentatively planning to be at Texas A&M’s pool party the last weekend of July, which is shaping up to be a massive weekend for the Aggies on the recruiting trail. He’ll look to take his last two official visits to Texas and Texas A&M in the fall, with a decision expected after all four official visits.

Texas A&M has sold Owens on a versatile role, with a plan to line him up all over the offense, in the backfield, in the slot, and even out wide. Owens told Aggie Scoop recently that the pitch from the staff recently has been the potential opportunity to come in and earn some early playing time. With Devon Achane likely off to the NFL after the 2022 season, and a running back room that’s relatively inexperienced behind him, the dynamic playmaker, who had well over 3,000 all-purpose yards as a junior, has a chance to come in and potentially even earn a starting spot. Owens’ do-it-all ability is something the Aggies don’t currently have in the running back room.

Owens ranks as the No. 33 prospect and No. 2 running back in the country per the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. The four-star has an On3 NIL Valuation of $184K. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.