What NOW For Texas A&M Aggies, Texas Longhorns After Injuries To RBs Rueben Owens, CJ Baxter?

what now for Texas and Texas A&M after both schools have lost running backs for the 2024 season CJ Baxter for Texas is done for the year as is Ruben Owens for Texas A&M now we'll talk about this right now from an impact perspective and from a what do both teams need to do going forward perspective before we get to that though make sure you are subscribed right here to the Onre YouTube channel whether you're an A&M fan whether you're a Texas Fan I promise we're going to talk a lot about both your schools so make sure you're locked in right here CU it's college football every single day right here on this show the hard count on the on three YouTube channel so first things first man uh this is awful like this sucks like both of these dudes one were going to be I believe a very impactful to both their teams during the 2024 season but like from a personal perspective like both of these dudes had put in work all winter all spring all summer like they had done the most difficult most frustrating parts of playing college football the most rigorous parts of playing college football so they could and reap their Awards in the fall and the fact that neither of these individuals who again had Bright Futures in 2024 that I think were going to be big pieces to both these teams successes in 2024 don't even get the chance to suit up for week one heart goes out to them and heartbreaks for those guys because I know they they put in a lot of work to be able to suit up and and have big seasons in 2024 what I would say for both these schools both A&M and for Texas losing key pieces winning football is a lot like lifting something heavy like it takes equal parts of your body to pick up that big couch when you move out of the house or you move out of the apartment like you have to live with your legs live with your back a little bit use the arms and so now losing these key pieces respectively more weight gets distributed at different parts of the body different parts of the roster like I think for A&M and for Texas you look directly at that quarterback play for both of those units like for for Texas you were already going to lean on Quinn ERS pretty heavily because he's a year three guy because there is you know a certain component of the Steve sarkeesian offense that is pretty quarterback Centric but for A&M like how long have we been asking the question now well what can Connor Wegman be in College Station we're going to find out a lot more a lot more quickly now about him because I believe with no Ruben Owens in the lineup you're going to ask more of a Conor Wegman in 2024 so in that same way as much as you ask more of your roster you ask more of like I just said the quarterback and you're going to ask more of your defense more your skill players to try and make up for what you're going to lose production Wise from both those backs um I think there's a lot also that falls on the coaching staff whenever you lose one of your top backs for each of these schools like the first part of this is you got to get the next guy ready to play that's the obvious part like when Ruben go when Ruben Owens goes down that inevitably means there's more carries for Amari Daniels for Lev on Moss and the same thing for CJ Baer we've talked about that in a previous video but Jaden blue now going to get get more carries Trey Weisner going to get more carries so on and so forth and so while there's a lot of responsibility to get those guys ready to play from a you know just football perspective I think there is an equal amount of responsibility for both these staffs at A&M and at Texas to empower the next guy up because think about it from a Trey weisner's perspective like you were going to have a role in some form or fashion more than likely this upcoming season even before CJ Baxter got hurt but think about how much larger that role could potentially be now for a Trey Weisner same thing for A&M like now at this point I think there's a responsibility for the coaching staff to empower and build confidence for these kids and saying okay hey I understand this wasn't really what you were expecting heading into 2024 we need more from you we need you to answer the call to action here and you know what we know you can do it we know that you are good enough to do what we're asking you to do now all right so that's that's massive and I think that part sometimes gets overlooked when you talk about guys having to step up when another player goes down because of injury like I think that honestly is as important as the football side of things when you talk about how both these units will have to respond in 2024 losing key backs uh for both sides of this so the question we're all asking now is how does this impact A&M how does this impact Texas I think there's a couple of ways to look at it and and the the first way is like we don't actually know how it's going to impact them and and this is something I want to make sure we steer clear of as best we can when it comes to actually playing games Whenever there is some deficiency for A&M or for Texas on the ground in specific games it could be October 19th when Georgia comes to Texas it could be that last game of the year when Texas goes to Texas A&M whenever there's a situation where one of these teams will struggle to run the football there will inevitably be parts of the fan base parts of the college football public that says well what if A&M had Ruben Owens would that have made a difference well if CJ Baxter was in the game for Texas like he could have gotten that extra yard on Fourth and inches and that's kind of a Fool's errand to be honest with you what I think is important to note here is great football teams great coaches great rosters they find a way to play their style of football regardless of their personnel notice what I did not say there I did not say that they just totally suck to their game plan and asked the next running backup to do exactly what a CJ Baxter would do at Texas or what a Ruben Owens would do at A&M not saying that I think the the approach changes a little bit but the ultimate goal does not change like I'm telling you both these teams I promise you want to run the football Colin Klein when he was at Kansas State they ran the football 54% of the time Steve Saran in the Texas offense last year averaged five yards a carry good for top 25 in the country so running the football is not something either operation is going to abandon here in 2024 because they lost a Ruben Owens and a CJ Baxter now those units I promise you offensively are both better when they are in the football game there's no way around that but I think when you look at how they're going to approach this whole thing offensively like the main thing to stay is the main thing they want to run the football I'll tell you this too just because you don't have Ruben Owens just because you don't have a CJ Baxter for Texas and Texas A&M respectively they still have some really good backs in house there at both these schools like you're better again with both those guys healthy but both these rooms have some dudes that's why you you recruit the way that you do at A&M and like you do at a at a school like Texas like Jayden blue I mentioned him already Trey Weisler mentioned him already for for Texas uh Amari Daniels at A&M is a guy that a lot of folks in College Station know about Levan Moss his resume speaks for itself EJ Smith the Stanford transfer he is a guy that can probably help replace some of that production lost in the passing game that Ruben Owens is going to leave so like they're still going to stick to their guns of wanting to run the football and wanting to involve their running backs the key differentiating factor is okay well CJ Baxter strengths may be different than a jayon blue strengths what Amari danels does well what Lev and Moss does well might be different than what a Ruben Owens does well so schematically there's some things you probably have to Tinker with but at this point now like you don't have to just throw out your your old game plan like you still can keep your same philosophies it's okay how do we cater to these new back strengths and lean on other guys more that we weren't going to lean on previously so I'll say this too as much as I think both these players benefit their respective teams I think as we sit here today I don't change my my win loss prediction for either of those schools just yet as we sit here in August and the thing I want to make sure we steer clear I'm not trying to downplay either one of these injuries this is a massive loss for both of these schools I told you the top of this thing my heart breaks for both these kids cuz that is just I mean like I hate that I hate every single piece of that I do think though that both these rosters and both these staffs are going to be good enough to not make the most of it because that that not what I'm trying to say they're going to be able to overcome an injury like this keep it pushing and uh still put a really good product on the field so you hate this for Ruben Owens you hate this for CJ Baxter you hate this for both those schools and both those offenses but I think that uh what Colin Klein is offensively with C sarkeesian does offensively they're going to find a way to utilize what they have in house and still again put a really good offensive prod out there on the field so you hate it again we we hate this for Ruben Owens and for CJ Baxter one of the worst parts of football period is the injuries um but excited to watch them both bounce back in a big way and uh hoping they get back on the field uh sooner rather than later so let me know your perceived impact of both these injuries for Texas and Texas an respectively keep it locked right here college football every single day we are live tomorrow 11: a.m. eastern talking about who wasn't ranked in this first AP pool but who we believe will be ranked at the end of the college football season appreciate y'all love y'all we're going to keep this party rolling and we will see y'all next time hey y'all thanks so much for watching subscribe to the channel here to make sure you don't miss an episode of the hard count also be sure to check out other videos on the Onre YouTube channel