Syracuse Football: 5-star RB would have been ideal for Weitsman $1M NIL

I would have loved to have seen businessman and top Syracuse Orange booster Adam Weitsman offer his lucrative name, image and likeness opportunity to 2023 five-star running back Rueben Owens ll, who held a Syracuse football scholarship offer.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Owens from Texas, who had a ridiculous high-school career, was offered by the Orange this past February. In total, he received more than 40 offers from a range of high-major programs throughout his recruiting process, according to recruiting services.

Now, I always figured that the ‘Cuse was a huge a long shot for Owens, who is a senior at El Campo High School in El Campo, Texas. He was once verbally committed to Texas and then fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Louisville.

But in recent days, the head-coaching carousel hit the Cardinals, with Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield bolting for Cincinnati and media reports saying that Purdue boss Jeff Brohm could be in line to take over as head coach at Louisville.

I am not in Owens’ inner circle, so I don’t know his thought process, but within a span of about five hours, he said via Twitter that he was de-committing from the Cardinals and committing to Southeastern Conference member Texas A&M.

A five-star running back who held a Syracuse football offer has pledged to an SEC squad.

I have no idea how much interest, if any, Owens ever had in the Orange. Per his bio on the 247Sports Web site, Owens tallied an insane 7,089 career rushing yards in high school, to go along with 101 rushing touchdowns. Those are video game numbers.

He is generally deemed a five-star player in 2023. Some recruiting Web sites rate him as a top-25 overall prospect and the No. 1 running back across the country in the senior cycle.

Current Syracuse football star running back Sean Tucker, who reached 1,000 rushing yards on the Hill for the second-straight season as the ‘Cuse forged a 7-5 mark in the 2022 regular season, could return for another year in Central New York.

But if I were a betting man, given that he has some buzz among experts for the 2023 NFL Draft, I would assume that he will depart the program after its upcoming appearance in the Pinstripe Bowl on December 29 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y., versus Big Ten Conference squad Minnesota.

And, yes, Syracuse football does have other quality running backs on its roster, including freshman LeQuint Allen Jr. No disrespect to Allen or others on the Orange roster, however, Owens is the No. 1 running back nationwide in the 2023 class, according to 247Sports and Rivals.com.

Previous media reports have said that Weitsman plans to offer $1 million annually to one five-star football player and one five-star basketball player to represent his companies.

As we’ve reported, Weitsman has reached out to several 2024 five-star basketball players. Personally, I think that Owens would have been a perfect candidate for Weitsman’s NIL opportunity for high-school football players, although Owens moved from Louisville to Texas A&M rather quickly.

In the larger context, though, these are the kinds of five-star prospects whom I hope that Weitsman will be in touch with moving forward.