Texas A&M took a hit in its running back room Thursday when Mike Elko said redshirt freshman Deondrae “Tiger” Riden Jr. will miss the regular season because of an undisclosed injury.
The news landed as a surprise, especially after media had seen the second-year back putting together a strong preseason and looking like a contender for the No. 3 job behind Rueben Owens and Jamarion Morrow. Even so, Elko isn’t sounding rattled about the group he has left.
In the weeks before the regular season, coaches usually keep injury details tucked away, and Elko has followed that playbook. He had already been talking up Owens’ offseason progress, and the expectation now is that Owens is positioned to open the year as the starter. Some around the program still see a committee approach, particularly with Morrow’s continued rise as one of the best athletes on the roster.
Owens also appears to have cleaned up the contact-balance issues that had shown up before, giving him a clearer path to the top spot. As Elko put it:
"What you have now is a healthy, mature version of him that is physically ready to take on the rigors of the SEC."
"We're excited for him to be able to go out and finally put out his absolute best, healthiest foot forward into a new season."
Even with Riden out, Texas A&M still has enough pieces to build a more dangerous ground game for offensive coordinator Holmon Wiggins. Owens and Morrow give the Aggies the kind of one-two punch they need after last season’s late collapse on the ground, and freshman KJ Edwards and Carsyn Baker add more depth to the mix.
Elko made it clear he likes what he has seen from the group as a whole.
"(Rueben Owens) and Jamarion (Morrow) have had strong games. We're happy with what (KJ) Edwards and (Carsyn) Baker have done in camp. We feel good about the group we have."
"We certainly feel good and believe in what we have."
Edwards and Baker have both taken another step this preseason, and their different skill sets should give the staff reasons to keep them involved. With the new 5-for-5 rule in place, coaches will be pushed to play younger talent that is too good to leave parked, especially with depth across most positions in the new nine-game SEC schedule.
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