No one in the Texas locker room pointed fingers at Keaontay Ingram, even though the optics could have made him an easy target.
Down 33-29 with under three minutes to go in their game against TCU on Oct. 3, the Longhorns were inching toward victory. Then, Ingram fumbled the football at the Horned Frogs 1-yard line. It was a bitter end for Texas, which had been plagued by penalties and missteps all afternoon.
The junior running back fumbled the football again in Texas’ loss to Oklahoma the next week.
Ingram said he’s disappointed when he doesn’t meet his standards, but he’s chosen to give himself grace.
“I make mistakes just like any other back in the country,” Ingram said. “I don’t feel like I lost any confidence.”
His teammates haven’t lost faith either. Senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger said after the loss to TCU that Ingram did not lose the game for the team. He reminded the running back that the outcomes of football games aren’t life or death.
Ingram found redemption against the Sooners, despite his early fumble. He caught Ehlinger’s 2-yard touchdown pass that sent the game to overtime.
“Keaontay is a heck of a player, and we all love him to death,” Ehlinger said after the loss to OU. “To call his number there at the end, shows all the trust that we have.”
Football is not the be-all-end-all, but Ingram is still committed to improving. It’s something he wants to do for his brothers in the locker room who still believe in him.
“When I made those mistakes, I thought about those guys and took them into consideration and thought that I needed to … get back to the fundamentals just a little bit harder,” Ingram said.
Last year, Ingram was a key contributor at running back, as the position group was ravaged by injuries. He has more help this season in sophomore Roschon Johnson and freshman Bijan Robinson.
Ingram and Robinson’s combined 28 carries tallied over 100 yards rushing against Baylor last Saturday. While Ingram said being on the sideline more this season makes it harder to get into a rhythm, the running backs are able to support each other as they alternate reps.
The rotation at the position is something head coach Tom Herman has implemented not only to improve the Longhorns’ running game but to prevent one player from becoming a workhorse.
“When you got a bunch of guys that have earned the right to play and nobody has separated themselves from one another, … then I think the prudent thing to do is to keep everybody fresh,” Herman said.
Texas’ running backs, who have rushed for a combined 510 yards this season, will watch a master at work in redshirt junior Chuba Hubbard when they head up to Stillwater on Saturday.
Hubbard has put up video game numbers for Oklahoma State this season with a total of 478 rushing yards through four games.
But the Cowboys’ Hubbard is for the Texas defense to worry about. The Oklahoma State defense on the other hand will try to limit the Longhorns’ ground game and maybe force a few fumbles.
Ingram is not dwelling on the past, but he knows what it will take to be successful this weekend.
“They’re pretty well disciplined on defense, so we’re going to have to tighten up fundamentals,” Ingram said. “We’re going to have to be real disciplined, and we’re going to have to execute.”
