Texas commit Freddie Dubose looking for a bounceback season
The 2022 season for wide receiver Freddie Dubose didn’t go the way he was hoping, with a knee injury cutting Dubose’s junior campaign short before it ever began. After a full year of repair and recovery, Dubose is back in action with his Smithson Valley teammates and he’s ready to show everybody his full potential.
It won’t be easy, Dubose knows. He has to regain the comfort level he had before the knee injury, but he’s put in the work and followed doctors’ orders to give himself a chance for a highly-successful senior season.
“I’m good. I’m just getting back into the groove of things with this whole football piece,” Dubose said. “Being back in pads, being able to go full contact against somebody, I’m definitely shaking off some rust for sure.”
Dubose, a Texas Longhorn commitment, participated in track and field in the spring and has been going through football workouts for a few months, but getting into game readiness is another step that needs to be taken. He feels he’s close to 100 percent but won’t truly know until he gets a game or two under his belt.
“To be honest, I’m probably around 90-95 percent right now. I’ll probably be 100 percent after like a couple games. I just have to get back to doing so much that I did before, so my knee can get used to how long I’m going to be on it, can take what I put it through in a game,” Dubose said.
Overcoming the physical issues that come with a significant knee injury takes time. There’s also the mental element of recovery after basically sitting out a year, but Dubose is confident in the work he’s put in to get himself back in playing shape.
“Of course, it floats in the back of my head from time to time just because it happened when I was playing,” Dubose said of the injury. “But I don’t really think about it like that anymore because my doctor did what he was supposed to do with my leg, and I did what I was supposed to do in recovery.”
The goals for his senior season are clear – Dubose wants to be better than he was pre-injury, he hopes to move up the recruiting rankings with a successful season and he and his team have their sights on winning a state championship.
On the recruiting front, Dubose committed to Texas back in June. He remains locked in despite other schools like UTSA and SMU continuing to pressure him to keep an open mind.
“I feel good about my decision. There’s nothing leading me off of Texas,” Dubose said. There are still schools that will hit me up a lot, try to flip me. I don’t tell them anything. I’m just kind of going with the process at this point.”
Dubose and Smithson Valley kick off their season against San Antonio Reagan on August 25. Dubose plans to be in Austin for the Longhorns’ season-opener against Rice.