Two years ago, Baron Batch felt as if he had it all.

Football talent. An athletic scholarship. The adulation that comes with being a highly publicized recruit. An outgoing and happy self-assurance that attracted friends.

About Baron Batch

• Position: Running back

• Height: 5-foot-11

• Weight: 200 pounds

• Resume: Rushed for 2,005 yards and 28 touchdowns as a Midland High senior in 2005. … During junior year, ran for 905 yards, caught 33 passes for 423 yards and scored a combined 12 touchdowns. … Received first scholarship offer from Kansas State. A strong student, he also was offered scholarships by Purdue, Duke and Northwestern.

• Last game: Oct. 14, 2006, at Colorado

• Last touchdown: Sept. 23, 2006, against Southeastern Louisiana

• And another thing: Batch was a two-time state track qualifier in the 100 meters, finishing sixth (10.76) as a junior and seventh (10.69) as a senior.

It was an intoxicating combination for an 18-year-old walking confidently across a college campus for the first time.

“Especially my first year up here,” the Texas Tech running back said. “First one in the club, last one to leave. Tried to be a player (socially). Tried to have as many girls … Tried it all, and found no satisfaction in any of that.

“I bring that up, because it was the old me,” Batch went on. “I did not get any satisfaction out of any of that. It led to a road that brought emptiness.”

Then came a series of setbacks – and seven surgeries in eight months – that threatened to wreck his football career before he turned 20. Some running backs not two years removed from 2,000 yards rushing as a high school senior might have wallowed in bitterness.

Instead, Batch thinks a broken ankle and a staph infection that dug into the bone might have been the best thing to happen to him. It at least made him miserable enough to listen to former teammates Keyunta Dawson, a minister’s son, and Manny Ramirez, a minister’s son-in-law.

“I was up in the hospital, I think after my sixth or seventh surgery, and I was (thinking), I need a change. I need some help.’ And those two came and prayed for me,” Batch said. “They were like, You need to come to Bible study. Start coming to church.’ And I thought, it’s not going to hurt. That’s where it started. Those two planted that seed. God has been faithful to water it, and it’s just grown, and he’s blessed me abundantly.”

Batch had played in six games as a true freshman before he suffered a broken ankle in mid-October 2006. From then through May 2007, the surgeries, all done in Lubbock, came one after another on just about a monthly basis.

Not surprisingly, Batch said he was told his football days could be over, and there were many days when he didn’t doubt it.

“Honestly, the actual injury I had wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just the infection,” he said. “(Doctors) said, We’re going to put you on these antibiotics and hopefully it takes care of it. It might not.’ It didn’t for a long time, until I got down on my knees and prayed, and it went away. I started getting better.”

Because of Tech coach Mike Leach’s policy limiting the release of information concerning injuries, the details of Batch’s ordeal remained mostly cloaked in generalities – staph infection, broken ankle – until the past year.

Happy with his spiritual transformation, Batch said he couldn’t help but spill the details even when asked in general terms about his comeback.

Of course, the specifics were known to those he interacted with on a daily basis, such as Seth Littrell, the Red Raiders’ running backs coach.

“A guy who faces adversity like that – the inner toughness he has, the drive and determination he has – just says a lot about him and his faith,” Littrell said. “He has a lot of faith in Christ and his walk with God. He’s a great story.”

The Tech sophomore also lost his mother during his freshman year in high school, so he had experience in dealing with emotional challenges.

Though Batch said his last surgery was in the spring of 2007, he showed remarkable signs of progress behind the scenes last season. Portraying the opponent’s top running back each week in practice, Batch stood out on the scout team. That was enough to make coaches believe he would be in the mix for playing time again this year – and he has been, battling senior Shannon Woods and sophomore Aaron Crawford.

Leach recently said Batch displays the most powerful running style of the three.

Littrell says he never doubted that Batch would make it back, provided that he was never told it was physically impossible.

Littrell could relate on some level, but not totally, to what his pupil endured. A former running back himself at the University of Oklahoma, Littrell had four shoulder surgeries – three during his Sooners career and one after. But he said his surgeries were done between seasons, and the injuries were never serious enough to make him miss a game.

“I can’t say I faced adversity like Baron,” he said. “I don’t think a lot of people have. With what he’s gone through – not only in college, but growing up – he’s had some adversity to overcome. He has the determination and drive to understand what he wants in life and go get it, and he’s going to be successful because of that.”

Batch attends Trinity Church in Lubbock. Growing up in Midland, he said his church attendance amounted to “fire-insurance religion.”

“Where you kind of go just in case,” he said.

In contrast, Batch said he loves to be interviewed about his more recent setbacks, “because it gives me an opportunity to tell how good God is.”

The last time Batch got onto the field for a real game was two seasons ago during a 30-6 loss at Colorado.

That was 20 games ago.

“It still seems unreal, after being out as long as I was, all the stuff that I went through, that it’s here,” he said of his return to the lineup. “I’ve looked forward to it for so long, I have no idea what kind of emotions are going to be going through me the first carry, the first game. I know one thing that won’t change: I’m going to praise God, because he put me back out here.”