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Texas A&M Football Recruiting

The Inverse: Texas A&M's recruiting momentum surges on into July

June 29, 2016
24,471

Oh Death, where is thy victory?

Certainly not on college football recruiting trails, where Texas A&M doubters are backpedaling faster than a five-star cornerback prospect.

Not two months since the “death knell” rang for Texas A&M, the Aggies might be the nation’s hottest team in recruiting.

Remember, on May 9, respected ESPN recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree suggested in a column that the University of Texas had regained the recruiting edge in the state of Texas.

At the time an unidentified SEC West coach, who recruits East Texas and Houston, pointed to receivers coach Aaron Moorehead’s ill-advised tweet presumably directed at decommitted quarterback Tate Martell as the “death knell” for A&M’s recruiting efforts in the state of Texas.

It's clear to everybody that recruits in Texas, and against Texas and Texas A&M, that there is a lot more love for Charlie than Kevin now, especially with the difference-making recruits. - An anonymous coach in May
"Last Wednesday was the death knell — the moment it became obvious it's Texas' state again," the unidentified coach said. "We're already talking to a few kids that were high on A&M but have cooled on them because of this. A&M will have to defend against that for the rest of this class, and unless it goes out and wins a bunch of games, it's going to be hard to recover from.

"You can bet Texas will take advantage of this and really focus on the loyalty stuff. It'll work well. It's going to be a really good summer for those guys in Austin."

Crabtree also quoted an anonymous coach who recruits the state of Texas to support that opinion.

"It's safe to say the narrative that has been repeated by a lot of people for the past two years that Charlie Strong can't beat out Kevin Sumlin for the top players in Texas can be erased," the coach said. "It's clear to everybody that recruits in Texas, and against Texas and Texas A&M, that there is a lot more love for Charlie than Kevin now, especially with the difference-making recruits."

However, a few weeks later, four-star rated linebacker Santino Marchiol committed to A&M and Crabtree responded in a tweet thusly:


Texas A&M has now picked up 10 commitments since Crabtree’s original article. The latest is quarterback Kellen Mond, an elite dual threat who was also recruited by national powers Ohio State, Clemson and Auburn.

National analysts, including Crabtree, are predicting Mond’s addition will greatly enhance the Aggies’ chances of luring highly coveted recruits like receivers Hezekiah Jones of Stafford and CeeDee Lamb of Richmond.

Crabtree responded to Mond’s commitment by tweeting: “A big, big get for the #Aggies. Will also be big in helping lure other top offensive players to Aggieland.”

That’s Mond’s plan.

Mond told TexAgs Radio on Tuesday to anticipate more commitments from high-profile prospects in the very near future.

“I think that we could be one of the top recruiting classes in the country,” Mond said. “It always helps when you get a few solid guys to commit. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few more receivers, linebackers and any other skill position players that start committing in the next few weeks in July.

“The goal is to definitely get more guys on board," Mond added. "My dad and I talked about it. (It's) time to start recruiting these players because those are the guys that I am going to be playing with in the future. I definitely need to get on guys like (Houston running back) Toneil Carter, CeeDee Lamb and also Hezekiah Jones. We need to start that Texas trend and get them on board.”

TexAgs Other top prospects like Richmond Foster's CeeDee Lamb have been looking the Aggies' way and may do so even more intently following Mond's commitment.
A few more highly rated prospects could result in A&M assembling one of the strongest recruiting classes in the country.

The Aggies’ 2017 recruiting class is already ranked eighth by Rivals and 12th by ESPN.

In comparison, Texas’ class is currently ranked 18th by ESPN. The recruiting process is still in its early stages, but obviously Texas hasn’t surpassed A&M in recruiting.

But to be fair, the unidentified SEC West coach who predicted Texas’ dominance recruits East Texas. The Longhorns do have four commitments from players in the East Texas area.

A&M doesn’t have any at this time.

Therefore, the Longhorns might have an advantage ... in a sliver down the East side.
Discussion from...

The Inverse: Texas A&M's recruiting momentum surges on into July

18,564 Views | 7 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by SouthTex99
Olin Buchanan
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Staff
S
The Inverse: Texas A&M's recruiting momentum surges on into July
rocky the dog
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AG
That sliver belongs to A&M. DeLoss Dodds gave it to us. It's ours.
SEC Champs
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Kinda early to be counting our chickens, Olin? There's a lot that can happen between now and NSD.
Aggie_Eric98
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The kool-aid is strong in this one.
Spyderman
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AG
quote:
The kool-aid is strong in this one.
CardiffGiant
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AG
The BAS is strong with both of you.
Shooz in Katy
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Lol. "Here, you can have some guys in our sliver. We'll take the rest of the country."
SouthTex99
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Great article Mr Olin. Spot on.
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