Recruiting Country: The latest recruiting news surrounding the Maroon & White

Key notes from Recruiting Country

• Malick Sylla‍ is an enormous deal for getting A&M kicked off in 2022 and getting the momentum rolling in Houston. I think you'll see that continue. Bobby Taylor has now set a date for February. There are other Houston-area kids with accelerated timelines that have ties to A&M. There could even be a couple of Dallas kids we see commit, such as Ernest Cooper IV‍ or Bear Alexander‍ or Neto Umeozulu‍ or Cole Hutson‍. There are some big prospects in DFW too. The biggest deal that has happened is that verbal pledge for Malick Sylla.
   
• Sylla is a borderline five-star defensive end. I think he's even more highly touted than Donell Harris was coming out. If you're going to create a defensive end prospect at 17 years old, you'd want them to look like Malick Sylla. He's not clumsy or awkward. He's explosive. I saw him at a camp doing some drills, and people would stop to watch him do drills because kids built like that aren't supposed to move like that. His ceiling is much like Reuben Fatheree's: If he hits his marks, he will walk out of Texas A&M as a very rich man.
   
• The good thing about Sylla is that you probably won't need him to come in and play right away because of what you've done on the defensive line recently. They're continuing to stack talent at those positions. You don't have to do much on the defensive line in 2022, but the ones you do take are going to big-time players.
   
• I think there's a wave of commitments coming. There is a chance a kid we haven't been talking about pops too. The momentum is real. With so many kids coming out of Houston, they all know each other because they've played together since Pop Warner. There are some long-time friendships here. Recruiting is an all-out sprint each day, and A&M still has a lot of sprints to finish to ultimately signing these kids. Still, they like their position over that of their recruiting rivals.
   
• Think about what Cade Klubnik‍ did in the final two weeks of his season. He beat North Shore and Dematrius Davis‍ in Houston on a final drive that went 80 yards. They scored on fourth-and-1 to win the game. The next week, he goes to Dallas and beats Southlake Carroll and Quinn Ewers‍. Oh, and he was MVP of the state championship game.
   
• Klubnik is talking to coaches and taking the normal progression of how these offers come in. I know he is super pumped about what an A&M offer means. I'm trying to get him on the phone to talk about that offer. Klubnik does have A&M ties, but they were late to offer. The Aggies are a little late to the party, and other schools have a jump on them.
   
• The Aggies offering Klubnik does not mean that they're done evaluating quarterback prospects or other guys in the state. They will continue to watch film, and if they feel like offering an offer, they will.
   
• Jaray Bledsoe‍ , out of Bremond, recently got an A&M offer as well. Watching his tape makes you go, "Holy cow." He moves differently. I highly suggest you look up his highlight clips. It is insanely impressive.
   
• We know the dead period has been moved to April, and by then, hopefully, the vaccine will be out there more and more. We're getting closer and closer to this thing returning to normal.
   
• The difference between Klubnik and Conner Weigman‍ is that Weigman is more of a gunslinger who takes some chances, whereas Klubnik is safer with the football. Klubnik is very fast, but his speed is straight-line speed. Weigman is shifty, and it's kind of like Johnny Manziel where it turns into backyard football. They're different quarterbacks, but you can win a lot of football games with either one of them.
   
• Getting into specifics makes it tough, but I think the next commit will come from the city of Houston. I think it'll be within the next couple of days.
   
• The offer to Klubnik is absolutely a committable offer, but he just tweeted that he's still open to other schools.
   
• I don't think there will be any other new names that will pop up in the class of 2021 between now and February 3. Right now, it's LJ Johnson Jr‍, Jordan Moko‍, Tywone Malone‍, Brian Thomas‍ and Tar'varish Dawson‍. If they don't fill it out, they can turn to the portal.
   
• The Tywone Malone visit went well by all accounts. If you follow recruiting closely and you are under the assumption that this baseball is something to put on the back burner, that is not the case. He is not a football player that is good at baseball. From what I am told, he is a baseball player that is really good at football. His mind works like a baseball player's. He is interested in bunt coverages and relay throws in the same way he's interested in leverage on the defensive line. Both A&M football and baseball are very interested in this guy. Justin Seely and Elijah Robinson have done a great job. Rob Childress is very close to his inner circle. Jimbo has put together a plan to let him play both, and he has done it in the past. During the spring, you're a baseball guy. You do baseball weights, nutrition and all of it. If there is nothing else to do during baseball season, then you can join some of the football meetings and such. Then, during football season, it's all football and no baseball. I think Tywone would be splitting time evenly between both sports.
   
• When you look at Weigman and Jimbo's history with quarterbacks, some of his most successful quarterbacks have all been baseball players.
   
• Malone is still in communication with A&M, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Florida State and Rutgers a little bit. From what I understand, he is expected to visit Oxford at some point.
   
• LJ Johnson is expected to visit Austin. He has been to College Station the last couple of weekends, but he is going to get a feel for Austin. I have not wavered, and I feel like A&M is going to get the kid. I am still leaning towards the Aggies. With what A&M has done on the field and in Houston, that's huge. The Aggies have also done some serious work on the offensive line, and that's a big piece of what LJ is looking for.