TexAgs' recruiting analyst Ryan Brauninger joined TexAgs Radio on Wednesday morning for another edition of Recruiting Country, highlighting the latest news and notes from the recruiting trail surrounding Texas A&M.
Key notes from Recruiting Country
- Micah Hudson took a trip to College Station to see some people. He was around campus. He spent Saturday and Sunday in College Station. It’s intersting. That's two trips in the last few weeks for him. I would still lean heavily towards him signing with Texas Tech, but he sat down in this chair and told me that it's Texas Tech or Texas A&M.
- There is not a big crowd around Micah's recruitment. There is something that keeps him coming back. Whether it's a relationship on staff, the feel of College Station or the proximity, he can decide he wants to come to College Station on a whim. It's tougher to do that if you want to go to Lubbock.
- Micah's recruitment has the Evan Stewart vibe. Early in the recruiting cycle, A&M had no chance at Evan. Everyone was saying it. He visited. He showed up again and again, and by the third visit, you thought there was something here. Evan was never committed to another school. Micah is committed to Texas Tech.
- Keeping tabs on his visit plans is going to be interesting to follow. If he turns back up at A&M for South Carolina, ACU or Mississippi State, that would be three visits in a month-plus. We are keeping tabs on it. He is not in any hurry to come off his decision to Texas Tech. He is a cerebral, aware kid.
- It's not clear weather in Lubbock either. You are in year two of Joey McGuire, so it's easier to sell the vision. Texas Tech and A&M have done the best job of recruiting him and building relationships. They are what he is looking for a college experience in terms of the town and surroundings. He doesn't want big and flashy. Texas and USC never played a roll. He is a quiet kid. The laid-back nature of Lubbock and College Station is what he looking for.
- Cameron Coleman will be here this weekend. His high school team is on a bye week. He was incredible last week. He is a superstar. He is a 5-star prospect and producing at a 5-star level as a player. He had nine catches for 294 yards and four touchdowns.
- That is not the only week Cam has had insane numbers. He is also playing against the best competition. He will spend the weekend in College Station. He has family ties to Bryan and Houston. Auburn and Alabama are trying to get him to come away from his pledge to A&M.
- The negative recruiting arrows were being flung from every direction. That's why the bye week was important for the staff to get out there a quell some of that.
- Drelon Miller decommitting felt like that would open the floodgates. The coaching and recruiting staff have stopped it right there. Based on everything I have heard, the door isn't shut on A&M with Drelon. Now, you have to win. If you could win the next two, that would be massive to keep what you got on the recruiting front.
- If you win against South Carolina and beat a ranked Ole Miss team, you will be heavily favored against Mississippi State and ACU, which means you roll into Baton Rouge at 8-3 with a four-game winning streak, playing the best football you have, spoil LSU and go 9-3 at their place. There is an argument to be made that they need to win, and it needs to look a certain way.
- You have to get to Ole Miss without losing anybody else. Keep the ship afloat. Don't let any more cracks happen. To me, it's more important to beat Ole Miss than LSU. You would set yourself up for that month with a couple of home games to get guys to visit. From a recruiting lens, go to Baton Rouge 8-3, and that will keep everybody in the class and remain in the conversations for top targets.
- There is real pressure to perform on Saturday now. They have completely eliminated their wiggle room. You have to win the games.
- I know Conner Weigman went hunting during the bye week with a cast on. I have not talked to him directly about how he is feeling. I think if they get to 8-3, and Weigman is on the sideline for the majority of it? That helps. At 7-5 or 6-6, nobody will care. It's happened three years in a row where the starter got hurt, and they have to play with a backup. Does that mean they will lose games? Having the selling point of Weigman being out and winning eight to nine games, then you could say they would be a 10-win team with him, at least.
- Every case for every kid is different. 8-4, you can sign a top-10 class. 9-3 with a bowl win, I think you sign a top-5 class.
- In this 2024 offensive line recruiting class, you haven't lost any of those kids. You have rock-solid guys with you, like Ashton Funk and Coen Echols. You have sensational athletes in Weston Davis and Blake Ivy. You pulled in Isendre Ahfua. Echols is getting pushed hard by Auburn. He could visit there. Davis is hearing from LSU, Texas and Oklahoma. Ivy is a private kid. He chose A&M over LSU.
- Tristan Jernigan is taking an official visit to Alabama for the LSU game. He is originally from Alabama. It's not nothing. It's a legitimate threat. It's definitely something to watch.
- The Aggies can put out all of these fires with performances on the field. These are impressionable kids who have impressionable inner circles. There could be little cracks in the belief, and that is all those opposing schools need.
