Recruiting Update

390,408 Views | 1093 Replies | Last: 16 days ago by Giggem
Expert Analysis
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AG
I'm not saying our defense is not going to be good, but I think that may be our biggest questionable area going into the fall.
We are going to be thin on expected starters back there and most of them will have little experience together.
Wannabeanaggie
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Fair point, but I like the athleticism of Calzada, Cornog, the Matulas and Gezsik, with Leb (or Pounds) at Holding Mid. Playing a flat 4 from the beginning and showing more discipline such that we don't give up so many counterattacks could yield a stingy defense. Ever the optimist.
GigEm200$
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HiddenAg2 said:

Did y'all see this on our 24 commit?




12/30/22

Updated official 2023 signing class and recent transfer. Updated current 2024 class.

Star Ratings Guide
***** National Top 25 prospect (elite impact player)
**** National Top 100 prospect (high level player with elite potential)
*** National Top 250 prospect (solid player and potential starter)
** Regional prospect (needs some development)


CLASS OF 2023 - OFFICIAL

D Margo Matula, 5'6", Houston, TX (Albion Hurricanes FC) ***** - The younger sister of Macy (2021 class), Margo is an anchor on the back line, routinely turning back opposing strikers and frustrating opponents. She is one of the best 1v1 defenders in the nation and can still develop her skill set further. Recently moved back to 5-star status and has camped with the U-20 National Team.
> Top Drawer Soccer National: #24
> Top Drawer Soccer Texas Region: #3
> U-20 National Team Camp (2021)
> ECNL/id2 National Camp (2018)
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

D Bella James, 5'6", Frisco, TX (FC Dallas) **** - Bella is one of better attacking defenders in the country and she specializes on free kicks and corners. A critical addition to a backline that needs to be rebuilt in '23. Will most likely play outside back at A&M.
> Top Drawer Soccer National: #44
> Top Drawer Soccer Texas Region: #9
> ECNL U17 All-American (2022)
> Highlights: Hudl
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

M Grace Ivey, 5'6", St Johns, FL (Florida Elite Soccer Academy) **** - Grace has been one the best players in Florida for several years now. An athletic, skilled midfielder with poise in possession, she finds teammates and delivers accurate through passes. Ivey can also be a goal scorer and has led her teams to multiple state titles. Experienced in national team camps as well. Gatorade Player of the Year in Florida.
> Top Drawer Soccer National: #83
> Top Drawer Soccer Florida Region: #3
> Gatorade Florida Player of the Year (2022)
> U-17 National Team Camp (2021)
> ODP National Camp (2022)
> ECNL/id2 National Team (2020)
> Articles: Jacksonville | Sun Sentinel | News4Jax (interview)
> Highlights: YouTube 1 | YouTube 2
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

F Taylor Jernigan, 5'7", San Antonio, TX (Classics Elite) **** - A goal scorer, Taylor finds the back of the net in a variety of ways. She has good speed and athleticism on the ball and can score from any angle when in the attack. She has been dominant on the high school level in San Antonio and she has a chance to be a very good striker at A&M. Also has experience at the national level with the U-17 team camp.
> Top Drawer Soccer National: #109
> Top Drawer Soccer Texas Region: #18
> U-17 National Team Camp (2021)
> Articles: SA Express News
> Highlights: Hudl | YouTube
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

M Adysen Armenta, 5'5", Spring, TX (Challenge SC) *** - Adysen is a skilled midfielder that has excellent possession technique and can involve teammates in the flow of a game. She can be a true central mid at A&M and control tempo when needed. She can develop into a very good prospect at A&M.
> ECNL U-17 National Selection Game - San Diego (2021)
> Articles: Houston Chronicle
> Highlights: Hudl
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

M Reese Rupe, 5'7", Spring, TX (Challenge SC) ** - Reese is our first true Aggie legacy as the daughter of Bryn Blalack and Ryan Rupe. A strong, athletic midfielder, Reese has a powerful shot that can score from distance. She also specializes in free kicks as well.
> Texas Class 6A All-Texas Second Team
> Articles: The Courier
> Highlights: Hudl
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

M Ella Goodwin, 5'10", College Station, TX (Challenge SC) ** - Ella is the daughter of Aggie football hall of honor Hunter Goodwin (also part owner of TexAgs). Ella is a tall, athletic midfielder who has a knack of finding the goal when needed. Will be interesting to watch her development in the program.
> District Offensive Player of the Year (2021)
> Highlights: Hudl
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

TRANSFERS

M Jazmine Wilkinson, Sr., 5'7", Nanaimo, British Columbia (Vancouver Whitecaps/Arizona St) *** - Jazmine comes to A&M from Arizona St, where she was named to the All Pac 12 freshmen team in 2020. She's been a mainstay starter in the midfield and has shown the ability to be a goal scorer as well. She Also is from a growing list of players to come to A&M from Vancouver Whitecaps in Vancouver, CA. Played with Mia Pante on the U20 Canada National Team this past year.
> Pac-12 All-Freshman Team (2020)
> U20 Canada National Team (2022)
> Highlights: YouTube
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer



CLASS OF 2024

M Emma Yolinsky, 5'6", Prosper, TX (Solar SC) ***** - One of the best attacking midfielders in the country, Emma is a skilled, clinical scorer that doesn't miss when she gets an opportunity in front of goal. She could also play forward at A&M. Plays with powerhouse Solar SC, which has three other elite prospects and dominates the competition. Emma has experience with the US National Team as well.
> Top Drawer Soccer National: #19
> Top Drawer Soccer Texas Region: #5
> U-17 National Team Camp (2022)
> ECNL/id2 National Camp (2020)
> Highlights: Hudl | YouTube
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

M Emma Hoang, 5'5", Flower Mound TX (Solar SC) *** - Emma is a strong, holding midfielder that finds teammates with good touch and precision passing. She can also score when needed and has a non-stop motor and work ethic to chase down opponents and win possession. Plays with fellow Aggie commit Emma Yolinsky on Solar SC.
> Top Drawer Soccer National: #182
> Top Drawer Soccer Texas Region: #30
> High School state champion (2021)
> Articles: The Eagle
> Highlights: Hudl
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

D Mary Claire Torn, 5'11", Houston, TX (Albion Hurricanes FC) *** - A tall, physical center back, Torn has developed into one of the better defenders in the state as she works her way more national showcases in the ECNL with Albion.
> Articles: Vype
> Highlights: YouTube
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

GK Sydney Fuller, 5'10", Keller, TX (Dallas Texans) ** - A solid GK prospect. Has started to receive some more recognition lately for her play with Dallas Texans.
> Highlights: Hudl
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

GK Maysen Veronda, 5'10", San Juan Capistrano, CA (Slammers FC) ** - Maysen has good instincts in the goal and has made some incredible saves at the club level over the last year. Another prospect from Slammers FC to come to A&M.
> Articles: Orange County Register
> Highlights: YouTube
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer

M Kat Campbell, 5'8", Frisco, TX (DKSC) ** - Solid midfield prospect. Reminds me a lot of current Aggie midfielder Taylor Pounds. She's physical on the ball and makes good decisions to find an open teammate.
> Highlights: Hudl
> Profile: Top Drawer Soccer


**NOTE: For information on previous recruiting classes, please click HERE
Offside
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Dallas-based Solar SC just had their 07 team win another national championship, and their 06 team were national runner ups. Keeping my fingers crossed that the Solar pipeline we've forged of late keeps flowing (Yolinsky, Hoang, Becerra, Cornog, Leb, McDonald, Gunnarson) and we can keep these players in-state.
HiddenAg2
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Updated the incoming 2023 class with final rankings and some corrections. This is a good class, ranked in the Top 10 nationally. We will need to see more consistent recruiting at this level for A&M to return to national prominence.

Unfortunately, the 2024 class had 4 elite Top 20 prospects and we failed to commit any of them. Texas has one of them committed. Out of state programs like UNC, Stanford, and Duke continue to poach our best prospects, which makes it hard to build a roster good enough to compete at the highest level. Of the Top 10 prospects in the state, A&M has only 1 (Yolinsky) committed.

For 2025, the state of Texas has 7 elite prospects at this point. Only one (for UNC) is committed so far. This is a huge opportunity for Coach G to snag at least a couple of these prospects in a critical recruiting year.
jessexy
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AG
Bella James most likely going to redshirt this season. Surgery and rehab going well but I don't think she should waste a season for 5 or 6 games. Also depends on how badly we need outside backs this season.
Offside
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Looks like the 1st 2025 commitment is secured. Tessa Arreola, an outside back for FC Dallas and Mexican youth national team player. Ranked as the #162 player in the class of '25.

Offside
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Another defender out of the Dallas area locked in for 2025, Bailey Cate.
A centerback for the Dallas Texans, she is reported to be a great kid and a lifelong Aggie fan. Unranked nationally, she is fairly athletic and solid on the ball. Cate projects more as long term depth on the backline, and rather than an early impact contributor.

mullokmotx
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AG
Checked Bailey Cate on the Top Drawer Soccer site. They rank her as a 3-star and looks like she attends Lubbock Cooper HS.
mullokag
Offside
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Another 2025 commitment is locked in. Lucy Landherr is a left sided player who probably slots in as an attacking outside back. Plays club with Legends out of SoCal, and is ranked #196 nationally.
Offside
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12 of the top 20 ranked players in Texas for 2025 have announced commitments, and none of those will be Aggies. It is still early in the process, though.
HiddenAg2
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Offside said:

12 of the top 20 ranked players in Texas for 2025 have announced commitments, and none of those will be Aggies. It is still early in the process, though.
Yes, as of now A&M is really struggling in the 2024 and 2025 class for the top kids in the state. North Carolina's resurgence with their new stadium is helping them clean up in the state in the 2024/2025 classes. Hard to compete when you can't keep at least a few elite kids in the state. And now with Texas rising and recruiting well, it's become even more difficult. Anyone want to step up and fund some NIL for women's soccer?
AggieCrew44
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AG
HiddenAg2 said:

Offside said:

12 of the top 20 ranked players in Texas for 2025 have announced commitments, and none of those will be Aggies. It is still early in the process, though.
Yes, as of now A&M is really struggling in the 2024 and 2025 class for the top kids in the state. North Carolina's resurgence with their new stadium is helping them clean up in the state in the 2024/2025 classes. Hard to compete when you can't keep at least a few elite kids in the state. And now with Texas rising and recruiting well, it's become even more difficult. Anyone want to step up and fund some NIL for women's soccer?
Lol if you think people want to pay high school girls soccer players
Giggem
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AG
HiddenAg2 said:

Offside said:

12 of the top 20 ranked players in Texas for 2025 have announced commitments, and none of those will be Aggies. It is still early in the process, though.
Yes, as of now A&M is really struggling in the 2024 and 2025 class for the top kids in the state. North Carolina's resurgence with their new stadium is helping them clean up in the state in the 2024/2025 classes. Hard to compete when you can't keep at least a few elite kids in the state. And now with Texas rising and recruiting well, it's become even more difficult. Anyone want to step up and fund some NIL for women's soccer?
Facilities are cool, and they probably help a bit (a small bit), but if facilities were the main deciding factor in recruiting, then UNC never would have won 21 national championships (their old stadium was atrocious, yet they dominated because of their coaches and their tradition and their reputation as the best of the best).

And USC and UCLA would not be great at women's football, either, if it's all about facilities. USC plays on the equivalent of a junior high youth field, for cryin' out loud. Yet they're a top-tier program when it comes to recruiting and results. UCLA plays in a weird track-type stadium like UNC did for decades. It hasn't prevented UCLA from being a wildly successful program.

And, in the SEC, if facilities were the deciding factor, then Kentucky would be dominating women's football.

But it's not about facilities. It turns out kids want to go play for great coaches and win championships, and thus many great players in the SEC have recently gravitated to Arkansas and South Carolina despite their less-than-SEC-best facilities.

Do I want us to have great facilities? Yes, and I've helped fund them. But if we fall back to complaining that Aggie Soccer can't recruit or can't win because we don't have the nation's best facilities, then we've already lost.
HiddenAg2
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Giggem said:

HiddenAg2 said:

Offside said:

12 of the top 20 ranked players in Texas for 2025 have announced commitments, and none of those will be Aggies. It is still early in the process, though.
Yes, as of now A&M is really struggling in the 2024 and 2025 class for the top kids in the state. North Carolina's resurgence with their new stadium is helping them clean up in the state in the 2024/2025 classes. Hard to compete when you can't keep at least a few elite kids in the state. And now with Texas rising and recruiting well, it's become even more difficult. Anyone want to step up and fund some NIL for women's soccer?
Facilities are cool, and they probably help a bit (a small bit), but if facilities were the main deciding factor in recruiting, then UNC never would have won 21 national championships (their old stadium was atrocious, yet they dominated because of their coaches and their tradition and their reputation as the best of the best).

And USC and UCLA would not be great at women's football, either, if it's all about facilities. USC plays on the equivalent of a junior high youth field, for cryin' out loud. Yet they're a top-tier program when it comes to recruiting and results. UCLA plays in a weird track-type stadium like UNC did for decades. It hasn't prevented UCLA from being a wildly successful program.

And, in the SEC, if facilities were the deciding factor, then Kentucky would be dominating women's football.

But it's not about facilities. It turns out kids want to go play for great coaches and win championships, and thus many great players in the SEC have recently gravitated to Arkansas and South Carolina despite their less-than-SEC-best facilities.

Do I want us to have great facilities? Yes, and I've helped fund them. But if we fall back to complaining that Aggie Soccer can't recruit or can't win because we don't have the nation's best facilities, then we've already lost.

I don't really disagree with this. It's just another reason to pick UNC over A&M now, which makes it even tougher to keep kids at home. I think some prospects are seeing the gradual decline at A&M and are looking elsewhere now.
sharpdressedman
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Coach G has a ceiling, and it's the Elite 8, with one anomaly, and everyone knows it. Recruits who are elite and want to compete in the College Cup for national championships have decades of G's results to convince them to go elsewhere. Moreover, the program's recent decline compounds the difficulty of recruiting enough top tier talent to be a national contender.


Edit for clarity.
Gap
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AG
NCAA women's soccer allows 14 total scholarships. Most teams carry around 30 players. How many players are on full scholarships? Are most players on half-scholarships?
03TXAG
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AG
Offside
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Another 2025 commit. Riley Crooks is a defender out of California who plays for Slammers. Unranked nationally, but earns 3 stars from TDS.

Offside
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The 2025 class continues to be a bit disappointing. So far, it compares unfavorably with the 2024 class which at least has a top headliner in Emma Yolinski.

Sixteen players from the 07 Solar National champions and 06 Solar National runner ups are top 150 National recruits, most have now committed, none to A&M. Five are gonna be Sips. Those are the types of difference making players we seem to be suddenly be missing out on.

And if you think NLI isn't a factor in women's soccer, you are wrong. I know of at least 3 girls committed to other Power 5 schools who will be getting 5 figures annually. It ain't football money, but it's out there for the elite players.


Offside
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Looks like a really nice pickup for 2025 was just announced, Holly Storer, from FC Dallas. She is one of the better goal scorers in Texas, and this is an important get. We now have a top 20 player from Texas on the board!
Hillcountrybound
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AG
Offside
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Storer is ranked #70 nationally. Can play anywhere in a front 3, with a nose for goal.
Expert Analysis
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AG
Which one of y'all asked G about NIL and recruiting this evening? I couldn't hear the response as my practice was starting.
Grapes
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My daughter plays on a top team in Ontario, Canada. What events would our girls need to attend to get in front of Aggie recruiters?
Offside
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What club does she play for? Any of the ECNL showcases or playoffs will be well attended by the staff. If she isn't in that league, Challenge Soccer club hosts a showcase in the late spring that usually draws in most all of the Texas colleges, including A&M.
taylorswift13_
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Best of luck to them on the recruiting process!
Grapes
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Its Club Roma in Niagara. I'll take a look at those events you suggested. Thank you.
jessexy
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AG
Signing Day was yesterday. I know some on here have had gripes about A&M missing high-level Texas recruits and targeting Cali players, but this class if filled with Texas players and has some really good ones. The GK will have the chance to start from day 1 and the 2 midfielders Campbell and Yolinsky are big-time. I was told the Canadian player reminds some coaches of Sydney Leroux, FWIW.

Don't forget that Becca James will be back in full effect for next season and the defense looks to be damn good, if young.
MookieBlaylock
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AG
Gonna need some forwards ...
Mir San Mir
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No surprise, but Maile posted that she is leaving.
Mir San Mir
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Carissa Boeckman also posted that she is moving on from the A&M soccer program. Two of our best players in three days!
Expert Analysis
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AG
What new app are kids posting on these days? All I do is twitter.
Mir San Mir
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AG
Ha! I guess it is X-er now.
Expert Analysis
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AG
G posted a YesSir!
 
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