We really need a good year in LB recruiting. Hearing that Dontavious Jackson initially didn't have us in his new list because we had slacked off on recruiting him.

The recruiting staffing may need to be addressed because we should be recruiting the heck out of every SEC quality HS LB in Texas.

The lack of talent/depth at LB is hurting us on D.

Agreed, but there has to be a reason. Flame me if you wish, but I trust Chavis and his reasons. I don't think we slack off or avoid players without a reason. I trust that Chavis is focused on bringing in the players we need. On the other side, these recruits need to want to be here. I drink the kool-aide by the buckets but if the kids doesn't see it, our efforts can only get us so far. I'd really like to see the Juco kid from KS roll in for a visit.

Go check his Twitter and you may feel different.

"Adding Texas A&M back to my top schools list" were his exact words.

Just saw that. Numbers site is all over the LB position this morning. Interesting for sure.

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Win February if you can, but I'd rather win in the fall.

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Whether or not anyone here wants to admit it, the two are directly tied together.

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Win February if you can, but I'd rather win in the fall.

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Whether or not anyone here wants to admit it, the two are directly tied together.

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Since 2002 (as far back as Rivals.com team rankings go), nearly every team that landed a No. 1 class in the nation eventually won a national championship. Texas signed the top class in 2002 and won a title three years later. LSU signed the top class in 2003 and won two titles with those players. USC inked the top class in 2004 and played in back-to-back title games. Florida won the recruiting championship in 2007 and the BCS championship in '08. Alabama claimed three national championships after winning four recruiting titles in between 2008-12.

Further, every single BCS national champion had at least two top-10 classes in the four years leading up to its championship season.

Still need more?

The good folks at SB Nation Matt Hinton and Bud Elliott have done marvelous work breaking down the statistics as it relates to recruiting rankings. I suggest reading the articles, but the gist of their research reveals two telling and undeniable truths: 1) Teams with better recruiting classes win more games and 2) players with more stars are more likely to be drafted.

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you have to win February to win in January

My point is, why is there a thread bemoaning the recruiting ability of our staff? They obviously didn't make Jackson a priority once we had Dodson in the mix, despite what grade the recruiting services give him. The truth is there isn't a lot of elite linebacker talent in the state this year, and once we had the one middle linebacker we were looking for we backed off of Jackson. We also backed off of Fowler because of grade/personality concerns. What other SEC quality linebacker are we talking about?

I'm not sure what more you expect of the staff. Per Luicci, the target number of linebackers for this class is 2 maybe 3. Chavis has been here for all of 9 months and we have the one middle linebacker we were looking for, and we in a good position with McCulloch, the best outside linebacker in the state.

Have we had the best linebacker hauls in the past few years? Obviously not. And they've had terrible lucking staying healthy. Our linebackers are clearly holding this defense back, but is that the fault of this staff? It seems like Sumlin has already addressed the issue in hiring Chavis.

Yes recruiting matters, but that's not an argument against my point. Is not getting Jackson this year what is going to keep us from the top class? With or without him we are in a good position to land a top 10 class again. Whether we end up getting him or not, I'm just saying I feel more confident in trusting Chavis to evaluate the talent and bring who he wants rather than going by the rankings.

My point is with the dire need for LB's we have, every SEC quality HS LB in Texas should be hearing from us regularly.

That doesn't mean we necessarily accept a commitment.

We are behind the eight ball when we let a gifted guy feel neglected and then warm up again 3 months before signing day.

We have recruiting staff drawing SEC level paychecks who should be making even lower priority prospects feel the attention from Texas A&M. I bet you Bama does that.

Maybe the trend of losing commitments from two 5 star offensive linemen, a high 4 star receiver and now a 5 star receiver prospect is cumulative. Sumlin doesn't coach a position so I trust he has a handle on the type of player he wants to recruit.

Define losing commitment? I would say it's a decommit, which is always hard to deal with. Expecting staff to roll into another state and win every battle is ridiculous. Getting the two guys we got the last two years hasn't happened in 15 years at A&M.

Some of the other guys you allude to have obvious warts (grades, behavioral or looking for $).

Because we're not completely sold on him. He really isn't a great fit for Chiefs defenses. That said he does have some skill so he's probably still a take, but stop looking at the stars next to someone's name and just assuming he's a fit.

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My point is with the dire need for LB's we have, every SEC quality HS LB in Texas should be hearing from us regularly.

That doesn't mean we necessarily accept a commitment.

We are behind the eight ball when we let a gifted guy feel neglected and then warm up again 3 months before signing day.

We have recruiting staff drawing SEC level paychecks who should be making even lower priority prospects feel the attention from Texas A&M. I bet you Bama does that.

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Do you follow alabama recruiting as closely as A&Ms? If not, please stop assuming. Id guess there are plenty of quality recruits that feel they don't get the love from alabama.

I just wish the staff would start calling the high school coaches to see if they have a LB with the passion and work ethic and loves to play football like Dat Nguyening and go get that guy no matter what his rating.

And that's the shallow kind of thinking that makes us all roll our eyes at you.

Your sentimentally driven comment if done is inefficient. Most high d1 programs either deploy large support staffs (bama) or at least enough graduate assistants to compile lists of kids to recruit- invite to camp, review tape, invite for visits, go watch their games, etc. there are very few diamonds in a rough and every program always hit on a few. A&M has hit on a few over its history and dat was one of them as a three star who had to redshirt. Our entire staff does not have the time to be so narrow in its approach to recruiting. They likely have a good 85-90+ Coverage of class 4a - 6a top level athletes. They likely reach out to them with every possible allowable form of communication. They prioritize them based on evaluated talent and interest. The highest evaluated talent with indicated interest gets recruited first because if multiple 4 or 5 star recruits indicate interest and attend your camps and perform well, then you fill your class with those players first. There's no fantasy world where you invest hundreds of hours to find a single player that you take a flyer on for a single position. That's just plain stupid. Be more thoughtful and less emotionally sentimental.

Just FYI, Jackson seems to be handcuffed to Chris Brown, elsiks safety and his good friend. Looks like they'll go somewhere together.

We haven't offered brown. Having seen them both play a few times, I'd say both are overrated. And until yesterday, Jackson had shown almost no interest in A&M for months.

Define losing commitment? I would say it's a decommit, which is always hard to deal with. Expecting staff to roll into another state and win every battle is ridiculous. Getting the two guys we got the last two years hasn't happened in 15 years at A&M.

Really, other programs don't roll into Texas every year and consistently take many of the best players. Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon, Notre Dame, etc.

If you look at Chief's defenses at LSU, he never really recruited linebackers that were initially listed as linebacker prospects, he recruited athletes and put them at LB and relied heavily on DB's and front four...and probably for good reason. Linebacker recruiting has been misses all over the country...ESPECIALLY Inside Linebackers.

From 2010 to 2015 (I include 2015 because Chief was still heavily involved with LSU for last years recruiting class), LSU signed only two Inside Linebackers ranked at least in the top 30 in the country, Melvin Jones in 2013 (moved to fullback and then got kicked off team), and Clifton Garrett in 2014 (no longer on team).

From 2010 to 2015, LSU signed only six Outside Linebackers ranked at least in the top 35 in the country. Of those, only 3 actually played their full career at LSU, with Kwon Alexander being the best so far, he's currently with the Buccaneers.

In that time, here is the 'top' Linebackers (inside and outside) the sips have signed:

Malik Jefferson
Anthony Wheeler
Cecil Cherry
Cameron Townsend
Andrew Beck
Cameron Hampton
Deoundrei Davis
Timothy Cole
Dalton Santos
Alex De La Torre
Toshiro Davis
Peter Jinkens
Kendell Thompson
Chet Moss
Steve Edmond
Tevin Jackson

With the exception of Malik Jefferson, did any of those become (or look like) what you would call a great linebacker(s)?

Even Reuben Foster was considered a 'can't miss' prospect coming out of high school, and I'm not gonna say he's a bad player, but he's not the Butkus Award winner everybody said he would be.

LSU's current LB starters:

Lamar Louis - 6.0" 220 Athlete in 2012 class
Deion Jones - 6.2" 200 Linebacker in 2012 class (more safety size)
Kendell Beckwith - 6.3" 228 Athlete in 2013 class

I think Chief is looking at Okeke and possibly Deontay Anderson, Charles Oliver and Sewo Olonilua as LB prospects. Wouldn't surprise me to see Mark Jackson playing a standup LB spot and possibly seeing Justin Dunning move to a LB spot.

Tyrel Dodson will be a fantastic linebacker. If you follow any of his games, he also plays running back (and is a damn good one). Athletic and can run...

I don't really question Chief in these matters...I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing.

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If you look at Chief's defenses at LSU, he never really recruited linebackers that were initially listed as linebacker prospects, he recruited athletes and put them at LB and relied heavily on DB's and front four...and probably for good reason. Linebacker recruiting has been misses all over the country...ESPECIALLY Inside Linebackers.

From 2010 to 2015 (I include 2015 because Chief was still heavily involved with LSU for last years recruiting class), LSU signed only two Inside Linebackers ranked at least in the top 30 in the country, Melvin Jones in 2013 (moved to fullback and then got kicked off team), and Clifton Garrett in 2014 (no longer on team).

From 2010 to 2015, LSU signed only six Outside Linebackers ranked at least in the top 35 in the country. Of those, only 3 actually played their full career at LSU, with Kwon Alexander being the best so far, he's currently with the Buccaneers.

In that time, here is the 'top' Linebackers (inside and outside) the sips have signed:

Malik Jefferson
Anthony Wheeler
Cecil Cherry
Cameron Townsend
Andrew Beck
Cameron Hampton
Deoundrei Davis
Timothy Cole
Dalton Santos
Alex De La Torre
Toshiro Davis
Peter Jinkens
Kendell Thompson
Chet Moss
Steve Edmond
Tevin Jackson

With the exception of Malik Jefferson, did any of those become (or look like) what you would call a great linebacker(s)?

Even Reuben Foster was considered a 'can't miss' prospect coming out of high school, and I'm not gonna say he's a bad player, but he's not the Butkus Award winner everybody said he would be.

LSU's current LB starters:

Lamar Louis - 6.0" 220 Athlete in 2012 class
Deion Jones - 6.2" 200 Linebacker in 2012 class (more safety size)
Kendell Beckwith - 6.3" 228 Athlete in 2013 class

I think Chief is looking at Okeke and possibly Deontay Anderson, Charles Oliver and Sewo Olonilua as LB prospects. Wouldn't surprise me to see Mark Jackson playing a standup LB spot and possibly seeing Justin Dunning move to a LB spot.

Tyrel Dodson will be a fantastic linebacker. If you follow any of his games, he also plays running back (and is a damn good one). Athletic and can run...

I don't really question Chief in these matters...I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing.

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You left off Jordan Hicks who is starting for the Eagles. Beck is the starting TE and Delatorre is the starting fullback

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You left off Jordan Hicks who is starting for the Eagles. Beck is the starting TE and Delatorre is the starting fullback

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Don't know why I missed the 2010 Outside Linebacker class for the sips...just forgot to go back a year, I guess, because I also forgot Aaron Benson.

I know Beck and Delatorre are still on the team, I was just pointing out about how much of a miss LB recruiting can be....and has been for everybody.

I honestly think we are going after him to try and assure that we get Mcculloch. The two are apparently pretty close. Not saying this is the only reason but I think that is the motive. Plus honestly I think we could use all the elite LB talent we can get our hands on!

YES. We definitely want and desperately need as many elite LBers as we can get.