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

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

• Husan Longstreet‍ is a kid who we’ve been tracking since Junior Day because the vibe we had gotten from his recruitment was Maroon & White-tinted. This is a kid that Collin Klein has targeted directly and is his guy.

• When you have a new staff come in, you don’t know much about them as recruiters. Longstreet is a guy the staff wants in the 2025 class. We’ve seen a lot of California talent come East. The high-end athletes see the opportunities in the SEC, and that visibility and that footprint are huge. It’s becoming more commonplace for those California quarterbacks to leave the state. I think A&M is an outstanding spot for him as he goes through his spring visits.

• Longstreet has a visit scheduled here in April. With him having a decision day already set, I’m pretty bullish on A&M’s chances right now. I think someone’s going to have to unseat the Aggies to get him and unseat the job Collin Klein has done recruiting this guy.

• Longstreet reminds me of Cam Ward. Ward was a kid who had almost no offers and went to Washington State. He was a kid who came to a camp, and the coaches were wondering why he had no offers. Quick release, big arm, good mobility and shows a real feel for trajectory. He’s doing it against really good competition and as a player, you put him right there with the best players in Texas in this cycle.

• The staff is going to use the practices. The kids, parents, and whoever’s with them will see the coaches and how they interact with players. It’s kind of an unknown with this new staff, so how do you combat that? By having them come watch 1-on-1.

• I think there are players coming in during that spring game weekend but not as many as we’ve seen in the past. I think that’s going to be by design. With this being Mike Elko’s first spring game, I think he’s going to spend a lot of time in the preparation and operation of the game. If your going is to use it as a recruiting tool, wouldn't you want more time to spend with recruits? With the implementation of their offense and defense, maybe we shouldn't have some of our top targets in on that weekend and focus on our current team and roster.

• I think one of the most overrated aspects in a recruiting cycle is what spring game a kid attends. You could have 50 to 60 thousand in Kyle Field, and it won’t mimic a fall Saturday. I think the influence a spring game can have on recruitment is fading faster than it ever has. I don’t put a lot of stock on the experience a kid has inside of a stadium at a spring game.

• With DB, you got it kicked off with an enormous commitment from Deyjhon Pettaway‍. I think that gets overlooked because he is Daymion Sanford’s half-brother. A&M had been the favorite for so long, but that should not take away from the type of player and recruiting win that was for Mike Elko.

• Pettaway is a sensational prospect and will be viewed as one of the top DBs not only in the state of Texas but across the country. There are a lot of DB options in the state of Texas. They aren’t giving up on a guy like Devin Sanchez‍ at all at North Shore. He’s been committed to Ohio State, and the staff at A&M has shown Devin that he will be a priority because they have shown up at the school.

• Mike Elko and Ishmael Aristide have been to North Shore multiple times. Devin is clearly aware that A&M is not going to go away and continue to pursue him until the ink is dry on that letter of intent. Ohio State may hold on to him, but I like the way they are attacking that recruitment.

• When you look at a guy like Caleb Chester‍, outstanding 1-on-1 coverage skills and comes from a school in Fort Bend Marshall that A&M has had a lot of success at and is really highly thought of.

• Cobey Sellers‍ is at Shadow Creek. Dorian Brew‍ is at Conroe High. There is a plethora of in-state options for them to go in the defensive backfield. I really like where they are at with their top targets in the state. As we’ve said for a while, this class could be 20 to 25 deep and only have four to five out-of-state kids. They could go really Texas-heavy in this group.

• You’re going into the fall saying you have this many available scholarships. After that spring transfer window, we get guys out, and we get guys in, whatever it may be. You have your roster set for the fall, and then you play the fall, and after your final game, you have five guys that you don’t think are leaving going into the portal. 

• What we don’t know is what will Elko and this staff hold for the portal. It’s beginning to get a lot tougher to nail down class size, and it’s becoming less important to nail down class size. Because of the options we’ve seen in the transfer portal, and if they aren’t going to stop the current operation of the transfer portal and how it goes, then you can hold five, 10, or 15 spots. It’s going to be a year-by-year thing.

• Putting a number on the size of a recruiting class used to be a big deal. It used to be you had 23 open scholarships, so you go out and sign 23 high school players, it ain’t like that anymore. It’s not even close to being like that

• I would say I’m comfortable saying it’ll be 17 to 20 high school guys, but they could love 25 in-state and out-of-state high school prospects. Or they could say we don’t want to take that risk and get someone out of the portal.