Wes Harris

A few mid-week thoughts, from recruiting to coaches to hoops to the Aggie off-season:- First and foremost, with Kevin Sumlin's staff now officially complete (save for dotting the Is and crossing the Ts on David Turner's contract), the fifth-year head coach deserve some real credit for putting together one hell of a staff. The off-season hires of veteran assistants Noel Mazzone and David and Jim Turner are strong, respected and experienced additions. They also happen to come on the heels of last January's John Chavis coup. I'm not sure how the rest of the SEC stacks up in terms of experience at the two coordinator spots, but the Chavis/Mazzone tandem has to rank very high on the list. By hiring David Turner, Sumlin added 14 years of SEC experience to Chavis and Mazzone's wealth of knowledge (not to mention Terry Price being an SEC lifer) of the conference.In short order, Sumlin's staff has gone from one of the youngest in all of college football to a group loaded in experience, at both big-time programs and in the Southeastern Conference. Sumlin has clearly realized after four full years of playing in college football's toughest division that game-planning, the actual coaching that goes on during the 60 minutes of action and player development are key if you are to have any real shot at sustained success in this league. With very few exceptions, he now has a group of guys in place who check all of those boxes.- Sumlin's last four hires have been pulling John Chavis away from LSU, convincing Noel Mazzone to leave UCLA, bringing the architect of the greatest OL class and greatest line in A&M history back to Aggieland and hiring a defensive tackles coach from Mississippi State who was coaching the entire defensive front in Starkville and reportedly had an offer on the table from Oklahoma. It's probably safe to say that the perception of Texas A&M football, the quality of the job and the direction of the program is much better in the college coaching community than many have tried way too hard (disturbingly hard, actually) to portray in recent weeks.- Over the years, I'm routinely asked about team or locker room chemistry. Rarely have you guys asked, "Looch, how is the chemistry within this particular coaching staff?" Then the past couple of years happened. I'd be lying if I haven't felt a bit of a 'you've been airing out dirty laundry' vibe from the Bright Complex since shining a light on the in-staff dysfunction last fall. Then again, the thought that anyone - from all the way up in the third deck, watching this football team during the past two seasons or following the December circus - couldn't come to the same, accurate conclusion is laughable. That being said, if we're being fair and calling it as it is, it's clear to me that Coach Sumlin recognized the issue as a serious concern and went out and addressed it. I also want ot be the first to say that I'm already hearing great things about how the offensive staff has meshed under an experienced voice like Noel Mazzone and with the energy, enthusiasm and preparation that Jim Turner brings to the equation.- I think we have a pretty good idea of what David Turner is capable of when it comes to developing defensive linemen. His units at Mississippi State always got after it up front. In fact, I spoke to Cedric Ogbuehi about the hire yesterday afternoon and the All-American and First-Round Draft pick was pretty excited about how hard the Aggie d-line is going to play under their new assistant after facing the Bulldog defensive front as a sophomore, junior and senior.What I'm particularly excited to see is what the Aggies' new defensive tackles coach can do on the recruiting front when you combine the fact he'll be recruiting to a place like Texas A&M in a talent hotbed like the Lone Star State with his connections throughout the Deep South and, particularly, the Mississippi JC ranks. It really could be a case of 'best of both worlds' for the new hire and the Aggie defensive front.- Jim Turner has already made his presence felt on the recruiting front, with the first (really) big dividend coming in the form of 2018 commit Luke Matthews. While some may say getting the Elkins standout to carry on the family tradition was a foregone conclusion, I'd say the timing of his commitment had a lot more to do with the fact that Turner - who coached both Kevin and Jake Matthews and recruited Jake and Mike - is back in Aggieland than any other factor.It's way too early to rank 2018 prospects accurately but one thing I do know is this: Luke Matthews will be one of the top three offensive linemen in Texas and could be the state's No. 1-ranked blocker a year from now. Not only does Luke have the potential to be the biggest of the four A&M Matthews Bros., he's going to be a nationally-ranked recruit...the type of young man who could anchor any OL haul. An exceptional addition that might not get quite enough attention right now because we're talking about a young man who won't be on campus for roughly 2.5 years but it's not like anyone in the Matthews clan has ever worried much about recruiting attention or social media hype. All they do is play football and play it exceptionally well.- Turner's current priority, of course, is getting ready for spring ball, learning the new Aggie offense and his players and evaluating 2017 offensive line prospects. The Ags have already extended in-state offers to DeSoto's Edward Ingram, Cy-Creek OT Grayson Reed, Episcopal OT Walker Little, TCU commit Wes Harris of Aledo and Frisco product/Tech commit Jack Anderson. Expect to see that list grow in the very near future, with names like Austin Deculus of Cy-Fair, Stephan Zabie of Austin Westlake and Alief Elsik tackle Eleasah Anderson.- Speaking of new offer candidates, expect the Ags' list to grow quite a bit in the coming week or so. Between pre-spring evals and the upcoming Junior Day, A&M will soon be up to speed when it comes to 2017 offers in Texas. I get the feeling some of the Aggie message board community is frustrated when it comes to a perceived 'lack of offers' in the '17 class. Along with hiring three new coaches comes new recruiting area assignments (for example, both Hagen and Christensen had a large swath of D-FW) and also new evaluations and offers at QB, OL and DT, not to mention Mazzone's input when it comes to all offensive recruiting. Long story short, the Ags have been in a state of transition for the better part of two months and that has finally come to an end. The immediate result is going to be a handful of new in-state offers, a couple of which you began to see trickle out this week.Some of the names I'd keep a close eye on between now and the spring evaluation period include the linemen mentioned above, Westlake LB Levi Jones (a player I continue to hear college coaches believe is one of the two best LBs in Texas along with Anthony Hines and ahead of the more highly-rated Baron Browning), Plano East RB Eno Benjamin, Magnolia West DB and Pearland DT Jordan Crawford.- Per more than one trusted source, the leadership that mid-term grad transfer Trevor Knight has brought to the program at the all-important quarterback position has been a breath of fresh air. During team conditioning workouts this week, several players and staffers told me that Knight's vocal leadership was something that the guys fully embraced and that it's something that's been sorely missed since Johnny Manziel's redshirt freshman season in 2012 and most of his spectacular 2013 campaign. Knight and Jake Hubenak are going to battle it out for the starting job beginning next week, but the two are already very close and Trevor's enthusiasm and willingness to lead have had a very positive impact on Hubes in that regard, as well.- Finally, a quick hoops thought: While every step up the seed ladder increases your odds of making a run in the NCAA Tournament, I think how confident this particular Texas A&M basketball team is when March Madness rolls around will have a lot more to do with how far they're able to advance than whether or not Billy Kennedy's squad has a 3, 4, 5 or 6 by their slot in the bracket. Saturday's OT win over Kentucky was huge, but what it really did was set the stage for the Aggies to surge into the SEC Tournament and beyond. Tonight starts a stretch of four very winnable yet dangerous games for the Ags. The first step is knocking off an improving, talented and very well-coached bunch from Mississippi State. If A&M brings their A-game (or close to it) tonight, I'll feel very good about this squad bringing home a pair of road wins at Auburn and Missouri before a very important regular-season finale versus Vandy that could carry SEC title implications.