Earnest Brown

Just a couple of quick notes from the trail with the Ags set to host their second junior day of the 2017 cycle on Sunday.- With three new coaches, it should come as no surprise that the recruiting assignments within the A&M staff have been shuffled. Some of the more interesting changes include Jim Turner returning to the Golden Triangle area that he did such a nice job in for Mike Sherman, once helping to secure Christine Michael's pledge. DTs coach David Turner will handle a good portion of East Texas with help from Aaron Moorehead and Terry Price will move from parts of the Triangle and East Texas to the western portion of Dallas and the Fort Worth/Arlington/Mansfield swath of the state. We'll have the full breakdown posted this week.- No excuses. No apples-to-oranges comparison here. I'm going to be pretty interested to see how impressive (or unimpressive) the Aggies' visit list is tomorrow. Why? Because Kevin Sumlin's crew limped to the finish line last month when it came to the Class of 2016 and clearly lost momentum to Charlie Strong and Texas in the weeks leading up to Signing Day. Comparing junior day turnouts on back-to-back days in Austin and College Station is not going to come close to telling the '17 story, but it will be a good way to gauge where the Ags stand in terms of perception in the very early stages of a vitally important recruiting campaign for A&M and their fifth-year head coach. As most of you know, I'm a big believer in taking a post-spring look at which prospects you were able to attract to your campus, be it via junior days and spring practice unofficials first and the Spring Game second. This weekend is simply one piece of a much bigger spring puzzle, but I do think it's fair to judge the two events against each other at the close of the weekend.- When it comes to Sunday offers, there were several prospects on Friday's expected visitor list who are possibles. As is always the case at these early events, a lot depends on exactly how certain prospects grade out in terms of their size. Some of the names I'd throw into that category - as in their junior tape was offer-worthy, but the Aggie coaches may have either never laid eyes on them or don't have an accurate ht/wt measurement - include College Station CB Timarcus Davis , Magnolia West DB Myles Jones, Westlake OL Stephan Zabie, Alief Taylor OL Eleasah Anderson, Beaumont Ozen RB Calvin Young and Pearland DT Jordan Crawford. One prospect who is getting an offer regardless is Denton Ryan DE Earnest Brown. The 6-5, 235-pounder is a go for the Aggies and will soon join North Shore's K'Lavon Chaisson, Temple's Taquon Graham and recent offer Corey Bethley of Katy on Terry Price's early in-state list.- Speaking of Bethley, I spoke to a Katy source last night who knows the defensive end and his game better than any recruiting analyst. Rave reviews for the 6-1.5, 260-pound lineman. Bethley could be an SDE at the big-time college level or could grow into a 3-technique on the inside. Regardless, he's a hard-playing, quick, athletic and powerful defender who more than one Tiger insider told me is a better prospect than former Katy standout and current Oklahoma Sooner DE Matt Dimon. What I was told is that Bethley is probably the better athlete. He also happens to be a particularly driven and hungry young player, which indicates to me that we'll see his stock soar throughout the spring. So far, A&M, TCU, Oklahoma State, Houston and Nebraska have stepped forward with offers.- Ryan mentioned George Ranch RB Alex Fontenot as a target who is drawing legitimate interest from Aggie position coach and area recruiter Clarence McKinney. Along with Ozen's Calvin Young, Fontenot's name now deserves mention with the likes of Plano East's Eno Benjamin and Mansfield's Kennedy Brooks as in-state tailback prospects most likely to eventually join JK Dobbins and Toneil Carter on the spring A&M offer list. Fontenot stepped off more than 1,400 yards last fall for the 5A State Champs despite backing up one-time Aggie target and TCU signee Darius Anderson. I've spoken to a couple of folks who have known both Fontenot and Anderson since their youth football days, and the consensus is that, while Darius was quicker with his feet and did a better job of making tacklers miss, Fontenot is a little bigger, runs with a lot more power and almost always hits the hole without any hesitation, exploding through the line of scrimmage on most carries.- Sticking in that particular area of the state for a moment, Class of 2018 stud Mustapha Muhammad picked up an Alabama offer yesterday. The Ridge Point tight end - who was offered by A&M during RP's deep playoff run last fall - has seen his stock blow up to the point that it's safe to say he's a national top-100 caliber recruit who will be ranked among the very best in the country at the position. Richmond Foster receiver CeeDee Lamb impressed the hell out of myself, Brice and Brauny last weekend when we saw him in person. He's a no-brainer offer when it comes to raw talent. A terrific combination of length, body control, explosive leaping ability and hands. However, after doing some digging, it appears as if the Oklahoma commit has some work to do and ground to make up before I'd expect A&M to jump into the mix with an offer. Then again, if there's a chance Lamb can make progress, the Ags may be wise to enter the sweepstakes soon. LSU recently offered, and I've heard that CeeDee is open to suitors.Obviously, we'll have plenty of more recruiting to talk about tomorrow but just thought I'd throw a little something to whet the old appetites until the Class of '17 and '18 targets begin arriving on campus.