All-American Bowl Game Thread
The All-American Bowl is set to kickoff at noon today in San Antonio and will be televised on NBC. -Texas A&M has four signees playing in the gameEast 85 WR Muhsin Muhammad III, Charlotte (NC) Myers Park19 DE Donell Harris, Miami (FL) Gulliver Prep33 S Antonio Johnson, East St. Louis (IL)West 23 LB Antonio Doyle, St. Louis (MO) Lutheran North-The Aggies also have a few prospects of interest playing in the gameEast72 OL Brady Ward, Mobile (AL) St. PaulWest44 DT McKinnley Jackson, Lucedale (MS) George County5 LB Edgerrin Cooper, Covington (LA)-Covington (LA) LB Edgerrin Cooper is slated to announce his college choice in the first quarter. Texas A&M, Utah, and LSU are his choices. -Three future Aggies are slotted to start today's game. WR Muhammad and S Antonio Johnson on the East and LB Antonio Doyle on the West. Key target McKinnley Jackson is also expected to start for the West. Donell Harris is slotted behind 5-star DE Bryan Bresee on the East depth chart.-Antonio Doyle is the starting WLB for the West with Edgerrin Cooper backing him up. Doyle is also second team MLB behind Noah Sewell.
Previewing the 2018 Opening Finals in Frisco by the numbers
Top prospects from around the country will be at The Opening Finals in Frisco this weekend, including a few A&M commits and targets. Jason Howell breaks down the event by the numbers.
My Three Things
1. The 2018 Class is on its way to College Station - Things have been moving at such a rapid pace on the recruiting front that this one honestly snuck up on me. But it is here all the same, and signees are moving in. In the last week I saw two future A&M DLs and it quickly reminded me just how much talent is in the class. The DL group of Tyree Wilson, Bobby Brown, Jeremiah Martin, Max Wright, and Mohamed Diallo is an SEC bunch. They may not all be ready to play from Day 1, but there is length, athleticism, and big time potential in all of those guys. It is hard not to smile when you think what those guys can do in the trenches. I know I am looking forward to watching them develop. And one last thing. To steal from the Dan Patrick Show, Stat of the day: Jeremiah Martin had 30.5 sacks and 47 TFLs in 16 games last fall. That's just ridiculous. https://twitter.com/Jason_Howell/status/9983093166786396172. Miami assistant Todd Hartley sit down - First here's Hartley's tweethttps://twitter.com/coach_thartley/status/998893294871547909Now that I know we've all seen it I'll just say he should have kept his mouth shut. I do agree that things can and often do get out of control with the recruiting process and top schools and favorite lists and all of that, but we all have to take some ownership of this thing especially the adults. The media, the college coaches, even the fans have some responsibility when it comes to this. But just for the sake of brevity let's stick with the college coaches and why Hartley just needs to take his seat. College coaches continue to recruit prospects committed to other programs all the time, and they certainly do not quit if they are left off a list of top schools. If they want a prospect they are going to pursue to the end, and they are going to do as much as possible to stay in the fight. So I cannot fault a prospect for flipping, switching, and shaking up his list. Even if he does it multiple times. It is also why I love how Jimbo Fisher's staff recruits the A&M commitments as hard as they do any other prospect on their board. It is why I love seeing how they doggedly pursue committed and uncommitted prospects. You have to in today's recruiting climate. It is part of the game especially with the most highly coveted prospects. If you do not like it then change the rules, but know change is only going to happen when the adults in the game start making the changes. 3. The Opening Finals in Frisco - I am sad to see the Opening Finals leave Nike headquarters in Oregon. It was always a fun trip and an incredibly unique experience for the prospects and reporters lucky enough to have the opportunity to go. That said, the star-studded event is now being held at the Star in Frisco June 30-July 3 and it should be amazing. The rosters are out and there are going to be plenty of reasons A&M fans are going to want to pay attention. The Aggies will be represented by commitments Brian Williams and Demani Richardson at the event, and there are several other targets. In the secondary alone Erick Young, Bobby Wolfe, Marcus Banks, Jeffery Carter, and Jaydon Hill will be in attendance. Others of note include RB Eric Gray who just took an unofficial visit, RB Isaiah Spiller, LB Nakobe Dean, DE Marcus Stripling, DT Ishmael Sopsher, OLs Kenyon Green and Javonne Shepherd, and underclassmen Jase McClellan, Zach Evans, and Bryan Bresee. There are others I'm sure I'm leaving off, but I'm trying to keep this post short. Just know this is one event I have circled on my calendar.
Aggies offer one of 2020s finest, he plans to visit
Damascus (MD) DE Bryan Bresee https://twitter.com/bryan_bresee/status/968526556883800064"I mean it's a pretty big offer," Bresee said. "Florida State offered me when coach Fisher was down there, and its pretty exciting to get one from Texas A&M. I know they have some rich history down there and it was exciting. Once I go down and visit I'm sure I'll get to know more about the school."He does not have a visit scheduled at this time, but he was pretty confident he would take a visit to Texas A&M this summer. Coach Brewster is leading the Aggie's recruiting efforts at this time.When it comes to naming favorites and leaders, Bresee is taking his time."Not really yet, I think maybe next year probably right around the end of football season I'll make a top 10 list. So that's when I'll really start narrowing it down and try to figure out where I'll fit best in these next couple of years."https://www.hudl.com/video/3/8072308/59c82b9623521212207114cf