Texas A&M basketball signs three prospects as early signing period begins
The Texas Aggie basketball team announced the signing of three high school prospects on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period for college basketball.
Texas A&M added athletic shooting guard Manny Obaseki from John Paull II in the DFW area, fellow metroplex star point guard Wade Taylor, and power forward Ashton Smith from Spring.
According to the recruiting services, Obaseki is the plum of the class, ranked No. 23 nationally by 247Sports and No. 21 by Rivals.com. Obaseki is best known for his all-around athleticism and versatility, which allows him to play aggressively above the rim or hit the perimeter shot. He committed on March 10 and chose Texas A&M from a long list of high D-1 offers.
Taylor is an all-purpose point guard known for his physicality and no-nonsense, blue-collar approach to the game. Playing for local DFW powerhouse Lancaster High School, Taylor is ranked as a four-star prospect by 247 Sports (No. 118 nationally) and a four-star recruit by Rivals.com (No. 113 nationally). Taylor picked the Aggies over Oklahoma State on October 16.
Smith is a late-rising power forward prospect, who recently transferred from Aldine Nimitz to Legacy The School of Sports Science in Spring, which happens to be owned and operated by former Aggie sports stars Kerrie Patterson Brown and her husband, Reggie Brown.
Smith exploded onto the local Houston area scene last spring and was positioned to have a break-out AAU season with Houston Hoops. The pandemic shut that down along with any chances of Smith moving up the recruiting lists. He’s a three-star prospect by Rivals.com and unranked nationally. He committed on October 31 and chose Texas A&M over UH, Syracuse, Seton Hall and Nebraska.
It should be noted that Texas A&M also received a verbal commitment from elite high four-star 2021 recruit Jaxson Robinson last winter. However, Robinson graduated high school early and is now enrolled and practicing with the 2020-21 Aggie basketball team.
The staff still has room for two more spots available moving forward. With no juniors currently on the roster, the staff may choose to leave those spots unfilled, or they may fill one or both.
Recently, the staff has conducted a virtual recruiting visit with JUCO big man Sydney Curry, and a few other prospects are on the radar.