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Texas A&M Football Recruiting

2024 Acadiana (LA) DL Dominick McKinley commits to Texas A&M

September 1, 2023
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Texas A&M kicks off the month of September with one of the nation’s best as Lafayette (LA) Acadiana defensive lineman Dominick McKinley‍ announced his verbal pledge to Jimbo Fisher & Co. at a 3:30 p.m. ceremony at Acadiana High School.

Widely regarded as one of the top defenders in the entire country, McKinley chooses the Aggies over fellow finalists Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas and LSU as well as offers from across the country.

At 6-foot-6 and 280 pounds, McKinley’s athleticism and explosiveness jump off the tape.

It’s a rare combination of size, strength, power and speed on the defensive line. McKinley uses a quick get-off and an enormous wingspan to overwhelm blockers. He flashes change of direction and dexterity in pass-rush scenarios. He also shows positional versatility — lining up at the end, tackle and nose in multiple fronts.

You can view his junior tape below.

Defensive line coach Elijah Robinson has led Texas A&M’s recruiting efforts, and McKinley becomes A&M’s 21st commitment of the 2024 class. He joins Dealyn Evans‍ and Gabriel Reliford‍ in the defensive line room, and he also joins Reliford as top-flight prospects from the state of Louisiana in Texas A&M’s class.

This is a monster get for the Aggies. We’ll have more shortly for our Premium subscribers.


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2024 Acadiana (LA) DL Dominick McKinley commits to Texas A&M

21,485 Views | 45 Replies | Last: 11 mo ago by cavscout96
Ashes4Trees
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You can say whatever you want about this staff. But you cannot say they don't know how to recruit.

That film is crazy.
Stone44
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AG
houstonbuilder said:

Was really excited to hear about this pick up. I worked in Lafayette for 3 years (2019-2021) just a couple of miles down the road from Acadiana HS, which is consistently one of the state's best programs.

Since 2005, the "Wreckin' Rams" have won six Class 5A State Championships (2006, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020) and finished second, twice (2005, 2007). The 2020 state championship team had both Running Backs (they run a well-oiled Veer ground attack) accept Appointments to West Point.

The local sports paper, The Acadiana Advocate, does a really great job of covering local prep football at every classification and also does a solid job of keeping UL in the forefront of the news versus letting LSU dominate its headlines, like in most other parts of the state.

After DM's announcement this afternoon to join the Good Guys, I wanted to see how The (Acadiana) Advocate covered it and was a bit taken back, then realized maybe not everyone who covers sports in South LA, west of the basin, is free of personal bias or maybe... lingering butt-hurt to some degree.

Check out the headline in the paper by clicking the link: https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/sports/high_schools/acadiana-defensive-tackle-dominick-mckinley-picks-texas-am/article_1001e672-4907-11ee-8877-1f7470d207a1.html

I like what Connor Weigman's dad told him before he committed to Texas A&M: "Son, this isn't a four year decision... it's a 40 year decision." Me, personally... I graduated from a public Louisiana high school in 1988 (that did not have air conditioning) and made the decision to enroll at Texas A&M University, joining the Corps of Cadets, and that, has been one of the best decisions of my life.

Pretty poor that some sports writer in Lafayette doesn't like it that a young man wants to do better for himself.
Look at all the folded arms in the room....childish butthurt. Nice to see a young man with the wisdom to choose a superior university that offers far more academically and invaluable network compared to the poor academic standards at lack of funding at lsu.
houstonbuilder
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Got a note from the Writer who wrote the story and he told me that he did not scribe the headline... that was the doing of the Sports Editor there at The Acadiana Advocate.

Writer was very nice and extremely complimentary of Dominick and his family.

As I mentioned, The Acadiana Advocate does a great job of keeping local and UL sports on their front pages and a headline like that was a little out of typical character, in my opinion.

I think one of the funniest things I saw there in Lafayette (sports related ) was a red UL tee shirt in a store window that read: "We don't wear Purple & Gold, west of the Basin." Hilarious!

Excited about the opportunity to have this young man on campus at Texas A&M!
Meximan
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Give it up for Mount McKinley
halfastros81
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I lived in Lafayette for a long time. We have had a smattering of really good players out of that area over the years . It's a pretty big deal to pull a 5* away from LSU tho .
halfastros81
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In my years of experience there some of the mouthiest LSU fans were UL grads .
houstonbuilder
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Well put. Great work by Jimbo and Coach Robinson!
one safe place
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Stone44 said:

houstonbuilder said:

Was really excited to hear about this pick up. I worked in Lafayette for 3 years (2019-2021) just a couple of miles down the road from Acadiana HS, which is consistently one of the state's best programs.

Since 2005, the "Wreckin' Rams" have won six Class 5A State Championships (2006, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020) and finished second, twice (2005, 2007). The 2020 state championship team had both Running Backs (they run a well-oiled Veer ground attack) accept Appointments to West Point.

The local sports paper, The Acadiana Advocate, does a really great job of covering local prep football at every classification and also does a solid job of keeping UL in the forefront of the news versus letting LSU dominate its headlines, like in most other parts of the state.

After DM's announcement this afternoon to join the Good Guys, I wanted to see how The (Acadiana) Advocate covered it and was a bit taken back, then realized maybe not everyone who covers sports in South LA, west of the basin, is free of personal bias or maybe... lingering butt-hurt to some degree.

Check out the headline in the paper by clicking the link: https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/sports/high_schools/acadiana-defensive-tackle-dominick-mckinley-picks-texas-am/article_1001e672-4907-11ee-8877-1f7470d207a1.html

I like what Connor Weigman's dad told him before he committed to Texas A&M: "Son, this isn't a four year decision... it's a 40 year decision." Me, personally... I graduated from a public Louisiana high school in 1988 (that did not have air conditioning) and made the decision to enroll at Texas A&M University, joining the Corps of Cadets, and that, has been one of the best decisions of my life.

Pretty poor that some sports writer in Lafayette doesn't like it that a young man wants to do better for himself.
Look at all the folded arms in the room....childish butthurt. Nice to see a young man with the wisdom to choose a superior university that offers far more academically and invaluable network compared to the poor academic standards at lack of funding at lsu.
My oldest granddaughter is starting her second year and has three of her best friends joining her on campus this year. I have told them all they have made the best decision and that it will impact them in ways they cannot imagine and will do so for the rest of their lives. None of her friend's parents went to A&M but all are thrilled their daughters are. All nice to see.

Good get on this young man and he sure is a big guy! Welcome to Aggieland, can't wait to see him play.
houstonbuilder
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halfastros81 said:

I lived in Lafayette for a long time. We have had a smattering of really good players out of that area over the years . It's a pretty big deal to pull a 5* away from LSU tho .
Brandon Mitchell from Abbeville comes to mind...
cavscout96
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that dude was a BEAST
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