TexAgs' recruiting analyst Jason Howell joined TexAgs Live on Thursday morning for another edition of Recruiting Country presented by American Momentum Bank, highlighting the latest news and notes from the recruiting trail surrounding Texas A&M.
Key notes from Recruiting Country
- You're going to see three big weekends for A&M, starting on June 5. That is their first big visit weekend with top prospects. A lot of commits will be in town like Jonathan Hatton Jr, Jermaine Kinsler, Aaron Gregory and Jordan Carter that weekend. Along with top targets, Zaden Krempin, John Turntine, Tank Jones and Bralan Womack.
- You're going to have big-name high-priority top prospects, and it keeps on going on the June 13 and June 20 weekends before they wrap things up. They have done a good job getting priority prospects on different weekends and not overloading particular weekends. There are a lot of big-name prospects through June. July is when we will see the recruiting momentum take off. Late June through July and August is when we will see dominoes. I think a lot of A&M fans are desiring to start the fall.
- They kicked off the spring with Hatton and Mike Brown that weekend, Storm Miller in the middle and closed with Victor Singleton in 2026, and they kick off the 2027 class, as well. You didn't see a full-on flurry, but a lot of guys with groundwork and guys with multiple visits. Combine that with guys that visited in the fall with spring practices, and a lot of those guys back on class visits. When you recruit those big-name guys on campus as much as possible, it's great. A&M has set the table as guys make decisions going into their senior season.
- Trey Zuhn III is one of my favorites. Ryan Brauninger and I both saw him in registration. We are always there, looking for faces we recognize. We see a guy who walks through the door, walks in like he owns the place, and we know we have to find out who he is.
- Zuhn was one of those guys from Colorado who we didn't know, but turns out he had that great history, already had offers and was on A&M's radar. He went to work, wasted no time and passed with colors. He ran the 40-yard dash, but he killed it in one-on-ones. Coach Josh Henson did the honors and laid the foundation for Zuhn to make his pledge down the line. That was a COVID-19 class, and they visited for a maybe late January Junior Day. He went ahead and pulled the trigger. Zuhn will always stand out.
- DJ Hicks was between his eighth grade year at Morton Ranch at six-foot, 200 pounds. He was young and didn't have measuables that jumped out at first glance. You find out how young he is and see his attitude towards seniors. It hasn't changed a bit. He goes to work, and that’s the actions that do the talking. He has grown since then. He went on to become a five-star recruit and a high prospect. I'm not trying to watch eighth-grade JV highlights. That's one who put himself on the map.
- I got to see Nelson McGuire at practice camp in the summer and put him on my radar. I knew him coming in at camp, and I was like, “OK, College Station. Put him on watch”. He was a guy to make a statement. The question to me was how much A&M would push for a 2025 offensive lineman because they already had well-established prospects and didn't have much tape on him. Coach Adam Cushing talked to him, and he worked at offensive tackle. Later in early September, he got to a couple of games and got the offer from A&M to secure that commitment.
- They do have two in-state commits, but they don’t have a lot. The criticism has been that they are lagging. I get the criticism, but I know last year around this time, they had about eight in-state guys. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they are missing out on that. The momentum isn’t there just yet.
- They have done a phenomenal job. Hatton is one of the best running backs in the state and in the state and was a priority for Trooper Taylor. You have Brown, who obviously had a very strong program in Houston that is going to be one that A&M continues to find success at over the years.
- They have set the table very well with several in-state guys like KJ Edwards and his linebacker DaQuives Beck. Boobie Feaster, too. Turntine, who is one of the top offensive linemen in the country. Staying in the Dallas area, Drew Evers, Krempin and KJ Ford. They have put themselves in a position to go on a run, but most, maybe over half, will be in-state prospects, which means there’s some work to do now. They have put themselves in a good position for the dominoes to fall over the next month. Right now, A&M is lagging in state, but they have also done a great job getting big out-of-state names in the boat.
