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Reminder on this weekend's visitors
4-star NICKEL Bralan Womack, Flowood (MS) Hartfield Academy
5-star WR Tristen Keys, Hattiesburg (MS) - LSU commit
4-star OL Zaden Krempin, Prosper (TX)
4-star LB Tai'Yion "Tank" King, Port Arthur (TX) Memorial
4-star WR Kaydon Finley, Aledo (TX)
K Asher Murray, Shreveport (LA) CE Byrd
4-star CB Dorian Barney, Carrollton (GA)
4-star OL Samuel Roseborough, Clearwater (FL)
5-star Edge Anthony "Tank" Jones, Mobile (AL) St. Paul’s Episcopal
4-star OL John Turntine III, Fort Worth (TX) North Crowley
3-star TE Evan Jacobson, Waukee (IA)
4-star LB Malik Morris, Lakeland (FL)
Aggie commits:
4-star WR Aaron Gregory, Douglasville (GA) Douglas County
4-star DE Jordan Carter, Douglasville (GA) Douglas County
4-star DE Jermaine Kinsler, Oradell (NJ) Bergen Catholic
4-star RB Jonathan Hatton Jr, Cibolo (TX) Steele
4-star QB Helaman Casuga, Draper (UT) Corner Canyon
4-star TE Caleb Tafua,Torrance (CA) Bishop Montgomery
Where A&M stands with this weekend's visitors:
Top two: Tank King (leader), Dorian Barney, Asher Murray, John Turntine, Tristen Keys, Evan Jacobson
Work to do: Morris, Roseborough, Krempin, Womack, Finley, Jones
Latest on some weekend visitors
I've been big on Tristen Keys for a long time, and why not? He's a 5-star and maybe the best wideout in the nation. But he's also committed to LSU, which will put a damper on things. Something happened this week, however, that provides a little bit of hope from an Aggie perspective. He signed a big NIL deal with Adidas, and LSU is a Nike school. Also, LSU people were up in arms that Keys scrubbed all mention of LSU from his social media. I only looked at Twitter, but that was definitely the case there.
The Aggies have led for Dorian Barney for a long time, but that may have changed last weekend with his trip to Penn State. The Nittany Lions know that A&M seriously wants 5-star Brandon Arrington and have budgeted accordingly. But they made a big offer to Barney in an effort to push him out of A&M's price range (remember, things are sort of capped. Sort of). So now Penn State is considered the leader and A&M will have to work some magic to get back in the driver's seat. If all things were equal and NIL was not a thing, then Barney would likely pick A&M between the two. But all things are not equal and there is NIL.
Zaden Krempin went to LSU last weekend and apparently the Tigers killed the visit. They are now his leader, and he's said as much. I've never considered A&M to be a serious threat for him, but now they've got and even bigger sales job ahead of them.
Gregory seems like a pretty firm commit, but the goal here is to get him to cancel his official to Texas next weekend. The last thing the Aggies want is having the orange people getting a chance to meddle with their recruiting class.
Kinsler is a largely overlooked commit, but schools up in the Northeast continue to try to sway him (Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse). He has been rock solid to A&M, though, and has no other visits planned.
Arrington makes a chance that likely benefits A&M
5-star Brandon Arrington was supposed to visit A&M this weekend for his official, but he's in Eugene this weekend for a trip to Oregon. He has rescheduled his official visit to Aggieland for June 20, which (to me) seems like a big positive. A lot players pick the school they're committed to or have as their leader for their final official (the Aggie commits coming in this weekend are largely not visiting anywhere else). So, if you're A&M, this is a turn of events you can be happy with.
Elko clearly expecting a big year from the O-line
During his comments at his Coach's Night stop in Houston Wednesday, coach Mike Elko compared this year's offensive line, in terms of talent and experience, to the 2020 offensive line that helped A&M win the Orange Bowl. That team was also a finalist for the Joe Moore Award for the nation's best offensive line, something Elko says they can do again this year. If that's the case, A&M is going to be tough to deal with.
Aggies added veteran WR coach to staff
Holmon Wiggins isn't going anywhere, but he's getting a little bit of help. David Cooney, who has been an assistant receivers coach and recruiting director for Miami for the past several years, will join A&M in a primarily recruiting capacity. Here's how he'll help Wiggins, mostly -- in recruiting. Coincidentally (and maybe, not really), he is very close with Tristen Keys and led Miami's effort to recruit him.
Hoops adds veteran Spanish sniper
Bucky McMillan picked up addition number 12 Friday morning from across the pond, with the signing of Spanish wing Ruben Dominguez.
At 6-foot-6, Dominguez is already 22, so he's not a project like some of the other Euros we've seen come across in recent years. He can come off the bench and fill it up, and Buckyball is very friendly to the European game.
Dominguez has played 35 games for the Spanish national team, averaging 13 PPG while making more than 42% of his shots. At the U20 Euros in 2022 and 23, he hit 41% of his 3-pointers. Last season with Surne Bilbao Basket, he averaged 7.6 PPG in just 16 minutes a game. He made 47.3% of his shots, including 43.3% from beyond the arc, and made 88.9% of his free throws.
Baseball lands a potential closer
The Aggies have a big weekend with potential transfers in town, and one of them has already pulled the trigger on a commitment. Former Florida Atlantic closer MJ Bollinger announced his commitment this morning. Bollinger went 3-3 with a 2.01 ERA and 11 saves in his lone season at FAU. He struck out 39 in 44 2/3 innings with a fastball that sits in the low 90s, but has tremendous movement. He immediately moves into the back end of the bullpen with Clayton Freshcorn and (hopefully a fully recovered) Josh Stewart.
