A&M's new DC may be announced in the next couple of days
There has been some discussion about who will replace Mike Elko as the defensive coordinator and it looks like the Aggies have their guy: Ole Miss' DJ Durkin. I'm frankly surprised at this, because he is not from the Jimbo coaching tree and he comes with significant baggage -- a player died under his watch at Maryland. But, as we saw in Oxford, Durkin pieced together a pretty serviceable defense and runs a scheme close to what Elko ran. He was also a model citizen at Ole Miss.
According to my friend Neal McCready over at Rebelgrove.com, this deal is about done. Ole Miss is starting to look at replacement candidates.
New Aggies looking good at UA Practices
I've gotten a chance to watch a lot of video and Rivals has folks on the ground at Disney (hell, I should have gone) watching Under Armour Practices and a few things look obvious: the Aggies made out like bandits in the 2022 recruiting class. 15 Aggie signees (Denver Harris arrived today) and three targets (Harold Perkins, Shemar Stewart and Jacoby Mathews) are in attendance. I'm going to limit this to the guys who have signed and I haven't seen enough to judge all of them, but I will give my take on the guys I've seen.
Conner Weigman: Should be looking for a bump in the final rankings. He's looked very good, especially the first night. The things that stand out are his timing and accuracy. He's throwing passes to players he's never thrown to and hitting them in stride before they even turn to look. They're going up against elite corners, so those passes usually have tight windows. Best of all, he's looked like he's had his best rapport with Chris Marshall and Evan Stewart.
Donovan Green: The Dickinson tight end isn't drawing the attention of some of the other A&M commits, but he's looking really good. He's fluid in the open field and is running solid routes. He's shown excellent hands as well. Not a big surprise here, but the route running is especially important as he prepares for the next level.
Walter Nolen: Wow. He's absolutely dominating from all accounts and everything I've seen. The quickness for someone his size is absolutely breathtaking, and he's got the ability to set someone up with an outside step, then cut and go inside. This is an elite defensive tackle class and the very best are in Orlando -- and he's putting distance between himself and everyone else.
Evan Stewart: He's proving his 5-star ranking is legit. He ran the 40 in the high 4.4s to come in second in the fastest man competition, but his route running is the real story here. He's so quick off the snaps and can just lose a defender with his sharp cuts. And, like I said, he's already got the vibe with Weigman.
Chris Marshall: This is one guy who looks like he's going to shoot up in the rankings, and he's already done that twice. I don't know if he'll get to a 5th star, but he'll be in the discussion. He's just physically dominant. He's got elite speed and he can body defenders and outjump them because he's so big. He wasn't just beating quality defensive backs deep, he's been abusing them. I told you on signing day this guy had tremendous upside that he hasn't tapped into yet, even though he's in the top 70 players in the nation already. He's showing that this week.
PJ Williams: He's still really thin and looks out of place among the other offensive linemen, but he's doing just fine, thank you. He's proving to be technically sound, has really quick feet and uses his arms very well to keep defensive linemen at bay. He's faster than these elite speed rushers he's going against and can cut off the corner in one-on-ones. He's not going to be SEC ready for a year or so as he bulks up, but he's very advanced in terms of technique in comparison to other high school tackles.
Bryce Anderson: I wasn't sure what to expect of him with him playing largely offense this year, but here's two things that are very positive: He's proven to be one of the fastest guys on the field and he can flip his hips and turn and run effectively. I think he's a nickel in the making and those are two things you need to see from guys like that.
Kam Dewberry: Ok, I'm back on him being a tackle at the next level to start at the very least. My question is whether he'd have the speed and leverage on the outside, and all he's done all week in Orlando is absolutely stone people, regardless of whether he played tackle or guard. He looks very comfortable at right tackle, and he's shown the lateral quickness to control the edge and his lower body strength allows him to keep opponents at bay.
I'll give you more after the game Sunday.
Recruiting updates
Harold Perkins is very much expected to commit to A&M Sunday during the UA Game. But the linebacker is also setting up official visits to Florida and Miami. It's safe to say Texas is out and LSU has made no effort to contact him, but there may be some drama here down the stretch. Florida may have a shot because Corey Raymond is there, but I'm not sold on that.
Shemar Stewart has had a great week of practice at the UA game and has been getting the push from A&M signees to join up. It's down to the Aggies and Miami and A&M remains the leader by a wide margin. He intends to visit College Station again before signing Feb. 2.
Jacoby Mathews is an interesting case. He's getting the press from the Aggie signees too, but I keep getting mixed signals on how the A&M staff is approaching his recruitment right now. I still think numbers are an issue, but they're also still recruiting him. But his delaying of his decision to February seems to indicate he wants to know more about the LSU staff (I think he wants to end up there, but needs to be convinced about Brian Kelly's bench) and it also allows Florida and Raymond to make a prolonged run at him. I think all that points him elsewhere.
Now, even with the numbers crunch, I expect A&M to go after former Northwestern safety Brandon Joseph, a College Station native. Why? Simple. He has 134 tackles and 8 interceptions in two seasons, a first-team All-American and an All-Big 10 nod. He's been incredibly productive at the major college level and had 80 tackles and 3 INT this year on a very bad Northwestern team.
There has been some discussion about who will replace Mike Elko as the defensive coordinator and it looks like the Aggies have their guy: Ole Miss' DJ Durkin. I'm frankly surprised at this, because he is not from the Jimbo coaching tree and he comes with significant baggage -- a player died under his watch at Maryland. But, as we saw in Oxford, Durkin pieced together a pretty serviceable defense and runs a scheme close to what Elko ran. He was also a model citizen at Ole Miss.
According to my friend Neal McCready over at Rebelgrove.com, this deal is about done. Ole Miss is starting to look at replacement candidates.
New Aggies looking good at UA Practices
I've gotten a chance to watch a lot of video and Rivals has folks on the ground at Disney (hell, I should have gone) watching Under Armour Practices and a few things look obvious: the Aggies made out like bandits in the 2022 recruiting class. 15 Aggie signees (Denver Harris arrived today) and three targets (Harold Perkins, Shemar Stewart and Jacoby Mathews) are in attendance. I'm going to limit this to the guys who have signed and I haven't seen enough to judge all of them, but I will give my take on the guys I've seen.
Conner Weigman: Should be looking for a bump in the final rankings. He's looked very good, especially the first night. The things that stand out are his timing and accuracy. He's throwing passes to players he's never thrown to and hitting them in stride before they even turn to look. They're going up against elite corners, so those passes usually have tight windows. Best of all, he's looked like he's had his best rapport with Chris Marshall and Evan Stewart.
Donovan Green: The Dickinson tight end isn't drawing the attention of some of the other A&M commits, but he's looking really good. He's fluid in the open field and is running solid routes. He's shown excellent hands as well. Not a big surprise here, but the route running is especially important as he prepares for the next level.
Walter Nolen: Wow. He's absolutely dominating from all accounts and everything I've seen. The quickness for someone his size is absolutely breathtaking, and he's got the ability to set someone up with an outside step, then cut and go inside. This is an elite defensive tackle class and the very best are in Orlando -- and he's putting distance between himself and everyone else.
Evan Stewart: He's proving his 5-star ranking is legit. He ran the 40 in the high 4.4s to come in second in the fastest man competition, but his route running is the real story here. He's so quick off the snaps and can just lose a defender with his sharp cuts. And, like I said, he's already got the vibe with Weigman.
Chris Marshall: This is one guy who looks like he's going to shoot up in the rankings, and he's already done that twice. I don't know if he'll get to a 5th star, but he'll be in the discussion. He's just physically dominant. He's got elite speed and he can body defenders and outjump them because he's so big. He wasn't just beating quality defensive backs deep, he's been abusing them. I told you on signing day this guy had tremendous upside that he hasn't tapped into yet, even though he's in the top 70 players in the nation already. He's showing that this week.
PJ Williams: He's still really thin and looks out of place among the other offensive linemen, but he's doing just fine, thank you. He's proving to be technically sound, has really quick feet and uses his arms very well to keep defensive linemen at bay. He's faster than these elite speed rushers he's going against and can cut off the corner in one-on-ones. He's not going to be SEC ready for a year or so as he bulks up, but he's very advanced in terms of technique in comparison to other high school tackles.
Bryce Anderson: I wasn't sure what to expect of him with him playing largely offense this year, but here's two things that are very positive: He's proven to be one of the fastest guys on the field and he can flip his hips and turn and run effectively. I think he's a nickel in the making and those are two things you need to see from guys like that.
Kam Dewberry: Ok, I'm back on him being a tackle at the next level to start at the very least. My question is whether he'd have the speed and leverage on the outside, and all he's done all week in Orlando is absolutely stone people, regardless of whether he played tackle or guard. He looks very comfortable at right tackle, and he's shown the lateral quickness to control the edge and his lower body strength allows him to keep opponents at bay.
I'll give you more after the game Sunday.
Recruiting updates
Harold Perkins is very much expected to commit to A&M Sunday during the UA Game. But the linebacker is also setting up official visits to Florida and Miami. It's safe to say Texas is out and LSU has made no effort to contact him, but there may be some drama here down the stretch. Florida may have a shot because Corey Raymond is there, but I'm not sold on that.
Shemar Stewart has had a great week of practice at the UA game and has been getting the push from A&M signees to join up. It's down to the Aggies and Miami and A&M remains the leader by a wide margin. He intends to visit College Station again before signing Feb. 2.
Jacoby Mathews is an interesting case. He's getting the press from the Aggie signees too, but I keep getting mixed signals on how the A&M staff is approaching his recruitment right now. I still think numbers are an issue, but they're also still recruiting him. But his delaying of his decision to February seems to indicate he wants to know more about the LSU staff (I think he wants to end up there, but needs to be convinced about Brian Kelly's bench) and it also allows Florida and Raymond to make a prolonged run at him. I think all that points him elsewhere.
Now, even with the numbers crunch, I expect A&M to go after former Northwestern safety Brandon Joseph, a College Station native. Why? Simple. He has 134 tackles and 8 interceptions in two seasons, a first-team All-American and an All-Big 10 nod. He's been incredibly productive at the major college level and had 80 tackles and 3 INT this year on a very bad Northwestern team.
