How many scholarships does A&M have left for 2015?
It's been my guess for a while that A&M could take between 27 and 29 players in this recruiting class, if they can add four players at the mid-term. As it stands now, we know they have two: OU transfer Keith Ford and OL Colton Prater, who intends to graduate early. That means they have two 2015 scholarships left and the max of 25 for 2016.
So can they get there? Looking at the pipeline, which I started redoing last night, it seems pretty possible,if not probable. If my numbers are right, A&M currently has 79 scholarship players, or six less than the limit of 85. They will lose 13 players due to their completing their eligibility after 2015, which gets you to 19. If Germain Ifedi goes pro, which I expect he will with a halfway decent season, there's 20. It would take a bit of juggling to get to 25 or more from there. I'm sure the coaching staff already has a plan for it, and there's probably an angle or two that I overlooked (for instance, how do you use the scholarships dropped by Kenny Hill and Quiv Gonzalez, for example?). So I'm going to presume that, without much trouble, A&M has between 11 and 13 scholarships left, and don't be surprised if the number of commitments slows considerably for the next few months. Heck, it can't get much faster, even though the Aggies may try the "hey, jump on now, we're hot" method -- I just think most guys left have so many options that, unless they are totally blown away, they'll wait.
This is just my belief here, but I think the guys you need to really watch from here to February include: OL Jean Delance; DT Chris Daniels; LBs Michael Divinity, Camilo Eifler, Jeffrey McCullough and Dontavious Jackson; S Brandon Jones and Deontay Anderson; RBs D'Vaughn Pennamon and Devwah Whaley; WRs N'Keal Harry, Tre Nixon and Moses Reynolds; CBs Byron Murphy, Jack Jones, Eric Monroe and Kristian Fulton; DEs Oluwole Betiku, McTelvin Agim, Isaiah Chambers and Justin Madubuike. This isn't everyone, but you can see there are a lot of high-quality irons in the fire moving forward. BTW, I didn't include anyone that does not have A&M ranked among their leaders. These are all bigtime talents; getting into the list of top fives or twos or whatever is nice, but now the Aggie staff has to finish. Let's see how they do from here.
A breakdown of what's on campus and a surprise weak spot
Looking at the pipeline, here's the best I can figure on class designations (for scholarship players only).
Redshirt seniors: 7 (Tra Carson, Brandon Alexander, Joe Cheek, Brandon Williams, Devonta Burns, Drew Kaser and Sam Moeller)
Seniors: 6 (Sabian Holmes, Julien Obioha, Alonzo Williams, Devante Harris, Taylor Bertolet and Mike Matthews)
Redshirt juniors: 6 (Avery Gennessy, Germain Ifedi, Jermaine Eluemunor, Jeremiah Stuckey, Ed Pope, A.J. Hilliard)
Juniors: 10 (Josh Reynolds, Jeremy Tabuyo, Hardreck Walker, Daeshon Hall, Justin Evans, Jonathan Wiggins, Alex Sezer, Tavares Garner, Claude George, Shaan Washington)
Redshirt Sophomores: 10 (Jake Hubenak, James White, Brett Wade, RSJ, Damion Ratley, Justin Manning, Reggie Chevis, Darrell Jackson, Noel Ellis, Victor Davis)
Sophomores: 14 (Kyle Allen, Speedy Noil, Frank Iheanacho, Jamal Jeffery, J.J. Gustafson, Myles Garrett, Qualen Cunningham, Jarrett Johnson, Zaycoven Henderson, Otaro Alaka, Josh Walker, Nick Harvey, Donovan Wilson, Armani Watts)
Redshirt freshmen: 4 (Koda Martin, Zach Ledwik, Tank Davis, DeShawn Washington)
Freshmen: 22 (Kyler Murray, Kendall Bussey, Jay Bradford, Keaton Sutherland, Connor Lanfear, Trevor Elbert, Christian Kirk, Kemah Siverand, Jordan Davis, Erik McCoy, Daylon Mack, Kingsley Keke, James Lockhart, Richard Moore, Landis Durham, Riley Garner, Dwaine Thomas, Roney Elam, Deshawn Capers-Smith, Larry Pryor, Justin Dunning, Daniel LaCamera)
So we all know about the areas of concern: cornerback and linebacker. But what about guard? It has taken a beating the last several classes. Nate Gutekunst, Joas Aguilar and Kimo Tipoti all had to retire; Ish Wilson transferred and Jeremiah Stuckey hasn't done much up until this spring, when he actually looked pretty good (but may be needed at center). When you're only taking a couple of interior linemen per class, attrition like this is brutal. Add in the loss of Joe Cheek after this year and it's no wonder Koda Martin and Keaton Sutherland are getting worked out on the inside. Lanfear may get thrown into the fire faster than desired as well. It worked for Ifedi and Cedric Ogbuehi, though, so let's see what comes out of it. At least they have a few options to mess with.
Let's say A&M has 11 (and 13) spots left. How I'd use them:
Outside parenthesis, 11. Inside, 13.
QB: 0 (1; there just aren't many good ones worth taking left)
RB: 0 (1)
WR: 2 (2)
OL: 1 (1)
DL: 2 (2)
LB: 3 (3)
CB: 3 (3)
What if they can somehow get to 15? That provides at least a little more wiggle room for another D-lineman, another wideout and another corner or running back. The juggling will be quite interesting to see, to put it mildly.
It's been my guess for a while that A&M could take between 27 and 29 players in this recruiting class, if they can add four players at the mid-term. As it stands now, we know they have two: OU transfer Keith Ford and OL Colton Prater, who intends to graduate early. That means they have two 2015 scholarships left and the max of 25 for 2016.
So can they get there? Looking at the pipeline, which I started redoing last night, it seems pretty possible,if not probable. If my numbers are right, A&M currently has 79 scholarship players, or six less than the limit of 85. They will lose 13 players due to their completing their eligibility after 2015, which gets you to 19. If Germain Ifedi goes pro, which I expect he will with a halfway decent season, there's 20. It would take a bit of juggling to get to 25 or more from there. I'm sure the coaching staff already has a plan for it, and there's probably an angle or two that I overlooked (for instance, how do you use the scholarships dropped by Kenny Hill and Quiv Gonzalez, for example?). So I'm going to presume that, without much trouble, A&M has between 11 and 13 scholarships left, and don't be surprised if the number of commitments slows considerably for the next few months. Heck, it can't get much faster, even though the Aggies may try the "hey, jump on now, we're hot" method -- I just think most guys left have so many options that, unless they are totally blown away, they'll wait.
This is just my belief here, but I think the guys you need to really watch from here to February include: OL Jean Delance; DT Chris Daniels; LBs Michael Divinity, Camilo Eifler, Jeffrey McCullough and Dontavious Jackson; S Brandon Jones and Deontay Anderson; RBs D'Vaughn Pennamon and Devwah Whaley; WRs N'Keal Harry, Tre Nixon and Moses Reynolds; CBs Byron Murphy, Jack Jones, Eric Monroe and Kristian Fulton; DEs Oluwole Betiku, McTelvin Agim, Isaiah Chambers and Justin Madubuike. This isn't everyone, but you can see there are a lot of high-quality irons in the fire moving forward. BTW, I didn't include anyone that does not have A&M ranked among their leaders. These are all bigtime talents; getting into the list of top fives or twos or whatever is nice, but now the Aggie staff has to finish. Let's see how they do from here.
A breakdown of what's on campus and a surprise weak spot
Looking at the pipeline, here's the best I can figure on class designations (for scholarship players only).
Redshirt seniors: 7 (Tra Carson, Brandon Alexander, Joe Cheek, Brandon Williams, Devonta Burns, Drew Kaser and Sam Moeller)
Seniors: 6 (Sabian Holmes, Julien Obioha, Alonzo Williams, Devante Harris, Taylor Bertolet and Mike Matthews)
Redshirt juniors: 6 (Avery Gennessy, Germain Ifedi, Jermaine Eluemunor, Jeremiah Stuckey, Ed Pope, A.J. Hilliard)
Juniors: 10 (Josh Reynolds, Jeremy Tabuyo, Hardreck Walker, Daeshon Hall, Justin Evans, Jonathan Wiggins, Alex Sezer, Tavares Garner, Claude George, Shaan Washington)
Redshirt Sophomores: 10 (Jake Hubenak, James White, Brett Wade, RSJ, Damion Ratley, Justin Manning, Reggie Chevis, Darrell Jackson, Noel Ellis, Victor Davis)
Sophomores: 14 (Kyle Allen, Speedy Noil, Frank Iheanacho, Jamal Jeffery, J.J. Gustafson, Myles Garrett, Qualen Cunningham, Jarrett Johnson, Zaycoven Henderson, Otaro Alaka, Josh Walker, Nick Harvey, Donovan Wilson, Armani Watts)
Redshirt freshmen: 4 (Koda Martin, Zach Ledwik, Tank Davis, DeShawn Washington)
Freshmen: 22 (Kyler Murray, Kendall Bussey, Jay Bradford, Keaton Sutherland, Connor Lanfear, Trevor Elbert, Christian Kirk, Kemah Siverand, Jordan Davis, Erik McCoy, Daylon Mack, Kingsley Keke, James Lockhart, Richard Moore, Landis Durham, Riley Garner, Dwaine Thomas, Roney Elam, Deshawn Capers-Smith, Larry Pryor, Justin Dunning, Daniel LaCamera)
So we all know about the areas of concern: cornerback and linebacker. But what about guard? It has taken a beating the last several classes. Nate Gutekunst, Joas Aguilar and Kimo Tipoti all had to retire; Ish Wilson transferred and Jeremiah Stuckey hasn't done much up until this spring, when he actually looked pretty good (but may be needed at center). When you're only taking a couple of interior linemen per class, attrition like this is brutal. Add in the loss of Joe Cheek after this year and it's no wonder Koda Martin and Keaton Sutherland are getting worked out on the inside. Lanfear may get thrown into the fire faster than desired as well. It worked for Ifedi and Cedric Ogbuehi, though, so let's see what comes out of it. At least they have a few options to mess with.
Let's say A&M has 11 (and 13) spots left. How I'd use them:
Outside parenthesis, 11. Inside, 13.
QB: 0 (1; there just aren't many good ones worth taking left)
RB: 0 (1)
WR: 2 (2)
OL: 1 (1)
DL: 2 (2)
LB: 3 (3)
CB: 3 (3)
What if they can somehow get to 15? That provides at least a little more wiggle room for another D-lineman, another wideout and another corner or running back. The juggling will be quite interesting to see, to put it mildly.
