Good afternoon/evening from 35,000 feet somewhere over the eastern seaboard. I've been in Washington this weekend for other, non-Rivals work related stuff and am heading home. It was a nice journey up north and wasn't too cold, but it'll be nice to be home. Honestly, I think consistently good pizza and Yuengling are the only real selling points the mid-Atlantic has over Texas.
My family came up with me (we left Friday) to do some sightseeing. We started in Gettysburg, and ate lunch at a place called the Blue & Gray Cafe (which I will strongly recommend). We got there in time for the fourth quarter of the Baylor-Texas game, which was on right in front of us. With about 5 minutes left, I blurted out, "Baylor, you have one job. I root for you one day a year and you pull this crap." Our waiter stops and looks, and says, "I haven't heard someone be that anti-Texas since..." he notes the Aggie ring. "Since I lived in College Station five years ago." He had moved down to CS to help a friend's family start up a business (the Honey B. Ham by Kroger on Texas), got busted for MIP at Corner bar, the whole shebang. He left to join the Marines, then went home. He said he hadn't talked about that stuff in five years, and judging from the looks we got from his co-workers, he hadn't. Semper Fi, Tony.
Ok, now that you've been sooooo enthralled by that, let's talk a little recruiting. I figure that A&M has 9 spots or so left now that Tray Williams has switched to a mid-term enrollee. That makes three that I know of, with Colton Prater and T.D. Moton. If you get Michael Divinity to flip, that's a fourth. Even though A&M now has 10 4-stars, the real studs of this class may still be out there. Like Fletch pointed out in Tidbits last week, the target list is really starting to thin out.
Here's how I think it looks a this point.
OL: Jeffery McCollum and Patrick Hudson. I expect McCollum to eventually commit, and maybe not too far in the future. Hudson they're going to have to really push, and odds in Baylor's favor.
WR: Tre Nixon and Tyrie Cleveland. Interestingly enough, both of these guys are now ranked behind A&M commit Quartney Davis, who jumped them both in the latest re-evaluations. Nixon has gone silent since September, but we know A&M was in to visit last week. Cleveland has been all over the place with his recruitment. A&M would like to add one of these guys, but I don't know if they will and they may not lose any sleep about it anyway.
DT: Ross Blacklock and Ed Oliver. Oliver is likely sticking with Houston. Blacklock, on the`other hand, could well end up an Aggie.
DE: Wole Betiku. He's visiting USC this weekend and odds are it's them or the Aggies. USC just wiped out their defensive staff, so that may end up working in A&M's favor. This is probably going to signing day.
LB: Divinity and Jeffery McCulloch. Divinity will be a tough pull, but they'll try until signing day. I think A&M leads for McCulloch, and that would be a massive get to go with Tyrel Dodson.
S: Cameron Lewis, Brandon Jones and Deontay Anderson. Lewis is an LSU commit and likely a long shot, but he wants to official. Fine. Jones is the prize and A&M has been the odds-on favorite for forever. They remain so. He's had posted a bunch of pictures from in-home visits on Twitter and there's only one school whose colors he wore for it (that I've seen, at least): A&M. Anderson is likely going elsewhere.
CB: Byron Murphy, Eric Cuffee, Jack Jones, Kristian Fulton, Greedy Williams. Murphy seems to be down to A&M and Arizona State. I don't know which way that will go. Jones and Cuffee seem very high on A&M and I wouldn't be surprised if they get both. Fulton is a total unknown at this point. They have to get him on campus for an official before you can really consider him a realistic prospect.
Not giving away any family secrets here, but I think McCollum, McCulloch, Cuffee, Blacklock and Jones are the most likely Aggies at the end of the day.
My family came up with me (we left Friday) to do some sightseeing. We started in Gettysburg, and ate lunch at a place called the Blue & Gray Cafe (which I will strongly recommend). We got there in time for the fourth quarter of the Baylor-Texas game, which was on right in front of us. With about 5 minutes left, I blurted out, "Baylor, you have one job. I root for you one day a year and you pull this crap." Our waiter stops and looks, and says, "I haven't heard someone be that anti-Texas since..." he notes the Aggie ring. "Since I lived in College Station five years ago." He had moved down to CS to help a friend's family start up a business (the Honey B. Ham by Kroger on Texas), got busted for MIP at Corner bar, the whole shebang. He left to join the Marines, then went home. He said he hadn't talked about that stuff in five years, and judging from the looks we got from his co-workers, he hadn't. Semper Fi, Tony.
Ok, now that you've been sooooo enthralled by that, let's talk a little recruiting. I figure that A&M has 9 spots or so left now that Tray Williams has switched to a mid-term enrollee. That makes three that I know of, with Colton Prater and T.D. Moton. If you get Michael Divinity to flip, that's a fourth. Even though A&M now has 10 4-stars, the real studs of this class may still be out there. Like Fletch pointed out in Tidbits last week, the target list is really starting to thin out.
Here's how I think it looks a this point.
OL: Jeffery McCollum and Patrick Hudson. I expect McCollum to eventually commit, and maybe not too far in the future. Hudson they're going to have to really push, and odds in Baylor's favor.
WR: Tre Nixon and Tyrie Cleveland. Interestingly enough, both of these guys are now ranked behind A&M commit Quartney Davis, who jumped them both in the latest re-evaluations. Nixon has gone silent since September, but we know A&M was in to visit last week. Cleveland has been all over the place with his recruitment. A&M would like to add one of these guys, but I don't know if they will and they may not lose any sleep about it anyway.
DT: Ross Blacklock and Ed Oliver. Oliver is likely sticking with Houston. Blacklock, on the`other hand, could well end up an Aggie.
DE: Wole Betiku. He's visiting USC this weekend and odds are it's them or the Aggies. USC just wiped out their defensive staff, so that may end up working in A&M's favor. This is probably going to signing day.
LB: Divinity and Jeffery McCulloch. Divinity will be a tough pull, but they'll try until signing day. I think A&M leads for McCulloch, and that would be a massive get to go with Tyrel Dodson.
S: Cameron Lewis, Brandon Jones and Deontay Anderson. Lewis is an LSU commit and likely a long shot, but he wants to official. Fine. Jones is the prize and A&M has been the odds-on favorite for forever. They remain so. He's had posted a bunch of pictures from in-home visits on Twitter and there's only one school whose colors he wore for it (that I've seen, at least): A&M. Anderson is likely going elsewhere.
CB: Byron Murphy, Eric Cuffee, Jack Jones, Kristian Fulton, Greedy Williams. Murphy seems to be down to A&M and Arizona State. I don't know which way that will go. Jones and Cuffee seem very high on A&M and I wouldn't be surprised if they get both. Fulton is a total unknown at this point. They have to get him on campus for an official before you can really consider him a realistic prospect.
Not giving away any family secrets here, but I think McCollum, McCulloch, Cuffee, Blacklock and Jones are the most likely Aggies at the end of the day.
