15 days ago by
Jason Howell
Around Texas: A round-up of recruiting news in the Lone Star State
The February signing period is here as the class of 2025 enjoys its final days before the focus shifts completely to the next crop of prospects. It is time to take a look at the latest happenings in the Lone Star state on the recruiting front.
QB Recruiting Update
With signing day just over a week away, the search for Texas A&M's prep quarterback in the class of 2025 has continued. While I'm not ready to report that this thing has taken a definitive direction, I have been able to gather some intel that would indicate the scope is narrowing a bit. Since the decommitment of Husan Longstreet, I've been reporting that the Aggies were in a time crunch to go back and scour through senior tape from signal callers within the state. I listed a handful or so of names that included guys like Adam Schobel, Ty Hawkins, Edward Griffin, Lloyd Jones III, Austin Carlisle, and Eli Morcos. The whale of late gets from the Lone Star State was Duncanville's Keelon Russell who has been committed to Alabama since the summer. I can say that the Aggies did, in fact, make the call to the south Dallas standout, but as we anticipated, there was not much traction to be had. Now, of that list above, the quarterback that has received the most attention from what I've been able to gather is Eli Morcos. The Montgomery Lake Creek product spent time on the phone with Collin Klein as well as other A&M staff members late last week, and I believe the communication continued a bit in the following days. From what I understand, those talks were basic "getting to know you" types of conversations. Nothing yet in the way of an offer. I mentioned the 6-2, 210 pounder and his impressive senior tape in my first write up about the position, and it's becoming more evident that folks have taken notice. Intel I received today indicated Oklahoma, who is also in need of a quarterback after Kevin Sperry left their class, has begun making contact in a similar manner with Morcos and his inner circle. There's also murmurs of another SEC school kicking the tires there, but I've received less reliable information on that front. The other scenario at play here is a potential reclassification from 2026 Cocoa (FL) standout Brady Hart. Currently committed to Michigan, there have been a lot of folks in the recruiting world speculating as to how Bryce Underwood's recent flip to the Wolverines would affect a player of Hart's quality. From what I understand, Hart is homeschooled (even though he plays for a public high school. It's the Tim Tebow rule in the state of Florida) so his academic progress has been sped up and makes the reclass option legitimate. If he does choose to graduate early, I think the Aggies (along with LSU and Oklahoma) would be among the main suitors. There are still a lot of moving parts there. I believe Michigan to be keen on keeping him in their fold as their guy in 2026, but I did want to mention this as a possibility if Hart's reclassification becomes anything more than Twitter/message board speculation. His trainer has gone on record earlier this month and said there were no plans to reclassify at that time. Just something to keep an eye on.
TexAgs' TXHSFB Recap: Reviewing our coverage from the area round
The playoffs roll on in the state of Texas as the march to AT&T Stadium has completed its second week. It's time to look back at the TXHSFB highlights that Jason Howell, Ryan Brauninger and Cade Draughon saw during the area round of the playoffs.
Defection from A&M's 2025 recruiting class disturbs smooth waters
Husan Longstreet flipped his commitment from Texas A&M to Southern Cal on Sunday, leaving Mike Elko & Co. without a quarterback in the class of 2025. With signing day a couple of weeks away, here are a few names the Maroon & White could re-engage.
On Husan Longstreet and QB recruiting…
The California based QB called the A&M staff a short time ago to inform them of his flip to USC which has now gone public. After gathering more information, I'm very confident that this came down to a couple of factors. The first one holds the most weight in terms of why the decision was made, and it's the depth chart. Since Marcel Reed became the guy for the Aggies, Lincoln Riley and the Trojans began really selling their path to the field compared to A&M's for Longstreet. USC did not take a quarterback in the 2024 class, and their current signal callers have had serious issues this fall. Their depth chart was always an element to Husan's recruitment that they were trying to utilize when they could, but the emergence of Reed as the starter in Aggieland with 3 more years of eligibility was a key turning point for the Trojan's messaging. Secondly, because the USC QB room is a bit of a mess, the Trojans are motivated to fix it as quickly as possible. In today's college football, I'll let you figure out what that means. Finally, there is the fact that the kid will stay in state and play for a guy that has worked directly with 3 Heisman Trophy winners in recent history. The question for A&M now is where do they go from here with signing day just a couple of weeks away. Based on my latest intel, I do think the staff is doing/will do a deep dive on the in-state crop of signal callers in the coming days. There are probably 4-5 names that will get extensive looks. I think the first call they'll make is to Duncanville standout Keelon Russell who visited Texas A&M a couple of times during last spring. He's been committed to Alabama for a while now, and it's hard to imagine him coming off that pledge. Still, it's worth making the call to see. After that, a few more kids that I could see getting hard looks are Adam Schobel at Columbus (TCU), Ty Hawkins (SMU) who played most of his high school career at San Antonio Johnson before transferring to IMG Academy this year, and Austin Carlisle at Ft Bend Ridge Point (UH). That list is not exhaustive by any means. There are guys like Edward Griffin (Baylor) at Coppell and Lloyd Jones III (Texas Tech) at Hitchcock who have had strong senior campaigns, as well.Regardless, I do think the Texas based quarterbacks are going to be where the search starts.