Deiontae Watts

-First and foremost, let's talk about what matters most of all: Kevin Sumlin, John Chavis and the Aggies were able to secure a commitment from one of the truly elite defensive players in the state of Texas and, more specifically, landed a five-star talent at linebacker for the first time since joining the Southeastern Conference. In addition to filling a dire area of need in this year's class, the Ags were able to go out and get the best the state of Texas had to offer (more on that in a moment) and did so at a time when gaining momentum on the recruiting front is particularly important.- At just under 6-3 and nearly 225 pounds, Anthony Hines is going to step on campus in mid-January, go through an entire spring ball and off-season and probably take the field in the 6-2.5, 235-pound range. He's a versatile an very instinctive football player and is 100% pure, unadulterated linebacker. There's no projection with Anthony. He can man any of the linebacker spots and will excel because he has all of the necessary physical tools - including a body that can hold up to the SEC pounding - understands the position inside and out and, most of all, he's an absolute tackling machine. Hines amassed an astounding 245 tackles this fall, including 138 solo stops. During his four-year varsity career at PESH, Hines racked up nearly 650 total tackles. Yes, Aggies, Anthony Hines does an exceptional job of getting ball-carriers on the ground. He's constantly around the football and, equally as important, Anthony delivers a very physical punch when he gets there.Long story short, Chavis and the Aggies landed as "SEC West" a linebacker as you'll find in the country this year, something the A&M defense desperately needed in 2017.- The fact that Hines is a mid-term grad, is such a natural at the position and is physically already close to being there makes him the very definition of the term 'instant impact recruit.' Quite frankly, the Ags' latest 2017 addition is a good enough player that, with a full off-season and spring ball under his belt, I'm actually expecting him to claim one of the three starting spots at linebacker early in his true freshman season. If that's indeed the case, the next-biggest key could be Tyrel Dodson's year one-year two development. If the MIKE 'backer from Tennessee makes the expected leap prior to next season, John Chavis could have 2/3 of linebacking corps shored up with young, physical and instinctive LBs. From there, Otaro Alaka would probably have the inside track to start as a junior at a more natural OLB spot. Other competitors for starting jobs and to round out the two-deep would include junior Richard Moore, promising youngster Dwayne Thomas and true freshmen Santino Marchiol and Buddy Johnson plus a couple of others. As you can see, if Hines is as good as advertised, he really begins to bring stability to a position that has sorely lacked it since the Ags joined the Southeastern Conference and even long before that. - Just so we're clear, here's the list of teams that the Aggies outlasted in their pursuit of their most recent commit: Ohio State, Florida, Penn State, TCU, Oklahoma, UCLA, Texas and virtually every other power program in the country. Sometimes, stats, numbers and measurables tell a pretty good story and Hines' impresses in each of those areas. However, you can also tell a lot about a commitment by which schools you had to beat out in order to land him. When I look at Hines' offer list, I see a Who's Who of teams that are doing things right on the defensive side of the ball, from the Buckeyes and Gators to Alabama to Michigan to Florida State to Clemson. This dude is a straight-up baller and everyone who knows anything about good defense in the country knew it.- As Hines said today and I mentioned last night, Gary Patterson and the Horned Frogs really put on the hard sell last night and Anthony was torn between the Frogs, UCLA and A&M as early as this morning. Like most of you, I don't even want to think of what these boards would have been like had Anthony had a last-second change of heart.- The question was posed on the boards earlier today and it read, "Anthony Hines is the most high-profile linebacker the Aggies have landed since..." I'll answer that by saying Justin Warren. Warren was big-time coming out of Tyler Lee and had a solid career in Aggieland despite playing out of position in a 4-3. Had he been able to play OLB in a 3-4, Justin would have been a game-changer. As it was, he was still an All-Big 12 First Teamer at one point in his A&M career, if I'm not mistaken.Getting back to Hines, he's actually every bit as highly-regarded as Warren was so if we're going back further, he's as decorated a high-school LB as the Ags have landed since probably Roylin Bradley all the way back in 1997. If you want to know how far back we're going here, Alan Weddell was Bradley's HIGH SCHOOL coach at the time, then went on to coach in Aggieland, then retired and is now contributing on TexAgs Radio with Ty Warren, who is younger than his former A&M teammate Bradley, won three Super Bowls and is now a pillar of the B/CS community. Long story short, it's been a long time since the Aggies have landed a linebacker like Hines.- Make no mistake about it, landing Anthony is pretty much every bit as important as it was for the Ags to land Myles Garrett four years ago out of Arlington Martin. Like Garrett, Hines is a supreme defensive talent from the Metroplex who also happens to be an outstanding young man and person off the field. He has the potential to be a cornerstone player for Texas A&M moving forward, not only as a top-notch defender but also as a team leader and face-of-the-program type.- Remember when a freshman linebacker from Plano made a ridiculously early commitment to Mississippi State? Yeah, I can barely remember back that far either. It was more than three years ago and that player was a young, emerging star named Anthony Hines. At that time, A&M DT coach David Turner was on the Bulldog staff and some dude they call Chief was running the defensive show in Baton Rouge. Chavis was recruiting Hines all the way back then at LSU and the blue-chip 'backer has been a priority target for the Aggie DC since he took over in College Station nearly two years ago. That relationship - the linebacker and his future position coach have formed a very close bond during that time - is probably what ultimately pushed A&M over the top. For all of today's social media - twitter, hashtags, DMs, snapchat and instagram - recruiting is still, as it turns out, a relationship business.- As far as what Hines' five-star (or "high four-star" whatever the hell that means) commitment means to the Aggies in terms of 2017 momentum goes, his pledge could go a long way towards helping A&M close out what suddenly has the potential to be a true top-10 class in style, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. The Aggies are sitting at 24 commits and are probably looking at adding an offensive tackle and perhaps one more running back (if they're able to flip JK Dobbins late or perhaps Louisiana speedster Travis Etienne Jr) and that's about it. Where the Ags should make most of their hay down the stretch is on D, where needs still exist at defensive tackle, d-end, a couple of JUCO additions and a best available type. Anthony told the Aggie coaches he plans to hit the recruiting trail hard between now and Signing Day and the Dallas-area standout has the personality and popularity to impact several of the Ags' top targets down the stretch, most notably the state top-rated defender, regardless of position. I'm talking about Episcopal DT Marvin Wilson, who the Aggies are already steadily chipping away at. Other defensive targets the Ags are still very much in the mix for are Blinn CB Kendall Sheffield, Katy DL Corey Bethley, Houston Christian DT Joshua Rogers, Plano East DT Deiontae Watts, Cisco JC DE Micheal Clemons (he put out a top five tonight that included A&M, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Missouri and Arkansas), Westlake LB Levi Jones, Hayward (CA) Stellar Prep DE and OU commit Addison Gumbs, Phoenix (AZ) St. Mary's DE Odua Isibor and perhaps even North Shore DE K'Lavon Chaisson. We'll see if the momentum from Hines' pledge helps the Ags get over with any of their remaining targets but most of the names on that list have clearly already taken notice. The Ags are rolling right now, thanks to landing one of the nation's most coveted linebackers (and a guy who held 90 committable offers, which some are calling a recruiting record) and a four-star receiver from the nation's most high-profile high school program who they ripped from LSU late in the game.

The high school football season is coming to a close, and early enrollees are nearing their college decisions as the calendar turns to December. Inside, TexAgs hits all the developments from this week in Aggie football recruiting.

With the high school season winding down, recruits are focusing on college choices. A few of them, including JUCO DE Micheal Clemons and one-time RB commit Travis Etienne are warming up to the Aggies as their decisions loom.