Key notes from Recruiting Country
- I went to Lexington to see Jarred Kerr this past weekend. He’s a safety/athlete type of kid. He’s one of the best to come through Lexington in a long time. He was outstanding. It was cool to see him get some offers after right after seeing him play. He had A&M, Texas, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Florida after one week of football this year. It tells me that he was on a lot of radars. I bet every school has a list of about 20 kids. You have to think that Kerr would’ve benefitted from spring football and a summer camp circuit.
- There are a bunch of kids that A&M is going to watch very intently. I know in talking to Ty Kana and his conversations from Tyler Santucci that A&M wants to see that tape. These schools want to see these kids. For a lot of these kids, Ty Kana included, A&M hasn’t seen him in about a year.
- With small schools playing right now, I was going through our list of players that I wanted to see while they’re the only ones playing. It allows us to go see them play. I’m not even sure if I would’ve gone to see Lexington play until after A&M offered Kerr. It has given us a unique opportunity. It might not be ideal, but necessity is the mother of invention. We want to cover some high school football.
- I think most of Kerr’s offers have been at safety. A&M, Notre Dame, and Florida have offered him at safety. He’s legitimately a two-way guy right now. He could end up as a running back or receiver as well. You can see a future for this kid at multiple positions. I think Jarred likes A&M, but I don’t think A&M is head and shoulders above anyone else right now. In the end, I think A&M will have as good of a shot as any. People on the sideline went on and on about the type of human being Jarred Kerr is. When kids come from these small towns and grow up around the same people, friends and family can’t stop raving about their character. He might get a ratings bump in a couple of weeks.
- Kerr is going to have, and already has, a much higher recruiting profile than Jordan Peterson had. Think about the week that Jarred Kerr just had. He had some pretty good offers with Baylor and Missouri. When you come out of it with A&M, Texas, and so many others, that’s a pretty good weekend.
- Don’t be surprised if A&M is in Taleeq Robbins’ top five. I think Georgia and Auburn will also be in that top five. I’m not sure who else will round out that top five. I don’t think anything has changed. A&M is still actively recruiting him, and he is one of their key targets. They’re probably recruiting three more at defensive line, and if they land any of the three, we’ll call it the strength of the class again.
- Right now, Texas probably leads for LJ Johnson Jr, but A&M is not out of the race. The communication has not slowed down between them at all.
- The guy that changed a lot of people’s mindsets was McKinnley Jackson. The head-to-head with Alabama was a huge deal nationally. For a lot of the A&M fan base, people understand that no matter what happens from March until January, A&M and Jimbo will have a shot on signing day. They might not get LJ Johnson, but they will pull something off and maybe get a kid you didn’t even think of.
- A&M is still after Byron Cardwell, Ahmonte Watkins, Amari Daniels , and Yulkeith Brown. They have not turned their focus off any of those four. If it turns away from LJ Johnson, I think it would be one of those four.
- I’m interested in MJ Daniels and his timeline. A&M is one of his top schools, and I love his playmaking ability. I think it would be huge to add him to the back end of that defense. His timeline might be a little bit sooner than Taleeq Robbins, but I’m not sure. If A&M gets both of them, they’ll get some talented players. I love the tape of both of them. Taleeq plays like Justin Madubuike. MJ Daniels is cut from the same cloth as Kendal Daniels. You take those playmakers on the back end of the defense.
- I did a joint recruiting deal with Inside Texas. They asked me about recruiters on the A&M staff. They were most familiar with Terry Price, but I told them that Elijah Robinson is the rising star on the recruiting trail. I think he’s just going to be a stud for such a long time. His upside is in the NFL if he wants it, but he could make a real name for himself in recruiting if he stays in the college game.
- I think A&M will hold onto Jahzion Harris until we hear anything different. I’d give A&M a 30-40 percent chance of landing Taleeq Robbins. I think A&M is trending in the right direction with Tywone Malone, so I’ll say 51 percent for the Aggies signing Malone over Ohio State. It’s tough to say that they’ll get Malone over Ohio State when you’re battling this program. I think he could be a dual-sport athlete here and play DH for the Aggies. Don’t sleep on the importance of baseball in this decision. A&M baseball is actively recruiting this kid. Actively recruiting in baseball is not the same as football. Two calls a week is really heavy for baseball. From what I know, A&M baseball has been calling Malone two, sometimes three times a week.
- Derrick Tucker was phenomenal his senior year at Manvel. I don’t think we need to over-analyze it. Things happen. He was welcoming to me as a recruit and helped A&M win games as a freshman. I wish him nothing but success in football and life.
- UIL has some rules about what is supposed to happen at these stadiums, but how are they going to police it? How can you police these small towns where people are around each other every day outside of the stadium. They work and interact with each other every day. How can you tell them they can’t interact with each other at games? The UIL is threatening to pull fans out of games. It’s a weird dynamic right now. How that’s going to be managed at the 5A and 6A levels is going to be interesting.
- The Aggies are after Landon Jackson. That’s going to be a tough flip from the national champions, but of their other key targets, I’m not sure how many are committed elsewhere. Maybe Connor Tollison, who is committed to Missouri and from the state of Missouri.
- I went up to see Eli Stowers. That was important, and that was impressive. This kid is a freak show athletically. He’s coming off surgery and went 44” in the verticle and went 10’7” in the broad jump. He had a 30-minute throwing session with some of the receivers, and I think one ball hit the ground. He has tightened up his upper body. He didn’t miss and meals or lifts. He is off the charts when you talk to him. Both Stowers and Deuce Harmon are insane. I don’t get to talk to them much because they’re Jason’s guys, but when I’ve spoken with them, they’re both incredibly well-spoken. There’s something to be said about that. Very similar to Haynes King and Chase Lane when they were in high school. They exude confidence. I know Eli Stowers was good, but he blew me away athletically, and the interview took the cake. He also mentioned some kids he’s recruiting behind the scenes, so if you haven’t checked out that interview, you need to.
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