It’s a new era of Texas A&M Aggies football in 2018. How does Jimbo Fisher’s first class shape up heading into his first season down in College Station?
2018 will be a year of great transition for the Texas A&M Aggies. After six years with head coach Kevin Sumlin at the helm, the university opted to move on from their former coach in favor of prying former Florida State Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher for a ton of cash.
Fisher won a national championship with the Seminoles in 2013 but underwent a rough 2017 in Tallahassee. Starting quarterback Deondre Francois broke his leg in the season opener versus the Alabama Crimson Tide in Atlanta. Florida State struggled to achieve bowl eligibility.
Fisher faces a tall task in making historically underachieving Texas A&M relevant in the SEC. The Aggies haven’t really been so since their first few years in the league when Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel was their quarterback. However, Fisher can recruit and now has a post in the talent-rich state of Texas.
According to 247Sports, Texas A&M has the No. 23 class in the nation and the No. 8 class in the SEC. In a year of transition, the Aggies have 15 players committed to the program for 2018. Seven of those commits are four-stars. The other eight are three stars.
Here is the 2018 Texas A&M football recruiting class.
2018 Texas A&M Aggies football recruiting class
Given that Fisher only came aboard in early January, Texas A&M has just two early enrollees in this class. Those guys are four-star offensive tackle Colten Blanton of Cypress, Texas and three-star tight end Jace Sternberger of Miami, Oklahoma. Since both players enrolled early, it does give them a leg up on the rest of the recruiting class when it comes to early playing time in College Station.
Eight members of the 2018 Texas A&M recruiting class have already signed their national letters of intent. Four of those are four-star recruits in defensive end Max Wright (Katy, Texas), safety Jordan Moore (Yoakam, Texas), wide receiver Caleb Chapman (Friendswood, Texas) and offensive guard Luke Matthews (Missouri City, Texas).
Matthews is the younger brother of former Texas A&M standout offensive tackle Jake Matthews, the current left tackle for the Atlanta Falcons. Their father is Pro Football Hall of Fame left tackle Bruce Matthews of the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans.
Overall, this class’ strength is in the trenches along the offensive line and out on the perimeter at wide receiver. It is a small class but could be a big building block in Fisher’s program. However, a lack of a quarterback and only 15 commits does hurt this class considerably.
In addition to retaining its two best hard commits in four-star safety Leon O’Neal Jr. (Cypress, Texas) and wide receiver Jalen Preston (Manvell, Texas), the Aggies could be looking to bolster their class just a bit before national signing day. Their best reach prospect would be four-star wide receiver Jaylen Waddle of Bellaire, Texas. He is the No. 39 player nationally, the No. 5 wide receiver in the country and the No. 3 player from Texas.
Next: National Signing Day: Predictions for top 25 uncommitted recruits
No, this is not the class that Texas A&M will need to get back to being a contender in the SEC West. Having three division rivals in Alabama, Auburn and LSU plus cross-divisional rival South Carolina ahead of the Aggies in recruitment this year doesn’t help. This will take time and we should have faith in Fisher, but this kind of drop-off coming from the Sumlin fired in terms of recruitment was expected. This is what Texas A&M signed up for in 2018 to have a better tomorrow down on College Station.
Grade: C-