VIP NOTES: HOW DOES A&M CLOSE 2019, WHO WILL JOIN IN 2020?
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Brian Perroni 69611 posts
14 minutes agoVIP
-Starting with the few remaining spots in the class of 2019. I have heard a few people wondering about Katy Seven Lakes edge rusher David Ugwoegbu and where he stood in the A&M pecking order. He is an absolute take for the Aggies and will remain that way.
Ugwoegbu has parents that won’t let him miss his part-time job for any reason and that keeps him from making many trips anywhere, not just to A&M. He still wants to officially visit Alabama and Oklahoma as well, though the Tide may not bring him in. However, I still feel very good about where the Aggies stand with him and I believe he will part of the class when prospects put ink to paper in the Early Signing Period.
-The other big defensive line target is Katy Mayde Creek’s Marcus Stripling, who could end up in a number of roles along the line at the next level. Like Ugwoegbu, Stripling is also high on both Alabama and Oklahoma in addition to A&M. With him, though, the Tide have supplanted the Sooners as the main threat to the Aggies.
Stripling has long said he wanted to take his official visits but, for a time, it looked like he was going to shut things down early, and that would have been good news for the Aggies. However, he is back in the mode of wanting to take the officials and fully experience a process he will only get to go through once in his life.
Alabama could definitely makes things interesting if/when he makes it to campus, but A&M has built a very good relationship with him and he is also very close with most of the Aggie commits. I’m not quite to the same confidence level as I am on Ugwoegbu, but I still believe Stripling will sign with A&M as well.
-Though he was briefly off his team, Houston North Forest four-star offensive tackle and Texas commit Javonne Shepherd has his situation resolved and is back in good standing. With them playing Navasota on Saturday evening, he had to postpone his official visit to Aggieland that had been set for this coming weekend.
Shepherd now says he is hoping to make it for one of A&M’s final home game weekends. With three road games and a bye, it will at least be another month until then, though. Any of the final three game weekends should work out with his schedule. I still believe there’s a strong chance he flips, but it is by no means a done deal, and never has been. I thought he would have decommitted by now after talking to some people after the Clemson game, so him still being a Longhorn pledge is good news for Texas. I still feel like my Crystal Ball flip pick will prove correct in the end, though.
Also, though there have been talks about his teammate and class of 2020 five-star A&M receiver commit Demond Demas potentially heading to a different high school, I expect him to be suited out on Saturday as well and face off against fellow A&M 2020 commit Jordan Jefferson. Demas is a guy A&M will have to continually recruit until he signs but it is definitely better to have him in the fold than not.
-A&M wants another tight end in the class in addition to Baylor Cupp and Dickinson’s Jalen Wydermyer is the only target. He has long been very high on A&M and, after the Clemson game with his parents in attendance, he can be considered a very strong lean to the Aggies.
Wydermyer wants to take his long-planned official visit to Miami on Dickinson’s bye week, which will be Nov. 3. While you never want to discount what can happen when a school gets a player on campus, A&M feels good about him and I think there’s a chance he shuts it down in favor of the Aggies after making that trip to Coral Gables. Dickinson is undefeated and should make a deep playoff run, so other official visits could prove hard to schedule anyway.
-As for what A&M would do if all four of those players wanted on board, especially Shepherd, it would be likely that some players at some of those positions might look around. The offensive line numbers are the ones to watch, since there are already four commits. Adrian Medley has at least remained in contact with other schools, so he would one to keep an eye on.
-As for the current commits, most of them are solid and plan to sign with A&M in December with no hiccups. A few are at least worth monitoring, though.
Linebacker Andre White Jr. went to nearby Penn State this past weekend with his teammates. It was the biggest game in the country that week and he’s a college football fan. It’s not ideal that he made the trip, but he is saying the right things to everybody – not just the media – about still being solid to A&M. He also still has an official visit to use to Aggieland and is set to enroll early.
There has been talking that Florida linebacker Tarian Lee might look around, but that has not been the case. I don’t expect him to end up anywhere. There was also talk that wide receiver Kenyon Jackson was at Tennessee two weekends ago. We haven’t confirmed it either way, but the Vols don’t expect to flip him. A bunch of Grayson guys were in Knoxville so, if he was there, it was likely just tagging along with them. A&M expects him to sign.
The three cornerbacks still have schools in communication with them, and that is the position A&M needs the most, so you can bet they are monitoring that situation. With Jeffery Carter, Alabama is still trying to get back into it. He is also one saying all the right things. Bobby Wolfe had already used his official visit to Arkansas but the fact he was tentatively set to visit Fayetteville unofficially a few weeks back shows that there is still at least somewhat of interest in other schools. It would not be a shock if he did, or if he didn’t, make another official visit somewhere before all is said and done. I think he will be an Aggie but don’t want you guys to be caught offguard if he does at least trip elsewhere. I don’t even know where it would if he did, though Arizona is one to watch. And I think Erick Young will sign but he at least had some talks with Ohio State. However, the Buckeyes don’t really have room because of the commits they already have or are expected to get at the position in both the 2019 class and 2020 one. He likely would take a visit there if they asked him to, but I don’t think that is going to happen.
-Anther guy A&M is still in contact with is Duncanville cornerback Marquez Beason, who made a surprising early commitment to Illinois. After his pledge, he said he still planned to take officials and had one tentatively set to A&M in the spring, but decided against it.
Those around him still keep saying to expect him to end up signing with Illini, no matter how odd it may seem, but A&M is not giving up and there is still communication. It wouldn’t be a shock to see an official visit happen at some point, but it’s not a done deal. I believe he would also visit LSU as well, should he be open to the idea of other visits.
-A&M is hosting Florida State four-star defensive tackle commit Derick Hunter on an official visit this coming weekend. It is something to monitor, but I wouldn’t expect a flip at the moment.
-When it turned out that five-star linebacker Nakobe Dean had a mandatory meeting with the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game this weekend, it caused him to have to call off his official visit to Aggieland. Getting him to reschedule is going to be tough with a limited number of weekends for the early enrollee. He has a visit set to Auburn in two weeks and one tentatively set to LSU in early November. He also will almost assuredly reschedule his Georgia official visit that the two parties both agreed to wait on after it was originally set for this coming weekend. With him having that All-Star game in mid-December, there won’t be a ton of chances for him to use the fifth visit. A&M needs to get him on campus to even have a shot but, even then, it would be considered a long shot.
-I’m not sure Louisiana five-star defensive tackle Ishmael Sopsher ever makes the A&M official visit he has talked about. Even if he does, it’s very unlikely he ends up anywhere other than LSU or Alabama.
-With the class of 2020, I still expect national top-100 quarterback Malik Hornsby to public announce for the Aggies in the somewhat near future, though the timing is in question at the moment.
-As for other potential class of 2020 commits, Fort Bend Austin four-star wide receiver Troy Omeire is a good guess as another Aggie pledge in the near future. Another is Newton four-star defensive end James Sylvester, though a trio of his teammates are committed to TCU, making the Frogs a real threat.
-Other players that A&M is in good shape with in the class are Cedar Hill Trinity Christian five-star cornerback Dwight McGlothern, Duncanville four-star safety Chris Thompson Jr., Dallas Bishop Dunne four-star linebacker Brennon Scott and Cibolo Steele cornerback four-star cornerback Jaylon Jones, though Texas has done a good job combating the momentum A&M got with him after the Clemson game. With McGlothern, don’t count out Alabama. However, with him spending so much time on campus in Aggieland, I believe that no matter what happens leading up to it, he will have a hard time not ending up there himself when it comes down to time to sign.
-Class of 2021 wide receiver Latrell Neville of Fort Bend Willowridge is a player that really wants an A&M offer. However, there’s a chance he would shut things down on the spot. With A&M having to be pretty selective with receiver offers in all classes going forward, it’s likely they wait to evaluate him lines