For Texas A&M Football fans, this week was coming to a strong finish. The Aggies had just received a commitment from one of the best defensive backs in the class in Bryce Anderson, a 4-star safety out of Beaumont, Texas.
Anderson’s commitment will go a long way for A&M on the field, but off the field, it has huge implications too. This commitment marks the first recruiting battle to conclude between the Aggies and Longhorns after Texas announced their intentions to join the SEC. The Aggies won.
But as things tend to go in life, bad news joined this good news when Aggie defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson was arrested on a felony drug possession charge. Apparently, Jackson was charged on April 7th with having between four and 200 grams of marijuana. They really narrowed it down for us, huh?
It’s unclear why this didn’t surface until three months later, but presumably, this is being worked out internally.
What does this mean for the Texas A&M Football team?
Right now, it’s impossible to say. The latest we know is that after the arrest, Jackson was suspended from the team. This could just be temporary.
That said, this could have some serious implications on the Aggies’ 2021 football season, as Jackson was considered the frontrunner to replace Bobby Brown III, who departed for the NFL after last season.
Jackson was selected to the SEC All-Freshman team after a strong season that saw him play in every game last season, recording 2.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. He looked like a promising replacement, though this news could cause issues. In high school, Jackson was a top-100 recruit out of Lucedale, Mississippi. The 6-2, 330-pound defensive lineman was an SEC-ready player who could have made a huge impact for the Aggies in 2021.
Again, Jackson isn’t officially off the team as of right now. To get further details, we’ll have to wait for an official statement from Texas A&M.
Thankfully, Jimbo Fisher has an extremely talented recruiting class, stockpiled full of defensive linemen like 5-star Shemar Turner and top-40 overall recruit Tunmise Adeleye. Both of these guys have an extremely versatile game and could step into a starting role immediately.
Hopefully, however, Jackson finds a way to see the field in 2021, as he was set to join a defensive line that had the potential to be the best in the country.