Texas A&M Football: Why did Harold Perkins decommit from Aggies?

For Texas A&M football fans, the recruiting trail had only created good news in the 2022 cycle. Even after recent negative news, Texas A&M holds the best incoming class of freshmen of any school in the SEC — scratch that — any school in the country. Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M boosters are the first to take advantage of new NIL rules on the recruiting trail.

But their 2022 class took a big hit this week with the decommitment of five-star linebacker Harold Perkins, who had recently committed after the Under Armor All-American game. This was arguably the biggest decommitment in Aggie football history.

Still, A&M retains the greatest class in the country and according to 247Sports, the greatest class in the history of college football. But why did Harold Perkins decommit in the first place?

The Texas A&M football team never really had a concrete commitment from five-star Harold Perkins in the first place

The answer to why Harold Perkins decommitted from the Texas A&M football team isn’t overly complicated. In fact, it begins with his commitment to the Aggies, which wasn’t much of a commitment in the first place.

Perkins did say that he was going to play football for Texas A&M in 2022, but his commitment was accompanied by promises that he would continue to visit other schools. In the modern era of college football, verbal commitments tend to lean this way.

The former Aggie commit already has visits planned to the three schools that will be competing for Perkins’ commitment. Those schools are Miami, LSU, and Texas, all schools who are considered frontrunners in their own respect.

This, however, does not mean that the Texas A&M football team is out of the running for the top-overall prospect in the state of Texas. In fact, many believe that the Aggies are still a favorite to land Perkins when all is said and done. The elite linebacker decommitted verbally but will make a decision on February’s national signing day.

The Aggies still have the greatest class of all time, but Perkins would fill an important linebacker role on a team that will be losing its best second-level tackler in Aaron Hansford. Don’t believe for a second that Jimbo Fisher isn’t still heavily recruiting this prospect.