The Texas A&M football team won a complicated battle against LSU

The Texas A&M football team had a strong National Signing Day, getting two more top-40 commits to join the 2022 class. Jimbo Fisher once again proved that he’s one of the best recruiters in the country.

But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. In fact, the Aggies actually lost a recruiting battle that would have helped their already-legendary class in a huge way.

This recruiting battle featured Harold Perkins, a five-star linebacker who was committed to Texas A&M around two weeks ago before decommitting and opening his recruitment back up. He would never return to A&M, eventually choosing the LSU Tigers as his college destination. But A&M didn’t lose this battle — here’s why.

The Texas A&M football team stole an even more important prospect from LSU

I won’t sit here and badmouth Harold Perkins, who is one of the most elite prospects in the 2022 class. According to 247Sports’ composite rankings, he’s the second-best linebacker in the class and a top ten overall prospect. There’s no true way to put a positive spin on that.

That said, the Aggies already had two four-star linebackers committed to the 2022 class — if there was a position to miss on, this was it. But one position that didn’t necessarily have high-level talent was the safety spot, where A&M had two commitments, one of which was more of a wide receiver prospect.

The other is a quietly underrated prospect in Deyon Bouie, who is the 67th-ranked prospect in the class and a top ten safety. On Tuesday, the Aggies won a recruiting battle that landed a perfect partner for Bouie.

That partner was Jacoby Mathews, a top-40-overall prospect who was flirting with a five-star rating all year long. Mathews is a Louisiana native, so for the Aggies to swoop him up is a big deal. Jimbo Fisher generally recruits within the state of Texas but made a huge splash by stealing one of Brian Kelly’s top targets. This will go a long way down the road.

But was the trade-off worth it?

On paper, no. That said, to make a more well-rounded class, this was the right pickup for Jimbo Fisher. Generally speaking, linebacker is a position where you see four and five-year players find success — Perkins would never be that guy. Someone with that type of raw talent would almost definitely depart for the NFL early.

On the other side of things, the Aggies have a handful of four-star safeties on the roster who could contribute immediately. If Jimbo Fisher wants to compete for a national title, this is the right move.