Texas A&M Football: Transfer Portal Madness Continues

Since last writing on the subject, one more Texas A&M football player has entered the transfer portal in wide receiver Yulkeith Brown.  Brown’s only receptions came this year, going 6 receptions for 112 yards, though he had a couple of rush attempts against Prairie View in 2021 (2 rushes for 52 yards).

Brown was a 2021 recruit from the same high school as Amari Daniels in Miami, FL.  He had a lot of upside and projected to play a big role for the Aggies this year, but failed to make much of an impact after missing the second half of the 2022 season for undisclosed reasons.

Some updates on where former Aggies are headed:

WR Chase Lane commits to Georgia Tech.  Great decision for the young man, and he will doubtless benefit greatly from the academics at Tech and the connections that a city like Atlanta offers.  We wish you the best, Chase!

The word on the street is that Chris Marshall is TCU-bound after 247Sports’s Steve Wiltfong predicted him to end up in Fort Worth.  Wiltfong made the same prediction for JoJo Earle, formerly of Alabama.  Earle emerged as a possible target for the Aggies when he entered the portal, given that they came close to landing him out of high school, but as things developed, the Aggies focused their attention elsewhere.  WR Grant Dubose from Charlotte remains a top target for the Texas A&M football staff, however.  Auburn is making a big run at Dubose as well, so the Aggies will need to work hard to close out.  Dubose is exactly the big-bodied, athletic type of receiver that would complement the Aggies’ current lineup of Stewart and Muhammad (and possibly Ainias Smith, pending his NFL decision).

Another intriguing name that the Aggies continue to be connected with is CB Tony Grimes from UNC.  Grimes is another player that the Aggies came close on out of high school, and who is therefore very familiar with Jimbo, the A&M program, and College Station.  An official visit is in the works, and would go a long way towards landing a guy who would, in all likelihood, be a day-one starter for A&M now that Jaylon Jones is NFL-bound.

Additionally, the other names I’ve mentioned in productive LB Mason Cobb from Oklahoma State and freshman all-American S A.J. Haulcy from New Mexico continue to be huge targets for the Aggies. Cobb is expected to visit College Station this weekend for the A&M’s big pre-ESD recruiting weekend.  Haulcy’s timeline is unknown at this point, but being from the Houston area, you have to imagine that he is pretty well familiar with the Aggies and will be a priority for them to help shore up the back end of the defense.

A new transfer offer went out to WR Joshua Cobbs from Wyoming last night. Cobbs has 60 receptions for 652 yards in 2 years of action for the Cowboys.  Cobbs is another big-bodied receiver, measuring 6’4″ and 200 pounds.

I expect some dominos to fall in the way of commitments, both from the portal and from the high school ranks, after this weekend.  Of course, ESD is coming soon for high school players, so you’d expect that anyway, but this weekend nonetheless should be big for the future of the team.  Roster turnover like this is unprecedented for the Texas A&M football program, but I’d wager they will come out with most needs filled on the other side of this recruiting cycle.

***MIDDAY UPDATE 12/14***

Smoke Bouie has announced, per his Instagram, that he will be entering the portal.  He is the first of the freshman class who saw playing time, not counting the suspended players, to hit the portal.  Smoke is related to Nick Williams, who was recently hired on Deion Sanders’s staff at Colorado.

Although he showed some flashes, Bouie was not exactly penciled in at the starting spot opposite Tyreek Chappell next season.  He has elite speed and athleticism, which are sure to shine through wherever he ends up.  However, with the return from injury of fellow freshmen Bobby Taylor and Marquis Groves-Killebrew, and the prospect of bringing in someone like Tony Grimes, as well as the talented DB class coming in behind him, a starting spot would be up for grabs.  They would definitely have liked to keep Bouie, but it is no surprise that he’s departing.

If nothing else, though, this continues to underscore the need at the DB position in the portal.  Fortunately, as I’ve outlined, the Aggies sit in a good spot with several prospects.