This article is part one of a two-part series.
It’s no secret that one of the big advantages that Jimbo Fisher brings as the head coach of Texas A&M football is recruiting acumen. This was exemplified in the record-setting 2022 class, where the Aggies reeled in a whopping eight 5-star recruits, and were very close to landing two more. Of course, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but in the interest of a full evaluation of the Aggie staff’s recruiting prowess, it’s worth mentioning that the stellar 2022 crew was almost even better than it ended up.
Last year, however, following back-to-back 8-4 and 5-7 seasons, it seems that the shine wore off the Texas A&M football program in the minds of recruits. The Aggies lost a key target at a position of need in Anthony Hill, and were unable to close on highly-publicized visitors—such as Malachi Nelson—in the same way they were able to the previous year. Even so, Fisher and company still managed to pull in the number 7 and number 28 overall players per the 247Sports Composite in David Hicks and Rueben Owens, as well as heavy-hitters such as Dalton Brooks, Chase Bisontis, TJ Shanahan, Micah Tease, and others.
The fact remains that going from the top overall class in history to the number 15 class in the composite is a steep drop for this Aggie program, marking the worst finish Fisher has had since his first class—which he had all of two months to recruit. Things have got to be better this go-round, and a successful season on the field will go a long way towards accomplishing that goal.
As things currently stand, Texas A&M Football has six commits for the 2024 class, evenly split between three and four stars. QB Anthony Maddox and LB Tristan Jernigan—both out of Mississippi, as a matter of fact—are two of the three three-stars, and are two players the Aggie coaching staff seem to be much higher on than the national services. 4-star OT Ashton Funk is another player that, despite his lofty ranking, the Texas A&M football brain trust considers even more highly than recruiting sites.
Of course, every fan considers the three-stars their team signs to be sleepers, and all the highly-rated misses to be overrated. The fact is that five-stars are rated highly for a reason. Now some five-stars are rated as such based solely on potential, and others on polish and production, so there are distinctions to be made, but in the final analysis, you’d rather have the 2022 class than the 2023 class. So which five-stars might jump in the boat this year for the Aggies? Let’s run down the list and see who might be signing with the Maroon and White.