With SEC Media Days now behind us, the Texas A&M football season feels closer than ever. Of course, before focus can fully shift to fall camp for coaches, the biggest recruiting event of the summer for the Aggies—their annual pool party that takes place at the end of July—will take place.
This party is always a blockbuster for the Aggie coaches and recruiting staff, as huge commitments and surprise visitors always seem to pop up. The 2021 version of this event is what kicked off the record-setting 2022 class, with names like Walter Nolen first making it to campus for that weekend. Last year’s edition saw a 5-star commit in Anthony Hill (though the season to come saw him eventually decommit) and highly-rated QB Malachi Nelson make it to campus. If things had shaken out a bit differently in 2022, who knows how those two recruitments could have ended up?
The whispers have already begun to circle regarding the visitor list for this event. In-state five-star recruits Colin Simmons, Kobe Black, Micah Hudson, and Terry Bussey are all rumored to have made plans to be in College Station for this event. I’ve written about Simmons, Black, and Hudson previously. The Aggies have lagged behind in each recruitment for a bit, but now seem to be surging relative to their previous position. Simmons first made it to campus around the spring game, and Black made it to CStat around that time as well. Texas A&M Football also hosted Hudson in the spring after long seeming an afterthought for the polished receiver. Simmons and Black visited Texas in early June, and the Longhorns seemed to take pole position at that point. However, recent days have seen a bit of that momentum wear off. All signs have pointed towards Texas Tech for Hudson, but there are no guarantees there either for the Red Raiders, as a commitment has yet to materialize.
The name that pops up the most, however, when considering who will be the next huge recruit to make his pledge to Texas A&M Football is the last of that group that I mentioned—Terry Bussey. Bussey is a pure athlete who the Ags are recruiting at DB, but—were he to play receiver—might have a claim as the best in the nation. He has been high on the Aggies for quite some time, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go public with a verbal commitment during or just before the pool party to throw even more gasoline on the flames of the Aggie momentum.
https://twitter.com/Terrybussey12/status/1674844013562560528?s=20
Of course, Bussey has yet to set an official date, so this is all just speculation at this point. Knowing how Fisher and the Texas A&M football recruiting staff like to set up these high-profile commitments, however, the timing I mentioned would be a perfect capper to the tear that the Ags have been on this summer.
These are the crown jewels of 2024 in-state. That said, with a strong 2023 campaign, you have to think the eyes of recruits around the nation will turn to College Station just as they did during the middle of the 2021 season, on that winning streak that kicked off against Alabama. 5-star DL David Stone and Williams Nwaneri are players who have shown an interest in the Aggies in the past. Wide receiver Ryan Wingo is another one to keep a close eye on, given OC Bobby Petrino’s ties to his family. In fact, Wingo himself may be one that turns up at the pool party later this month.
It’s an exciting time for Texas A&M football when it comes to recruiting. Things are starting to get the same feel as they had at this time during the 2022 cycle. Can the Aggies replicate the same quality of class? Only time will tell.