Texas A&M Football: Can the Aggies Land This Five-Star DL?

Even though tomorrow is finally kickoff for Texas A&M football, many Maroon and White faithful are preoccupied with a decision happening this afternoon. Today is the announcement day for five-star defensive lineman Dominick McKinley, out of Acadiana, Louisiana, and the Aggies are a finalist. He will be choosing between A&M, Ohio State, Texas, LSU, and Oklahoma.

By all accounts, this is a recruitment that has been hard to get a handle on, even for the insiders. McKinley is the rare high-profile recruit that has placed a premium on keeping information close to the vest when it comes to his college choice. As a result, the speculation has been even more rampant than it might usually be for a recruitment this visible and consequential.

Earlier this week, if you were to check underneath the posts about McKinley by whatever recruiting service you care to name, the replies or comments would have been filled with Texas and OU fans, both equally certain that Dominick’s commitment to their school was imminent. This doubtless came from paid forums and insider posts for each team. As the week has gone on, however, confidence from both sides has begun to wane, and, if you read the tea leaves from a big national name like Steve Wiltfong, it seems like Texas A&M football, once dismissed as a non-factor in this recruitment (especially by those in burnt orange), is the team to beat for McKinley’s pledge.

Of course, nothing is certain until he announces later today and, given how quiet he has been, this really could go in any direction. It’s never an easy task to beat LSU for an in-state player, much less the top prospect in Louisiana overall, as McKinley is (per the 247 Composite), yet it seems like the Tigers have been dismissed almost too easily from this one. If the Aggies were to be the team that wins his verbal pledge today, though, it would represent a massive victory for Elijah Robinson and a testament to this staff’s ability to steadily work behind the scenes in high-profile battles. We’ll have to wait until 3:30 CT today to see how this one shakes out.