Texas A&M's biggest loss of the recruiting cycle, without a doubt, has to be the no. 2 corner in the country, John Meredith. After being considered a lean towards the Aggies for quite some time, the DFW-area corner ended up choosing Texas after a late charge where the Longhorns gave it everything they possibly could.
The level of commitment that Texas had was greater than anything the Aggies could match, considering the rest of the elite class that Texas A&M had put together. There was some hope, though, given Meredith's clear affection for the Aggies— and the reasoning for his Texas decision— that Elko and this staff may be able to flip him a little bit down the line.
That door is now closed for good, however— but in a way that nobody really expected. It was announced today that Meredith has reclassified up to the 2026 class and will be on campus for the Longhorns this fall, eligible to play this season.
BREAKING: 5-star CB John Meredith III is reclassifying to the 2026 class and will enroll at Texas🤘 pic.twitter.com/rRKsNvJDwe
— 247Sports (@247Sports) July 23, 2026
The most surprising part of this is that this is a massive win for the Aggies. While so many Longhorns are celebrating this decision, when you sit down and analyze what this means, it actually could end up being the best thing possible for their chief rival.
John Meredith's reclassification decision is actually a perfect move for Texas A&M
The sizeable commitment put towards Meredith is now going towards a player who will, in all likelihood, not play in his first season. Meredith has already missed spring and summer ball, and upon being ruled ineligible by the UIL, decided to come in for fall ball in Austin.
He will be behind guys like Graceson Littleton and Kobe Black on the Longhorns' depth chart, both of whom are not only good players, but players who are far more experienced than he is. Add in the fact that Meredith is losing a year of physical maturity that he would have gained by staying in 2027, and the chances of him making a huge impact on this roster in year one are dubious.
That means that the Longhorns' "cap space," as Steve Sarkisian put it earlier today, is being dedicated in an outsized amount to a player that will be riding the bench in his first year— something, as it happens, that one particular Texas media member has levied as a criticism towards the Aggies' no. 1 class for 2027.
For a player of this caliber to not play in his first year, too, could mean the likelihood of an eventual transfer begins to shoot up. Even if that doesn't happen, Meredith will only impact the Texas roster significantly for two years rather than three (if he does indeed head to the NFL as soon as possible).
In other words, this does nothing but diffuse the sting of losing Meredith to a rival that the Aggies felt. It kills the hope of a recruiting flip, of course, but the prospect of a transfer is still very much alive for this one down the road.
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