Texas A&M Football Recruiting Rumors: Longhorns Look to Flip A&M LB Commit

Longtime LB Commitment Wavering in Pledge to Texas A&M Football; Longhorns Pushing to Flip

One of the top in-state battles of the 2024 recruiting cycle was for Jasper LB Tyanthony Smith; though Smith is outside the top 300 recruits on the 247 Composite, he was still viewed as a huge win for Texas A&M football over the Longhorns, Southern Cal, and others. In recent days, though, things have become a little murkier regarding his future.

Smith was one of three highly-regarded players from the Golden Triangle area—OL Weston Davis and WR Drelon Miller being the other two—that committed to Texas A&M football over the summer. Over the bye week this past season, however, both Davis and Miller decommitted. Smith, however, has remained in the boat up until this point.

Davis had flipped directly to LSU, and Miller was thought to be not far behind. The latter held off on a decision, however, and A&M was thought to be regaining some momentum before Drelon announced for Colorado out of nowhere. Perhaps this contributed to Tyanthony's current uncertainty; whatever the case may be, it certainly didn't help.

A few days ago, Ryan Brauninger of TexAgs reported that the Longhorns had made a big move for Tyanthony "behind the scenes," (a pretty clear statement in the world of NIL) and that he would be visiting Austin this weekend. The national media types were not far behind in reporting the same information.

However, it wasn't long before others in the recruiting space began to report that Tyanthony would not be visiting Texas, including this tweet from AggiesToday. Confusion ensued, but each side pretty much stuck to their guns. A flip prediction came in from 247Sports' Steve Wiltfong yesterday, and others followed suit this morning after some of the Texas sites began to report that Smith had indeed made it to campus.

You have to credit the Longhorns for pressing the advantage during a coaching change and down period for their most formidable recruiting rival in the region. The Aggies certainly did the same in the later Herman years and the first year of Sarkisian's tenure. I suspect we'll know soon whether or not Tyanthony is signing with Texas A&M football, likely before national signing day comes around on Wednesday.