Should Texas A&M football fans be panicking about recruiting after five-star safety commits to Texas?
With the commitment of Jonah Williams today to the Longhorns, Texas A&M football has gone 0-for-2 on five-stars this week after OT Michael Fasusi committed to OU on Wednesday. Worse even than that, Texas A&M football now has zero commitments within the top-10 in-state players.
Of course, it should be said that this is partially tempered by the fact that the Aggies have cleaned up so far out west, notching commitments from three of the top four players in California. And, for whatever it's worth, their top-ranked commitment from in-state, despite being the fourteenth-ranked player in Texas, is still a top-100 guy overall.
But if players were signing on the dotted line today with the spots where they are currently verbally pledged (pending the commitment of Michael Terry III, who looks like he is headed elsewhere), the Ags would go without a single five-star from in the state of Texas in a year where the Lone Star State boasts nine players with that designation.
As things stand, though, the destinations of these five-stars are remarkably disparate. Texas, Ohio State, and Alabama are all tied with two commitments each from that group, with Oregon and OU both notching one. The Ducks could join the Longhorns, Buckeyes, and Tide if Michael Terry elects to go to Eugene.
The tough part is that it seemed like the Aggies led for Jonah Williams, in particular, for a large portion of his recruitment. Indeed, he was predicted to land in College Station by several experts for quite some time. So why the sudden change?
I can't say for sure. What I will say is that, looking at the whole picture, you'd have to believe there's some interesting thought processes going on in Austin when, coming off of a playoff appearance, you are being out-recruited—not only by Ohio State, Oregon, Alabama, etc., but by your in-state rival who is coming off of a 7-6 season.
The loss of Fasusi to OU could have been a catalyst to some big time players in the Longhorn recruiting structure, and they decided to push their chips in with the lone remaining uncommitted top-20 player that hails from Texas. If this is the case, though, then it should be concerning to Longhorn fans just how much time there is from now until signing day.
That, of course, is just speculation—but it is undeniably true that there's a whole season left to play. There's still a lot of recruiting to be done—not only with uncommitted guys, but the committed ones as well. They are not, in fact, signing on the dotted line today.
So no, it's not time to panic. There's quite a few moves left yet to be made on this chess board. We'll just have to see how things shake out come late December.