Hamm lite
Official visit preview: Where A&M stands with every player
Texas A&M has its biggest home game of the year this coming weekend as No. 1 Alabama will be at Kyle Field on Saturday afternoon.
The Aggies will have a ton of big-time unofficial visitors in town for the game, but they will also be hosting their most impressive official visit weekend of the year as well.
There are 10 visitors that are confirmed with another national top-100 prospect potentially on the list as well to make 11.
Here is where things stand with each and every one of them heading into the huge weekend
Demond Demas made a somewhat surprising commitment to Texas A&M a year ago after the Clemson game. He had not included the Aggies in his previous list of top schools. However, he made the pledge while in College Station.
Not many people expected the commitment to last all that long. However, the five-star wide receiver has turned into the anchor of the Aggie class. He recruits for A&M every chance he can get.
Though Demas was ruled ineligible for his senior season by the UIL after moving to Tomball in the spring, he is still working out and wants to contribute early when he arrives in May.
Though he is in town for every game, having A&M’s biggest cheerleader there all weekend with many of its top targets is a very good thing.
One of the nation’s top pass rushers, four-star Fadil Diggs committed to A&M back in early May. It was not long after an unofficial visit the 6-foot-4, 240-pound defender took to Aggieland.
After committing, Diggs still took official visits to Florida and Penn State. However, his relationship with Elijah Robinson helped keep him as a solid commitment.
Diggs is one of two New Jersey commits for A&M and the other, defensive tackle Isaiah Raikes, is a good friend of his and will be in town this coming weekend on an unofficial visit.
A two-way standout for his high school, Diggs is trying to graduate early. Even if it does not work out that way, he should be able to see the field early in Aggieland.
Smart Chibuzo was one of the earliest commitments in the class. The Aggies were one of his first offers and he decided to commit after an unofficial visit in June 2018.
After that, the 6-foot-5, 330-pound lineman saw a number of new offers come in. He also took unofficial visits to a few other places. However, he has remained on the commitment list.
Chibuzo talked about the possibility of taking other official visits this fall, but that does not seem likely to happen at this point.
Previously an offensive tackle, he made the move to guard a year ago. The film from the first half of his senior season at the position shows an improved player.
If you are looking for a player to be on ‘commitment watch’ this weekend, national top 100 offensive lineman Chris Morris would be the one to keep an eye on.
The 6-foot-3.5, 290-pound senior has been to Aggieland numerous times over the past two years and always comes away raving. He has taken an official visit to Tennessee already and says that the A&M one will be his final trip.
That would seem to bode well for the Aggies, especially as Morris has said he wants to make a commitment while on an official visit.
If the Aggies land him, they will get one of the nation’s most versatile lineman. Though he is not the tallest tackle prospect, Morris has long arms and schools think he can play tackle at the next level. The Aggies have told him he would end up at either tackle or guard, depending on where the biggest need was.
This official visit for Antonio Doyle was supposed to happen back in the summer. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound four-star defender has a trip set up to Aggieland in June. However, two weeks prior, he made a surprising commitment to in-state Missouri while on an official visit and canceled the one to A&M.
Now, four months later, Doyle is no longer committed to the Tigers. Before he made his pledge, the Aggies were seen as the leader, and that is the case once again.
This will be Doyle’s first trip to Aggieland and it will be a chance for A&M to firmly cement itself in the driver’s seat.
While a commitment can’t be completely ruled out, it would be unexpected, though. Doyle plans to take all five of his official visits as he knows he got caught up in the moment on the first one. He made it to Oklahoma a few weeks ago and has Illinois the weekend after A&M. The fifth destination is still up in the air.
Doyle is a player that Joe Jon Finley has been recruiting for some time and, with A&M’s linebacker depth, could have a chance to play early if he ends up in Maroon and White.
Originally ranked as an offensive tackle, Omari Thomas came to A&M two summers ago and worked on the defensive side of the ball at camp. He was incredibly impressive there and, since then, almost every school has changed to recruiting him at defensive tackle.
The 6-foot-5, 300-pound defender is ranked as the No. 103 overall prospect in the nation. He has most of the SEC still after him very hard.
Thomas plans to announce at the All-American Bowl on Jan. 4 and has upcoming official visits scheduled to Alabama and Auburn.
It is going to be a dogfight to land him, but A&M has had him in town multiple times already and getting Morris in the fold could help as he would recruit his fellow Memphis prospect.
At this point, though, nobody has been able to get a great read on Thomas. He has done a good job of playing things close to the vest.
Texas A&M is still recruiting several running backs, but EJ Smith is the one who probably receives the least amount of attention. He is definitely worthy of his No. 119 overall ranking, though.
The son of Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith, the younger Smith is a dangerous running back who is also a very good receiver out of the backfield. He changes directions a lot better than a 5-foot-11, 200-pounder should be able to.
Smith has a top five of A&M, Florida, Georgia, Ohio State and Stanford. He officially visited Georgia last month and Florida last weekend. He has one set to Ohio State for late November.
This one could come down to a number’s game with A&M depending on how long Smith waits to announce. However, he has very real interest in the Aggies and they are the only school close to home in his final group. His sister also plays soccer for A&M.
Originally thought to be a basketball prospect, Jason Harris has emerged a top pass rusher. The 6-foot-7, 220-pound defender uses the athleticism from the court to be able to get past opposing offensive tackles.
Many have long assumed Harris would end up at in-state Arizona, and for good reason. His brother currently plays for the Wildcats and his father played there as well. His mom played basketball at UA as well.
Some expected Harris to be an early pledge to the Wildcats, but that was not the case. This will only be his second official visit, as he made his way to Tucson in June. Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon and Utah are all looking to get him on campus as well.
It will be an uphill battle for Harris, but this will be his second time to visit Aggieland. A&M has a chance to make a big impression on him over the weekend.
Alfred Collins is in contention for being the top defensive lineman in the Lone Star State this year. The 6-foot-5, 275-pound four-star prospect moves much better than someone his size would be expected to.
Collins is the first-ever Division I recruit from Cedar Creek and he has the team on track to make the playoffs for the first time ever this season as well. Because the relatively new school is not a common stop for coaches, it took Collins a while to pick up offers.
A&M was the first school to extend one, doing after camp the summer following his sophomore year. After that, almost every top school in the nation followed suit.
Collins has previously officially visited Alabama and Oklahoman and will head to Austin next week for what is likely his last trip.
Collins’ mother played basketball at Texas and he grew up a Longhorn fan, so this is another uphill battle due to family connections. However, both A&M and Alabama have done a very good job in at least giving him something to think about.
Texas A&M offered Brian George back in the spring but, like with the other junior college cornerbacks offered at the time, things went a bit quiet as the Aggies needed to figure out numbers in the class and the need for a JUCO cornerback.
While neither of those is still incredibly clear, A&M has been to Kansas once again and made one new offer while also re-engaging George.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound defender, ranked as the No. 6 overall junior college prospect in the country, is on a bye week and had previously been scheduled to visit Kentucky. A&M was able to get him to change that, though.
George, who hails from Florida, has unofficially visited both Auburn and Florida and those two SEC programs are major contenders for him. A December graduate, he is a bit of a wildcard in his plans as to when and where he will commit.
4-STAR MIAMI (FL) GULLIVER PREP DE DONELL HARRIS
Originally a prospect in the class of 2021, Donell Harris reclassified just before his senior season. That boded very well for the Aggies at the time.
A number of the other top schools for the 6-foot-4, 210-pound defender had either filled up or had other targets in the class at his position already. A&M has long been one of his top schools and it allowed the Aggies to position themselves at the top, especially after an unofficial visit late in the summer.
A few other schools then started ramping up the pressure as well, but it was not until an unofficial visit to LSU a couple weeks ago that another challenger truly emerged for the nation’s No. 52 overall prospect. In fact, in talking to numerous sources, the Tigers took the lead.
There will be a lot of eyes on Harris to see if he actually makes the trip to Aggieland this weekend. If he does, it is a battle once again. However, both A&M and LSU have him on their prospective visitor lists as he is weighing another unofficial to Baton Rouge instead.
If Harris chooses to make it to LSU for a second time on his own dime instead of the official to A&M, the writing is likely on the wall