| RECRUIT Now they come out of their shells. "National Analysts Rip Jimbo Fisher, Aggies Recruiting."

The Aggies struggles on the recruiting trails are not a surprise, per national pundits.

The Texas A&M Aggies have struggled on the recruiting trail in the 2023 cycle, sitting with six total commitments, including a punter.

And while the talent they do have committed is solid, the momentum is nowhere near the same for Jimbo Fisher as it was in the 2022 class, when the Aggies finished with arguably the greatest recruiting class of all time.

In fact, after finishing with the nation's unanimous No. 1 class, the Aggies currently sit with the No. 35 class per On3, the No. 52 class by Rivals, and sit at No. 58 class per 247Sports.

They are unranked by ESPN.

And now national analysts are beginning to take notice, with Fox Sports' Brady Quinn, ripping the Aggies for their haul thus far.

"It’s a direct correlation to the microscope has been put on us," Quinn said on an episode of the Outkick The Coverage podcast." We can’t do what we did last year and our recruits look a little different right now. I haven’t seen that dramatic of a swing in recruiting ever. When Nick Saban comes out and basically says, ‘Yeah, dude, you bought that class.’ This justifies it."

However, Quinn wasn't the only analyst to rip the Aggies, with former Penn State star linebacker LaVar Arrington giving Alabama's Nick Saban the credit for the Aggies struggles.


"So Nick Saban is playing chess, he ain't playing checkers," Arrington said. "He said look, let me put a spotlight where the spotlight needs to be so that it could go back to doing things the way that they've been done... Nick is somewhere laughing."

Jonas Knox was the last of the group to go in on the Aggies, noting an uninspiring list of Group of 5 teams who currently rank ahead of the Aggies by some recruiting services.

"Here are some of the teams that are ranked ahead of Texas A&M right now. Temple, UCF, East Carolina and Central Michigan," Knox said.

To be fair, the Aggies still have plenty of elite battles left to wage on the trail, including battles for Ryan (Denton, TX) linebacker Anthony Hill, Westlake (Austin, TX) offensive lineman TJ Shanahan, El Campo (TX) running back Rueben Owens, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, NV) wide receiver Zachariah Branch, and Martin (Arlington, TX) defensive back Javien Toviano, just to name a few.

Not to mention their pursuit of Baylor QB commit Austin Novosad, among other quarterbacks.

Suffice it to say, there is still plenty of time left in this cycle, and it is far too early to count out the Aggies just yet.

 
"So Nick Saban is playing chess, he ain't playing checkers," Arrington said. "He said look, let me put a spotlight where the spotlight needs to be so that it could go back to doing things the way that they've been done... Nick is somewhere laughing."


I almost laugh-spewed my lunch on the screen when reading that.

There was an article posted here about 2 months ago about how 'Bama's NIL is going about helping the players. I truly think our approach to the NIL group funding will change the way most NIL's will be molded. And a some point, the NIL's will need function based on compliance (it's coming). Yet again, coach Saban making history.
 
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