Serious question for A&M fans RE: Briles and Baylor

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Even when TCU and Oklahoma State were in the top 10, they barely made a dent in our recruiting. I doubt anything different with Baylor. If anything, they'll take away from the rest of the Big 12. Players that aren't afraid of SEC competition will still play in the SEC.

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I tend to agree. It just seems that Baylor is riding a huge wave of momentum because of the way they play and well, they are Baylor, a typically bad to decent program. The SEC is a nice pull for players. Appreciate the response!

Briles being successful at Baylor is a net win for A&M without a doubt. He hurts Texas and OU by doing well but has very little affect on us. Since we don't play Baylor and are now in the SEC they really can't do much.

The thing is, Baylor is always going to be Baylor. They are a moderate sized private school in a crappy town with terrible fan support. Baylor also isn't your typical private school, it takes being Baptist seriously. That means you have a student body filled with kids that were home schooled or came from high dollar private schools in the Texas metros and are very sheltered. Most of the folks that go there couldn't get in to A&M or Texas but are rich enough to pay 3 times the price to send their son/daughter off to Baylor so they can stay sheltered. The typical athlete there sticks out like a sore thumb. Their facilities are mediocre and pale in comparison to A&M. Their new stadium is literally less than half the size of A&M's and half the cost.

I'm not saying Baylor won't win the occasional recruiting battle with A&M but it will still be a rarity. It's mainly going to be kids that are promised the moon and want to be treated like rock stars rather than go play against top competition for play time. Baylor can also do some things for athletes A&M can't because they are a private school and don't have quite the same regulations because of it.

A 4 Star recruit can be almost assured of being a 4 year starter at Baylor for instance but certainly not at A&M or Texas for that matter. Honestly if a kid is worried about competing against other athletes they aren't going to fit at A&M anymore than they would at LSU or Bama so they are better off.

So as I said, it is far more concerning to Texas and OU who have to play Baylor every year. When Baylor humiliates OU like they did it certainly helps their head to head recruiting with a kid (especially one from Texas). If they do the same to Texas it will also help but be less important. Mainly though it will hurt Texas and OU by having those losses against a "lesser" school and it will put Baylor in a position to get first choice of the "others" in Texas which is significant. Texas produces over 200 scholarship football players per year and only so many go to A&M or Texas (or other major programs), if you can dominate the "rest" you will do well.

I would much rather Baylor win the BDF than Texas or OU, it says more about the BDF than it does Baylor.

With all the Texas high schools that run spread offenses there are many kids who will want to go to Baylor but the kids who really want to compete and try and get to the next level will choose to go to A&M. Also Briles has a rep of not being a defensive minded coach so the best defensive players will prefer to go to A&M. Just my .02

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Does the emergence of Art Briles and his Baylor program, along with the subtle decline of the Texas program have any significant impact on your in-state recruiting? When reading the news of Briles' extension it got me curious as to whether they are a real player now, especially in the recruiting of highly rated in-state players. Not a flame thread, just genuine curiosity.

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It's affecting in-state receiver recruits somewhat. Defensively, we are recruiting better than we ever have, and the challenge of the SEC is probably going to make that a constant.

Agree with aggressor ... that said, the stadium that they are building is a great looking stadium. If they can fill it up...it would be a neat atmosphere...overlooks the Brazos (not that is saying much) but if they upgraded their other facilities...it could help a bit...

Then again...its just Baylor

Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma will still get first pick. Baylor will just help keep more kids in-state, that would have went to Big XII out of state.

We're not competing for recruits with Baylor...

I don't know if OU is being locked out so much as it is being marginalized and having to compete with the 2nd Tier instead of the 1st in most cases. For instance they have 6 commits in '14 from Texas and only 1 is arguably Top 50 in the State, I don't think they have any Texas kids with A&M or Texas offers. That's a drastic shift in just a few years.

They are building a nice stadium but not any nicer than TCU.

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For instance they have 6 commits in '14 from Texas and only 1 is arguably Top 50 in the State, I don't think they have any Texas kids with A&M or Texas offers

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that's what I meant