re: 2017 Taylor Hamm Recruiting VIP Info Thread

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Do we get to recruit at the Arkansas game this year?

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Per Hamm: Texas A&M-Arkansas Visitor List

Plano East LB Anthony Hines
Cedar Hill WR Camron Buckley
Birdville OL Jared Hocker
Dallas Kimball ATH Devodrick Johnson
Plain Dealing ATH Keldrick Carper
Southlake Carroll OL Carson Green
2018 Yoakum DB Jordan Moore
2018 Yoakum WR Joshua Moore
2018 Arlington Lamar DT Bobby Brown
2018 Lovejoy LB Bumper Pool
2018 Hebron DB Verone McKinley
2018 Silsbee WR Kalon Barnes
2018 Rockwall LB Alston Orji
2018 Timbercreek WR Erik Ezukanma
2018 Sachse WR Drue Jackson
2018 Sachse DB Isaiah Humphries
2018 Justin Northwest OL Darrell Simpson
2019 Rockwall LB Anfernee Orji
2019 Coppell DB Johnathan McGill
2020 Southlake Carroll DB RJ Mickens

This is a neutral site game and not a campus visit. Any kids you get is positive. I don't believe these are official visitors...

After watching a lot of the big 12 games this year, why the hell would you go to any school in the state of Texas to play defense? If You are good enough to go play in the nfl someday you will likely still make it there, but you are leaving a lot of money on the table I imagine.

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After watching a lot of the big 12 games this year, why the hell would you go to any school in the state of Texas to play defense? If You are good enough to go play in the nfl someday you will likely still make it there, but you are leaving a lot of money on the table I imagine.

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Honestly it feels like the further along we get in time the further away recruits get from any logical reason to pick a school.

For example, Spurrier once said something to the effect of he was amazed that Saban can sign the best class every year because back in the 1990s when he tried to do it kids noticed the roster full of five stars and said "I think I will go somewhere else where I for sure will be the starter." It used to be that recruits had this logical nature to their decision that sort of enforced a kind of parity to the sport. Fast forward to today and year after year top kids sign up for Saban to probably bench them.

I personally think it is a bad side effect of how big recruiting has become. These kids become worshipped in IRL and on social media by their sophomore year in high school, so when it becomes time to sign the dotted line they don't care what the roster looks like because they have been told they are amazing once in a lifetime players which means they will blow away all the guys on the chart ahead of them. The little bit of parity recruiting once had is lost when these kids stop making logical decisions, and when their handlers (who we used to call parents) don't force their hand to make logical decisions because they want to be in kid's good graces when the NFL payday comes.

That is why I would love to see A&M push to change the transfer rules as I think it is the only longterm solution to the problem. Once the transfer rules weren't so punitive to the players (aka the skipping a year or two was taken out) then suddenly a naturally unsexy program like A&M could stop wasting time recruiting 18 year old bigheads who expect to succeed anyway and spend time picking over King Nick's bench full of players like Sheffield who got their life reality check at Nick's hands and now are ready to make a logical decision to stay close to home and get good exposure to NFL teams.

My favorite thing Sumlin has done is recruit the transfer kids who overall work out pretty well for us because they got their dose of humility and they are willing to work (imagine that) to earn that roster spot. Even if the rules don't change I wish we would go all out and send a letter to every single kid on Nick's bench that simply says "our coaches have put _____ many kids in the NFL. If you never play they won't see you and you won't be in the NFL yourself. Come here to actually make your dreams come true by getting off the bench." I bet his second string still has enough talent to win a title, he is so far beyond any other team we have seen since DKR's time.

Well, you do tend to write novels bruh

Well like all good story writers I always start in the middle of the saga.








I have tried to be better about it but sometimes I can't help it.

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My favorite thing Sumlin has done is recruit the transfer kids who overall work out pretty well for us because they got their dose of humility and they are willing to work (imagine that) to earn that roster spot.

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I tried to point this out in the 2016 recruiting discussion and was pretty well chastised by the board for saying that getting Trevor Knight, Keith Ford, and Priest Willis were positive developments. Kirk Merritt was a great pickup this year.