Thanks to a stellar four-year run dating back to its Big 12 days, Texas A&M established itself as one of the go-to offensive linemen destinations in the country. Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews were top-10 NFL draft picks in back-to-back years after All-American seasons in 2012 and 2103, respectively.

In 2014, the team wasn’t up to those All-American levels along the offensive line. Cedric Ogbuehi came into the season as a projected first round pick; he was a second-team All-SEC selection, but his draft stock was slipping even before he tore his ACL in the Aggies’ bowl win over West Virginia thanks to uneven play. .

The Aggies hired former Utah offensive coordinator Dave Christensen to run the offensive line and run game, hoping to bring it back up to the levels it reached during the Johnny Manziel heyday.

Thanks to Kevin Sumlin’s focus on bringing in offensive linemen the last few recruiting cycles, A&M doesn’t lack for talent up front.

Class of 2014

  • Jermaine Eluemenor, four-star (JUCO)
  • Avery Gennesy, four-star (JUCO)
  • Zach Ledwick, three-star
  • Koda Martin, three-star
  • Tank Davis, three-star

Class of 2015

  • Keaton Southerland, four-star (early enrollee)
  • Connor Lanfear, four-star
  • Trevor Elbert, four-star
  • Erik McCoy, three-star

Class of 2016

  • Greg Little, five-star (committed to Texas A&M, No. 1 OT prospect in class)

That’s a lot of young blockers in College Station; nine members of the classes of 2014 and 2015 will be on campus this fall. Several members of the 2014 class — Gennesy in particular, but also Martin and Eluemenor — will compete for starting spots alongside veterans Germain Ifedi, Joseph Cheek and Mike Matthews.

It’s  not out of the question for one of the veterans up front to step up and play at an All-SEC level this year, but there likely aren’t any early All-America candidates at this point in spring practice. Texas A&M will still expect the line to take a leap forward this year after inconsistency in 2014.

With a young team built to be very good over the next two or three years, the Aggies have something monumental to look forward to: the arrival of Greg Little. The Allen, Texas native is currently one of the top-five prospects in his class, while some recruiting experts think he could wind up No. 1 in his class by the the time National Signing Day rolls around.

Little committed to Texas A&M nearly a year ago, in June 2014, and those early commitments don’t always stick. There’s good reason to think Little will end up as an Aggie, thanks to his school’s connection to Texas A&M. Kyler Murray, Little’s teammate, is scheduled to arrive on campus this fall as one of the highest-rated dual-threat QBs in the nation. Ogbuehi is also an Allen H.S. graduate, and Texas A&M has brought in a player from the school in three of the last six rercuiting classes, not including Little and the 2016 class.

With so much highly regarded talent already on board and more incoming, it’s hard to imagine it’ll be long before the Aggies get their offensive line back to performing like a dominant unit.