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It’s the first day of the Early Signing Period, and Jimbo Fisher is already off and running with what looks to be a 2nd consecutive Top 5 recruiting class. As of Wednesday afternoon, 247Sports.com had the Aggies ranked No. 6 in the country for 2020 (No. 4 in the SEC behind Alabama, LSU and Georgia). Last year, Fisher’s first recruiting class was ranked No. 4 in the nation, Texas A&M’s highest-ranked recruiting class in the 2000s.
Here are the Aggies’ 5 biggest storylines for the 2020 recruiting class.
1. Jimbo continues to attract the talent
As mentioned, the Aggies are among the top 5 in the nation for the 2nd consecutive year as Fisher continues to bring the top talent to the program. If this trend continues — and there doesn’t seem to be any reason why it wouldn’t — it shouldn’t be much longer before that talent starts to produce more results on the playing field and the victories begin to pile up. It will be sooner rather than later that double-digit-win seasons become the expectation and the Aggies are playing for championships.
2. Texas A&M brand goes national
Fisher was able to pull nationally, with 2020 commits coming from 10 states. A total of 11 of the 22 recruits are from out of state. That’s what championship programs do: They recruit nationally, and are able to lure some of the top talent from around the country to come to their school. And that talent comes from all areas, not just the South. The Aggies got two athletes from New Jersey and another from Illinois. Fisher also plucked recruits from SEC states Florida (2), Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee. As the Aggies climb the ladder in the SEC West, those numbers will only continue to grow.
3. Throw a lasso around Texas
Yes, Fisher is coming up with some of the best recruiting classes in program history. Yes, he’s able to bring some of the nation’s top talent to College Station. But Fisher needs to throw a lasso around the Lone Star State. Maybe that’s the last piece of the puzzle for Fisher to bring championships to Texas A&M. The top recruits are still going elsewhere, and it isn’t to that capital city that wants to remain weird. The top 2 recruits from the state are headed to LSU and Alabama. Of the top 10, 2 are committed to Oklahoma and 3 are committed to rival in-state programs. Still, the Aggies did manage to get 3 of the top 11 — more than any other school. And as the program continues to build momentum, those numbers figure to increase.
4. Filling up the trenches
Games are won and lost in the trenches; that’s nothing new, and Fisher is a big believer in winning the battles at the line of scrimmage. That’s why 9 of the 22 recruits Fisher has and is hoping to bring in are linemen. If you’re going to build a solid foundation for a championship program, it has to start there. Fisher got commitments from 5 offensive linemen, including a pair of 4-stars, in addition to 4 defensive linemen, which also include a couple of 4-stars.
5. Talent is still out there
A couple of targets who would surely help the program and this recruiting class will be signing later. North Shore’s Zachary Evans, the top running back recruit in the country and No. 1 overall recruit from the state of Texas, is a heavy LSU lean, but the Aggies are still in the running. Evans plans to make his choice official on Jan. 2 at the Under Armour All-American Game. Another standout, Mississippi 4-star defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson, plans to make his announcement on Signing Day, Feb. 5.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
