Walter Nolen committed to Texas A&M on Nov. 6, and he spent this past weekend taking an unofficial visit to College Station. Yet, the 5-star defensive lineman reportedly now isn’t planning to make things official with the Aggies during this week’s early signing period.

Why not exactly? Well, that isn’t quite clear at this point.

According to Emily Adams of the Knoxville News Sentinel, Nolen’s father, Walter Nolen Sr., said his son won’t be signing a national letter of intent during the 72-hour early period that begins Wednesday, but he isn’t sure why Nolen made that decision. Nolen will then have to wait to sign until National Signing Day on Feb. 2.

Although Nolen is committed to Texas A&M, he still took an official visit to Tennessee on Dec. 4.

“I just wanted to check all of my bases and see what they were about,” Nolen said, per Adams. “It was a great visit and I got to talk with the coaches some more, so I have no complaints.”

Nolen is the No. 2 overall recruit in the 2022 class, per the 247Sports Composite rankings, and the No. 1 defensive lineman. He currently attends Powell (Tenn.) High School.

Is it possible that Nolen is still considering staying closer to home and flipping his commitment to the Vols? We’ll have to wait to see how this situation develops.