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Recruiting Weekend Recap: Looking back at A&M's June 2-4 official visits

By Jason Howell

June 6, 2023

June is here. June is here.

The summer months have arrived, official visits are being taken and camps are being camped. 

For Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M, things kicked off in a big way as the Aggies hosted 13 official visitors last weekend, and all 13 have offers from across the country.

There was a five-star and several four-stars. There was speed, and there was size.

No commitments were expected for a few reasons, but mainly because it was the first weekend in June. Also, all of these guys have other visits planned in the weeks ahead.

However, it was definitely an important weekend, and plenty of work was being done. It was a chance to build momentum, set the standard, and in some cases, make themselves legitimate contenders.

Let’s dive right into the weekend.

First, here are a few numbers just for fun.

5 offensive linemen – By far the biggest position group of the weekend, and it featured some key targets.

6 different states represented – Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana and California were all represented.

8 Texas prospects – A running back, a wide receiver, a tight end, four offensive linemen and a linebacker.

10.2... as in Caden Durham‍ and Ernest Campbell‍ have both clocked 100m times in the 10.2s this spring. Durham ran a 10.25, while Campbell recorded a 10.22.

Now here is a quick look at everyone who visited over the weekend

RB Caden Durham‍, Duncanville (TX)

WR Tawaski Abrams‍, Fort Myers (FL) Dunbar – Florida State

WR Ernest Campbell‍, Refugio (TX)

TE Jordan Washington‍, Houston (TX) Langham Creek

OL Weston Davis‍, Beaumont (TX) United

OL Coen Echols‍, Katy (TX)

OL Kai Greer‍, Waxhaw (NC) Marvin Ridge

OL Makai Saina‍, Arlington (TX) Martin

OL Bennett Warren‍, Sugar Land (TX) Fort Bend Christian

DL Aydin Breland‍, Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei

LB Tyanthony Smith‍, Jasper (TX)

S Tylen Singleton‍, Many (LA)

ATH Braylon Burnside‍, Starkville (MS)

So how did it go?

In terms of creating momentum and establishing themselves in recruitments, it is safe to say the weekend was a resounding success.

For example, going into the weekend, the Aggies were not mentioned much with ridiculously fast tailback Caden Durham‍ and five-star defensive lineman Aydin Breland‍, yet coming out of it, it is safe to say they are in a much better place with both.

Durham was active throughout the weekend on social media and clearly enjoyed the food.

TexAgs

A speedy running back from Duncanville, Durham has already posted a 10.24 in the 100m this spring.

As for Breland, multiple sources close to his recruitment sang the Aggies’ praises and said the Aggies made a major move up his list.

Now, revisiting some of those numbers above, starting with those five offensive linemen...

It does not take long to see Steve Addazio made a big impression on each and every OL who made the trip. He is known as a hard-nosed, old-school coach, and he does not shy away from it during the recruiting process. Recruits also met with several offensive linemen without any coaches or staff around and were able to ask real questions and get real feedback.

The message was clear: Addazio is a hard coach, but he loves harder.

The Aggies were already trending well and among the top schools for each one, but they probably made up the most ground with Sugar Land Fort Bend Christian offensive tackle Bennett Warren‍. A&M started off hot after offering in January, but an April visit to Michigan saw the Wolverines surge. After his weekend OV, the Aggies once again have some steam, and Warren plans to release a top-four soon. It is safe to say A&M is in good shape to make the cut.

The Aggies appeared to be best situated with Katy center Coen Echols‍ heading into the weekend.

He has some strong Texas A&M connections in his family and is from right down the road in Katy, where the Aggies have had major success over the years, including current Texas A&M commitment Ashton Funk‍. The Aggies have ramped up the attention with Echols since offering in April. He took an unofficial visit just over a week after receiving his offer, and he announced his official visit a week later. While he continues to be a popular pick on the Who’s Next charts, Echols is taking his time with visits scheduled to Auburn (June 9), Nebraska (June 13) and Texas Tech (June 16). He hopes to make a summer time commitment.

Arlington Martin standout Makai Saina‍ made the trip with his mom, and like those above, this was a return trip. The Aggies have been among his top programs throughout, and while he has never officially narrowed his list, Saina also has official visits to USC (June 16) and Texas (June 23) and hopes to make a summer time decision. Addazio has Saina’s mom’s seal of approval, and their one-on-one with Layden Robinson was extremely impactful.

TexAgs

After having Weston Davis on campus for an official visit this weekend, Texas A&M will also try to get him back to College Station later this summer.

Beaumont United offensive tackle Weston Davis‍ has also been keeping a close eye on the Aggies since receiving his offer in February. The 6-foot-5, 280-pounder visited in the spring, and he made Texas A&M his first official visit. All reports are that A&M continues to trend in the right direction following the visit, and his connection with other Southeast talents could definitely help. Next up, Davis has official visits scheduled to Oklahoma (June 9), Alabama (June 16) and LSU (June 23), and look for the Aggies to continue to work to get him back on campus this summer.

The only out-of-state offensive lineman in the group was offensive tackle Kai Greer‍ out of Waxhaw (NC) Marvin Ridge. Like those above, he is a repeat visitor. He has family connections to the Aggies. His uncle went to Texas A&M, but if I had to pick one, I feel least confident ending up an Aggie out of this group, Greer would be my pick. He is an out-of-state prospect, and it is going to be harder for the Aggies to get him back on campus before he plans to decide. Greer has upcoming trips to Stanford (June 9), Penn State (June 16) and Arkansas (June 23), and he hopes to make a decision in early July.

Wide receiver was also well represented over the weekend with two prospects, and if you throw in tight end, that makes it three.

In-state, Ernest Campbell‍ has been a priority since he was offered by the Aggies this spring, and he has already taken multiple trips. Over the weekend, the biggest development was the amount of time he was able to spend around the track program. He talked with some of the track athletes, met with head coach Pat Henry and also saw how Jimbo Fisher has allowed and encouraged other football players to pursue their track aspirations. Texas A&M also continued to paint the picture of how they plan to utilize Campbell’s dynamic skill set. While he’s right up there on my “Who’s Next” list alongside Echols, I didn’t expect anything to happen this weekend since he does have official visits to Boston College (June 9) and Nebraska (June 23). Campbell also plans to take an unofficial visit to Oregon while at the Nike outdoor championships and will return to Texas A&M for the pool party in July. The Aggies appear to have firmly planted themselves among his favorites, but he also does not have any plans to make a decision anytime soon. I may ultimately have to re-evaluate where he sits on the “Who’s Next” scale.

Fort Myers (FL) Dunbar receiver and Florida State commit Tawaski Abrams‍ also made the trip. “TJ” is no stranger to Texas A&M either. He visited last summer and is very familiar with Fisher. In fact, Fisher is partly responsible for why Abrams has had his eye on the Florida State program. Abrams and Campbell spent most of the visit together and established a strong bond. The Aggies also have another in with former Florida State commit, current Texas A&M commit and Blountstown (FL) S Jordan Pride‍ already in his ear. He has upcoming official visits to Florida and Florida State, and he plans to return to Aggieland this fall for Texas A&M’s contest against Alabama.

It was definitely an important weekend, and plenty of work was being done. It was a chance to build momentum, set the standard, and in some cases, make themselves legitimate contenders.

Houston Langham Creek tight end Jordan Washington‍ has wasted little time getting acquainted with the Aggies. He visited in late May, received his Texas A&M offer and returned for an official over the weekend. It has been a bit of a whirlwind for the 6-foot-4, 215-pound standout. His offer list exploded in the spring, and he has gotten a heavy dose of Texas A&M. The Aggies have situated themselves nicely as Washington prepares for a busy June with official visits stops at UTSA (June 5), Arizona State (June 9), Texas (June 16) and Utah (June 23).

I mentioned both Durham and Breland above, so I’ll jump over to athlete Braylon Burnside‍.

The Starkville (MS) playmaker was the only first-time visitor in town over the weekend and was joined by his mom and uncle. Burnside has been drawing recruiting attention at wide receiver and safety, and the Aggies are currently eyeing him more on the defensive side of the ball. First off, he loved everything about the visit and even stopped at Whataburger before heading back to Mississippi. Burnside caught up with fellow Mississippians in 2024 Texas A&M commits AJ Maddox‍ and Tristan Jernigan‍ while in town. Neither was in College Station, but they made sure to connect during his official visit. A&M opened Burnside’s eyes to the opportunities of playing on the defensive side of the ball, and he said his uncle was ready to sign before leaving the visit. On the other hand, Burnside has made it clear that offense is his preference right now, and he does have plenty of options at wide receiver. The Aggies did not close the door on the possibility of offense, and he met with Bobby Petrino to talk about how they could use him at receiver. Still, Burnside definitely left feeling like the Aggies had defense in mind right now. Next up, he has a late June visit to Arkansas, and he is thinking about making an early fall commitment to his school of choice. He mentioned Mississippi State, Arkansas, West Virginia and Auburn as schools high on his list in addition to Texas A&M.

With defense being discussed, let's talk a little linebacker.

The Aggies hosted Jasper standout Tyanthony Smith‍ and Many (LA) safety/linebacker hybrid Tylen Singleton‍. Both are very familiar with College Station after taking multiple trips, and both have been tabbed as high-priority targets.

Smith said the biggest takeaway for him was the final meetings with D.J. Durkin and Fisher and his grandmother being able to meet both of them. He also said Durkin made it clear how important they viewed him as a prospect. He has a few upcoming visits, with USC and Texas among them, and he is also planning to return to College Station for the Alabama game in the fall.

Singleton also enjoyed quality time with Durkin and TJ Rushing, as well as Jardin Gilbert. He likes the people, the town and the vibe around Aggieland, and then there is the vision Texas A&M has for him as at “Star,” where he can play a hybrid role. Singleton has upcoming visits to TCU, Arkansas, Tennessee and LSU, and he has not declared any leaders between the five schools. He plans to attend Texas A&M’s pool party in July and hopes to make a commitment decision around late July-August.

Time will tell just how successful this recruiting weekend was, but there is no doubt about its importance.

Throw out the rankings. The sheer number of desired targets was very strong this weekend, and it sounds like A&M did a great job of building strong, positive momentum with each

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2 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Seems they're not hyping the pool party as much as previous years and seems thrown together hastily and last minute.

Why any P5 program would hype a "pool party" for recruiting purposes is bizarre in the first place.  A pool party?  One of the centerpieces of the recruiting schedule?  Seriously?  

I mean, my son had a great time at his pool party in little league.  I get that.  But he was 12.  And not a P5 prospect.  

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1 hour ago, nnm said:

Why any P5 program would hype a "pool party" for recruiting purposes is bizarre in the first place.  A pool party?  One of the centerpieces of the recruiting schedule?  Seriously?  

I mean, my son had a great time at his pool party in little league.  I get that.  But he was 12.  And not a P5 prospect.  

We did the same thing with success back in 18/19. It was on campus at greg, not an apartment complex, but it's not that weird. The way they talk about it is weird though. 

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10 minutes ago, Bodacious Bevo said:

We did the same thing with success back in 18/19. It was on campus at greg, not an apartment complex, but it's not that weird. The way they talk about it is weird though. 

I don't have a problem with a pool party per se, but it just seems bizarre that they make it such a centerpiece of their recruiting schedule.  Was it equally as prominent at UT in 18/19?  Genuinely asking, I don't know.  

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1 hour ago, nnm said:

Why any P5 program would hype a "pool party" for recruiting purposes is bizarre in the first place.  A pool party?  One of the centerpieces of the recruiting schedule?  Seriously?  

I mean, my son had a great time at his pool party in little league.  I get that.  But he was 12.  And not a P5 prospect.  

I mean, Texas has had success with various pool parties under Herman and Sark. I can think of worse idea than a bunch of HS recruits around a bunch of college women. Allegedly. 

3 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Seems they're not hyping the pool party as much as previous years and seems thrown together hastily and last minute.

It's 6 weeks from now. Do you think it takes 6 weeks to play a pool party? I mean, Terry Price's BBQ looks like it's thrown together an hour before serving time, 6 weeks feels like an eternity for aTm. 

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5 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

I mean, Texas has had success with various pool parties under Herman and Sark. I can think of worse idea than a bunch of HS recruits around a bunch of college women. Allegedly. 

It's 6 weeks from now. Do you think it takes 6 weeks to play a pool party? I mean, Terry Price's BBQ looks like it's thrown together an hour before serving time, 6 weeks feels like an eternity for aTm. 

To be fair Aggie did schedule the original pool party last year during the recruiting dead period. They had to hastily put one together a few weeks later once the dead period ended and a lot of recruits did not show up, and some left early pissed off. Maybe 6 weeks isn't enough time for them

Edited by Longhornfrenzy
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8 minutes ago, nnm said:

I don't have a problem with a pool party per se, but it just seems bizarre that they make it such a centerpiece of their recruiting schedule.  Was it equally as prominent at UT in 18/19?  Genuinely asking, I don't know.  

It didn't quite reach the mythical status that the aggies have assigned to theirs, but it was the kickoff point for the 2018 class coming together and it was hyped as our big event the next couple years. The hype (for us) was really about all the prospects that are coming in for it though. Every school is going to have some kind of thing to do for their big OV weekends and pool parties are easy enough to do. So I guess the 'pool party' itself wasn't as prevalent in our dialogue but it was just a big recruiting weekend.

There are some between our 18/19/20 and their 22/23/24: 

18/22: Some momentum in spring, big weekend comes together and kicks off a ton off momentum (Sterns flip/bags of cash), everyone happy

19/23: Less enthusiasm (coming off 7-5/8-4) but still fixable, pool party is a chance to recover momentum

20/24: we had the sugar bowl to sell but still couldn't make headway, they're coming off 5-7

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5 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

"Listen, the guy's failure had nothing to do with his own abilities, it was more about going 5-7. That being said, he's been fired and Jimbo has to get this hire right, even though the other guy was a fine hire, because Jimbo only makes fine hires, despite the fact he clearly wasn't getting it done."

human pretzel - Imgflip


Never change, Aggie. 

 

I guess the new hire can magically make the 5-7 into a 10 win season.  They will need at least 5 more maroon and white games to accomplish this.

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45 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

It takes a while to bring enough butter to a rolling boil for the chicken to boil in. 

That has to be one of the most disgusting preparations of chicken or just about anything that I've ever seen.  

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Really interested to see who they hire at this point in the cycle. Firing him, and if you believe what they are saying he was out a while ago, now seems to certainly be A decision they they could have made.

Especially if they hire a white dude after loudly proclaiming how he was the first black DPP  in the SEC like 14 months ago

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4 hours ago, Longhornfrenzy said:

Screenshot_2023-06-08-16-17-26-52_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg

Is Tarp an aggy alum? Wondering because it seems like he’s giving off vibes he’s had about enough sometimes. I can see him putting up with it if he’s a cult member. Either that or he hasn’t been able to get a bite on another job.

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On 8/16/2019 at 6:04 AM, Boerne Horn said:

2ad012bb1949a5adfe8564c9c214ac45.gif

 

5 hours ago, Ricky's one-hitter said:

Credit where due

Still great. Unfortunately, CTJ probably sits around telling anybody that will listen that Meet The Parents is the funniest movie of the millennium.

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1 hour ago, Wishbone said:

Is Tarp an aggy alum? Wondering because it seems like he’s giving off vibes he’s had about enough sometimes. I can see him putting up with it if he’s a cult member. Either that or he hasn’t been able to get a bite on another job.

Tarp is as redass as they come, but he is the Alfred Jodl of the Aggie general staff.

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Orrrrr, they weren’t able to fund the bags the way they did the year prior because 5-7 isn’t the type of investment that draws those that write checks (combined with better programs getting up to speed with actual NIL) and they needed a scapegoat. 

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32 minutes ago, Longhornfrenzy said:

Screenshot_2023-06-09-08-20-54-79_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg

Screenshot_2023-06-09-08-21-15-72_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg

Screenshot_2023-06-09-08-21-23-95_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg

Screenshot_2023-06-09-08-21-36-76_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg

Good lord. This is as grim as a “positive” outlook for a recruiting weekend can be. 

He touts the LB commit simply because he’s young and largely unrecruited. Ashton Funk is working his “magic” with other recruits. This is a legacy who couldn’t wait to commit to be an aggie and is as aggie as anyone who has ever aggied. I don’t know if he’s the guy you want to have “working his magic” on a recruiting weekend. 

There are obvious guys visiting for NIL purposes only. They’re having trouble getting high value targets from Texas to visit because of how much things have soured for them locally. Someone named “Kibble” might commit. Of course he’ll commit. His name is almost as aggie-ish as “Funk”. They land those types. 

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They are going to have an OL haul of 3*'s in Kibble, Coen Echols, and the guy just offered yesterday and Looch and crew will convince them how underrated they are and are better than Daniel Cruz.  It's been mentioned before, but this really does look like Tom Herman's last class.  

Home Alone Kevin GIF

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16 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Good lord. This is as grim as a “positive” outlook for a recruiting weekend can be. 

He touts the LB commit simply because he’s young and largely unrecruited. Ashton Funk is working his “magic” with other recruits. This is a legacy who couldn’t wait to commit to be an aggie and is as aggie as anyone who has ever aggied. I don’t know if he’s the guy you want to have “working his magic” on a recruiting weekend. 

There are obvious guys visiting for NIL purposes only. They’re having trouble getting high value targets from Texas to visit because of how much things have soured for them locally. Someone named “Kibble” might commit. Of course he’ll commit. His name is almost as aggie-ish as “Funk”. They land those types. 

Yeah, College Station is Mecca for dudes who look like this.

Ashton Funk, 2024 Offensive Guard, Texas A&M

Edited by Chuckie Finster
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