Recruiting Country: The latest recruiting news surrounding the Maroon & White

TexAgs' recruiting analyst Jason Howell joined TexAgs Live on Wednesday morning for another edition of Recruiting Country presented by American Momentum Bank, highlighting the latest news and notes from the recruiting and transfer portal trail surrounding Texas A&M.

Key notes from Recruiting Country 

• Making the rounds. We're hitting spring practices. I have one right after this. I have to head out to Arlington Lamar and check in on a 2027 linebacker, Braylon Williams‍, who's way up high on Texas A&M's list for that 2027 class.
   
• He's one of the top linebackers in the state. He had over 100 tackles in the last two seasons, so freshman and sophomore years, he went over 100 tackles. When it comes to linebacker play, he's one of the best off-the-ball backers you'll find in Texas high school football. He is very instinctive. He has cover ability. We have him down our list a little bit, and that's going to change next time we update the rankings, but he's one of the better true linebackers in the state of Texas since... Wow. It's been a few years, maybe since Harold Perkins Jr.
   
• Victor Singleton‍ is the 11th commitment in the 2026 class. He's 6-foot and 165 pounds. He's part of one of the top defenses in the state of Ohio. They were Division III state finalists this last year at Central Catholic, and they're a two-time state champion. Singleton was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year in the state. He had four interceptions and is a really sticky cornerback prospect. He is long, lean and twitchy. He has tremendous hips and change of direction. When he sees that ball, he breaks, and it's game on, he's going for the pick.
   
• He flipped from Illinois, but this is a guy that A&M has been on for a while. They made his top five in January with Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan, and Oregon. He visited a couple of times this spring. I think he was at one of the first practices in March, and then, of course, this last weekend, he was back in town. He brings a lot to the table. Ryan Brauninger did a good job comparing him to TK Norman. He has a very similar athletic background and is built like Norman. Singleton is a jumper on the track. He's a long-jump champion and claimed the state title with a 23 last spring. He brings that multi-sport competitiveness to the table that you love to see when you're putting a guy out there on an island at cornerback.
   
• George Lamons Jr‍‍ , out of Brooks County, is a really intriguing player because he is so young. He's the first 2027 commit. At 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, Texas A&M offered him in February, and he visited at the end of January or early February. Right before that dead period started, then, he made multiple trips this spring. He had 62 receptions and over 1,300 yards and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore. You're talking about 20 yards a reception. This guy is a big, physical threat on the outside. He brings some versatility home, and Holmon Wiggins has been leading those recruiting efforts there. With that size, you go, maybe he could be a flex tight end. You see, they utilize those weapons in multiple ways, and you're going to see a guy like him on the outside as well as on the inside, and be a mismatched kind of guy in the receiving game.
   
• Those 11 commits, that's the most in the NIL-December signing era period, and I have to say, it's probably the most they've had since early Kevin Sumlin, Johnny Manziel mania years. They've done a really good job of hitting on high-end prospects. Every one of these guys is rated a four-star prospect by at least one of the recruiting services. You've hit at quarterback. You've hit at running back. You have three receivers. The only position you really haven't hit: you don't have a safety, and you haven't hit on offensive linemen.
   
• Going into the spring evaluation contact period, you do have some needs. You also have some flexibility. You're not stacked with any one position. You have room for growth. I have needs and I have concerns. I have offensive line and defensive back, probably the two biggest needs yet to be addressed. Singleton coming on this last week at defensive back really helped. There are valid concerns there. Not enough Texas. You have to take care at home, but what they do have is a lot of really interesting possible answers for both of those. I think the offensive line has a chance to really fill out nicely over the course of the next couple of months and into summer with the June official visits. You're sitting nicely with John Turntine‍, who told me that A&M, Michigan and Texas are the three that stand out in his mind right now.
   
• Zaden Krempin‍ has Texas A&M high on his mind as he heads into his official visit process. A&M gets that official visit after a really strong unofficial this spring.
   
• Drew Evers‍ has always had A&M high on his list, and I know that the coaching staff, Adam Cushing and Mike Elko have done a really good job letting him know how much they want him.
   
• Pupungatoa Katoa‍ out of Trinity, too. Another couple of guys, all of them have official visits set up for June, and are going to be guys to watch in that offensive line class. At defensive back, you have a national list of safeties led by guys like Bralan Womack‍ and Jett Washington‍, who was just in town. You have guys who have made multiple visits.
   
• Tylan Wilson‍, out of Pascagoula, Mississippi, visited at least a couple of times during the season and was back in the spring. With Jireh Edwards‍, after looking really great there for a bit, it seems like that temperature has sort of cooled, and he's looking more in other directions now.
   
• A&M has a lot of really good options. At safety and at cornerback, you're talking about Jordan Thomas‍, Dorian Barney‍ and Brandon Arrington‍. You have some really intriguing national options there in the secondary to go along with Singleton. That could be a lot of fun.
   
• You look back at this spring, and you see the spring practice visitors. You had Jonathan Hatton Jr‍ and Mike Brown‍. You had several commits make return visits. Storm Miller‍ is coming back this week with his mother, so that will be fun. I know that was a big one. She couldn't make it for his first visit, and he really is excited to get her around the coaches and let her see what he saw. I know that will be fun for him to get back into College Station.
   
• Singleton is one of those guys who visit quite often in the spring. You look at Brown, I want to say he had three visits this season. Jaimeon Winfield‍ was in town a couple of times. DaQuives Beck‍, Tank King‍, Camren Hamiel‍ from Desert Edge, where A&M went in and got a pretty good one in that cornerback class last year. Those were a few guys who visited multiple times throughout the course of spring practice.
   
• Boobie Feaster‍ is another one. That lets you know that not only are they interested in what A&M is doing and what they have to offer as far as the amenities and facilities, but they really had a chance to dive in and see those coaches in action, and get an idea of what is happening with the offense, defense, whatever they're projected and get a real good sense of how they might fit in with the coaches, with the style of play, and with what's being taught and everything. I think that's a positive.
   
• Then you look at guys we've seen over the past several months, including the fall with Barney, Thomas, Womack, Ryan Mosley‍ at receiver and Arrington. You have some guys who have made their presence felt around College Station, and the staff has been on for a long time, so that's always a positive in the long run. I would say that the odds aren't strong that they'll land every single one of those guys, because things happen. One guy may cancel out another in the totality of the big picture, but you really do have some good odds on an individual basis.
   
• Right now, you're going to enter the spring contact period, which means that the coaching staff is going to be on the road. They're going to be hitting spring practices. They're going to be meeting with parents and prospects, and you'll see the June official visit schedules already getting really full. June 5 is going to be the first big weekend for Texas A&M. You have guys like Turntine. I think Arrington is that week. You have a who's who of top prospects that are going to be making their way to College Station throughout the month of June, and it should set the table. You may see some action during that time, but a lot of those guys are going to be taking their visits, so look for some of that to play out into July and August as far as decisions. You will see quite a bit of action over the next few months.
   
• A&M is ahead of schedule right now, but they still have a lot of flexibility and a lot of really intriguing prospects on the board, which is where you want to be. I think they've done a phenomenal job setting the tape.
   
• The transfer portal plays a little bit of a role in how fluid everything is now, and where you need experience and all that. I think you can still have a pretty decent idea of where things are going. I think a class of about 25 will still be typical. With scholarship limits and everything still in flux, who knows what those numbers actually look like? You do have some parameters. You're not going to take five linebackers. You're not going to take seven offensive linemen on a typical year-to-year basis.
   
• You do have to balance your depth chart. Otherwise, you end up in some interesting situations where good prospects don't get to see the field. I think Mike Elko and the staff have done a really good job of keeping an eye on that and making things work with both the high school recruiting process and in the portal, which brings us to the latest portal action. It hasn't been a whole lot, which we anticipated. We didn't anticipate a lot of action there, and I think that speaks to what we saw at the Maroon & White Game and throughout the spring, where there are a lot of really talented players that could step up and fill in some depth in some spots that maybe we haven't heard as much about.
   
• They have done a good job holding onto their big, main pieces and a lot of guys with a lot of promise as far as getting in and being rotational guys and future standouts.
   
• I think we have all talked about adding a big receiver and a defensive tackle. The biggest need spots are where you could see additions to what they already have. I think, especially on the defensive line, some of those young guys stepping up this spring could have helped stop some of that talk. I think it speaks to what is in the portal and what the coaches feel they already have on campus in terms of those two positions, and specifically, the quality of depth overall.
   
• I am no NFL Draft expert. I rely on several different resources, just in the mainstream media, but I love following the draft. Like you said, getting to see these guys come through the high school ranks in the state of Texas, you get to see a lot of potential draft picks, and it is a big day for them and their families. This has a chance to be one of the more productive first rounds for a lot of kids in Texas.
   
• In recent history, there have been seven drafted Texans from the high school ranks. You have Jeffrey Okudah, CeeDee Lamb, Jalen Reagor, Kenneth Murray Jr., Jordyn Brooks and Jeff Gladney in that draft, all in the first round, and I can't think of one recently that really comes close. Right now, you are looking at this draft, and there is potential. There are six guys that everyone is talking about making it in that first round, who all played high school football in the state of Texas.
   
• Ashton Jeanty is from Frisco Lone Star. You got Cam Ward from Columbia. Shedeur Sanders from Trinity Christian in Cedar Hill. Matthew Golden was from Klein Cain. Kelvin Banks Jr. was from Summer Creek. Jahdae Barron out there in the Austin area. You've got guys that could work their way into the first round, especially on the defensive line with Shemar Turner, Nic Scourton and Landon Jackson. Donovan Jackson, out of Houston Episcopal, was a five-star lineman before he headed off to Ohio State.
   
• On the Texas college front, this has a chance to be one of the most productive drafts or first rounds since 2016 or 2014, when four Texas products were selected. Shemar Stewart has a chance to go off the board first in that group. He could potentially be the first A&M prospect taken in the top 10 since Myles Garrett. He is projected higher than Kenyon Green in 2022. It could be a fun night for Aggie fans.
   
• For Texas high school football fans, you have Ward in discussion for that No. 1 overall pick, which would make him the first since Kyler Murray, and it would make him the fourth quarterback from the state of Texas selected first overall since 2000 with Murray, Baker Mayfield, Andrew Luck and Matthew Stafford.
   
• The only non-quarterback in that group since 2000 to be selected No. 1 is Garrett. He has done great things, and you have great things to look forward to with the Texas college ranks.
   
• Ward looks like the odds-on favorite to become the No. 1 pick, which would make him the 15th and give Texas the most No. 1 overall picks in the NFL draft of any state.