Five for Friday

Aggies Landing Defenders

Obviously the biggest question mark in recruiting for Kevin Sumlin and company early on was how they were going to be able to land defensive recruits. This week will go a long way toward answering some of those questions. Reggie Chevis, Noel Ellis and Tavares Garner are all players that were priority targets for the A&M coaching staff, and they were able to reel them in. Though the Aggies lost a priority target in Jordan Matsrogiovanni, landing the other three is certainly going to take away any doubt that losing the Jesuit prospects might have created.

Early Commits

Though it's good for A&M, it's interesting to see players commit to a team that they've essentially never seen play. Now, for offensive players it would be understandable, because Sumlin's repuation precedes  him offensively. However, you have to wonder what gives defensive players confidence enough to go ahead and make the call now. This is an entirely new defensive staff that is not only new to A&M, but new to each other. It would be one thing if the staff was coming over mostly intact from a stint elsewhere, but that's not the case. Needless to say, I'll be looking forward to getting feedback from players once Snyder's defense hits the field this fall.

Louisiana Still a Priority

Mike Sherman's staff wanted to emphasize recruiting in Louisiana, and Kevin Sumlin's staff appears to be following suite. They didn't put their final mini camp in Orange because it's a scenic part of Texas, it's because it's as close as possible to the Louisiana border. That effort paid off with a commitment from Ellis, and the Aggies remian in contact with a number of Louisiana targets in both the 2013 class and beyond.

SEC Impact

One thing that's been brought up, including in a recent article from ESPN, is the impact of A&M's move to the SEC on the recruiting tactics of schools like Alabama. They pointed out the number of Texas players now receiving Alabama offers, and visiting the Crimson Tide as opposed to a few years ago. However, one thing A&M fans need to remember, is that schools like Alabama can still only sign 25 guys. If they start getting out of the areas that have fed that program and pulling kids from Texas, then that leaves kids somewhere else that A&M can go after. The Aggie coaches have already put an emphasis on recruiting all over the United State, but I wouldn't be surprised to see an even bigger emphasis on the southeast. 

College Station Popularity

As our readers know, this week was the 247Sports Publisher's Conference in Nashville, where we got together with the rest of the network to talk about a number of things in the industry. However, one constant from talking to people here, as well as other media outlets recently, is that there's huge excitement about A&M's move into the SEC from the SEC's side. Obviously we all know how excited Aggie fans are, with season tickets gone at a record pace. But we've heard other writers and media members talk about how much their fans are looking forward to travelling to College Station. And one SEC writer told me this week that he was looking forward to when the team he covers plays at Kyle Field more than any game of the last several years.