Draft shows talent not there yet
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M lost 50-7 at LSU last November, the Aggies’ second-worst setback to the Tigers in the past six months from a recruiting vantage.
The worst occurred last week, when LSU’s 14 selections in the NFL draft tied the record for a college program, matching Ohio State in 2004. The Tigers had a school-record five first-round picks, while the Aggies had two selections over the draft’s seven rounds, including a punter in the sixth and zero picks in the
first two rounds.
Late Sunday night, with the draft fresh on recruits’ minds, four-star defensive end Landon Jackson of Texarkana declared his intent to play for LSU over A&M, even though most recruiting pundits before the draft had pegged the 2021 prospect for College Station.
Every highly ranked recruit, and even the lowly ranked ones, dreams of playing in the NFL. LSU owns that path to the pros this offseason, following the record-tying draft and a 15-0 finish behind Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall selection Joe Burrow.
Throw in predictable power Alabama’s nine draft picks last week, and the Aggies were overwhelmed, even virtually, by the two programs they most aspire to be in the SEC West. Here’s what else the Aggies see from the Tigers’ pedal-to-the-metal success since last September: hope.
“Our combination of experience, with guys who’ve played for three or four years, to go along with the athleticism of the new guys coming in, that’s a really good combination,” said A&M senior quarterback Kellen Mond, a four-year starter.
The Aggies, with Mond leading the way, were the last team to beat LSU, a 74-72 seven-overtime triumph in November 2018 that was one of college football’s alltime classics. The Tigers drafted last week were a part of that loss at Kyle Field, so the Aggies know the “mountain” — as Mond dubs their climb — is surmountable.
“Our team reminds me of the Kentucky team we played two years ago,” Mond said. “They weren’t super-talented but just had a lot of seniors and were a really good team. We still have to put in the work, and experience doesn’t always equal success, but it definitely helps a lot.”
Another thing glaringly obvious following the 2020 NFL draft: Deposed coach Mike Sherman left Kevin Sumlin with top-tier talent in 2012. A deposed Sumlin did not do likewise for Jimbo Fisher in 2018 — leaving Fisher with a legitimate rebuild at Kyle Field.
In the first two drafts following Sumlin’s first season, the Aggies had four first-round picks, all Sherman recruits. In the first two drafts following Fisher’s first season, the Aggies had zero firstround picks and only one secondrounder among Sumlin’s recruits.
Sumlin was 20-6 in his first two years at A&M, primarily with Sherman recruits, before steadily unraveling over his final four seasons. Fisher is 17-9 over his first two years, primarily with Sumlin recruits.
Fisher, who won a national title at Florida State following the 2013 regular season, already has produced two of the Aggies’ top three recruiting classes, ratingswise, of this century. This season also will mark the first time since he took over for a fired Sumlin in December 2017 that a majority of the two-deep roster will be Fisher recruits.
Still, the Aggies know they’ve got miles to climb to catch up with LSU and Alabama in the SEC West, and Auburn has been no picnic for A&M, either, with Gus Malzahn 2-0 against Fisher the last two years.
The coronavirus pandemic has done A&M no favors in recruiting, considering Fisher has said it’s imperative recruits get a firsthand look at the Aggies’ more than half-billion dollar palace in Kyle Field and the Bright Football Complex — the same thing Sumlin said before him.
The Aggies don’t have recent championships or loads of toplevel draft picks of late to sell to recruits, but they do have some of the top amenities in the country, currently shuttered because of the pandemic.
Meantime, while fellow SEC members LSU, Alabama, Florida (seven draft picks), Georgia (also seven), Auburn (six) and Mississippi State (five) can’t host recruits — same as the Aggies — all were on prominent display last week on ESPN, ABC and the NFL Network, propelling their alumni into every college players’ dream destination.
Fisher has his work cut out for him, but A&M and its assured chancellor, John Sharp, believed in the West Virginian so much a little more than two years ago that the Aggies gave him 10 years and $75 million to get it done. They also gave him time to do it, perhaps realizing he was taking on a long-term project before others recognized as much.
“We had needs at all positions,” Fisher said following national signing day in early February.
Last week’s draft made that startlingly clear for the Aggies.