Recruit gold found down road a piece
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M’s Isaiah Spiller is from the north side, Jalen Wydermyer hails from the southeast side, and Ainias Smith and Devon Achane check in from the southwest side, but the four Texas A&M playmakers have one sprawling thing in common.
“We’re all from Houston,” the running back Spiller said. “We have a connection.”
When coach Jimbo Fisher arrived at A&M a little more than three years ago from Florida State, he pledged to recruit from coast to coast. He’s done so, but what he’s found since — and honestly already knew — is the Gulf Coast is the one most important to his Kyle Field fortunes.
“We want to work inside out,” Fisher has said of his primary recruiting philosophy.
Especially when you’re a conversation away from the nation’s fourth-largest city, a metropolis more submerged in high school football than New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
“Kind of crazy if you think about it,” the tight end Wydermyer said of A&M’s top playmakers in 2020 all representing the Houston area. “It’s something we talk about — how it’s really cool to put our city on the map.”
With the traditional national signing day Wednesday, Fisher’s third full class is again heavy on Texans, with 13 of the current 22 prospects from the Lone Star State. Fisher has said he intends to sign the full allotment of 25 players, and the Aggies could add three by late Wednesday.
The earlier addition of North Shore’s Shadrach Banks, a four-star receiver who enrolled at A&M in January, is significant considering prior to Fisher’s arrival the Aggies had trouble reeling in recruits from the traditional East Houston power.
Fisher described Banks as an offensive weapon “who can do so many things” — aka in the mold of Spiller and Smith. This time around, Fisher also has gone heavy on Houstonarea offensive linemen: Reuben Fatheree of Foster, Bryce Foster of Katy Taylor, Matthew Wykoff of Magnolia, and Remington Strickland of Fort Bend Christian Academy.
A stark example of a plus of recruiting closer to home is former A&M running back Jashaun Corbin, a Floridian. Fisher first recruited Corbin to FSU and then continued recruiting him when Fisher accepted the A&M gig in December 2017.
Corbin signed with A&M in the class of 2018 and earned a starting job as a sophomore. Two games into the 2019 season, however, he tore his hamstring and later that year chose to transfer — to FSU and closer to home.
Around that same time, the Aggies received a pledge from Achane, the Fort Bend Marshall product who was one of the nation’s top all-purpose prospects in the class of 2020. One of the reasons he chose A&M?
“College Station is an hour and 30 minutes away from my house. It’s not very far,” said Achane, adding that his mother loves to visit.
When Achane scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Aggies’ 41-27 victory over North Carolina in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2, Spiller, a former Klein Collins star, was one of the first to offer him a celebratory pat on the shoulder pads.
“He’s (taught) me a lot because he’s already been here a year,” Achane said. “He’s treated me like I was a little brother to him, and he was happier than me (after the touchdown).”
The workhorse Spiller finished third in the SEC in rushing with 1,036 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Achane was second on the team with 364 rushing yards, averaging 8.5 yards per carry in limited action — action expected to increase in 2021.
Smith, a dynamic Dulles High ex who can slide back and forth between receiver and running back, led the Aggies in receiving yards (564) and tied with Wydermyer for tops on the team in touchdown catches (six).
Wydermyer, late of Dickinson High, led A&M with 46 catches — three more than Smith — and for a second consecutive season was one of the nation’s top tight ends.
Spiller, Smith and Wydermyer all were true sophomores and Achane a true freshman for the 9-1 Aggies, whose No. 4 finish in the final Associated Press poll was their best since winning the national title in 1939. A&M’s top eight receivers in 2020 all were from the Houston area.
“We spend a lot of time going back and looking at the guys we evaluated,” Fisher said of the retrospective aspect of recruiting. “The successful guys and guys who weren’t as successful and why they weren’t. Also, if we missed on a guy who went somewhere else, what did we miss in recruiting (him). What did we not see on film? It’s to make yourself better.
“There are a lot of playmakers in that (Houston) group, and some of those guys were very highly recruited, and some weren’t as highly recruited. That’s encouraging, too, that your evaluation process is doing things the right way.”