The 2022 class for Texas A&M will be one for the history books for so many reasons.
Alabama coach Nick Saban’s comments about the Aggies buying their entire recruiting class provoked a fiery response from then-coach Jimbo Fisher about the ways Saban has recruited over the years.
It was a bitter back-and-forth that won’t soon be forgotten and is even chronicled in the new book about college football’s recruiting wars, The Price: What It Takes to Win in College Football’s Era of Chaos.
It was the only time in Rivals history dating back to 2002 that Texas A&M won the team recruiting title, something that was marred when Fisher went on a diatribe about ‘SlicedBread’ from the BroBible message boards who broke down who was paid to join the recruiting class.
An unbelievable time was unfolding in college football’s NIL era – the Wild West had been unleashed – and everybody was getting their minds around it.
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Fast forward just a couple of seasons and college football has shown why it’s the sport of constant change. Saban is retired. Texas A&M paid Fisher more than $70 million to just go away after the 2023 season.
And most shockingly, just under half of that epic 2022 class is no longer with the Aggies as 14 of the 30 have now departed.
I closely covered five-star Walter Nolen’s commitment to the Aggies at midfield when he told Fisher he was coming to College Station. He’s now at Ole Miss as the Rebels look to make a College Football Playoff run.
Star receivers Evan Stewart (Oregon) and Chris Marshall (Boise State) left. Tight end Jake Johnson joined his brother, Max, at North Carolina. LT Overton is at Alabama, Anthony Lucas at USC, Patrick Williams Jr. went to SMU, Ish Harris to Houston, Marquis Groves-Killebrew is at Arizona and Denver Harris has transferred from Texas A&M to LSU and now he’s at UTSA.
Five-star safety Jacoby Mathews went to the transfer portal but still hasn’t found a new team, Deyon Bouie is seemingly out of football and Bobby Taylor went to the portal and never signed, either. Even kicker Ethan Moczukski transferred to Illinois.
Many stayed and are making significant contributions to the team with Shemar Stewart, Kam Dewberry, Enai White, Mark Nabou, Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, Le’Veon Moss, Theodor Ohrstrom, Bryce Anderson, Jadon Scarlett, Jarred Kerr, Martrell Harris Jr., Noah Thomas, Hunter Erb, Conner Weigman, Donovan Green and Malick Sylla also part of that class.
The 2022 recruiting class at Texas A&M was one for the ages. One wonders what could have been accomplished if Fisher relinquished play-calling duties sooner, if he wasn’t so stubborn and difficult to deal with, and if things turned for the better how many of those top players would have stayed.
There was a lot of thought that the 2022 recruiting class – No. 1 in the country over a bitter Alabama – was an inevitable group to get Texas A&M into the national title conversation. Not even close.
One wonders if many of those players stayed in College Station, would it have been a different outcome Saturday night when Notre Dame came to Texas A&M and won, 23-13.
Texas A&M has been the supposed sleeping giant in the SEC for years. The Aggies still look asleep.
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Rivals.com, the leader in college football and basketball recruiting coverage. Be the first to know and follow your teams by signing up here.