Fort Bend Marshall 4-star WR Chris Marshall, who has been linked to the Aggies for more than a year, announced his commitment Saturday. He had originally planned to commit Sunday -- his birthday -- but decided on Friday he'd move it up a day.

Marshall, who didn't play high school football until his junior year when A&M running back Devon Achane pushed him to join the team, quickly made a name for himself. He caught 45 passes for more than 1,000 yards and 18 touchdowns last year, and is averaging better than 30 yards a catch this season.

A&M was one of the first teams to offer Marshall, but the list of competitors was impressive. The Aggies beat out not only fellow finalists Alabama and USC, but LSU, Auburn, Texas and Ole Miss, among others.

Marshall is the 16th commit in the 2022 class for the Aggies, and the eighth from the Houston area. A total of 12 of A&M's commits are from the state of Texas. He's the second of the afternoon, following 5-star DT Walter Nolen's commitment.

Marshall is one of two wideouts in the class, joining Noah Thomas of Clear Springs, who committed to A&M in February.

Rivals currently has Marshall as the No. 136 player in the nation and the 18th-best wideout. That may be underrating him significantly, and he's only played a year-plus of organized football.

Marshall is the whole package: he's tall, he's physical, he has speed and good hands. A lot of that is just flat natural talent, and it's likely he hasn't even come close to peaking as a football player.

You can tell he's a basketball player. He's got "court vision", where he scans the field to find openings in the defense. If he finds a gap, you're in trouble because he's going to outrun you. That basketball experience also shows on contested passes, where he can outjump opponents, high-point the football and keep his footing when he lands.

For a player with such little experience, he has very soft hands and good mechanics when it comes to catching the football. He adjusts smoothly to the ball in flight and makes tough catches look routine.

Add in the fact that he's blowing past some quality competition at 6-foot-4 and it almost seems unfair. Oh, and he likes to block and does it well. In his senior year film against Aldine Eisenhower (where he caught 3 passes, all for touchdowns), he wiped out two defenders on a long touchdown run.

It's not often that you look at a 4-star wideout and say a team got a steal, but the Aggies may have one here. Marshall has an elite skill set and just needs refinement at the next level. If he's got the work ethic and the patience to develop in Jimbo Fisher's system, he could go a long way.