Aggies Land Five Star Christian Kirk

The battle for Scottsdale (Ariz.) Saguaro High School five-star wide receiver Christian Kirk did not end until he officially made his choice Wednesday morning. Despite distance, a wide receiver coaching search and a late head-to-head race between an in-sate program, Texas A&M could not be beat out.

The Rivals100 wide receiver selected the Aggies over Arizona State, Auburn and UCLA.

It was not an easy decision, nor was it a decision that had been made up weeks in advance. It was not even decided upon two days in advance. The struggle was very real. Kirk even took to twitter to express the anguish the Kirk family was going through as the decision was being made.

"Believe it or not [on Monday he was] still trying to decide," said Kirk's father, Evan Kirk. "They're all good schools."

Kirk felt the pressure to stay close to home, something his family was all for, but a factor the family did not insist on being the ultimate decision maker.

A&M Head Coach Kevin Sumlin earned the trust of the Kirk family early on in the process, on May 1, 2013 to be exact.

"They did what they said they were going to do," said Mr. Kirk. "They told us at the spring game that after their spring ball they would have a week of evaluations, and then they would come out and see Christian. They did exactly that."

The respect that Coach Sumlin earned from the get go played a role towards the end of Kirk's recruitment, especially considering the Kirk family expressed no signs of concern despite A&M not having a wide receiver coach named.

"In the beginning, it's like OK, but Christian's thing is that he clearly understands that position coaches come and go," said Mr. Kirk. "It's a little bit bigger than that (the position coach). Is that a consideration? Yeah, but is that the big picture? No. Not a big concern at all.

"First and foremost is education," said Mr. Kirk. "From my perspective, and it's been a little bit consistent with his (Christian's) as well, first and foremost is education. He wants to major in communications and things like that. What are those schools that's he's interested in, what do they provide for him? His aspirations are Communications with a minor in Business."

Kirk is confident in his decision with the Aggies, and he is not looking back on all the pressure he received to go elsewhere.

"Being the person that he is and the player and where he's ranked, he had constant pressure day in and day out," said Mr. Kirk. "As parents, we did not want to add to that pressure. I just basically told him to listen to his heart.

"You can't please everybody. He even had to weed us out," said Mr. Kirk. "At the end of the day, he's the one that is going to be spending four years there, not us. We will, but in the supportive aspect of it. You know what I mean? That's what we've told him. Listen to your heart. Your heart will tell you what's right for you and wherever that was that we would support him 100%."

For a majority of Kirk's recruitment A&M appeared to be the clear leader, but towards the end their strength seemed to dwindle, and Arizona State moved into the spotlight with the Aggies. A once clear A&M lean did not seem so clear anymore as the Kirk's decision day drew near.

"I basically would ask him if things were starting to look clearer for him? Is he starting to get a clearer picture? Sometimes he said yes and sometimes he said no," said Mr. Kirk. "In the beginning it was no, I'm still trying to figure things out. On Monday it was getting to the point where things were starting to look clear for him.

"He graduates on Friday, and with him being a mid-year guy he wanted to make sure he would be able to do the announcement at his school and that's why he decided that he just wanted to do it. He needed that time. Honestly, at the start o this week he was kind of clear, but he was not really clear. He was still processing things, but knew he had until Wednesday to know."

After Friday's graduation the next step for Christian Kirk is to show A&M fans what he can do at the Under Armour All-American game, do a little recruiting for the Aggies while in Orlando and finally get ready to be alongside Speedy Noil during spring drills receiving balls from his friend, his quarterback, Kyle Allen.