Aggies land top OL target for 2023
Breaking news on Texas A&M's most recent commit is brought you by Branch & Dhillon, P.C.!
Texas A&M's 2023 recruiting class may not be filling up as quickly as some would like, but they're doing just fine landing 5-stars, thank you very much.
The Aggies picked up their second 5-star commit and highest-ranked addition to date Tuesday when Austin Westlake offensive linemen TJ Shanahan pulled the trigger. His commitment is the culmination of two years of work by two different offensive line coaches, while Shanahan played at two different schools.
The powerful interior lineman has been on A&M's radar since before the 2021 Rivals 5-Star Challenge in Atlanta, where the then-rising junior more than handled his own against elite defensive line prospects -- including current Aggie DE LT Overton. At the time, Shanahan was thought to be leaning towards either nearby Georgia or USC.
The Aggies, however, continued to make progress with the 6-foot-5, 315-pound standout, with their chances improving further when Shanahan moved to Texas last year. When Shanahan decided he wanted to play in the SEC, he narrowed his focus to three schools: A&M, Georgia and LSU. But, for most of this year, A&M has been the team to beat for him.
Shanahan's offer list is massive. He has nearly 50 offers, coming from the likes for Alabama, Florida, Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC, Texas and Oklahoma to name a few.
Shanahan is A&M's 11th commit and the fourth offensive lineman, joining 4-stars Colton Thomasson and Chase Bisontis and 3-star Naquil Betrand. He is the ninth commit from Texas and gives the Aggies the #10 and #11 commits in the Rivals 100 (with Denton Ryan LB Anthony Hill being #11).
Analysis of A&M's newest commit
I've seen Shanahan in person more than once and his game is simple: sheer power. He's going to push you around and there's not much you can do about it.
Keep in mind, Westlake is a 6A team, so they're going up against the best in Texas high school football. And he's just brutalizing these guys. In one instance, he wipes out future teammate Malick Sylla.
His upper body is very strong, but it's his lower body that sets him apart. His base is so powerful that once he gets moving, starts his push, he's going to move virtually anyone across from him. In most cases, they're going to be moved a distance. As you can guess, his punch is extremely powerful.
Shanahan's is a definite guard because of his limited speed, but his footwork is very good. His steps are short and he keeps his weight forward, so he maintains forward momentum.
I've seen Shanahan get annoyed at a Rivals camp and physically throw a pass rusher he thought had played dirty on a previous 1-on-1 matchup. That was all I needed to know in terms of him being a 5-star. But, oh by the way, he's a darned good football player too. There's only one offensive lineman I've seen at a Rivals camp who was Shanahan's equal in terms of strength: Bryce Foster. And there's a real good chance that those two will be playing next to one another starting next year.