Here's a very heavy AY Mailbag for this week...
Q: What is the longest you’ve kept quite about a silent commit? And who was it? (Jakeh05)
A: Daylon Mack and about a month. That’s going to be topped this year easily, even though I’ve pretty much told you who and when.
Q: Evans and Ngata, what are the big differences between the two? (h273)
A: size is the biggest difference. Evans is significantly bigger. Ngata is an incredibly elusive back who just blows by people. Evans can do that too, or he can run you over.
Q: How many running backs will we take? (4cag)
A: that depends on Mssrs. Ngata and Evans.
Q: Best and worst part of media days. (Docgere)
A: best — hanging out with some people you don’t see very often.
Worst — I didn’t leave the hotel for two days and survived on food court food.
Q: I realize this is highly subjective, but I would like your opinion on the top 5 offensive lineman currently on campus in terms of pure talent/potential. (biromeag)
A: Wow. Ok, let’s go Kenyon Green, Tank Jenkins, Luke Matthews, Carson Green and Cole Blanton,
Q: If Green plays tackle, which side? What will they do with last years starter at tackle that he replaced?
A: if he starts, it’ll be at right tackle. Then Carson Green would likely be moved to the left and Dan Moore goes to left guard.
Do you think Preston will play this year? Heck of a talent. (GCJC)
A: He won’t start and right now wouldn’t even be the backup. He needs to turn it on this summer. The potential is there.
Q: Which game (outside of the big 4) or games will be most difficult this year and why?
A: Auburn has the most returning talent, so it should be them. But would anyone look past Mississippi State?
Which SEC West team will improve the most from last year? Who will fall the farthest?
Most improved? A&M, hopefully. Biggest step back should be Mississippi State, simply due to the amount of turnover. But they scare me.
Which SEC coaches will we be waving goodbye to by season end? (Elicrow)
Gus.
Q: In you opinion only, who will be the starting quarterback and back up for each year from 2020-2025? (Big Smoothie)
A: Mond, then Calzada or King through 2024. 2025 could be Eli Stowers. It's so far away, who knows?
Q: What is our depth at center? One of the recruits for 2020 out of Louisiana is highly thought of to make the position switch to center from Guard? Whats out chance of signing him? Our offense, any offense will struggle is the snap is inaccurate and unreliable. With many of the SEC playing a nose tackle, it seems to me to be as important as the blind side left Tackle.. Your thoughts, and overall thoughts on this years O Line and new coach? (bobdoc54)
A: Ryan McCollum starts, then you have Colton Prater, Barton Clement and Luke Matthews, with Layden Robinson coming in. They have options.
I think they have a real shot at landing Sedrick Van Pran.
They have much more depth this year and Henson’s track record is very good. I think they could be surprisingly good.
Q: As good as Fisher’s recruiting was at FSU do you think that he’ll be better here? (slixey)
A: yep. He already has been as good.
Q: Does a light saber work underwater? (txag1979)
A: For limited periods, I guess. I recall in Episode I that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan went underwater for a long period of time and their lightsabers didn't short out, so that's my guess.
Q: How does Diallo and possible Wilson hurt the depth of our DLine?
Right now, it doesn’t. Diablo wasn’t beating out Peevy or Brown and was going to get pushed for the last spot in the two deep, so I guess he bagged it. As for Wilson, we’ll see. He probably would be third behind Tyree Johnson and Jeremiah Martin on the depth chart.
Does this also mean the young guys are turning heads? (El Capullo)
A: Well, Leal will be out there from Day 1. But that has no effect on either of these guys. If someone young was getting after Diallo, it was probably Derick Hunter.
Q: Give me 12 names to fill our last 9 slots. (4cag)
A: Daniyel Nagata, Zach Evans, Donell Harris, Princely Umanmelien, Josh Eaton, Chris Morris, Noah Sewell, Dontae Manning, Garrett Hayes, Sedrick Van Pran, Alfred Collins and Devin Price. I can think of some more possibles beyond that.
Q: Do we have any shot at all for Smalls? (Reckless75)
A: no.
Q: Does Haynes King get a rating bump in the Rivals rankings? He's rated #7 Dual Threat QB, not even in the Rivals 250, 5.8 Rivals ranked 4 star, but was rated #1 at the Elite 11 rankings and has a better SPARQ score(119.13) than a certain longhorn QB who is higher ranked. (have gun will travel)
A: The next rankings don't come out for a while, so I'm pretty confident he'll get evaluated again and if he's as good as I think he is, he'll get a solid bump.
Q: Haynes King wasn't offered until early May, after his Junior season and a State Championship. Why do you think he stayed under the radar for as long as he did and wasn't offered until late Spring?
I don't really have a good answer for that, except that maybe there was concerns about his build. But once A&M saw him in the spring and had him in to visit, he was their guy.
Also, there has been occasion where you have expressed disagreement with Mike Farrell. Are there ever times where you interact with the National guys and just say WTF were you thinking? (jaydub2)
A: No, I tend to tell them my readers want to know WTF they were thinking. It's more diplomatic.
Q: How far, in your opinion, will Haynes King jump in the next Rival’s rating? Top 250?Top 100? (tsip despiser)
A: He'll be in the 250 at least. If he's not in the 100, he should be very close to it. But my opinion matters little.
Q: There seemed to be several hamstring injuries last spring. Several years ago it was shoulder injuries. Any concerns that we should be aware of such as drills, equipment, etc? (AG-69)
A: Nope. It's just the way it turned out.
Q: Is 2021 the class we finally pull elite level LBs?
I sure hope so. It's the only thing that's left.
Also out of Foster, Connor, Jackson & Fatheree do we lead for all of them. I seem to remember Foster and Jackson as leaning to the Ags. (aggiecadet03)
A: I think they lead for Foster, Jackson and Fatheree.
Q: We got 9 spots left if we take 25 as fisher said. With Jackson at RB and Omeire, Demas, and Muhammad at WR, do we take 4 more offensive skill guys with archane, Evans, Ngata, and price? (miller1715)
A: It's possible. I don't know what the situation is with Achane.
Q: Does the staff have any interest in 3* CB Dontae Manning, who previously was committed to OU? (Have Gun Will Travel)
A: That would be an absolute yes.
Q: How many LBs is A&M hoping to sign this class?
I think they'd like to get at least three. They may have to branch out to get there.
Your predictions on how A&M finishes this class. (ag20)
They will get 25 commitments.