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Q: Do you know which bball players are on campus? I believe you had said that the some of the players are on campus and running some plays/working out together. (Rick77)

A: I think they’re all on campus.

Q: 5 offensive and 5 defensive players we will face this year that will keep the coaches up late? (TAMU-83)

A: Offense —

RB Jeremyiah Love, Notre Dame

QB DJ Lagway, Florida

WR Cam Coleman, Auburn

QB Arch Manning, Texas

QB Garrett Nussmeier, LSU

Defense —

LB Anthony Hill, Texas

LB Whit Weeks, LSU

CB Jay Crawford, Auburn

DE Dylan Stewart, South Carolina

DE Keldric Faulk, Auburn

Q: What is the most humiliating fart experience you or that you have witnessed in public?

Have you ever needed to fart so bad, but that turned out to be a really bad idea and you sharted yourself?

Which AY member has shared their most humiliating fart experience with you? (Big Smoothie)

A: The season can’t get here fast enough. (And that’s kind of an interesting screen name for a fart questionnaire.)

Q: Why do college baseball use aluminum bats instead of wood? (FbFan222)

A: Cost.

Q: Just know I pray for your Mom and family every day AND prayers will continue. 🙏 🙏

Looking at what appears to be a wealth of talent at the DE/Edge position, if you had to pick a 2-deep or even 3-deep today, how would you rank them?

C. Howell

Dayon Hayes

Marco Jones

Samuel M’Pemba

Rylan Kennedy

Solomon Williams

You’re forgetting someone who will definitely be in the mix: TJ Searcy. So let’s get him in.

DE: Howell, Jones

DE: Hayes, Searcy

JACK: Kennedy, M’Pemba

2) Last year's D left a lot to be desired, especially late in the season. Elko vowed after the bowl game there would be major improvements. You attended spring practices and the spring game, do you believe there will be significant improvements? If so, which position group(s) do you see making the biggest improvement(s)? (Chile Pequin)

A: I think the safeties will be better because they’re healthy and there will be an emphasis on them being better OR ELSE. Hopefully, Dezz Ricks will be better than he was last year and Julian Humphrey will jump in (and maybe Tyreek Chappell, too) to provide more depth at corner. I think the line will be faster this season compared to last. I don’t know if that makes them better, but it will be different.

Q: Do you believe we'll get at least 2 of the 5 stars? Check you Magic 8 Ball if necessary.

A: They’ve already got one, so I’m thinking they’re going to get at least two. If I’m right, they’ll get three.

What's Elko's best recruiting tactic or strategy that has made this year go so well, especially lately?

Elko’s a really smart guy, and that has helped with recruiting. You’ve heard in the past that each guy has some part of the visit that’s unique to them, but normally it’s “here’s how you fit in”. Elko goes way beyond that. KJ Edwards brought his mom and dad and siblings on his official; Elko and Trooper Taylor went and got his grandparents, as well, and didn’t tell them until they were there. Edwards is big on family, and that clearly resonated. And that’s not only smart, but shows attention to detail. This program has been in dire need of that for…I don’t even know how long.

Who is our biggest recruiting asset, outside the coaches and why?

Recruiting GM Derek Mason and jack of all trades Matt Salvaggio. Mason is just outstanding at creating and maintaining relationships, and Matty Ice is a young guy who can relate to the players on a personal level. He’s also a really good graphic artist.

As far as you can tell, will the On3 merger help you and the site out financially? Hope so..

I hope it will. I don’t think it’ll hurt, at least.

Tell your mom, we're all praying for her. She's already in good hands. (Tsip despiser)

I’ll tell her. Thanks.

Q: Will Tarp and Hop make appearances in the new format? (Wick)

A: Que? No habla.

Q: Do we try to sign 25 this time? With 17 commitments, who are the most likely final 8 that get? I hope Lamont Brown is one.🙏 (aggdoc)

A: They’re already at 18, so 25 seems very feasible. I’m going to crunch the numbers tonight, but they may be positioned to go beyond 25.

Q: with the new scholarship limit at 105, how many players for '26 can Elko sign this winter? (3G Ag)

A: Good question, and I’ll have the answer in Tidbits tomorrow. (Gratuitous plug for you non-subscribers. Now’s the time to get in; things get good in just a few days.)

Q: What position has the lowest hit rate in HS athletes for football?

A: Quarterback and offensive tackle. Gotta be those two.

In the transfer portal era, is more focus/$$ being spent on that position than the average position?

You’d better believe it.

Don't gamble as much with the HS kids. Put more focus on transfers from other schools that are more physically developed or have already proven something at the collegiate level? Is A&M any different than the typical SEC in this respect? (Boone8466)

I think it’s a mixed bag. My vibe on Elko is that he wants players he can develop to fit the A&M scheme (see 18 commits already for 2026) and have them around — hopefully — for a few years. Transfers are for more immediate help. In this case, I’m thinking KC Concepcion, Tyler Onyedim, Amari Niblack, Julian Humphrey, Dayon Hayes, guys like that who have several years of collegiate experience. They plug potential gaps while younger players develop.

Q: Are we going to get a cheat sheet for the ON3 transition? (H273)

A: Yup.

Q: You’re Boobie Feaster and have Jimbo and Elko sitting in your living room. Both have the same NIL $ funds to offer and both are operating the same offensive scheme. Who is it harder to say “no” to and why? Let’s assume Jimbo is head coach at Ol Miss or Auburn. (Slgilmore)

A: If you listen to the pitch, Jimbo. If you look at the plan, Elko.

Q: ESPN predicts Jace to Orioles with 19th pick. Do you agree? (QuickDrawMcGraw77)

A: Far be it from me to disagree with such assessment. (Oh pleasepleaseplease)

Q: You have Will Lee and Tyreek Chappell.

On the other side Dezz Ricks and J Humphreys. Aren't these guys both former 5 stars? Or high 4? How good can these guys be?

A: They are both former 5-stars. So the physical gifts are there. Ricks had a very rough first season, but it was also just that — his first season. And honestly, who else did the Aggies have to put out there? He didn’t get a break to relax, reset and maybe learn a little. It was a rough situation for him. Humphries had some good moments for Georgia last year, but lost his starting job late. I’m not sure how much more developing he’s got left to do, but it sure would be nice if he made a big jump. Of the two, I think Ricks is more likely to do so.

But, right now, that position really concerns me.

A related question: are Bryce Anderson and Dalton Brooks (and Ratcliffe that I really liked) impact players or average guys that are going to get beat in key games?

As a unit, are they up there with the best in the last decade, or average? (Richard23)

They could be, but right now they’re not. Getting Bryce Anderson healthy — he dealing with multiple injuries after week 2 and kept playing — will help. I think Dalton Brooks could be an absolute beast. Marcus Ratcliffe is a very good cover safety, and Myles Davis brings size and hitting ability. But they’re the same guys from last year, and that was a disaster. So again, the physical ability is there, but you have to take potential and make it production.

Q: With the merger with On3 what happens to the Rivals recruiting lists, like the Rivals 250 and the team rankings? (Have Gun Will Travel)

A: The 250 will become the Rivals 300 and the grading system will move from the 5-6 scale to the 100 point scale.

Q: Will our usernames and passwords for rivals work for On3? (WhartonBones)

A: Yep.

Q: More NIL questions. Are these “deals” funded through 12th Man or privately through businesses? If a kid signs a deal with Adidas or some car dealership, is there a way of finding these out? Like your sponsors, if a roofer is funding a kid, I’d try to use that roofer. I can see the roster: Name, height, weight, position, NIL salary.

A: With the House v. NCAA settlement, there’s supposed to be a clearinghouse to approve any NIL deals over $600. Right now, they’re supposed to be coordinated through the 12th Man Foundation. But, since they’re a private entity, they’re not required to disclose those things. The only way you’d know for some is if there was an NIL deal with a publicly-traded company, and you’d have to seriously dig into the weeds to find out.

Or, lastly, is it just a straight up payment? Meaning, is the term Name, Image, Likeness just a joke and the car dealership guy just pays them and doesn’t need to kid to shoot a commercial or anything. (Tsmith3001)

It is not a straight up payment. There’s supposed to be a quid pro quo, whether it’s an autograph signing, doing an advertising deal or something like that. One of the reasons Tennessee and its fans weren’t overly upset to see Nico Iamaleava a-leave was because he wasn’t showing up for appearances that he was contractually obligated to attend.

Q: What is the knucklehead factor with the ‘26 class. Jimbo signed the number 1 class with a quarter of the team getting kicked out or transferring for disciplinary reasons. How does this class compare? (Jakeh05)

A: Only one way to find out, honestly. But a very big difference between Jimbo and Elko is that Elko takes the pulse of members of the team when a recruit is on campus. If they don’t think he’s going to fit in the locker room, or team leaders think he may be a negative influence, that holds a lot of sway.

Q: Arrington's verbal was one of the biggest names ever.

How do you see it impacting others? Feaster. Other defenders? (Richard23)

A: Getting Arrington and KJ Edwards back to back definitely gets the attention of guys. Helaman Casuga coming in second at the Elite 11 does too. And having Arrington on campus tomorrow with a bunch of other commits could be really big in swaying the uncommitted visitors (DE Bryce Perry-White, DE Tristan Givens and OL Aaron Thomas especially). A&M has a lot of momentum on the recruiting trail right now, and they would love to be able to close this stretch out with Feaster, Lamar Brown and Tristen Keys, if they can flip him from LSU.