Clement recaps his commitment to Texas A&M
The A&M coaches hosted several prospects over the weekend at the program's annual BBQ, and the event has already yielded a few new commitments for the Aggies.
Fort Bend Marshall offensive guard Barton Clement actually announced his commitment during the event this weekend, becoming commitment No. 12 for A&M in the 2018 class.
"I originally had a list of top schools, but then narrowed that down to Texas A&M, Florida and Texas," Clement said. "I decided that I ultimately wanted to stay closer to home and never ended up visiting Florida. I was already pretty comfortable with the Texas A&M coaches, but I had to convince my Dad that it was the right place for me.
"I had already visited for one of the junior days earlier this year, but my Dad went with me this weekend and was able to spend a lot of time around the coaching staff. We had already discussed my reasons for wanted to choose A&M before the visit, and then my Dad was able to meet the coaches and spend time talking with them this weekend."
Clement mentioned that his father actually had a side conversation with head coach Kevin Sumlin during the visit this weekend.
"The coaches started talking with my Dad and then he went to have a side conversation with them, including Coach Sumlin," Clement said. "After that conversation, my Dad actually gave me the seal of approval on my decision. A few of the coaches knew that I wanted to make my commitment, so they weren't really surprised because we had kept in touch a lot and had already built up a great relationship.
"I went over to Coach (Jim) Turner and told him that I was ready to commit. It was in front of everyone at the BBQ, so it actually felt kind of funny, kind of like I was a celebrity or something. Everyone started paying attention and celebrating, it was very exciting for me. The BBQ was more of a VIP thing versus the normal junior day or unofficial visit. We were all talking with Coach Sumlin and had an opportunity to spend time with the current players, some of the support staff and really just ask them questions about A&M."
The standout lineman went on to share more about why he decided to choose the Aggies.
"For one, they are a great university for academics alone," Clement said. "I want to be a chemical engineer and they have a great program. Second, once I met the coaches, I knew they were the coaches that I wanted to coach me at the next level and I knew that A&M was the program I wanted to be apart of. Coach Turner and the rest of the staff know what they are doing and can help me develop as a player."
Clement admits that guys like Max Wright were recruiting him to A&M, but will he now become a recruiter himself?
"I might start recruiting other guys now," Clement said. "Max (Wright) was already recruiting me and I spent a lot of time with him and Colton (Blanton) this past weekend. I won't necessarily chase other recruits, but I will definitely help Max and those other guys. If another recruit wants to know why I chose A&M, then we will talk. Other than that, I'm a pretty low key guy.
"I'm just glad to have my recruitment over with now. It feels like a weight lifted off my chest, especially after my Dad approved of my decision. I'm 100-percent solid with Texas A&M and I'm not even going to take other visits."
The standout prospect is still making a decision, but the A&M coaches did speak with him about graduating early and enrolling next January.
"I am considering graduating early," Clement said. "My Dad and I talked about that with Coach Turner. I'm not sure about it, but we are going to speak with my counselor and look into the credits. We will see how it plays out, I should know whether or not it's a possibility sometime soon though."
Currently rated a 5.8 four-star prospect, the 6-foot-3, 320-pound lineman is the No. 11 guard prospect in the nation, the No. 248 overall prospect in the Rivals 250 national rankings and the No. 26 prospect on the Rivals.com Texas Preseason Top 100 for the 2018 class.
He earned District 23-5A All-District Second Team Offense, TSWA Class 5A All-State First Team Offense and APSE Class 5A All-State First Team Offense this past season.
Clement chose the Aggies over other offers from Texas, Florida, Michigan, Ole Miss, Ohio State, Oklahoma, TCU, UCLA, Oklahoma State and several others.