East Texas Standout Picks Aggies

Although the pace has slowed some in terms of new commitments for the Texas A&M Aggies as of late, the team continues to be the hot team in terms of recruiting in the state. The windfall that head coach Kevin Sumlin and staff saw in May and June, ten commitments including four of the four star variety, has slowed some with just one commitment in July (four star defensive end James Lockhart. Despite the numbers slowdown they still have continued to battle for some of the top players in the country.

One position group that has been very successful thus far and yet still a work in progress for the Aggies is defensive back. They landed early commitment from two of the top 10 safeties in the country in Larry Pryor and Justin Dunning and the top junior college prospect at the same position in Justin Evans. They also have an early commitment from Louisiana standout cornerback Deshawn Capers-Smith but have been battling it out for some of the top cornerbacks in Texas in a year that is extremely deep in top talent at the position.

On Friday, in the quiet way that Newton (TX) cornerback Roney Elam has become known for, he joined the Aggies 2015 recruiting class as the first cornerback of the what could be a deep class at the position. Newton who has shunned the recruiting spotlight simply called Sumlin and let him know he was ready to come on board and then sent out a simple tweet announcing it to the masses.

Although Elam may lack some of the fanfare of the other top targets at his position he may be the most physically gifted at 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds. His frame will allow him to grow into the type of physically dominating cornerbacks that have been synonymous with the top players in the Southeastern Conference.

Rivals.com has Elam currently ranked as a 5.7 level three star prospect, number 37 at the position in the country. Elam also landed at number 40 in the initial AggieYell top 100 in Texas ranking that is due to be updated around the start of the season.

In his two seasons at the varsity level for Newton, Elam has racked up 11 interceptions on defense while starring on both sides of the ball for the small east Texas power. He was named the district newcomer of the year following his first season in 2012. In 2013 he was a first team selection for district 10-2A at both quarterback and defensive back.

Robert Sellers is a staff reporter for AggieYell.com. You can follow him on Twitter at Rob_Sellers_.