Four-star safety Bryce Anderson was planning to commit on July 4 but with Texas and Texas A&M still battling it out for his services, the Beaumont (Texas) West Brook standout decided to hold off making a decision.
Anderson did cut his list to the Aggies and the Longhorns, though, as his recruitment shapes up to be a major in-state battle for one of the top rospects in Texas.
It’s not life or death but it’s a major early test for first-year Texas coach Steve Sarkisian as the Longhorns got the last official in June and that could put them in a very strong position heading into the next phase in Anderson’s recruitment.
But the high four-star prospect who had been previously committed to LSU earlier in his recruitment visited Texas A&M earlier in the month and then took another trip over to College Station and at that time in early June it looked like the Aggies had surged to the top of his recruitment.
In today’s Making The Case, analysts from around the Rivals network take a closer look at where Anderson could land and national recruiting director Adam Gorney issues his verdict on where he thinks the four-star safety will play his college football.
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TEXAS
“Anderson has been long-believed to be a Texas lean, but this race is much closer than a lot of Longhorn fans would like. The Texas coaches have done a good job of building a strong relationship with Anderson and his family, and they're selling him on being used in a variety of ways in their defensive backfield and their special teams. Also, Anderson wants to study business and Texas has one of the nation's top business schools.” - Jason Suchomel, Orangebloods.com
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TEXAS A&M
“There are a couple of reasons Anderson could pick the Aggies. The first is the relationship he's had with the defensive coaching staff, which extends back to before he committed to LSU. He clearly knows them well. The other is pretty simple: which program is better positioned to win big and prepare a player for the next level? At the moment, and looking ahead, that's advantage A&M.” - Mark Passwaters, AggieYell.com
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THE VERDICT
This one is very difficult to call because I would not be surprised one bit if Anderson picked the Longhorns or the Aggies. It is a little concerning for Texas that everything was lined up perfectly and Anderson still did not commit. Texas had him on campus late in June, his decision day was July 4 and then Anderson delayed his pick. That doesn’t seem to bode all that well for the Longhorns. Texas A&M has done a great job with prospects on campus in June and Anderson stopped by twice so that was definitely impressive. But it feels like Anderson has been leaning - heavily at times - to Texas ever since he backed off his LSU pledge. Since I have to pick, I’m going to go with the Aggies because if Anderson was confident in his Texas selection then he probably wouldn’t have had to delay past the July 4 date but this one is a toss-up.” - Adam Gorney, Rivals National Recruiting Director
