Mike Sherman just landed the 20th and possibly most important pledge of the 2010 recruiting class. Elkins OT Jake Matthews 6'5 285 made a verbal commitment to the Ags today after visiting the school with his family. Matthews commitment puts an exclamation point on an OL haul that is as good as any for A&M in recent memory. Matthews is the brother of current A&M center Kevin Matthews. He is the top rated OL in the state and one of the top OTs in the nation. In landing Matthews (along with the recent commit of Corey Nelson) Mike Sherman has sent a message out to all of the top programs in the nation that A&M IS going to be a factor in recruiting at a national level.  

Sherman beat out USC, OU, tu and pretty much every major program in the country for Matthews pledge. After coming in second on a lot of these guys during Slocum's waning years and the Frantastic era, it is nice to land a couple of top recruits. Recruiting rankings ultimately are meaningless, and they do not sign on the dotted line until February. It should also be noted that recruits on the offensive line are probably the hardest to evaluate. That said, Matthews is supposed to be the kind of can't-miss prospect who jumps out at you when you watch him play. I have not seen an OL like that in high school since Ofa Mohetau was playing for Euless Trinity. Could not tell you what he is doing these days as he was not able to break into the starting lineup at Tech after starting as a true freshman at BYU.

I still say that landing a recruit of this caliber matters for A&M even if he does not pan out on the field. By beating out the top programs in the nation while coming off a 4-8 season, Sherman is showing that he can excel in recruiting. Imagine how well he could do if he had a winning record to recruit with. I saw a quote from the Big 12 media days where Sherman wondered why Fran could not recruit to A&M because he thinks the school sells itself. Obviously, Sherman knows how to sell the school and his program because he is putting together an excellent class. I do not care what the rankings say, if Sherman thinks you can play OL then I believe you can play OL. Sherman has found five guys who he thinks can help us on the OL and that is enough for me.