After receiving commitments from Kerrick Huggins and Isaiah Golden, I was fairly certain we would be adding a few more defensive tackle prospects in this class. After looking at the offer list on Rivals, though, we've only offered two other defensive tackles for 2013 so far, Derrick Calloway of Bradenton, FL and Justin Manning of Dallas Kimball. This could mean we're still evaluating other defensive tackle prospects in this class, but I did a little research to be sure. In 2002-2004, two of the years Mark Snyder was a linebacker coach and then the one year he was the defensive coordinator for Ohio State (and farthest back Rivals goes in their online records), Ohio State took one defensive tackle in the 2002 class, and two each in 2003 and 2004. Snyder seems to be happier with targeting and getting his top two guys than bringing in a group of players for depth, and sorting out the best of them as starters. For this reason, if we sit tight with Huggins and Golden, I'm not going to be too worried. I'd like to see us take two more defensive tackles to provide depth on the interior, but it isn't a necessity.

As I've shown before with the look at defensive tackle recruiting in the SEC, you can load up on tall defensive ends, develop them, and move them inside if you need to ala the LSU model. Currently, we have only offered five defensive ends in Torodney Prevot of Alief Taylor, Jay Arnold of Heath, D.J. Ward of Lawton, OK, Jason Hatcher of Louisville Trinity, and the already committed Christian Lacouture. None of them truly project to a move inside, though. I would like to see us go after a juco defensive tackle or two to establish depth as a short term fix while we implement Snyder's system, but if we sit tight now with only two commits, it isn't a reason to worry.

I drove to College Station yesterday for the final game of the A&M-UIC baseball series, and to view the renovations to Blue Bell Park at Olsen Field. I arrived home in the early evening to find out we have two more recruiting commitments. We added the third one this morning, to make it seven total so far this weekend.

A&M received a commitment from RB James White and safety Jonathan Wiggins yesterday, and from offensive lineman J.J. Gustafson this morning. With the commitment of White, I think we are essentially finished at the RB position in this class. Wiggins is our second safety commit, and Gustafson our third offensive line commitment. If we can, I'd like to see us take at least three more defensive backs, two corners and a corner/safety type. You can never have too many good secondary players in the SEC. I expect us to take at least two to three more offensive linemen, we could use two more interior linemen and another tackle.

James White is 6'0, 190 lbs and plays for Pearland Dawson. He is a perfect blend of speed and power, he has the speed to hit the outside and beat the defender to the edge, and the power to break tackles. He loves to lower his shoulder and power through tackles, and he excels at running both off guard and off tackle. He is a player who gets the ball and explodes through the hole in the running game. He has excellent vision, and uses it to set up defenders, but has no problem knocking them back through the end zone, either. He is also a dangerous receiver out of the backfield.White is a prototypical SEC type running back, and is the kind of player you can build your offense around. At 190 pounds now, it isn't difficult to see him putting on twenty pounds of muscle in a college S&C program, and growing into a 210 lb nightmare for opposing defenses to bring down. He is the type of player who can come in and contribute immediately on offense. Watch his video here. White chose A&M over offers from Auburn, Baylor, and Texas Tech.

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The Aggies hosted their second junior day of the year yesterday, and it yielded immediate results, with the Aggies receiving four more commitments for the Class of 2013. Offensive tackle Joas Aguilar, safety Victor Davis, RB Johnny Jefferson, and OG Ishmael Wilson all committed to A&M on Saturday.

Aguilar, a 6'5 295 pound lineman from Birdville, projects at offensive tackle in college. Aguilar plays LT for Birdville, and has the foot speed and agility to play the same position in college. Aguilar shows nice footwork, the athleticism to pull on power plays, sweeps, and traps, and a nasty disposition. He has an excellent punch on first contact, and gets off the ball smoothly. When evaluating video of high school offensive linemen, you look for footwork, technique, agility, and hope you might see hint of a nasty attitude. Aguilar has attitude in spades. His video is almost amusing to watch. He is flat out abusing the defensive linemen he faces. Time after time, he engages the defender, and then throws him down like a sack of flour. High school offensive linemen rarely if ever show the intensity to finish the block. Aguilar defines the phrase 'finish the block'. It is easy to see why our coaches offered him a scholarship after seeing his video. Rivals has no info on him, and has him completely unranked, which makes you wonder how anyone could miss a prospect like this one after seeing his video.

Davis is a 6'1, 181 lb safety out of Rosenberg Terry HS, and is a teammate of 2013 WR commit Derrick Griffin. Davis is a headhunter in the backfield, and a hard hitter. He shows solid technique, wrapping up as he explodes through the tackle. He has legit 4.5 speed, and is a threat on punt and kickoff returns. He is a solid all around athlete, and a very nice pickup for our defensive backfield. Davis is a playmaker who can help your team in several areas, and a terrific commitment for this class. A longtime fan of A&M, Davis chose A&M over an early offer from Oklahoma State. You can watch his highlight video here.

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The Aggies gained their second defensive tackle commitment of the 2013 class, as Skyline DT Kerrick Huggins, 6'4 285 lbs, committed to David Beaty and A&M yesterday. Huggins joins Elysian Fields' Isaiah Golden as our two defensive tackle commitments in the 2013 class so far this year.

Huggins has played both DT in even fronts and DE in the 3-4 in Skyline's multiple scheme. He has an excellent first step, is quick off the ball, and uses leverage well. He quickly disposes of blockers and is relentless in pursuit. He stays low off the snap and flexes his hips well, and plays with good technique.He can come in and play at SDE and 3 tech immediately, but he projects as an eventual 1 tech or 0 tech in college.

I had a chance to watch Huggins in person when Southlake Carroll played Skyline in the semifinals last season. He was a big part of a dominant effort inside for Skyline; Soutlake couldn't run the ball inside all game, and the play of Huggins and the other Raider defensive tackles was the reason for that.

Rivals has Huggins rated as a four-star recruit, and 154th nationally, but we all know rankings don't mean anything. After not having a true defensive tackle make it to campus in the 2010 class, and signing only one defensive tackle in the 2012 class, it is nice to have two defensive tackles in the fold already in the 2013 class. We're going to need some interior linemen who come onto campus ready to play in Mark Snyder's multiple defense, and Huggins is one of those types of players.

Watch video of Huggins here.

As A&M enters the SEC, they return all of their starting offensive linemen from last season, with bookend tackles Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews, guards Jarvis Harrison and Cedric Ogbuehi, and center Patrick Lewis all coming back. Key reserves Rhontae Scales and Shep Klinke also return. We redshirted Joseph Cheek last season, and 2011 signees Ben Compton and Shayvion Hatten were both moved to the defensive line, so we're returning one player from the 2011 class to help us on the OL. We signed three OL in the 2012 class in Germain Ifedi, Mike Matthews, and Kimo Tipoti. I think we'll try to redshirt Ifedi and Tipoti, and Matthews may see time as a backup to Patrick Lewis this season, so he will be ready to take over as starter in 2013. We will return both of our tackles and our guards in 2013, needing to replace only Lewis at center, so we appear to be set early on at offensive line. We will have redshirt freshmen in Tipoti and Ifedi, redshirt sophomore Joseph Cheek, redshirt juniors Garret Gramling and Shep Klinke, and a fifth year senior in Rhontae Scales on our depth chart. I'd like to take four offensive linemen every year to make sure we have plenty of depth to account for attrition, but I'd prefer it if we take five or six linemen in the 2013 class.

Ideally,you have eight available offensive linemen you expect to play every game, your starting offensive linemen, a swing guard, a swing tackle, and a backup center. We need to bring in two tackles to spend a year as redshirt backups in 2012. I expect Cheek to work as a swing tackle this season as a backup to Matthews and Joeckel, and eventually start at one of the tackle spots in 2014. We need to bring in at least two tackles so we have another starter across from Cheek, and a swing backup. I'd like us to take at least three tackle prospects in this class, so we have a prospective starter, and two possible backups for 2014. Germain Ifedi could possibly be that starter in 2014, but I want to make sure we have the numbers for depth behind him and Cheek.

Looking back at the 2009-2011 recruiting classes for Houston, B.J. Anderson signed classes of 5, 4, and 4 offensive linemen. After Hatten and Compton's move to defense, however, we essentially only had one offensive lineman signed in 2010, which will be the backbone of the 2014 offensive line. We need to make up for that shortfall by bringing in five to six offensive linemen in this next recruiting class, and shore up our depth chart. I'd like to see us take three tackles, two guards, and a center prospect in the 2013 recruiting class. I realize this will take Coach Anderson out of his normal rotation, but we need to replenish the depth chart. You can never have too many linemen in the SEC.

I've written extensively here about what I see our offensive scheme being in 2012, our first year in the Southeastern Conference. Going forward, I am looking for a way to see what the future of our offense will be, a predictor of where our scheme is headed. In 2012, I fully expect us to use 10 personnel somewhere around 75-80% of the time our offense is on the field. We have players in Hutson Prioleau, Nehemiah Hicks, and Michael LaMothe that will allow us to utilize 11 personnel, and even line up in 21 and 22 personnel in short yardage and run-the-clock situations, but I expect our wide receivers to get the majority of the work load in 2012. The question is whether we will continue with our focus on the passing game in our offense, or become a less pass-heavy offense and a move to a more balanced attack in the future. One of the predictors of moving to a more balanced, pro-set based attack that primarily uses 21 personnel is recruiting at the tight end and fullback positions. Researching fullback recruiting is problematic for two reasons: 1) Rivals doesn't list fullbacks as a position in their recruiting database, so searching for that specific position is impossible, and 2) Projecting running backs to fullbacks from high school to college is difficult. Often, a high school recruit who projects as a fullback is simply a larger-than-average running back who doesn't have the speed you'd want out of a feature back, but runs with power and shows potential as a blocker. So predicting our offensive future based on fullback recruiting is out. We are then left with looking at tight end recruiting.

For the 2013 class so far, per the Rivals database, A&M has offered three tight end prospects, all of them from Louisiana. As it stands today, Standish Dobard (6'5, 235 lbs), DeSean Smith (6'4, 222 lbs), and Deondre Skinner (6'3, 212 lbs) all have reportedly received offers. Skinner was being recruiting by Jim Turner, and was offered under Sherman's staff, so that information obviously is not up to date. Skinner is supposed to be one of the top tight end prospects in the nation, though, so continued pursuit of him would indicate our future intentions on offense. A&M already has a commitment from possibly the top recruit in the State of Texas in 2013 in WR Derrick Griffin. At 6'6, 215 lbs, Griffin has room to grow, and projects as a very big slot receiver who will move to tight end. Based on our recruiting already at this position, it looks like the plan is to move to a more pro-style offense in the future.

Even if we continue to run an offense that is pass-heavy, and do not attempt to become a 50/50 pass-run team, I like these recruits. Whe you have a player that is 6'4-6'6 and 230-250 pounds split out, it is a coverage nightmare for the defense. That player is too big for defensive backs to cover, and too quick for linebackers to effectively cover. Such players also allow you to exploit the middle of the field, something which we got away from during the 2011 season. I still think our best chance to be immediately competitive in the SEC is to run a pass-heavy offense to stress defenses built to stop the run, but future recruiting looks like we will move to a more balanced offensive approach eventually, similar to what Coach Sumlin ran at Oklahoma as offensive coordinator.

Given our struggle the past two years to land defensive linemen to man the interior, I thought I'd go ahead and take a look at the defensive tackle recruiting in the Southeastern Conference. I went back and looked at the recruiting class just signed by all the SEC schools, and included the signing classes listed on Rivals from the preceding three years, to determine how many defensive tackles schools were taking each year. I realize some players move to different positions, and Rivals isn't the best gauge for where a player projects in college, but this would be a decent resource to use for my purposes. Given that the SEC is a conference dominated by defense, particularly defensive line play, I thought I'd see teams bringing in three to four defensive tackles every year to build depth, and letting attrition take care of the numbers. The results I found surprised me.

	2012	2011	2010	2009
Alabama	5	2	2	3
Arkansas	0	3	4	3
Auburn	1	2	2	4
Florida	3	0	3	2
Georgia	2	2	2	2
Kentucky	2	1	2	3
LSU	0	2	0	3
Mississippi State	3	2	2	1
Mississippi	1	3	2	2
South Carolina	1	4	3	0
Tennessee	2	3	2	1
Vanderbilt	1	1	1	0
Texas A&M	1	1	3	1
Missouri	1	2	1	2

Alabama seems to be the only school that is consistently loading up on interior defensive linemen every year. If you had asked me before today which school in the SEC I thought recruiting the most defensive tackles annually, I would have picked LSU, just givent he success they've had producing quality defensive tackles annually.Imagine my shock to see that they took the second-least amount of defensive tackle recruits in the conference, behind Vanderbilt, over the last four classes. Granted, LSU's starting defensive tackles this season were Michael Brockers and Bennie Logan, who both were signed as defensive ends in the 2009 class, so the numbers can be a little misleading. Arkansas didn't sign any defensive tackles in 2012, but did sign seven defensive ends, so some of them will move inside and play tackle. Alabama would actually seem to be the school that could afford to focus on defensive tackles the least, because their base is a 3-4, but I guess Saban believes you can never have too much depth on the lines. You can't argue too much with his results.

The big takeaway from this research? We may have been worrying about our defensive tackle recruiting a little too much, and I include myself in that group. As long as we take four to five defensive linemen every year (we have five DEs and one DT signed in the class of 2012), we should be fine in developing depth on our defensive line. If we bring in the right numbers every year, the S&C staff and coaches should be able to develop enough players for us to have a formidable defensive front on any annual basis. From that perspective, what looks like an area of weakness in our 2012 class (interior defensive linemen) may actually be a strength. We have the players we need there, now we just need to get them on campus and develop them.

After LeMarc Strahan, A&M's only defensive tackle recruit in 2011, was unable to qualify academically, and Logan David, A&M's NG recruit in the 2012 class, was unable to meet SEC standards for core classwork, it looked like the Aggies would be without a true defensive tackle recruit in the 2012 class. Coach Sumlin & Co. delivered, though, flipping Missouri commit Edmund Ray over to the good guys. Ray, a 6'5 290 lb run-stuffer, chose A&M over offer from Missouri, Kansas State, and Illinois.

Ray plays with good leverage, fights off blocks well, and can project as both a one-gap and two-gap player. Ray projects as a G in the 3-4 and a 1-tech NT in the 4-3 Under. Ray does an excellent job filling the A-gap, and is relentless in pursuit. One of the key needs in this class was someone who could come in immediately and play behind Ben Compton and Kirby Ennis at NG/NT, and Ray appears to be just that player.

In a big area of need, Coach Sumlin came through, and landed us a player who should be able to help us for the next four years. After only signing one defensive tackle in the last two classes, though, this will be a huge area of need for A&M in 2013. Right now, though, I'm just happy we managed to bring in another player who can man the middle for us.

Video after the jump.

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