After a long day of waiting on and receiving letters of intent from recruits, Kevin Sumlin spoke with the media about the Aggies' recruiting class for 2015. In all, Texas A&M signed 25 new players (including their 7 early enrollees) for another very strong recruiting class.
The headline of the day for the Aggies was getting a commitment from 5-star DT Daylon Mack (more here) out of Gladewater, TX, and finally getting a signed letter of intent from 5-star QB Kyler Murray. Murray had danced with the idea of decommitting from Texas A&M, but a strong late push by Coach Sumlin locked him up. The Aggies still have to wait to hear about Murray's MLB Draft prospects, as he could choose to go play baseball if he is drafted high enough.
Coach Sumlin spoke on Mack, Murray, and the 2015 class as a whole this afternoon, and seemed pleased with the group coming into College Station.
"We have addressed our needs as a program," said Sumlin. "What we set out to do this year was to really add athleticism and depth. What we've learned in this league is that it's more than just a talent league, it's a talent and depth league. Last year, the last couple years, last year especially, we signed 22 and 14 saw the field for us. So, the good thing about that is the 14 freshman that saw the field last year will be 14 sophomores this year."
"This group here that we've signed, we addressed needs across the board. From a quarterback position, we did that. A couple running backs we needed even though the only loss there was Trey Williams who turned pro. I think the thing that gets overshadowed here is four outstanding offensive lineman that were highly recruited that we'll add to a class last year that was excellent..."
"Defensively, everybody knows what we set out to do, and I think we answered a bunch of our needs there. Some of the guys that we're talking about here are overshadowed because they've been committed for a long time — the Justin Dunning's of the world, those types of guys who committed, Roney Elam is another guy. With that being said, I think that this class again is a stabilizing class, there's some really good players...We're really, extremely pleased with the quality of the class."
"[Kyler Murray] is good, and we need a quarterback. That's exactly what it is...The depth chart becomes a recruiting tool, and there were two or three schools that basically showed him the depth chart and said you could play right now. When you've got a young guy who's won 43 straight games and three straight championships and all he's done is play, that sounds pretty good. Our message to him was, 'hey listen, the same reason you committed here last summer and the same things that were important to you are the same, and with the departure of Kenny [Hill] they're even better for you now and it doesn't make sense for you to change any of that now.' He understood that, he understands competition."
"Daylon [Mack] is a guy again who was an early commitment and things changed throughout the season. Daylon and the family just wanted to see what was going to happen defensively, and I think the addition of John Chavis did nothing but solidify his commitment."
