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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2015)
National Signing Day The (other) Super Bowl The names you need to know National Signing Day has arrived. Here's a list from sports reporters Brandon Wheeland and Kevin Roark of the top names to know for the big day from midterm enrollees — who are already on campus, but whose names will inevitably surface in the Wednesday conversation — to verbal commits and the players for whom Kevin Sumlin will fight down to the wire. Check out The Battalion Thursday for a complete overview of the class and follow @battsports for realtime coverage of signing day. Always think before you tweet, Aggies Social media opens the recruiting world for all fans, for better or worse WR CHRISTIAN KIRK ENROLLED DT DAYLON MACK TARGET Photos courtesy of 247 Sports The nation’s No. 4 wide re- ceiver, the five-star ( .recruit from Scott sdale, Arizona, enrolled in Janu ary. In his senior year at Saguaro High School, Kirk rushed for 1,692 yards and 25 touchdowns, reeled in 1,187 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns and had 49 tackles as a cornerback with four * picks. Kirk managed a couple special team scores as well. He-was named the Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year and led his team to a state title in 2014. Part wide receiver, part running back, all football player, Kirk possesses great speed and vision. He should blossom in the slot receiver position with his rapid acceleration off the line and terrific feet to make plays in space. From Glade- water, Texas, the defensive tackle compiled 82 tack les during his se nior year — 37 for loss — with five sacks. He also had an interception and four forced fumbles. Out of the backfield, Mack ran for 262 yards and 12 touchdowns. Mack decommitted to A&M, but after the Chavis hire he has narrowed his choices to TCU, Texas and A&M. Reports Tuesday indicated A&M could be the frontrunner. Mack will make his choice on ESPNU Wednesday. WR DAMARKUS LODGE TARGET LB RICHARD MOORE ENROLLED A three-star recruit from Cedar Hill, Texas. At 6 feet, 210 pounds, the outside line backer collected 118 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and seven forced fumbles during his senior year. Moore decommitted after the firing of former defensive coordinator Mark Snyder. However, when John Chavis was brought in by head coach Kevin Sumlin, Moore committed again to A&M at the beginning of the New Year. He has spectacular run blitz timing and speed that makes him a serious threat for anyone on the ground. Moore is not the biggest player on the field, but he plays like it. RB JAY BRADFORD VERBAL Speculation has the four-star wide receiver in a virtual coin flip between Ole Miss and Texas A&M. Ranked the No. 9 WR in Texas, he would be an excellent compli ment to Ricky Seals-Jones, Speedy Noil and the rest of the talented WR crew. Pairing with Kirk would be an outstanding duo for this year’s recruiting class. RB KENDALL BUSSEY VERBAL After flipping WSSSSSi his commitment from Tennessee on Monday, Bussey joins Bradford as the second run ning back in the 2015 class. At 5 feet 8, 205 pounds, Bussey could run through linebackers like Ben Malena did before him. Of W X Four-star run ning back Jay Bradford is the No. 21 back in the nation. With Trey Williams enter ing the 2015 NFL draft, A&M is looking for a back that can comple ment new run game coordinator Dave Christensen. Bradford compiled 539 rush attempts for 3,292 yards and 34 touchdowns in two seasons at Splendora High School. He stands 5 feet 10 and weighs 191 pounds. He is a physical runner with a 40-yard dash of 4.44 seconds. CB RONEY ELAM VERBAL The first thing you see in Roney Elam’s tape is a ball-hawking defensive back who is not afraid to close and attack the ball carrier. For a 6-foot- 3, 170-pound cornerback, Elam packs a punch. He saw action as a quarterback in high school, but it was at corner that he really shined as an instinctive, bone-crushing tackier. CB KENDALL SHEFFIELD TARGET It may be a little too late to sway the five-star corner away from Alabama and Nick Saban, but Kevin Sumlin is giving it his best shot. The 6-foot, 180-pound defen sive stud is a two-sport athlete, excelling in track as well. DE JAMES LOCKHART VERBAL For the third straight year the state’s top defen sive end is headed to Aggieland. From Ennis, Texas, the 6-foot- 3, 250-pound end compiled 130 tackles, 14 sacks and five forced fumbles during his senior year. He would be a nice compliment to Myles Garrett, who has a similar style. QB KYLER MURRAY VERBAL Perhaps the most talked- about recruit in Texas, five-star Kyler Murray is the No. 3 ranked quarterback in the nation. From Allen, Texas, the dual-threat QB went 43-0 in his high school career, win ning three state championships and was named the National Player of the Year in 2014. Murray threw for 4,713 yards, 54 touchdowns and eight interceptions while also rushing for 1,495 yards and 25 scores during his senior year. His father, Kevin Murray, played quarterback at Texas A&M from 1983-86. OT TREVOR ELBERT VERBAL At 6 feet 5, 290 pounds, four-star offensive tackle Trevor Elbert is a true beast. With spectacular strength and initial quickness, the Rockwall, Texas native creates holes big enough to drive a car through. A rare commodity, the Aggies are look ing to fill the shoes of Cedric Ogbuehi and Jarvis Harrison. Brandon Wheeland @Brandon Wheeland Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted. Recmits today live in an instantaneous world. They want it now. They get it now. Immediate access to anything they can imag ine is possible. With social media, for better or worse, a conversation with anyone is a click away. The rest of us live in this same world. For better or for worse, that same instant access to 17- and 18-year-old high school recmits is still there. “The problem now is that through social media, everyone can talk about what’s going on, and the wrong people can gain access to these recmits,” said Damon Sayles, national recruiting awnalyst for Bleacher Report. “It can be a die-hard fanatic or a first-class troll trying to get the attention of a star recmit. It can get disturbing at times, especially when you know some guy’s in his thirties or forties and he’s heckling or bad-mouthing a 17-year- old kid.” It’s not uncommon to scroll through a recmit’s Twitter mentions and see threats, insults and more. It’s important to remember these messages are going to kids. They don’t know who they are taking to prom, much less where they are spending the next four years of their lives. Frustration over a set of colors or a logo on a helmet is the real culprit. These kids are choosing the path they feel is best for them, not the path to satisfy the internet masses. It’s hard to say “put yourself in his shoes” because every recruit’s path is so different than the rest. If you feel they are making a mistake, now is the perfect time in their life to be do ing so anyway. Respect the process. It’s not all gloom and doom. Twitter is arguably the greatest sports website there is. Social media provides great opportunities to follow the thought process of your soon-to- be favorite college stars as they choose their school. When it comes to recmiting, Twitter is virtually up to the second. “Social media has its positives,” Sayles said. “Fans really get a chance to get to know a recmit through social media. This is assum ing the recmit lets that fan in. Some athletes keep their circles very close. Others love to make new friends every day online.” Access to recmits will continue to grow in the future. There was a time when fans had little idea how their class would shape up until the university made their official announcement. Recmits are doing a service, really, by allowing fan bases to follow their journeys in a minute-by-minute process. The last thing they deserve to read is criticism of their decision they were kind enough to share with the world through a tweet or Facebook post. “I can see social media continuing to grow alongside recruiting,” Sayles said. “We’re al ready seeing kids commit using Twitter mes sages, Vine videos, et cetera. I think in five or 10 years, it will get even more creative with whatever is out there in social media. As long as it’s all done in fun, I’m good with it.” Happy National Signing Day. A day many recmits will never forget. Help make suie the memories never to be forgotten are positive. Think before you tweet. / )