The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 04, 2015, Image 3

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    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.
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