Aggie football coach Mike Sherman put his best foot forward on signing day, expressing what impressed him about who was coming to Texas A&M rather than dwelling on who was not.
According to the two primary recruiting sources as late as Tuesday night, Sherman and the Aggies had a Top 10 class lined up to sign Wednesday.
That had changed by early Wednesday afternoon. Four-star linebacker Corey Nelson switched alliances and signed with Oklahoma, and four-star athlete Jarrett Fobbs decided on staying closer to home and chose LSU over A&M.
"The big thing about our recruiting efforts is that we're not recruiting against Timbuktu U," Sherman said. "We're recruiting against some pretty dang good universities. It's very competitive. We're going to win some, and we're going to lose some. The last 24 hours, obviously we've been on the phone working it pretty good, but that's the way it goes. I'd rather be in that arena, competing on a regular basis and identifying the right players, than getting someone who really wasn't a good fit for our offense or defense. We don't lose sleep over that, I promise you."
Despite the two late defections, A&M's class is still ranked 15th by rivals.com and 17th by ESPN.com.
"We've been fortunate," Sherman said. "In the last two years we haven't won a championship and we haven't arrived to the position that we hope to arrive to and plan to arrive to, but we've been able to hang on to our commitments. I think we've lost three in two years. We've held on to them for a long time."
A&M signed 23 student-athletes, including nine four-star and 13 three-star players by rivals.com's rankings.
Sherman didn't use any of the numbers to back how he felt, but he emphasized that he was very pleased with filling A&M's needs, especially on both lines.
"I'm excited to get to this point today," he said. "I think we took a huge step in our program with the signees we have in this class. I've always said that you can win games with talent and you can win games with character, but you win championships with talent and character. I really feel like this is that type of group, the type of group that has both of those qualities, plus a strong desire to help A&M win championships."
The main reason the Aggies stayed in the Top 20 was the five quality offensive linemen that Sherman secured. Four of them are four-star performers.
Only Auburn had a higher-ranked class of offensive linemen.
"Offensive linemen normally take a natural maturation period, but the guys we have coming in have the strength and the size and they are pretty good athletes," Sherman said. "I envision three out of the five being a factor for us this upcoming season. I know that's putting a lot of pressure on these guys, but they're very highly recruited men. A lot of people around the country wanted these young men."
Sherman and his staff will send videos and playbooks to the recruits in hopes of speeding up the learning process, especially on the offensive line where the Aggies must replace three starters.
Arlington's Luke Joeckel and Elkins' Jake Matthews likely will compete for spots on the starting line. Joeckel -- and twin brother Matt, who is a quarterback -- is already enrolled at A&M, while Matthews' brother Kevin was A&M's starting center the last two seasons.
A&M also signed offensive linemen Cedric Ogbuehi of Allen, Shep Klinke of Katy and Denton Ryan's Garrett Gramling.
A&M loaded up at running back, signing Ben Malena of Cedar Hill, D.J. Jones of Denison and Mister Jones from Littleton, Colo. All three come with strong credentials.
"If we feel like we've overloaded that position, maybe there's an opportunity down the road that one of these guys will agree or see the light that maybe he is a linebacker," Sherman said. "Maybe he is a safety. That's certainly a possibility. If we have guys stacked up, obviously that's a possibility."
Of the nine four-star recruits seven are either offensive linemen or running backs.
On defense, A&M will return to the 3-4 under new defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter with a couple of candidates for nose guard in Blinn transfer Johathan Mathis and Ivan Robinson of Longville, La.
Robinson could move to defensive end along with Hutto's Nehemia Nicks, who at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds is listed as an "athlete."
"I feel like you match up better in this conference in the 3-4," Sherman said. "We don't get a really strong dose of power football, so the length is more important than the actual size and weight those guys have who play those defensive end positions. The guys who we've recruited who are longer guys, who are going to be 260, 265, 270, can play that defensive end position and thrive."
With Nelson choosing Oklahoma, A&M signed just one linebacker, Nelson's teammate at Dallas Skyline, Domonique Patterson.
"We have a number of options at linebacker," Sherman said. "We redshirted some linebackers last year that are going to be a factor for us this year. We have numbers at the linebacker position, and we have quality at the linebacker position. I think this system is going to allow those guys to advance even faster. There are some guys in recruiting that may be recruited as defensive ends that may end up playing an outside linebacker position in this scheme."
The Aggies also added three quarterbacks, all of whom are enrolled and will get a chance this spring to claim the third-string quarterback spot.
Along with the 6-foot-4 Matt Joeckel, Clay Honeycutt of Dickinson and Jameill Showers, who missed his senior season at Killeen Shoemaker, will be vying to take the spot of Tommy Dorman, who moved to tight end halfway through last season.
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NOTES -- Spring practices will begin March 23, the Tuesday after spring break. The spring game will be April 17.
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