Texas A&M Football: Latest News, Notes and Analysis

The football season is complete, and the Texas A&M football coaches are heading into the home stretch in recruiting. Signing day is on Feb. 1, and the Aggie coaches are finalizing official visits and making their last in-home visits with prospects.

The Ags have half of their coaching staff filled, but are still in the market for defensive coaches.

With all the de-commitments in recruiting over the past week, where do the Aggies stand?

This is a look at everything that is going on around the Aggie football program.

Defensive Coordinator Search

Pat Narduzzi was the Ags' first choice for the empty defensive coordinator spot, but he chose to accept a raise and stay in East Lansing.

It now appears that Cal defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast tops the list. He should interview with Kevin Sumlin sometime this week. It is important for Sumlin to get a defensive coordinator hired quickly, as multiple programs are trying to pick off defensive recruits from the Ags.

Ideally, A&M would have a defensive coordinator and possibly some position coaches in place by the this coming weekend, which is shaping up a huge one when it comes to recruiting.

Right now, it is unknown where the Ags will look if Pendergast turns them down.

Ags Land Huge 2013 Commitment

Kevin Sumlin secured a verbal commitment from perhaps the top recruit in the 2013 class when Rosenburg-Terry athlete Derrick Griffin committed to the Ags on Friday.

The 6'6" 220-pound athlete will play football and basketball at A&M. He will likely play wide receiver or tight end in football and power forward in basketball.

Griffin is a raw athlete who has not spent much time in the weight room because of his basketball commitments. It is easy to envision him growing into a 240-pound tight end who catches 50-60 passes a year in Sumlin's offense before he goes into the NFL and becomes the next Antonio Gates.

Griffin is the fourth commit of the Ags 2013 class, which also includes QB Kohl Stewart, ATH Ty Slanina and DL Christian Lacouture. 

Griffin is the first high school recruit who has committed to Sumlin. To land the No. 1 recruit in the 2013 class is quite a start for a head coach who many claimed was a weak recruiter.

Expect the Ags to Offer Two DL

Texas A&M DL coach Terrell Williams went on the road this week and visited both Lufkin DT Tomme Mark and Euless Trinity DE Polo Manukainiu.

Expect both defensive linemen to take official visits to A&M within the next couple of weeks. If they both make it to Aggieland, then they will both likely commit before leaving.

Manukainiu is the cousin of former A&M LB Lee Foliaki. Mark has favored the Aggies since the summer, but did not receive an offer, so he committed to Kevin Sumlin and the Houston Cougars. Now that Sumlin has moved to Aggieland, expect Mark to do the same.

Major Recruits De-Commit

There were two big recruiting prospects who withdrew their commitments from other programs and opened their recruiting back up over the weekend.

Thomas Johnson, a WR from Skyline High School in Dallas, rescinded his commitment from the Texas Longhorns and now is reportedly looking at A&M, Baylor, Cal and Oregon. Johnson played in a national 7-on-7 tournament last summer with Aggie pledges Matt Davis, Trey Williams and Bralon Addison. He befriended that group, and it may pay off for the Aggies now.

Devante Harris, a CB from Mesquite Horn High School, also backed away from his pledge to Oklahoma.

The Aggies are interested in both of these recruits, and both will see offers if they make it to campus for an official visit.

Expect the Ags to try to get Harris and Johnson down for the Jan. 13 recruiting weekend.

Jan. 13 Looks Like a Big Recruiting Weekend

According to Billy Liucci of TexAgs.com Jan. 13 is going to be a huge recruiting weekend for Kevin Sumlin and the Aggies.

It looks like that will be the first big official visit weekend since Sumlin was hired. Current Aggie commits Trey Williams, Corey Thompson and Bralon Addison are all expected to be there.

Defensive line prospects like Tomme Mark have been invited.

The Aggie coaches are going to try to get Thomas Johnson and Devante Harris to take a look.

Do not be surprised if you hear of Carthage safety Edward Pope making the trek to Aggieland this coming weekend. Pope is a TCU pledge that the new staff obviously covets. With so many current Aggie pledges with grade issues, do not be surprised to see the Aggie coaches go aggressively after recruits already committed to other schools.

Expect the A&M coaches to come out of the Jan. 13 weekend with two or three new commitments.

Where Are Trey and Bralon Going?

Aggie football fans have been anxiously wringing their hands over whether RB Trey Williams and WR Bralon Addison would look elsewhere after Mike Sherman was fired.

Addison and Williams played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl together on Saturday, along with A&M pledge Mike Matthews. Williams and Addison have played football together peewee days, and Williams was surprised how well Matthews fit in with them.

"Mike's got a little swag to him too. He even listens to the same music as us," said Williams.

It did not get a lot of run in the media, but Matthews had a very strong showing against the East defenders in the All-American game. He will likely step in and start at center in 2013 after Patrick Lewis graduates.

Expect Williams and Addison to take a visit to A&M on Jan. 13. Williams will likely take a visit to Arkansas, and they will both trip to Oregon together.

Expect both Addison and Williams to sign with A&M on Feb. 1.

Michael Taglienti is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes and information were obtained first-hand.