Texas A&M Football: Will Myles Garrett Be Named an All-American in 2014?

The Texas A&M football team has an improved pass rush in 2014 because Myles Garrett has lived up to his recruiting ranking on the field. Garrett will make it three years in a row that the Aggies have had an All-American on their team. 

The ranking of recruits is an inexact science. Every year there are "can't miss" recruits who fail to live up their billing while recruits who were overlooked by various sporting websites and news outlets develop into stars and first-round draft picks. 

Garrett was the No. 1 recruit in the nation in the 2014 class, according to 247Sports. The 6'5", 255-pound athlete registered 20.5 sacks as a senior at Martin High School in Arlington, Texas. 

He has not let up since arriving in College Station. Garrett leads the Aggies with 5.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss on the season. The sack total tied the school record for sacks by a freshman. Jadeveon Clowney holds the SEC freshman record for sacks in a season at eight, and with nine games left in the 2014 schedule, that record is within reach. 

Garrett has an extremely rare combination of size, speed and strength. He is a true freshman who has split double-teams on the way to sacking the quarterback. A lot of young defensive linemen have one skill that is at a very high level but need to develop the others. 

Some are fast and need to get stronger, while some have strength but need to develop pass-rushing moves. Garrett has it all and has displayed it on the field during the Aggies' first three games.  

He can bull rush an offensive lineman on one play and bend a blow by him on the next. Garrett is a rare kind of pass-rusher college fans need to enjoy for the next three years because if he stays healthy, he will be paid a lot of money to chase quarterbacks on Sundays. 

A Popularity Contest

In order to be named to an All-American team, it is not enough to simply be great on the field. It has become somewhat of a popularity contest where being named to a preseason All-American team is almost as important as how a player performs on the field. 

The media likes to be right, and it's going to name its preseason selections as All-Americans as long as they put up the requisite numbers to earn the selection. If a player wants to be named an All-American and was not one of the media's darlings before the season started, then that player needs to set the college football world on fire, much the same way that Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston have the previous two seasons. 

Garrett currently ranks No. 2 in the nation in sacks behind Washington defensive tackle Danny Shelton. If Garrett wants to beat out the Vic Beasleys of the world, then he is going to have to put up a big number. 

If Beasley and Garrett were to each get 12 sacks on the year, then Beasley would be named to the All-American team because of the preseason hype he received. It would not matter that 12 sacks would set an SEC record for freshmen—Garrett would get passed over. 

He is going to have to put up a monster number—like 15 sacks—that the media cannot ignore. Garrett is also going to have to make some big plays in big games.

It is great that he got 2.5 sacks against Rice, but 2.5 sacks against Alabama would be the equivalent of double that number against Rice or SMU. If Garrett wants to be named an All-American, then he is going to have to stand out on the field when the Aggies play Alabama, Auburn and LSU.

Luckily for Aggie fans, Garrett has the kind of talent and drive to have that kind of impact. He is the best freshman defensive player to set foot on the A&M campus in over 20 years. Garrett will be the first freshman defensive lineman to be named an All-American since Sam Adams pulled off the feat in 1991.