Is Texas A&M Becoming the New King of Texas Football Recruiting?

There are few territories more fertile than the state of Texas in the world of college football recruiting.

With a wealth of tradition-rich programs in the Lone Star State battling it out for the state’s top prospects, the recruiting battles between them are often as intense as the clashes on the field. 

However, after its huge overtime win over Tennessee last weekend, Texas A&M is emerging as the state’s premier powerhouse on the field and on the recruiting trail. The atmosphere left visitors, such as 4-star receiver and current LSU pledge Jhamon Ausbon, in awe. 

"

GIGEM!! Wow

— Hebrew (@TheJhamonAusbon) October 9, 2016"

The Aggies are now 6-0 and will have this weekend off until a showdown in Tuscaloosa next weekend against defending national champion Alabama.

How have Aggies head coach Kevin Sumlin and his staff built a program that has ascended into a juggernaut in recruiting?

There are a few factors that have contributed to Texas A&M’s rise.

For starters, a majority of the other in-state programs are either failing to live up to expectations or undergoing major changes.

The Texas program is reeling after its loss to Oklahoma over the weekend, and the future of Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong is cloudy at best.

Baylor remains unbeaten, but the Bears are still dealing with fallout surrounding the dismissal of previous head coach Art Briles.

Team	Class Rank
Texas A&M	8
Houston	31
Texas	33
Texas Tech	52
TCU	58
Baylor	114

TCU and Texas Tech each have had various degrees of success in recent years, but neither school has ever consistently brought in Top 25 recruiting classes, and both schools are listed outside the Top 50 of Scout’s team rankings.

Houston has emerged as a force under second-year head coach Tom Herman and actually has the best class [No. 31] in the state outside of the Aggies.

However, including the Cougars with the other four Power Five programs in the state, the average class rank of those schools is 58th nationally.

Meanwhile, the Aggies have the No. 8 class—which features 15 in-state commitments—nationally and are armed with a ton of momentum in the final four months leading up to national signing day. 

As noted by Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports, the Aggies hosted a number of elite prospects over the weekend for their thrilling victory over the Volunteers, and their ascension in-state is something that is resonating with elite prospects such as 5-star offensive lineman Walker Little.

Little explained to Wiltfong he's excited about what he's seen at Texas A&M:

"

They’ve caught my eye being the most dominant team in Texas so far. They're winning games, the offense is really on a roll and with Jim Turner the O-line coach, he's been putting guys in league ever since he's been a coach in college football. There's big upside at A&M, and it's something I've been looking at a lot lately.

"

Of course, teams from around the nation migrate to the Lone Star State in an effort to pilfer elite prospects. For example, programs such as Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma are among the out-of-state powers currently holding a pledge from at least one Top 100 overall player from Texas.    

However, when it comes down to battling for the state’s elite talents down the stretch, Texas A&M appears to be the main in-state power commanding the attention of those players as they arrive at a conclusion in their recruiting process.

Sanjay Kirpalani is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand and all recruiting information courtesy of Scout.com.

Follow @SanjayKirpalani