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AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY THE RECRUITING GODS WEPT AND WENT TO APPLEBEES. It's over. At least for a hot second. National Signing Day has passed. Emotions ran high. Lives were altered. Personal decisions were questioned. Rifts were formed. And this was just with the tertiary adults who are way too into this process.
In terms of the overall recruiting cycle, yesterday was pretty calm for A&M. In many ways, it was disappointing as the Horns stole the national show with some serious closing ability on blue chips. Despite yet another Aggie Armagedon, Coach Sumlin and his staff ended with a consensus Top 20 class with a lot of interesting cats who seem eager to be Ags. Our man stringsays has a great summary piece with the implications and story lines covered. Here's your full list of new Ags.
ANOTHER WORD REGARDING THE SIPS. They kicked our ass in the late head-to-head battles. All the sagas, unknowns, transfers, booster meddlin', chancellor pokin', and general dumfuckery around Aggie football over the last two months had an impact. While the powerful people at A&M were passive aggressively flexing at one another, a 5-7 UT put together a much more unified, cohesive recruiting message with a vision. 5-7 UT (not 2007 Mack Brown UT) just did some serious closing. It goes without saying, but 2016 is simply massive for both programs.
BUT YOU SAY, "SAY GARDS - TOP 20 CLASS THO, PRETTY GOOD?" Yes. We filled some needs. Problem is, Texas A&M plays in Heaven/Hell AKA the SEC West. That shiny Top 20 class for A&M? It's FIFTH best in the SEC WEST. Coach 'em up, Corch Sumlin.
TRAGEDY + TIME = COMEDY. If you're going to be world class art-house filmmakers, you either need to adopt an extreme aloofness toward criticism and start smoking clove cigarettes - OR - you can just laugh at yourself. Aggies take themselves awfully seriously. Take it from a stumpy redhead with a weird voice - life gets easier when you start laughing at yourself. Now go make Hangover IV starring Tate Martell.
/Tate Martell promptly signs with Alabama
MAKE SURE YOU SCOPE THIS. In all the shuffle and pomp of NSD, this got pushed down, but my good pal Chuck wrote a nice piece on what's going down with Johnny.
IMPORTANT: Actual headline from the New York Daily News:
Von Miller: I'm not the Broncos player who said he tried to rub his nuts on Tom Brady's face
Have a great Thursday, you guys.