11/21/2017 football Edit

Aggie Grab Bag: Recent highlights & updates on Texas A&M commits

Rivals100 WR Jalen Preston during Manvel's game against Houston-Madison last Thursday. (NICK KRUEGER | rivals.com)

Nick Krueger • Rivals.com

Recruiting Analyst

Nick Krueger joined Rivals.com as a multimedia producer in 2011 and has covered recruiting in the state of Texas since 2016. He also co-hosts and produces Rivals' weekly podcast, Commitment Issues.

After Texas A&M closes out its regular season against LSU this weekend, win or lose, some serious questions will be asked about the future of the program. In the meantime, several Aggies commitments have spoke on holding tight to their decisions regardless of what adjustments are made in the offseason. Here are some recent updates on several top names in A&M’s next two classes.

After leading the way offensively in a 49-6 drubbing of Houston-Madison, Preston has got some things on his mind.

Manvel will need him to stay at his best if they want to continue on through the 5A state playoffs, but he said that it’s up to him that everyone else do the same this week when they take on Nederland

“This week I feel like we took this team a little bit lightly,” he said. “Once we got on the field, we were going to play football … but this year I had to take on the role of a vocal leader, giving everybody a hand, making sure nothing goes bad on the field and that we practice hard.”

Preston has been committed to Texas A&M since the end of July, and has tentatively planned to take his official visit to College Station on December 8. That is, if Manvel isn’t playing in the state quarterfinal round that weekend. Whether or not it needs to be rescheduled doesn’t seem to be of major consequence to Preston, who already feels pretty familiar with the lay of the land.

“I already looked all over the school, so I don’t know what they have instore for me,” he said. “I have been talking to the coaches everyday, all they talk about is seeing me next year, where they’re going to put me, things like that.”

Many have offered opinions as to what will be the scenario going forward after this season at A&M, but Preston said that the staff hasn’t given him an indication that they’re not planning on being there next season.

“It’s just been regular talk between us all about the game and where we think we can impact on the field,” he said. “No doubt all we’re looking for the next few weeks is just dubs - winning. (Nick) Starkel had an amazing game last time out [vs. New Mexico]; what did he have, something like 400 yards in the first half?”

Preston said that other programs by and large haven’t tried to sway him from his commitment, save for maybe one team, but he doesn’t make it sound as though that makes much of a difference.

“If I had to pick a team still on me it would be Ole Miss,” he said. “But I’m 100-percent committed to A&M, so that’s it.”

Prince, Preston’s teammate at Manvel, expressed a similar feeling when it came to his commitment to A&M.

“Things are staying real good with them,” he said. “I’m going to stay 100-percent committed to them. I’m going to stay with them.”

Though his showing against Madison wasn’t one of his more memorable games, the staff clearly sees a role for him that can take advantage of his size and running style. Prince is in the same boat as Preston when it comes to that tentative early-December visit, but whenever it happens, he’s got a simple checklist of what he hopes to experience.

“I just expect all the basic things,” he said. “I like just building that bond with the coaches. They’ve shown me a lot to right now, that’s why I feel good about staying with them.”

Prince has also said his recruiting has stayed cool for some time, with Oklahoma State being the only other team showing relatively significant interest in him.

2019 Rivals100 quarterback and Texas A&M commit, Grant Gunnell, dominated his game two weekends ago in a big win against Rival St. Thomas. He completed 30-for-40 passes for 402 yards and five touchdowns. Gunnell also showed some grit running the ball in a physical game and picked up 64 yards and two scores on the ground. Last week in a 56-12 playoff win over Antonian Prep, he had another 300-plus yard, five touchdown passing performance.

Lane was a big part of the game plan over the past two weeks, having racked up 280 yards and four touchdowns. Over the past few weeks, both he and Gunnell spoke with AggieYell.com and reaffirmed their commitment status.