Take Two: How much did Texas A&M gain from its loss to Clemson?
Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a hot topic in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.
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THE STORYLINE
Texas A&M might have made a statement Saturday night even in a losing effort: It’s not that far off from being back.
Clemson beat the Aggies, 28-26, but the SEC up-and-comer now coached by Jimbo Fisher was a two-point conversion away from tying the game late in the fourth quarter, battled back from a 15-point deficit in the third quarter and just looked like a different team than it did under former coach Kevin Sumlin.
The program clearly looks like it’s on the upswing and recruiting had a huge night landing commitments from four-star receiver Demond Demas and 2020 four-star quarterback Malik Hornsby.
Even in a loss, did Texas A&M win Saturday night?
FIRST TAKE: MARK PASSWATERS, AGGIEYELL.COM
“Could Saturday night gone better for Texas A&M? Sure. Daniel LaCamera could have hit a 26-yard field goal and the officials could have not botched some critical calls which helped Clemson escape. But overall, the Aggies made a statement: they're not the soft team that Sumlin coached anymore. They're physical, they're more disciplined and they believe they can hang with anyone.
"They've already got an outstanding 2019 recruiting class assembled and added two more big pieces with Demas and Hornsby for the 2020 class Saturday night. When Jimbo Fisher goes to a prospect and says he's just a couple players away from winning big, he can point to Saturday night. And more importantly, the recruits can see he's not kidding. The Aggies have come a long way in a short period of time, and they should continue on an upward trajectory.”
SECOND TAKE: MIKE FARRELL, RIVALS.COM
“It was a huge night. It sends a message to the recruits, the atmosphere was amazing, the wide receivers are fighting for the football and made some great plays. Quarterback Kellen Mond grew up quite a bit that night. He’s getting this offense quickly, which is not easy to do as we saw all of last season with the struggles Florida State had with a young quarterback.
“The defense seems to be playing more physical. This could be a dangerous football team. They’ve always been that sleeping giant type of program that just can’t break through, so I think we saw a little bit of a culture change on Saturday.”
