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football Edit

Texas A&M lands commitment from OT Matthew Wykoff

THE SITUATION

The pieces of the Aggies' puzzle are slowly but surely falling into place.

On Monday, Jimbo Fisher and co. received a commitment from three-star Magnolia (Texas) offensive tackle Matthew Wykoff, one of the state's top offensive lineman and one of the best overall prospects in the Greater Houston Area.

Wykoff was offered by Texas A&M after a strong showing as a junior, which also led to a floor of new offers from the Aggies in addition to Texas, Auburn, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Tennessee and Penn State, among others. In-state schools like Baylor, Texas Tech and TCU began courting Wykoff midway through his junior campaign, though he instantly gravitated toward the Longhorns and Aggies as the calendar flipped to 2020.

Wykoff is a top-50 prospect in the Lone Star State and the No. 33-ranked offensive tackle in the nation. He's the eighth member of Texas A&M's 2021 recruiting class, which sits at No. 22 on the Rivals team rankings.

Wykoff is the second offensive linemen in the fold, joining fellow tackle Trey Zuhn out of Colorado. He joins fellow Texas-based prospects Fernando Garza, Shadrach Banks and Eli Stowers in the collection.

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RIVALS REACTION

Wykoff is a big-bodied, wide-framed, athletic offensive tackle that plays primarily on the right side of the formation for Magnolia High School right outside of Houston. He measured up at 6-foot-6 and 305 pounds at the Rivals Camp Series stop in Houston in February. Wykoff is coached by former Houston offensive lineman Josh McNeill.

As a junior in 2019, Wykoff started 12 games at right tackle and anchored an offensive line that helped pave the way for 3,075 rushing yards on the season. Wykoff was charged with allowing merely one sack the entire season and earned a 93-percent grade by his high school coaches.

Wykoff packs 300-plus pounds very well and his wide frame is certainly something that is intriguing for Aggies offensive line coach Josh Henson as he molds his future tackle. Wykoff is very powerful and relies on his raw strength at times to overpower defenders, but he's also an agile, athletic lineman that can block in space and is often tasked with pulling in the Magnolia offense.

Wykoff effectively seals the edge in the run game and crack-block linebackers with relative ease. He has a habit of planting defenders on their backside because of his power, which in a way is his go-to, but will benefit from working on his hand placement and extending his arms on a more consistent basis.

Last November, Wykoff battled four-stat Texas signee Prince Dorbah in an area-round playoff game and largely dominated that showdown. He packs a combination of strength with nimble feet and quick hips to battle athletic edge-rushers like that. He also does a good job of anticipating the pass-rush move, though Wykoff will benefit from being the aggressor against elite edge-defenders down the road.

At the Rivals Camp Series stop in Houston, Wykoff fared well as wrangling up defensive ends that relied on their strength and contained them consistently. It is difficult to find too many defenders with more power than Wykoff. He was too physical for pass-rushing outside linebackers and will be even better when he can shore up some technical aspects of his game.

Wykoff gives the Aggies a really promising tackle prospect that should be able to play on either side of the formation. In addition to hands and arm extension, he’ll need to work on exploding out of his hips more and channeling his strength against elite opposition. However, he is talented pass-blocker and flashes as a run-blocker that’s capable of finishing at the point of attack more often than not.

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