Three-Point Stance: Texas A&M's struggles, Dylan Raiola, 2024 WR class

Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney talks about Texas A&M’s ongoing struggles, five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola's flip rumors and the loaded 2024 wide receiver class in today’s Three-Point Stance.

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STING FACTOR: Christian Brathwaite flips from Baylor to LSU

CLASS OF 2023 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State

CLASS OF 2024 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State

CLASS OF 2025 RANKINGS: Rivals100

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Texas A&M played the entire month of October and did not win a single game, the latest coming in a 31-28 decision Saturday night against Ole Miss in the latest disappointment coming out of College Station.

This offseason when coach Jimbo Fisher was feeling good about himself and his No. 1 recruiting class he took some veiled shots at Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin for basically calling NIL free agency and criticizing the current system of paying up for players, and here was Kiffin walking into College Station and handing the Aggies their latest loss. Kiffin quipped back at Fisher after beating the Aggies.

What’s incredible is that it’s not all that difficult to beat A&M these days.

Everybody and their mother knew Ole Miss was going to come in and run the ball and the Aggies had absolutely no answer as the Rebels rushed for 390 yards on 62 carries or more than six yards per touch.

Those A&M five-star defensive linemen couldn’t slow them down and defensive coordinator DJ Durkin couldn’t figure it out.

It’s the same old story though with A&M. Fisher is now onto his third quarterback, Conner Weigman, the guy who should’ve been playing all along, and Fisher’s excuse post-game was that they didn’t want to throw him in the fire too early this season. So wait until all the losses pile up and the offense goes nowhere for months?

So the offense is too complicated for anyone to really grasp it, God knows what was happening in the locker room after the Aggies lost at South Carolina two weeks ago, top recruits are unhappy or suspended and if you make a nice living of $100,000 per year, it would take you 860 years to make the money Fisher is owed for the rest of his contract. Just consider that for a moment and his gross underachievement so far.

Let’s also add recruiting skill players has been a major issue. Texas A&M has tried and failed to flip multiple quarterbacks including Malachi Nelson and Austin Novosad and it’s tried to land the commitments of others but Dante Moore picked Oregon and Jaden Rashada is headed to Miami.

No skill players - quarterbacks, running backs or receivers - are currently committed. There are lots of issues in College Station and this is only scratching the surface. A lot of top prospects were at Texas A&M over the weekend. Some have voiced concerns over what’s happening there while others still feel Texas A&M will be a top-five team soon.

Flashes happen and that’s believable. Close losses could be flipped and close wins could come of them. But it’s not happening yet and it’s a program that’s frustrating to watch at the moment.

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Multiple people over the weekend messaged me about 2024 No. 1 prospect Dylan Raiola visiting Nebraska, all hopeful or at least inquiring if he could leave Lincoln committed to the Huskers.

And this is where reality and the endless hopefulness of Nebraska fans meet and then veer off into something that doesn’t match the facts on the ground.

Raiola, a five-star quarterback from Chandler, Ariz., committed to Ohio State (arguably the best team in the country) and has a phenomenal relationship with coach Ryan Day and Corey Dennis. The Buckeyes also have quarterback CJ Stroud, who should be an early first-round NFL Draft pick.

Raiola was in Lincoln because his brother, Dayton, landed his first offer from the Huskers and he was there to support him. His grandparents flew in from Hawaii since they hadn’t been to Lincoln since their son and Dylan’s dad, Dominic, played for the Huskers. It was going to be a family reunion of sorts at Nebraska.

So there was some intrigue there but does the Nebraska faithful really think the No. 1 player in the class is going to flip from Ohio State to Nebraska, which fired its coach midseason and the future leader of the program is still in question?

The Huskers have not signed a five-star prospect since 2008 and only have signed five in the history of Rivals dating back to 2002. It seemed like a stretch way, way too far to even think Raiola was on the verge of flipping. There’s absolutely no real evidence that’s the case.

“You know how close our family is and we support everyone,” Raiola told me Thursday night. “For example, every time I go to TCU to see my sister doesn’t mean I’m interested in TCU.”

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The 2024 wide receiver class is shaping up to be incredibly loaded not only at the top but with a lot of tremendous depth as well.

Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade Madonna’s Jeremiah Smith leads the group and he’s been phenomenal with 10 touchdown catches already this season. Everyone knows the ball is coming his way and no one can really stop him.

Others who have really stood out this year include Silsbee, Texas, standout Dre’lon Miller, five-stars Ryan Wingo and Micah Hudson, New Haven, Ind., standout Mylan Graham, who could make an easy argument to move up even more in the rankings, and Notre Dame pledge Cam Williams.

Jones (Ga.) Gray County’s Zion Ragins and Burlington (N.C.) Cummings’ Jonathan Paylor utilize their speed and playmaking ability in the run and pass game, and up and down the list players are making a big impact.

There are already four five-star receivers in the 2024 class which is a lot this early in that recruiting cycle. We might not be done there.