Aggies Rise To No. 1 In Latest Sports Illustrated Recruiting Rankings

With the signatures of Evan Stewart and Denver Harris now in hand, the Aggies have vaulted to the top of the Sports Illustrated team recruiting rankings

Matt Galatzan | Dec 20, 2021

Texas A&M's historic recruiting cycle has continued to grove over the past week, securing the signatures of the nation's No. 2 slot receiver, Evan Stewart, and the nation's No. 1 cornerback Denver Harris.

And as a result, the Aggies have vaulted up the latest edition of the Sports Illustrated recruiting rankings, surpassing Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide for the top spot.

The Aggies, who now held 11 members of the SI 99, after early signing day, including three of the top 20 prospects in the country had already secured arguably the best class in its history.

Now, that number of SI 99 signees has grown to 12, with Stewart and Harris making five signatures for the Aggies in the top-20, and four of the top-12.

"Harris, the No. 1 cornerback recruit, caps an ESP haul headed to College Station with as much top-end talent as any program has brought in during modern recruiting era," Sports Illustrated recruiting analyst John Garcia said of the Aggies. "A&M signed the top interior defensive lineman (Walter Nolen), No. 1 corner (Harris) and fellow top 20 overall recruits Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy (No. 10), Evan Stewart (No. 12) and Anthony Lucas (No. 19). Georgia signed three top 20 recruits while Alabama signed two."

However, what should be of concern to the rest of the SEC, and frankly the rest of the college football world, is that Jimbo Fisher's program is not even close to being done acquiring talent for the 2022 class.

The Aggies are still squarely in the running, and arguably the favorites to land the No. 2 edge rusher and No. 7 overall player in the country, Shemar Stewart, as well as the nation's No. 3 off-ball linebacker and No. 37 overall player, Harold Perkins.

Texas A&M is also in the running SI 99 members such as Duncanville (TX) edge Omari Abor, Ponchatoula (LA) safety Jacoby Matthews, and perhaps more.

The Aggies now will look to close out with each of those four players over the next two months and finish with what could be one of the most talented hauls in the modern recruiting era.

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Published Dec 20, 2021

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.