Former Texas A&M head football coach R.C. Slocum left new head coach Dennis Franchione one parting gift: a 2003 recruiting class highly regarded as one of the top five in the nation.
Of Slocum's 15 verbal commitments, only Baytown Lee quarterback Drew Tate has decided to go elsewhere. Tate called new Aggie offensive coordinator Les Koenning Jr. to tell him of the decision.
Verbal commitments are non-binding.
"The offense they're going to be running is going to fit Reggie (McNeal) more than me," Tate told the Baytown Sun. "When they had Kevin (Sumlin) in there, they were going to throw it more, and I would have a chance to get in there, show what I can do and compete."
In his 2002 campaign for the Ganders, Tate threw 306 completions for 3,621 yards on 471 attempts. He also passed for 35 touchdowns.
During his four-year career, Tate has broken the Texas high school record in completions (970), attempts (1,576), passing yards (12,183) and passing touchdowns (113).
"Hands down (McNeal) is a ten times better runner than I am," Tate told Houston television station KRIV. "It hurts me to watch a game from the sidelines, and I know I would probably do that at A&M for awhile. To me, I just want to go someplace I know I am going to play and do what I do best - sit in the shotgun and throw the ball."
In reality, Tate would be behind McNeal, Dustin Long, and Jason Carter at the beginning of summer workouts.
The 6'0", 160 pound quarterback is said to be considering the University of Houston, the University of Iowa, and the University of Hawaii.
Among the recruits kept by Franchione are defensive end Jason Jack from Humble, linebacker Justin Warren from Tyler, and defensive back Stephen Hodge from Richardson.
"(Texas A&M's recruiting class) certainly has the chance to be in the top five," said recruiting expert David Sandhop. "They still need to close with three or four critical recruits, with those recruits being Jorrie Adams and Red Bryant from Jasper, Xavier Lawson-Kennedy from Duncanville, as well as another (junior college) lineman Fred St. Preaux, and wide receiver Earvin Taylor."
Taylor is the younger brother of current Aggie wide receiver Jamaar Taylor. Adams is rated the second-best offensive tackle in the nation, according to ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Lemming.
"Jorrie is the prototypical offensive tackle with good, quick feet and real long arms that tackles need to keep the defensive end from getting around them," Sandhop said. "Jorrie is considered by most experts as the No. 1 offensive tackle in the country. He would probably be the biggest impact lineman A&M has picked up on signing day since Ty Warren in '99."
Coaches are bound by NCAA regulations not to comment on recruiting until after national signing day Feb. 5.
