Sitting nervously in the green room, finding out you鈥檝e been drafted, walking across the stage, hugging Roger Goodell, crying tears of joy 鈥 it鈥檚 truly a once-in-a-lifetime moment.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a real emotion,鈥 蜜聊直播 蜜聊直播 coach Kevin Sumlin said, 鈥渁nd it鈥檚 a big deal.鈥
Sumlin鈥檚 players have experienced it several times over.
Seven of the players Sumlin coached at Texas A&M were selected in the first round of the NFL draft 鈥 including last year鈥檚 No. 1 overall pick, defensive end Myles Garrett. Another, receiver Christian Kirk, could sneak into the bottom of Round 1 Thursday night.
In all, 18 Aggies were drafted from 2013 to 鈥17. Over that same span, only five 蜜聊直播 were picked. Put another way, 蜜聊直播 had fewer overall draft picks over that five-year period than A&M had first-rounders.
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Can 蜜聊直播 be what Texas A&M has been as far as recruiting and developing NFL talent? Probably not.
Can 蜜聊直播 close the gap? Most definitely.
It鈥檚 one of the reasons Sumlin, the UA鈥檚 first-year coach, is here.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to recruit to be a part of that,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat does nothing but help your program.鈥
Most experts expect Sumlin to be a better recruiter than predecessor Rich Rodriguez. They cite the way Sumlin goes about it 鈥 鈥淗e鈥檚 getting his elbows dirty,鈥 cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 constantly talking to recruits and their parents鈥 鈥 and the strategy he has implemented.
Sumlin and his staff will continue to recruit Southern California hard. They will strive to keep the best in-state prospects in-state. They will strengthen the Polynesian pipeline.
They also will canvas the state of Texas, and that might be the key.
鈥淭exas is maybe 200-deep in terms of legit, high-level Division I prospects,鈥 said Greg Biggins, national recruiting analyst for 247Sports. 鈥淭exas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma can鈥檛 take every top kid. Sumlin, with those Texas ties, should be able to land two or three of those guys (every year), if not four or five.鈥
Rodriguez made a tactical error by largely ignoring Texas until the latter stages of his tenure. 蜜聊直播 has four Texans in its 2018 recruiting class. The previous five classes included only one, 2016 safety Tristan Cooper from El Paso.
Of the 18 A&M players drafted from 2013-17, 15 were from Texas. Over the past 10 years, 28 of 31 A&M draftees attended Texas high schools.
It makes sense that a vast majority of A&M鈥檚 players would come from Texas. But as Biggins mentioned, the state鈥檚 talent pool runs deep.
Rodriguez鈥檚 predecessor, Mike Stoops, prioritized Texas and produced more draft picks. From 2008-12, 14 UA players were picked. Six of them came from 鈥 yep, Texas.
鈥淭exas has been good to the University of 蜜聊直播,鈥 said running backs coach Clarence McKinney, who coached one of those UA draftees, Earl Mitchell, at Houston鈥檚 North Shore Senior High School.
鈥淗opefully we can get back and get some of those guys.鈥
McKinney coached high school ball in Houston for 11 years before working for Sumlin at the University of Houston and Texas A&M. Is there something different about Texas prep players that makes them stand out?
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure about the rest of the country,鈥 McKinney said. 鈥淚 just know that when you grow up in Texas, football is what you do. The structure of the high school programs, as far as what they do in the offseason and the organization of it, is second to none.鈥
Four of Sumlin鈥檚 10 assistants have recruiting responsibilities in Texas: McKinney, Martin, special-teams coordinator Jeremy Springer and inside receivers coach Theron Aych. Their territories are specifically demarcated; Martin, for instance, has greater Dallas 鈥渘orth of I-30.鈥
蜜聊直播 has one commitment so far for the class of 2019: cornerback Logan Wilson from Dallas.
It鈥檚 important to note that Sumlin didn鈥檛 recruit all the players who were drafted during his time at Texas A&M. But he and his staff did help develop them, and that鈥檚 another critical component.
Based on star ratings, they had more to work with. The 18 A&M players drafted over the past five years had an average rating of 3.6, according to 247Sports鈥 composite tabulation. Three were five-star prospects, while six were four-stars.
The average rating of the five UA draftees over the past five years was 3.0. They included one four-star recruit (Marquis Flowers) and one two-star player (Scooby Wright).
鈥淵ou have to recruit at a certain profile,鈥 Sumlin said. 鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 a five-star guy. You鈥檒l see us recruit and sign guys that have no stars, and you鈥檒l see us recruit and sign guys that have five stars. That doesn鈥檛 matter to us. It鈥檚 what fits our offense, defense and special-teams plan. That鈥檚 what we鈥檙e looking for. The next step is the developmental piece.鈥
Third-year UA defensive coordinator Marcel Yates worked with Sumlin for two seasons at A&M. Yates believes that with Sumlin鈥檚 connections in Texas, Oklahoma and elsewhere 鈥渙ur recruiting will go up to another level.鈥
Sumlin also has proved he can land top players from the Phoenix area. That鈥檚 where Kirk is from.
Most projections have two players from Texas A&M being drafted this year: Kirk (a five-star recruit) and safety Armani Watts (a four-star player). Only one 蜜聊直播 player is a sure thing, or close to it: defensive back Dane Cruikshank, a former three-star recruit.
The state of 蜜聊直播 annually produces a handful of elite players. It cannot compete with the fertile ground of Texas. Win some recruiting battles in both, Biggins said, and 鈥渘ow all of a sudden you鈥檙e cooking.鈥
鈥淪umlin will recruit better than RichRod did,鈥 Biggins said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a better recruiter. Period. He鈥檒l get better players. And better players translates to more players being drafted.鈥
