What coach helped Texas A&M land Five-Star Plus+ DL signee David Hicks

Katy (Texas) Paetow Five-Star Plus+ defensive lineman David Hicks is ecstatic that the recruiting process has come to an end.

While schools like Oregon and Oklahoma made a push late to flip Hicks, he decided to remain committed to Texas A&M and signed with the Aggies. That commitment is something that Hicks credits with relationships he’s recently built and ones that were already preexisting.

“It was really just my teammates that are going there and some of the teammates I already know there,” Hicks said. “Coach (Elijah) Robinson was a big why I chose to go there. Me and Coach Robinson have been real close since I was in eighth grade.

“He’s a great guy who’s genuine with what he says. He looks out for his players and the people who surround them.”

Hicks noted that while the Aggies struggled, he credited a lot of those issues to injuries, COVID and off-the-field related issues that derailed what many thought would be a special season.

“That’s all been fixed now,” Hicks said. “With everyone coming back from injuries and the guys coming in, we’re going to have a strong team next year.”

While there was speculation that Hicks might flip to Oklahoma late, Hicks chuckled that he never really had the sense that he was doing something surprising by sticking with the Aggies.

He noted that he privately shut his recruitment down the week of his signing and that no other team really came close to Texas A&M in the end.

“I just wanted to have time to think to myself without having everyone else in my ear,” Hicks said. “To me, I really didn’t have second-place. There were two great schools with two great coaches who were both good defensive head coaches so I really didn’t have a second between the two.”