Texas A&M has nation’s No. 1 recruiting class after Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy flip

With nine days until the start of the early signing period, there’s a new team sitting on top of the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking. Welcome to No. 1 Texas A&M.

The Aggies leaped over Georgia and Alabama on Monday when Lakeland (Fla.) five-star defensive lineman Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy shocked the college football world by flipping his commitment from Oklahoma to Texas A&M.

The 6-foot-3, 280-pound Brownlow-Dindy committed to the Sooners over the Aggies back in October.

However, when former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley left the Sooners for USC, it caused Brownlow-Dindy to question his pledge. Brownlow-Dindy admitted he did not like how Riley left the Sooners.

Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M never relented. Now with the shocking flip, the Aggies are in a position to sign their first-ever No. 1 recruiting class.

The flip from Brownlow-Dindy puts A&M at No. 1 with a score of 94.792, ahead of Georgia at 94.610 and Alabama at 94.510.

Ohio State, Notre Dame, Penn State, North Carolina, Texas, Clemson and Oregon round out the top 10. Oregon was temporarily out of the top 10 earlier on Thursday when five-star offensive tackle Kelvin Banks decommitted from the Ducks.

Texas A&M class poised to only get better

Texas A&M’s defensive class is going to go down as one of the best ever in modern recruiting history. Currently, the Aggies’ class is made up of 95% blue-chip prospects.

Brownlow-Dindy’s commitment gives A&M pledges from five On3 Consensus five-star prospects:

• No. 1 DL Walter Nolen (assuming he doesn’t flip to Tennessee)
• No. 1 WR Evan Stewart
• No. 3 DL Brownlow-Dindy
• No. 3 QB Conner Weigman
• No. 2 safety Bryce Anderson

At this point, only three schools have more than one five-star player committed in the 2022 class (Texas A&M, Georgia and Alabama).

And what’s scary is that there’s room for Texas A&M to add even more elite players. Five-Star Plus+ linebacker Harold Perkins, five-star DL Shemar Stewart, Kentucky commit and five-star OT Kiyaunta Goodwin, five-star OT Kelvin Banks and four-star defensive lineman Anthony Lucas are just a few of the names that list the Aggies near the top or at the top of their lists.

“The Aggies aren’t done yet,” On3 National Analyst Gerry Hamilton said. “This is going to be a class they talk about for decades in Aggieland.”

On3 Director of Rankings and Scouting Charles Power is also a big fan of the class Fisher is putting together.

“This Texas A&M defensive line class has the potential better hauls we’ve seen a school bring in for a position group in a few cycles,” Power said. “Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy and Walter Nolen are both five-star prospects for On3 and in the On3 Consensus.

“Jadon Scarlett is also in the On300. You also have another On300 prospect in Malick Sylla as a pass rusher off the edge. Of course, there’s a bunch of moving parts still in play for this to result in a truly historic class.

“Texas A&M is also heavily in the mix with five-stars Shemar Stewart and Anthony Lucas. Also, Walter Nolen continues to get the full-court press from Tennessee in his home state.

“If the Aggies were to land one of Stewart and Lucas and hold on to Nolen, it would remind me some of Clemson’s 2020 defensive line haul – Bryan Bresee, Myles Murphy, Demonte Capehart and Tre Williams. It’s going to be interesting to see how this shakes out, but there’s no question the Aggies are set up for a huge defensive line haul.”