Fast-rising 2024 TE Christian Bentancur reacts to Texas A&M offer

2023 Woodstock (Ill.) Marian Central Catholic four-star tight end Christian Bentancur has seen his recruitment take off in a big way in recent months.

“My recruiting process has kind of been crazy,” he said. “I went this whole last fall with like no offers, and then I went through winter with no offers. Then, on spring break, actually got my first offer and then now I’ve got 31 it’s crazy.”

As the offers continue to roll in, the four-star is taking it all in, evaluating all schools equally.

“I’m just trying to take it all in,” he said. “Everything’s a blessing so I’m just happy for everything….There’s not really any narrowing down schools right now, just taking it all in.”

Texas A&M was the latest school to offer the fast-rising prospect, and he’s intrigued by what the Aggies are building.

“It was crazy,” he said of the offer. “Because A&M, they had the best recruiting class last year. So the offer from them is crazy because they are top of the line for recruiting.”

The four-star was offered by David Bowen, the Aggies’ first-year Director of College Scouting and got a good impression of Texas A&M’s program from his initial conversation with Bowen.

“It was a great conversation,” he said. “I’m excited to go there and meet him in person. He was just talking about their program, asked a little bit about me and my family. I can’t wait to get down there sometime, hopefully for a game this year, and meet them in person.”

He noted that while nothing’s set in stone just yet, he does plan to make it down to College Station for the first time in the fall.

For Bentancur, the opportunity to play in the SEC, along with the talent the Aggies have brought in as of late on the recruiting trail stands out to him. He noted that as he’s evaluating all his offers, a family atmosphere, winning program, development and education are the four factors he’s primarily looking for out of a program.

He’s coming off recent visits to Oregon and Arkansas and is set to visit Michigan and Michigan State this coming weekend. Looking ahead to the fall, he’s hoping to make it down to Texas A&M for a game, and hopes to visit Alabama, Arkansas, Penn State and Ohio State as well.

Bentancur ranks as the No. 178 prospect and No. 7 tight end in the country per the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. The four-star has an On3 NIL Valuation of $12.6K. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.