Texas A&M in the top 6 for former Colorado OL commit Naquil Betrand

Philadelphia (Pa.) Northeast offensive tackle Naquil Betrand announced that he is down to six schools, and indicated that he will be decommitting from Colorado on Monday. The massive 6-foot-6, 320-pounder announced a top six of Georgia, Syracuse, Penn State, Auburn, Kentucky and Texas A&M. The three-star notably left the Buffaloes off his top group, indicating that he is no longer committed.

Betrand had committed to Colorado back in late March, but has since landed offers from the likes of Texas A&M, Georgia and Penn State. In addition, he took three official visits, to Auburn, Kentucky and Syracuse last month.

Texas A&M had Bertrand on campus back in April, ahead of the Maroon & White Game, for a midweek visit, where he landed an offer from the staff. The three-star has yet to return, but with two official visits left, he previously told On3’s Jeffrey Lee that he plans to use one on the Aggies and will return to College Station in the fall.

“They stand real high for me,” Betrand previously told Lee about Auburn, Kentucky and Texas A&M. “They have a really good chance of getting me.”

The Aggies have had a lot of success in the state of Pennsylvania, specifically in Philadelphia in recent cycles, largely because of defensive line coach Elijah Robinson, who hails from New Jersey and has been impactful in building a pipeline to the region.

Betrand is being recruited primarily at offensive tackle by most schools, including Texas A&M, but Auburn is recruiting him at nose tackle. With the Aggies having a need at both nose tackle and offensive tackle, dependent on how the class shakes out, Betrand’s versatility could see him playing on the other side of the line if he winds up choosing Texas A&M.

Texas A&M holds just one offensive line commit to date, in 2023 Spring Branch (Tex.) Smithson Valley three-star interior offensive lineman Colton Thomasson. Offensive line coach Steve Addazio is looking to take two or three more offensive line prospects this cycle, with Betrand as one of the top targets remaining on the offensive tackle board.

As it stands, Syracuse leads for Betrand per the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, with a 35.8% chance to land the massive offensive tackle. Kentucky and Auburn currently trail in second and third.

Betrand ranks as the No. 887 prospect and No. 65 offensive tackle in the country per the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. The former Colorado commit has an On3 NIL Valuation of $5.1K. 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.