It’s Thursday night, and you know what that means: It’s Mail Call time!

Q: Can we expect more baseball transfers any time soon? Especially interested in pitching given the new coach.

A: They could come at any time. The portal doesn’t close for another five days, so there may be some last minute moves.

Multi question post here. Break it up as you see fit. What does the summer football program involve? More breaks or more workouts? What’s the balance? Do the players stay or go home? Has NIL changed the required summer commitment?

The summer program is a lot of conditioning and drills, classroom work and 7-on-7. Their breaks coincide with the normal academic calendar, mostly, so while they do have some time to go home, they’re mostly in College Station. And NIL hasn’t affected it.

Any coaching changes on the horizon in any sport? Track I guess but any other sport? (Ricky)

Nope. Not very many coaches in danger of being fired, and most of them are paid well enough that they’re not looking to move.

Q:

Jabari Dobson	CB	One of A&M’s top remaining defensive priorities after official visits.
Ismael Camara	OL	Elite Texas prospect that A&M continues to pursue heavily.
Landen Williams-Callis	RB	One of the top running backs in Texas and still a major recruiting battle.

Do we get 1, 2, or all 3 of the above? Which one is most likely and how soon? Do you agree with the status of each?

A: I think they’ll probably get one. Dobson will announce on July 1, Williams-Callis could at any time and Camera is nowhere near making a decision.

Back in your day, why did you pick Texas A&M over any other school?

Reputation, but not necessarily in the way you’d think. Since my folks lived in Round Rock, my mom was pushing me to pick Texas and live at home that would be great (nightmare) and it would save money (I’d lose it in gas money).

We were discussing it around the dinner table one night and my dad looked at me and said, “If you want to stay in Texas and be successful, you have to have one of two rings: an A&M ring or a Texas ring.”

I nodded. He continued.

“I’ve never met a single person that went to the University of Texas who is worth a s**t, so go to A&M.”

Done deal.

How do football coaches budget NIL’s monies? What’s the process? And I’m thinking about A&M with our class getting close to full, how much do we have left per se? (tsip despiser)

I don’t know how they budget it and I’m not sure they’d want that out, because it could be an issue. As for how much they have left, it really depends on what kind of deals they can cut. The biggest ticket items may be out of reach, but they can still get some really good players.

Q: Looking forward to the 2028 recruiting class, what are the positions with the biggest needs? (umpocket)

A: Good question, and still tough to determine with the transfer portal being such a factor now. But 2027, at the latest, will be last call (on offense) for Marcel Reed, Rueben Owens, Tyree Adams, Wilkin Formby, Terry Bussey, and Richie Anderson — if they’re not gone before. With running backs, you want them to have a year to get acclimated unless they’re absolute freaks, and you want to have someone in place preparing to replace Jamarion Morrow. Bussey is the only one who will be out of eligibility in 2027, but Ashton Bethel-Roman could go. You have to recruit for that kind of contingency. They’re looking potentially strong up front by that point (Mark Matthews, Kennedy Brown and Lamont Rogers will likely be starting), but you always need reinforcements.

On defense, they’ll lose Angelo McCullom and maybe Brandon Davis-Swain in the middle, and they’d better prepare for the prospect of Marco Jones going pro if he’s as good as I think he is. They will absolutely need a replacement for Jordan Shaw and Jordan Lockhart, and Noah Mikhail may be in a position to go as well. At safety, all the guys we know in the current two deep will be gone. They’re getting some absolute beasts in this class, but they’ll need a couple more to restock the pipeline. At corner, they should have quality and experience, but it’ll be time to restart the process there too.

I’ll take a more in-depth look in Tidbits tomorrow (hint hint, non-subscribers), but they’ll likely be shopping at virtually every position. Thanks to the portal, that seems like an inevitability.

Q: During the CWS finals, I noticed that OU had a lot of success swinging the bats and just putting the ball in play. They have some speed and had many infield hits and very few double plays turned on them. I believe Coach Earley preaches plate discipline, wanting long at-bats and high pitch counts. Yes, that worked well for the Aggies this year, fewer Ks, more walks and runs. However, we struggled against USC in our own regional. Should there be more than one way for hitters to approach an opponent? If we are facing good pitchers, but average infielders, would it be advantageous to swing more, use your speed on the basepaths and get some runs scored? (nemojones)

A: Sure — if you have speed. A&M didn’t have it last year. Caden Sorrell stole 11 bases, Terrence Kiel II 10…and then nobody had more than six. They only attempted 65 steals on the season and were successful 56 times. For a team that was sixth in the nation in scoring at just under nine runs a game, that’s anemic. I don’t know what they’ll have in the speed department beyond TK2 next year at this point.

Q: Are our safety and nickel backs elite or just good? (R23)

A: Let’s go with potentially elite. A trio of Marcus Ratcliffe, Dalton Brooks and Tawfiq Byard at safety is stout. Jordan Shaw and Bryce Anderson could be very good at nickel. But let’s see what happens when the lights come on.

Q: When do you think we will know what we have at O-line for next year? (Umpocket)

A: We should have a decent idea after the first three games.

Q: Do you think Reed is cured of his propensity to throw interceptions in the end zone?

The INTs against Miami and tu cost us an undefeated season. The ones against SC nearly cost us that game, too.

Miami
Whorn
South Carolina
LSU (Rick77)

A: I hope he is. If he improves year-over-year like he did from 2024 to 2025, he will be. But there’s only one way to find out.

Q: Is Ricky Gibson a new transfer or has he been around? (TAMU_Fan)

A: He is a new transfer from Tennessee. He was one of the SEC’s best in 2024, but got hurt really early in 2025 and decided to transfer in the offseason.

Q: Nolan Cain seems like a great hire for Earley. What made him leave the Darkside and come back to the Good Guys? (BVOSUX)

A: The one thing that will make maroon orange and orange maroon: green.

Q: Which player has the best chance to have a breakout year, iyo? (OGHogtide78)

A: Marco Jones.

Q: If you had $3MM to spend just on nil, what would your preferred allocation?

A: I think I’d split it between the best edge rusher available and the best offensive player available. I don’t care which position.

Thoughts on Ags playing LSU the week after they play Ole Miss?

I think that, in most scenarios, it’s a huge advantage for A&M. That’s going to be a physical, emotional game no matter how it goes.

Surprise team and let down team for the fall and why. (obieag)

Surprise team? Missouri. They may not be a conference champion caliber team, but they’re solid.

Let down? LSU. Too many new moving parts and a lot of people will be gunning for Lane.

Q: LWC is trending on the tu boards. Got a prediction? (h273)

A: They get him.

Q: Where does most of the NIL funds go?
HS recruits
Transfer portal
Keeping current roster

A: I honestly don’t know, but I would guess that there’s more for veterans (new or returning) than for freshmen. Otherwise things might get dicey in the locker room.
It seems some teams are going in the direction of Indiana’s playbook and putting more into the portal than HS recruits. Is it more cost effective to get a portal player than a HS player?

Depends on your situation. Are you trying to win now and are a player away? Go hit the portal. No doubt. If you’re looking take your team from 9-3 to a potential repeat CFP entrant, then you need the high schoolers to develop in your system and be ready in a year or two. I like the idea that you can’t become overly reliant on either.
Have you ever been to Luckenbach, TX? (Spar2cus)

I have, but I did not see Willie and Waylon and the boys.