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Texas A&M Football: Baylor Cupp a product of Jimbo Fisher’s insight

By Matthew Bartlett

TALLAHASSEE, FL - OCTOBER 01: Florida State Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher before the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Doak Campbell Stadium on October 1, 2016 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Jeff Gammons/Getty Images)
TALLAHASSEE, FL - OCTOBER 01: Florida State Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher before the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Doak Campbell Stadium on October 1, 2016 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Jeff Gammons/Getty Images) /
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Texas A&M football stole the No. 1 tight end when the nation wasn’t watching. Now Baylor Cupp is an Aggie and everyone else is out of luck.

Tight end went from an afterthought to a focal point in the Texas A&M offense when Jimbo Fisher arrived on campus. All of a sudden the Aggies were in the market for the top pass-catching and run-blocking hybrid players in the nation. One of those such players, Baylor Cupp, was a seemingly unassuming 3-star recruit a few months ago with few offers. Now he’s the No. 1 tight end in the country.

The latest 247 Sports rankings were released on July 12. During those adjustments, Cupp was elevated from a 3-star recruit to a 4-star recruit. The single star increase might not seem significant, but earning a fourth star in the recruiting world is a big deal. The fourth star pulls you into the upper-echelon of high school talent. Those are the kids that the big name programs covet.

Jimbo Fisher didn’t get distracted by stars. He looked at the athlete and evaluated what he saw. The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Cupp towered over the rest of his teammates and looked like a man among boys. Even without the fanfare that surrounds a blue-chip recruit, Fisher extended Cupp an offer on Feb. 16. At the time his offer list included UTSA, Tulsa, ULM, North Texas, Kansas and Texas State. Since that time he’s added offers from Texas, Alabama, LSU, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Penn State and Georgia, among others.

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Cupp’s recruitment alone is proof that Fisher is exactly the kind of coach that Texas A&M was looking for. He knows what he’s doing, he isn’t swayed by the masses and he’s going to get droves of talent to College Station as quick as possible. Cupp is just one of the many blue-chip recruits that will be on his way to Aggieland in the near future. After that, anything is possible.