Texas A&M Football: The Good, Bad and Ugly of Texas to the SEC

The Ugly: Lone Star Recruiting

Texas A&M Athletic Director Ross Bjork fired back immediately as soon as the news broke, “We want to be the only SEC team from the state of Texas.” Moreso than the nifty distinction, being the Lone Star’s solitary SEC representative has afforded Texas A&M football a decisive recruiting advantage over those in Austin.

For the past decade, Texas A&M football coaches have walked into living rooms across the state and sold recruits on the dream of playing SEC football in the state of Texas.

No other program had the right to make those claims (and Texas certainly wasn’t luring recruits pitching annual games against Kansas and Iowa State).

This will be the most damaging ramification of the Longhorn’s entrance. They’ll try to avoid eating crow as they quietly attempt to sneak into the nation’s premier conference without admitting the Aggies were right all along.

But the real impacts will come on the recruiting trail where Texas will have a new message to sell and the Aggies will have to work to rehash their pitch.

At the end of the day, if this does come to fruition, these two programs are going to play again. Texas A&M football has come a long way since 2011, escaping the shadows of the 40 Acres and building an identity of their own. That newfound way of life is being threatened, but now, perhaps unlike any other time in program history, Texas A&M has the status and support to go toe to toe with Texas.

I can promise you this. It’s not going to be boring.