Five-star defensive tackle Walter Nolen has a new top three and Texas A&M football is in it, along with Florida and Tennessee.
Things are heating up in the recruitment of five-star defensive tackle Walter Nolen, who is one of the top uncommitted prospects left in the 2022 recruiting class.
Last month, Nolen released a top-five list that included Florida football, Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan, and Georiga. The Wolverines were the one dark-horse in the mix from outside the SEC and part of that had to do with Nolen having family ties to Detroit.
There was even some thought he could play high school football this year in Detroit, which would have helped Michigan’s chances.
Instead, he decided to play in Tennessee, where he lives now, and once that news came out, the Volunteers started picking up expert predictions, at least from Rivals, to land the top-ranked recruit in the state.
Nolen is 6-foot-4, 300 pounds and he’s a game-changer. He can probably play anywhere on the defensive line and feels like he’ll probably be a top-10 pick in a few years.
He’s also the kind of recruit that’s tough to land and following an unofficial visit to Texas A&M football last weekend, the final weekend before a dead period, the Aggies have re-emerged and now, Nolen has a new top three that includes A&M, Florida and Tennessee — not Bama, Georgia, or Michigan.
And here’s a look at where each team left is standing in this wild recruitment.
3. Florida
At one point in time, it felt like Florida football was actually in the lead with Nolen. The five-star defensive tackle took a visit to the Swamp and he talked about shutting down his recruitment soon after that, which as you can see hasn’t happened.
Still, it was clear that the visit made an impression on him and if the Gators can get him back for a game this fall, they could still have a chance to sway him.
No. 2 Texas A&M football
There is no question that the Aggies have some real momentum in Nolen’s recruitment right now. They got him on campus even though they weren’t in his top five and must have really impressed him because they went from outside the top five to in the top three.
Jimbo Fisher has been doing a spectacular job on the recruiting trail. The Aggies just landed a high-ranking four-star recruit in Bryce Anderson earlier this week and they are poised to put together another elite recruiting class in 2022.
In addition, to being the second-ranked recruit in the 2022 class according to 247 sports, Nolen is ranked No. 1 according to ESPN, and even though the Aggies already have the No. 11 recruiting class in 2022, one thing they don’t have is a dominant 300-pound defensive lineman like Nolen, which would fill the need with an elite prospect.
And even though the Aggies might not have surpassed Tennessee as the favorite yet, they are well on their way and if Nolen takes his recruitment past this month, that would probably be good news for Texas A&M football.
No. 1 Tennessee
If there was one team that did well to make Nolen’s most recent top-five list it was Tennessee football because the Volunteers didn’t seem like a true contender.
The inclusion of Tennessee felt like it was due to it being the in-state school but soon after the list was revealed and Nolen decided to play football in the state this season, the Vols started to pick up some real momentum.
A big part of Nolen’s recruitment is NIL. That goes without saying with any major prospect especially as Bryce Young of Alabama is already bringing in over a million dollars in endorsements according to what Nick Saban said.
Nolen is going to look to cash in too and in the state of Tennessee, he might be able to capitalize on that a little earlier.
Tennessee football hasn’t been a powerhouse in the SEC of late but with a new head coach in Josh Heupel, the Vols are trying to come back and Nolen could be the face of their turnaround, which could mean a lot of money in his pocket.
There are no crystal ball projections from 247 sports yet, but a few prominent experts from Rivals have him going to Tennessee and while the Aggies are pushing and Florida is still a threat, I’d still give the Vols the slight edge right now.