THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2018 STUDENT MEDIA
Despite a change in the coaching staff, Aggies still manage to reel in 13 big name players during National Signing Day By Ryan MacDonald @Ryan_MacDonald2 Texas A&M head football head coach Jimbo Fisher and his staff had their first National Signing Day in Aggieland this week. The Aggies started the week with the No. 35 recruiting class according to 247sports.com and finished sitting in the No. 17 spot. The jump was a feat as Fisher had his work cut out for him, coming to A&M just two weeks before the early signing period. Fisher said the key to winning recruiting battles is relationships, which take time to form. “It’s all about relationships, and we didn’t have time for that before the early signing day. We did for this one, and you see we did a lot better,” Fisher said. The Aggies started the day with a flip from four-star defensive end Bobby Brown, which Fisher said came down to the wire. “With Bobby Brown, it’s rare that you see a guy with his size that can play on the end,” Fisher said. “Reminds me of when we signed Marcus Spears [from LSU]. That’s huge when you can hold up out there and set the edge. I was a nervous wreck all the way up to the end. He was one of the most wanted guys across the country.” The Aggies followed up the addition of Brown with a couple of four-star cousins — offensive lineman Tank Jenkins and quarterback James Foster. Jenkins joins a signing class of three other four-star offensive lineman who signed in the early signing period: Colten Blanton, Barton Clement and Luke Matthews. “With big Tank Jenkins, you’re talking about a guy that’s 350 pounds and is as twitch as can be,” Fisher said. “You don’t see guys that can bend their ankles, knees and hips at that size and create power and size. I’m very happy with the offensive line.” Fisher said the reason behind signing Jenkins’ cousin was a dire need for a quarterback, due to only having three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster. Thus, Fisher turned to Foster, drawing on their prior relationship from when Fisher was the head coach at Florida State. “We spent a lot of time talking and our goals and his goals matched up and he decided to come to Texas A&M and we’re extremely happy,” Fisher said. The Aggies then received a commitment from four-star defensive end Jeremiah Martin and three-star tight end Glenn Beal in the early afternoon. Fisher said tight end was one of the biggest areas of need for the Aggies, who rarely utilized the tight end under Kevin Sumlin. “A huge area of need was finding more tight ends,” Fisher said. We just didn’t have enough to practice and do what we do.”
FISHER’S FIRST CLASS
NSD ON PG. 3 Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher finished National Signing Day with the No. 16 recruiting class in the country.
Bright days ahead for A&M football 2018 signing class shows promise for the program moving forward Angel Franco @angelmadison_
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he future of Texas A&M football took a few steps in the right direction as new head coach Jimbo Fisher wrapped up his first National Signing Day. Before Wednesday, Fisher’s recruiting class ranked within the Top 40 in the country. However, as the day began to wind down, he was able to make his first A&M class jump from being ranked No. 33 overall to No. 16, according to ESPN. All while being introduced as the Aggies’ head coach on Dec. 4 and being out on the recruiting trail meeting with Texas high school football coaches in the area the next day. A mission that Fisher was determined to accomplish was trying to fill the roster with Texas talent, as it is one of the most lucrative states with skill. Fourteen of the 23 recruits Fisher signed overall were from the state of Texas. “There’s a tremendous amount of players in this state,” Fisher said. “The coaching, the development of the players and the game of football is tremendous. We’re always willing to saturate this state from one end to the other.” This NSD turned out to be much better than anyone inside the maroon bubble could’ve expected. However, there was an indication that the day would be trending upward this morning, when defensive tackle Bobby Brown chose A&M over national champion Alabama. More of this would come later Wednesday morning, when quarterback James Foster signed his letter of intent with A&M rather than with Alabama, Florida State or LSU. This is truly incredible, considering Fisher had a lot less time to build these relationships with ANALYSIS ON PG. 3
Photos by Abby Collida — THE BATTALION
Vertical Expressions has been teaching students ballroom dances like the Foxtrot and Rumba for 20 years.
Vertical Expressions offers dancing fun for all Ballroom dancing organization holds lessons and competes across the state By Hannah Falcon @hannahfalcon_ From experienced dancers to people with two left feet, the officer line of Vertical Expressions believe anyone can learn to do ballroom dances like the Foxtrot and the Rumba. Vertical Expressions is a ballroom dancing group at Texas A&M that does both dancing for fun and competitive dancing, which includes the Foxtrot, Paso Doble, Rumba and Lindy Hop. Now in their 20th year, Vertical
Expressions continues to provide professional dance instruction for all Aggies, regardless of skill level. Every semester, Vertical Expressions competes against other universities at ballroom competitions that are open to anybody in the club. They will be attending the Cougar Classic at the University of Houston on Feb. 24 and the Austin Open April 20-22. Dionne Mitcham, public health senior, said as president of the club, she was proud of some nontraditional students, those who are older than 25, who performed better than other college students at their competition at Rice University in October 2017. “It’s crazy how dance transcends age,” Mit-
cham said. “We have a lot of nontraditional students who contact us looking for a place that will accept them. Our organization has a place for them because dancing is not defined by your age.” Katie James, English sophomore and external relations officer of Vertical Expressions, said dancers learn practice styles and moves at their competition rehearsals. The moves are later used in routines taught at the competitions, and then they perform them for the judges. “We have basic competition practices to learn the moves,” James said “The moves themselves are set, but you have to follow the guide who decides how to string it together because you DANCE ON PG. 4
MEN’S BASKETBALL RETURNING TO REED ARENA After upsetting No. 8 Auburn 81-80 on the road Wednesday night, the Aggies will return home to face No. 24 Kentucky on Saturday, Feb. 10. The SEC matchup at Reed Arena will tipoff at 7:15 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Abby Collida — THE BATTALION