Texas Football: Texas A&M 2019 class ranking remains behind Horns

The 2019 national class ranking stills holds true with Texas football as the top class in the state to begin National Signing Day 2019.

Despite some early activity on National Signing Day for the rival Texas A&M Aggies on Feb. 6, the national class rankings held true to form compared to what the slottings were heading into the morning. The 2019 Texas football recruiting class looks to be mostly quiet on National Signing Day, but there are a few headlines to watch that are important to the turnout of this cycle.

The 2019 Texas football recruiting class had a slow start to the morning, with even some of the bigger commitment and signing announcements having little impact on the program or on the Big 12 in general. The afternoon of National Signing Day could promise more action for the Texas football program, but it was expected to be a quiet day. Outside of the commitment and signing decision coming from four-star in-state offensive tackle Horns pledge Javonne Shepherd, the timeline should stand relatively still.

However, comparing this 2019 recruiting class for the Texas Longhorns to some of the biggest rivals in the national class rankings is a favorite pastime that takes place on National Signing Day. More time is afforded to analyze the current signees and early enrollees since there’s less focus on bringing in more talent.

With that in mind, there can be plenty of relevant comparisons between the 2019 Texas football recruiting class next to the Texas A&M Aggies and Oklahoma Sooners. Entering the morning of National Signing Day, Texas football held a slight lead in the 247Sports National Class Team Composite Rankings over the rival Aggies and Sooners. Texas football ranks as the nation’s No. 3 class, with the Aggies and Sooners trailing in that order.

The only two programs Texas football trails in the national class rankings on National Signing Day are the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs. But, Alabama started the day by losing ground with a few flips and decommits. Nonetheless, Alabama still holds firm on the nation’s top spot, thanks to the strong recruiting tradition under head coach Nick Saban.

Between Alabama and Georgia, Texas football didn’t have much of a chance to jump into the top two barring complete disaster on Feb. 6. Even with the key decommits to start the day for Alabama, Texas doesn’t stand a chance to jump them.

One of the highlights of National Signing Day thus far for the Dawgs was flipping elite five-star wide receiver George Pickens from the Auburn Tigers to come to Athens, GA. Due to that, the odds that Texas even can fall into the No. 2 slot are pretty much dead in the water. That leaves the main task at hand for head Texas football coach Tom Herman to keep the No. 3 slot.

Texas A&M got off to one of the better starts to National Signing Day 2019. The Aggies are in play for numerous recruits announcing their commitment decision on Feb. 6. One Aggies target announced his commitment to head coach Jimbo Fisher already. Three-star Dulles athlete Ainias Smith gave his commitment and likely his signed National Letter of Intent ok Feb. 6.

Despite the commit from Smith, the Aggies still fall in line by a good margin behind the Horns in the national class rankings. The activity for the Sooners is just as quiet as for Texas football on National Signing Day, so the top spot in the Big 12 recruiting rankings should hold true too. We’ll continue to follow the National Signing Day commitments to see how the final rankings and classes shape up.