Kyle Field is Texas A&M’s top pitch for 2026 recruiting class

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (KBTX) - As former Texas A&M kicker Seth Small’s 28-yard boot sailed through the uprights, knocking off then No. 1 Alabama 41-38 in 2021, fans spilled over walls that separate stands from field. From the view of the third deck, few spots of green grass were visible within the mass of humanity that flooded the field under the Kyle Field floodlights.

Painting a picture of these kinds of Saturdays has been head coach Mike Elko’s strategy for this recruiting cycle and the pitch is working. A&M currently has the No. 3 haul for the 2026 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.com, and No. 4 according to Rivals.

“Our difference maker is Kyle Field,” Elko said Monday, speaking to media at the Texas High School Coaches Association Coaching School. “When you’re in Kyle Field on a Saturday, your impression of Texas A&M is different, and I think it’s one of the things that maybe was lost my first time [coaching at A&M].”

According to 247Sports composite rankings, The Aggies have received verbal commitments from one 5-star recruit as well as 23 4-star prospects, which leads the nation. Georgia and Notre Dame sit tied for second with 21.

Spring Valley Ca. athlete Brandon Arrington, who committed to the Aggies on June 19, is the program’s top-rated commitment and lone composite 5-star. According to 247Sport’s internal rankings, A&M has three 5-star commits, adding on Columbus, Ga. Athlete Tristian Givens and Burford, Ga. Defensive lineman Bryce Perry-Wright.

“Really, why I chose A&M is just, they’ve been recruiting me the hardest,” revealed Arrington during a live stream of his commitment on Instagram. “I feel like it was just the best fit for me. They told me the plan they want for me and everything like that. I just feel like they wanted me really bad, and they put their time and effort into me, and I feel like that’s the place to be in my heart. So, that’s why I chose A&M.”

While A&M still managed a Top 10 class last season in Elko’s first year at the helm of the Aggies, more time to build relationships has been the differentiator, he said. Elko and his staff were hired approximately eight days before the early signing period for the 2024 class and A&M was a year behind on building relationships with the 2025 class, he said.

“We felt like, from the beginning, ’26 was going to be the first time we were on a level playing field from relationship building and evaluating and communicating and so, yeah, I think time always helps,” Elko explained.

Relationships, Elko said, are still the most important piece to the recruiting puzzle. Since 2021, name, image and likeness compensation has been legal for college athletes, which almost instantly became a vital pitch in the recruiting process. This year, revenue sharing between athletes and universities has become legal, thanks to the settlement of the House v. NCAA antitrust case.

“I think kids still get recruited off of relationships and feeling and I think it’s such a misnomer that all of the recruits out there are looking for top dollar,” said Elko at the Dallas A&M Club Coaches Night. “I still think recruits are looking for the program that fits them, what they want, what they’re looking for. What NIL has changed is- no different when you’re running a business and you have to hire a hot-shot, new employee. You have to put a value package together for him. Without NIL or without the ability to compete in NIL, you’re not going to be able to acquire the talent that you need to be successful. I think people always take that to mean, ‘Oh, you have to outbid or you have to buy them.’ It’s not that. It’s really not. It’s how you recruit.”

As far as the 2025 class is concerned, A&M isn’t done yet. They have hosted three of 247Sports’ Top 100 prospects who have yet to commit in No. 13 Bralan Womack (safety), No. 42 Anthony Jones (edge), and No. 91 Jaquez Wilkes (edge). They have also pushed for No. 83 Davion Groce (athlete).

Should A&M manage a top three finish in team recruiting rankings this cycle, it would be the highest ranking the Aggies obtained since 2021 when they pulled in a record-setting No. 1 class. So much of the success of landing that class falls back on the experience of that early October night in 2021, Elko said.

“That atmosphere, that night, what that felt like — a lot of those kids that wound up in that 2022 class were at that game,” Elko added. “Certainly, a lot of the kids that stuck in the program were at that game. So, I just think we’ve tried to shift to really emphasize that. It’s not necessarily the big recruiting event or the big this, that or the other. It’s, ‘Get them to Kyle when we are playing and let them see what the passion of Texas A&M football is really about.’”