Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M added to their five-star laden class on Sunday when linebacker Harold Perkins choose the Aggies over LSU and Texas.
The 247Sports composite rankings have Perkins as the top linebacker in the country as well as the top player in Texas. He’s the sixth five-star to join Texas A&M’s class and the third top 10 recruit.
To an extent, LSU was in this the entire race. But with all the coaching turnover and instability the last two years, it was never that likely Perkins ended up at LSU.
LSU will have an entirely new defensive staff in 2022 and Perkins didn’t even know what that was going to look like until just last week. Blake Baker, who served as LSU’s linebacker coach and Perkins’ primary recruiter, announced a couple of weeks ago that he would not be returning to LSU.
Perkins took an unofficial to LSU on November 27th, the weekend LSU just happened to be facing Texas A&M. He also took an unofficial to Baton Rouge last June.
LSU could have used Perkins’ services after some inconsistency at linebacker the last couple years. Landing Perkins would have been a monumental splash for Brian Kelly and LSU, but the miss is understandable given the circumstances.
Five-Star Plus+ LB Harold Perkins commits to Texas A&M: https://t.co/bfCeqAzK7G pic.twitter.com/RwlrWCtME2
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) January 2, 2022