quote:
They can take 34 commits as long as 9 are early enrollees per an ESPN Insider article.
All within current SEC rules. Here is the article (apparently at least 3 of their current commits will not qualify):
With the Aggies having a chance to land some of their remaining targets, some wonder how the Aggies' haul can be so large. Didn't the Southeastern Conference adopt a rule preventing schools from signing such a large number of recruits, or, what often was called "oversigning?"
The SEC did adopt a rule in that spirit. The SEC constitution and bylaws state that a limit of 25 prospective football student-athletes can be signed between Dec. 1 and May 31 each year. That rule was adopted, revised and went into effect in its current state on Aug. 1, 2011.
In article 13.9.1.1 of the bylaws there is an exception to the signing limit, stating that a recruit who signs and is included in the school's counter limits for the current academic year, that recruit is not subject to the 25-member signing limit. Basically, it means the school can count that recruit to the previous class rather than the upcoming class, because he enrolled in school for the current academic year.
Texas A&M has room for a few more prospects in its 2013 class, starting with top athlete Ricky Seals-Jones.
So in the 2013 recruiting class, any recruit that is a mid-year enrollee who begins taking classes in January (which is the 2012-13 academic year), can count toward the 2012 recruiting class.
Now the 25-member limit still exists for each year, so while a school can count recruits back to 2012, the number of players that signed letters of intent in February of 2012 and the number of mid-year enrollees that are "December graduates" who join for the spring 2013 semester still must equal no more than 25.
Texas A&M signed 19 players to letters of intent in February 2012 but had four early enrollees in the class, three of which can be counted back to 2011, when the Aggies signed 22 players.
So taking that into consideration, that leaves spots for up to nine mid-term enrollees in the current recruiting class, meaning the Aggies conceivably could take 34 signees.
Taking it a step further, the Aggies had five early enrollees in the 2011 class. One of those could be counted back toward 2010, leaving room for one more spot in the 2011 class that the fourth 2012 early enrollee could fit in and give the Aggies a possibility of taking 35 signees in the class.
Currently, the Aggies have seven players committed that are expected to be early enrollees: Reggie Chevis, Cameron Clear, Kenny Flowers, Jordan Points, Alex Sezer, Jeremiah Stuckey and Brett Wade.
As for whether the Aggies will have the scholarship room for all the signees, it appears they will.
Sumlin doesn't disclose how many scholarships he has available in a given year, a policy he had going back to his days as the head coach at Houston. But taking a quick glance at the current roster and the Aggies' last four signing classes shows that an estimated 72 scholarship players remain from the 92 signed in that span, with attrition from the original signing classes coming in various forms known well to avid college football fans across the country: some non-qualifiers that never made it to campus, some medical exemptions, graduates and some that simply left the team for one reason or another.
Add in two transfers that the Aggies took in over the offseason and you have 74 players remaining.
Texas A&M has 17 scholarship seniors who will be out of eligibility after this season, meaning 57 scholarship players would remain. There's also the potential that a trio of juniors -- offensive tackles Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews and defensive end Damontre Moore -- could declare for early entry in the NFL draft. None of those three have stated that they've decided on their future one way or the other, but if all three were to happen to leave, that would leave the Aggies with 54 scholarship players -- 31 under the 85-scholarship limit.
The Aggies parted ways with one 2013 commit, Rob Zimmerman, on Wednesday. There's always the possibility of non-qualifiers and decommitments for any college program's recruiting class as national signing day approaches. That also doesn't take into account any team attrition that may come, should there be any other medical exemptions, transfers, players who stop playing or leave the team or if a scholarship isn't renewed.
Also, there isn't anything in the SEC bylaws preventing a team from signing recruits that take the program over the 85-scholarship limit (the Big Ten, for instance, won't allow schools to sign more than three over the limit). But the Aggies would have to still get down to 85 at the annual August deadline if they were to happen to go over for any reason.
. I'm busy watching A&M tear it up and land top 5 classes 
