Every offseason, there’s that one recruiting story that makes you do a double-take. And no, it’s not another Aggie bagman rumor or some five-star kid flexing hats on the table. A Texas A&M commit, fresh off picking College Station over some heavyweights, just hit social media with a request so bold, it had folks in Rock Hill and Aggieland raising eyebrows. Five figures bold. And the kicker? It’s not even for himself.

Meet Tamarion Watkins, a 2026 Texas A&M pledge from Northwestern High in Rock Hill, South Carolina aka “Football City, USA.” The Aggies recruited him as a safety. Miami and Georgia made pushes too, but Tamarion chose to go to College Station. Just a month ago, it looked like another clean recruiting win for Mike Elko’s staff. Then, on August 24, Watkins logged onto X and launched a Schoolfundr campaign asking the community to raise serious money for his high school program.

That’s right. The kid just pledged to one of the richest programs in college football, and one of the first things he did was ask folks to chip in for Northwestern’s travel, equipment, and facilities. Look, the Trojans aren’t some bottom-tier squad either. They just went 14–0, outscored teams by 32 a game, and won the South Carolina 5A Division II state title. Watkins was a monster in that run. 75 tackles, 8 TFLs, 5.4 per game, and now he’s flipping his recruiting spotlight into a fundraiser.

And let’s be real: Northwestern is not your run-of-the-mill high school. This is “Football City, USA.” NFL names live in those halls: Benjamin Watson, Cordarrelle Patterson, Johnathan Joseph. Even guys like D.J. Moore and Jairus Byrd came out of the Rock Hill pipeline. Watkins? He’s next in line. Which makes his move even more intriguing. When most players are counting NIL zeros and plotting their first big drip purchase, Tamarion is thinking about helmets and bus rides for the crew back home. That’s loyalty in a recruiting world that rarely sees it.

What’s wild is, all this happens while Texas A&M’s class is cooking. The Aggies are sitting No. 6 nationally, No. 3 in the SEC, and rocking a perfect blue-chip ratio with 27 commits. 20 of them four-stars. Head coach Mike Elko is flipping the Aggies from meme material to legit contender vibes, pulling studs like Brandon Arrington, Bryce Perry-Wright, and KJ Edwards from SEC rival hotbeds.

CBS thinks Texas A&M Aggies are overrated!

Now, let’s hit pause on the feel-good vibes and talk about the elephant in the room. Or should I say, the CBS-sized hammer drop. This week, CBS Sports straight-up called Texas A&M the most overrated program of the past decade. They crowned Aggies into a list nobody wants to top.

Here are the receipts: since 2014, A&M is 77-48 overall, averaging 7.7 wins per season. Two seasons with more than eight wins. Seventeen-and-twenty-six against ranked opponents. All this while dropping coach-sized bags and rolling out top-10 recruiting classes like it’s a Costco membership perk. Remember Jimbo Fisher? Yeah, Aggies paid that man like he was building the Death Star. Instead, they got six years of “meh,” one COVID-season sugar high, and a $72 million buyout that still makes accountants twitch.

CBS didn’t hold back: “Texas A&M spent as big as anyone to try and bring about a successful decade, only to be met with mediocrity at every turn.” Hard to argue. They even dragged that famous $484 million Kyle Field facelift into the chat, plus those top-ranked recruiting hauls that fizzled like soda left out overnight. The 2022 class? Billed as historic, hyped to the moon, and yet crickets when it mattered.

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But here’s where it gets interesting. Enter Mike Elko. Year one? A 7-1 start before finishing 8-5, coming this close to an SEC title shot before missing out. That’s more progress than Aggie Nation has seen in years. But again, it’s still not the ROI the Aggies are looking for.