Dominick McKinley: Texas A&M loses another player as LSU lands top recruit

After a tumultuous season that saw the Texas A&M Aggies fire sixth-year head coach Jimbo Fisher while the team fell out of the preseason top-25 for the third consecutive season, Texas A&M commits have been dropping like flies. While a new year may have brought hope among the Aggies faithful that 2024 could be a change of fortune, the year kicked off with arguably the biggest blow yet.

Former Texas A&M commit Dominick McKinley has flipped to the LSU Tigers as of Jan. 1, 2024.

How good a prospect is McKinley?

McKinley is a 6-foot-5, 290-pound defensive tackle from Acadiana High School in Lafayette, Louisiana. He is a five-star recruit and the No. 33 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting class.

How many athletes have decommitted from Texas A&M?

McKinley makes ten decommits from the Aggies' football program since October. While not every decommit is as talented as McKinley, there was another five-star recruit amongst the midst: wide receiver Cameron Coleman out of Central High School in Phenix City, Alabama.

Coleman is the nation's No. 8 prospect, per 247sports, and No. 2 wide receiver. Since decommitting to Texas A&M, he has flipped to Auburn.

Coleman wasn't the only wide receiver to flip away from the Aggies either. On October 17, 2023, four-star receiver Drelon Miller posted this to his X account.

Miller has since signed with Colorado. His decision came before Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher was fired.

Why are so many recruits decommitting from Texas A&M?

Jimbo Fisher's firing is likely the main culprit. Fisher was fired on November 12, 2023 and most of the decommits came after the news broke. Oftentimes during college football recruitment visits, the athletes get attached to the coaches themselves. Fisher's position was likely the main reason for many of these athletes' decisions to commit to Texas A&M in the first place.

A&M's lackluster season likely played a role as well. Fisher's Aggies were ranked in the preseason top-25 yet again in 2023, but fell out of the top-25 by season's end for the third consecutive year. The loss to Oklahoma State at the Texas Bowl was just the icing on the cake.

While only McKinley knows for sure, his decommitment is likely a culmination of everything listed above in addition to the fact that LSU is less than an hour drive away from his hometown Lafayette. McKinley is the most highly-touted prospect of LSU's recruitment pool.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas A&M commit Dominick McKinley flips to LSU, Aggies' woes continue