Top-100 LB Noah Mikhail breaks down decision to commit to Texas A&M

Last Sunday, Texas A&M won a major recruiting battle when it landed La Verne (Calif.) Bonita four-star linebacker Noah Mikhail over Oregon and USC.

This week, Mikhail sat down with Phillip Dukes on the ‘Five-Star Flex’ to break down his decision to commit to the Aggies.

“I think it was a big sigh of relief at first,” Mikhail said of his announcement. “I’ve been blessed to be in the process for about three years now, so I think it was a big relief to kind of know where I’m going and start working toward my next goal — which is playing at the collegiate level and doing that early.”

When it came down to actually making the decision between the Aggies, Ducks and Trojans, Mikhail feeling most at home in College Station put A&M over the top.

“When it came down to it, a lot of my schools — my last three — they all had football-wise, very similar backgrounds. There was opportunity at all three, development at all three and great coaching staffs at all three,” Mikhail said. “But I think what really separated A&M, in the long run, was it was where I felt comfortable and where I felt like it was home. You’ve got to be happy to strive, and I think at A&M that’s where I’m happy and that’s where I feel like I’m going to strive the most.

“That partly had to deal with the people I was around,” Mikhail added. “They have a great supporting cast there, they have a great coaching staff and just great people down in College Station. Everyone I met was nice and very welcoming, so I think it just gave it a home-type of feel. That’s usually how it is in the South. I think they kind of hit that home, and we’ve got a lot of Cali kids coming to the Aggies.”

Relationships with head coach Mike Elko and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman were key in Mikhail’s decision. The two newcomers invested a lot of time in this recruitment since landing on campus this winter.

“Coach Elko and Coach Bateman, I put them on a threeway merged call, and they were ecstatic,” Mikhail said. “We built that relationship just in the past few months because they had just gotten there. I really felt like I could trust them and they were really excited about that.”

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