2027 DE Jaiden Bryant of Irmo is taking advantage of nearly every weekend this football season to visit one of the schools on his recruiting board, with Texas A&M his latest stop. He and his dad flew to Houston and then made the ninety-minute drive to College Station last weekend as the Aggies defeated Florida in front of over 105,000 fans.
“Loved the experience. Loved the atmosphere,” Bryant said. “It was a crazy statement for my first time being down there. The fans are very comforting. It felt like home when I went there. The coaches were telling me that I basically fit their defensive scheme, and I’m a perfect player for their alignment and what they have going on at their program. They say I’m similar to Cashius Howell (who has 8 sacks on the season). We’ve got similar play styles, and they’re saying that it would really be a good fit.”
Before leaving, Bryant gave Aggies coach Mike Elkin a good indication regarding his feelings.
“They know I loved it,” Bryant said. “I actually stayed an extra day to stay with the head coach. Me and him got to chop it up on Sunday. I had breakfast with him.”
This weekend, Bryant is headed to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry game. He’ll see the Crimson Tide as well the following weekend in Columbia when they battle USC. The Gamecocks, with defensive ends coach Sterling Lucas leading the way, remain a steady presence in his recruitment.
“Same ole same ole,” he said. “I know what me and them got going on, and nothing’s really changed with them. They know I’m going to explore different colleges, but we all know what the real story is. Coach Lucas called me while I was out at A&M. He called me that Saturday.”
Bryant did say that he no longer considers USC as a number one on his list as he did last summer, simply because he wants to keep everything open now as he visits more schools.
The rest of the schedule Bryant has put together for game visits:
Oklahoma at Tennessee 11-1
Syracuse at Miami 11-8
Arkansas at LSU 11-15
Samford at Texas A&M 11-22
Clemson at USC 11-29
This season, he has also been to two other games at USC, a game at Clemson, another game at Texas A&M, and games at Miami and Florida State.