Elite power forward recruit Elijah Thomas commits to Texas A&M

Elijah Thomas, a heralded power forward who attends Lancaster (Texas) High, announced Tuesday that he has verbally committed to Texas A&M.

The 6-foot-9, 250-pound Thomas, who also drew scholarship offers from Arizona, Kentucky and Kansas, among other programs, is the No. 20 recruit in the class of 2015, according to rankings on the recruiting service Rivals.com.

First and foremost the academic side of things really opens up horizons that I like," Thomas told Rivals.com. "They allow their student athletes and students to have a major and three minors so you explore different things and learn so much that when you leave you will know a lot and be set up to have successful occupation.

"The athletic side of things they have been known as a football school. Me and the Fab Four, I think we can go there and make a lot of noise. We plan on being the top recruiting class and we feel like we can win a national championship in our first year. There are a lot of good returning players there and we feel like it is all set up."  

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Thomas, who received a five-star rating, is the fourth player in the class of 2015 to commit to the Aggies, joining four-star center Tyler Davis, four-star shooting guard Admon Gilder and four-star small forward D.J. Hogg.

Texas A&M finished 18-16 (8-10 Big 12) last season and has not qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 2011.

- Chris Johnson