Texas A&M Aggies Make Final Four For Highly-Touted CB

As the Texas A&M Aggies continue to put together a strong 2026 recruiting class, another great recruit is in their sights.

Four-star cornerback Camren Hamiel, the best recruit in Arizona according to On3's rankings, included A&M in his final four schools, with the others being Nebraska, Oregon and Penn State. Hamiel will take visits to Penn State next weekend, Nebraska on June 6, Oregon on June 13 and finally A&M on June 20. A commitment will likely come after those visits.

“I plan to commit around the middle of summer after my official visits,” Hamiel previously told On3's Chad Simmons. “When I finish the visits, I will sit down with my family, coach and agent, then talk it over and that will lead to my commitment.”

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko during warm ups before a game against the Auburn Tigers. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In that same interview with On3, Hamiel also shared what intrigues him most about Mike Elko's program.

“Texas A&M is a school I have visited twice and they make it feel like a second family. They treat me like I am already part of a team and coach BGA (senior defensive analyst Bryant Gross-Armiento) is a great coach.”

As a junior at Desert Edge High School, Hamiel recorded 50 total tackles, three interceptions, three pass breakups, a sack and a blocked field goal. He helped the Scorpions win 10 games and finish as a top-25 team in Arizona, according to On3's rankings.

The Aggies' pass defense was notoriously poor late in the season, with Elko going on a viral rant after a Las Vegas Bowl loss to USC where they allowed 295 yards and four touchdowns against a quarterback who spent most of the season as a backup. Elko and co. focused on fixing that issue through spring practice, and early results seem encouraging.

"I think it's just making sure that we clean up expectations, clean up the way we're teaching, clean up the way that they're learning and understanding and processing, make sure you kind of identify, 'Okay, what do we need to do to get this better?' That has been good," Elko said during spring practice. "We spent a lot of time in walkthroughs through February, making sure we understood spatially what we were trying to get accomplished, where we were trying to go with it. We continue to do walkthroughs through spring ball. That's just our regular rhythm.

"I think, listen, and I said this at the last press conference, there's not a single person in our building that's excited with the way the defense played down the stretch. That's not just me. I'm not the only person. I think our players have a lot of pride in making sure it gets back to where it was."

However, this will take a while to fully fix, and hopefully, Hamiel can be part of the solution.