Say it ain't so... With all eyes on where five-star offensive tackle Mark Matthews is going to play his college football at, leave it up to Steve Wiltfong at Rivals to deliver the Miami Hurricanes the most devastating blow they did not see coming... Wiltfong has gone on record to say that Matthews is going to commit to the Texas A&M Aggies over the hometown Hurricanes. This is so soul-crushing.
While there was some belief that Texas A&M was a real player for him, nobody saw this one coming...
FONG BOMB: Rivals’ @SWiltfong_ has logged an expert prediction for Texas A&M to land Five-Star Plus+ OT Mark Matthews👍
— Rivals (@Rivals) April 27, 2026
Read: https://t.co/Nzy2Na4e8S pic.twitter.com/ziENe4QN98
According to the 247Sports Composite, Matthews is the No. 1 player from Florida, the No. 1 offensive tackle in the 2027 recruiting class, and the No. 5 overall player in this cycle. The St. Thomas Aquinas standout has 41 official offers, but was really only looking at four schools. Miami and Texas A&M, as well as Georgia and LSU out on the periphery. How could a Fort Lauderdale kid leave for the Aggies?
Texas A&M is notorious for dropping the biggest bags possible, but Miami should have found a way...
5-star OT Mark Matthews has been crystal balled to Texas A&M Aggies
Look. Not everyone from South Florida can play for the Hurricanes. There are three other Power Four schools in-state who are eager to get their hands on this fertile recruiting area, as well as the rest of the Power Four for the most part... However, the last time the Hurricanes let a blue-chipper from in their own backyard head elsewhere was Jeremiah Smith. He is the best player on Ohio State today.
And even though Mario Cristobal continues to get raked over the coals for passing on local product Fernando Mendoza out of Cal in last year's transfer portal, he was only going to be a one-year player for Miami. Then again, Cristobal did play high school football for his father at Christopher Columbus. Regardless, potentially losing Matthews to Texas A&M over money, or whatever, is rather astounding.
While Matthews looks to be every bit as talented as Smith was coming out of high school in South Florida, there was a growing sense that he could have been a lynchpin toward Cristobal building up the greatest recruiting class in Miami history. In some ways, maybe Dan Radakovich heading toward retirement injected some levels of uncertainty about the future of Miami sports across the board?
Right now, Miami fans have every reason to be furious Cristobal could not protect his borders again.
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