After his deal fell through with Tennessee, Austin Thomas is now headed to Texas A&M

Remember that time back in December when the Tennessee Volunteers reportedly hired stud personnel man Austin Thomas away from LSU? As you know by now, that didn’t happen. However, Thomas did land at another SEC school.

Texas A&M made it official this weekend, adding Thomas to their staff under the title of Associated Athletic Director for Football Personnel. This coming after thing between Thomas and Ole Miss fell through.

Thomas reportedly agreed to join Tennessee shortly after Jeremy Pruitt was hired, but that fell through due to a hangup in job responsibilities. The Nashville native has now joined Jimbo Fisher’s recruiting staff, which is already off and running.

The Aggies’ 2019 class currently ranks 2nd in the nation with 15 total commitments to this point. They only trail Nick Saban and Alabama, for now.

Thomas is well-respected in the industry as a recruiter, coming off a unique General Manager role at LSU. He got his start as an intern under Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee in 2008. He worked for Lane Kiffin until LSU came calling in 2013.

While it would have been nice for Tennessee to have Thomas around, the Vols aren’t exactly hurting on the recruiting trail. Jeremy Pruitt and his staff have been on a bit of a tear as of late, picking up a number of high-profile commitments over the last month. Tennessee ranks 19th in the country right now with just nine commitments to this point.

It should be fascinating to see how the big time hire of Jimbo Fisher works out in College Station. Adding Thomas to that mix certainly shouldn’t hurt the early momentum that’s been built.