COLLEGE STATION, Tex. -- Cameron Wilkins got some summer work with his teammates last weekend in Texas A&M’s backyard during the Adidas Texas 7-on-7 Championships, but he’s hoping to make a return later this month with a more individual goal in mind.
The three-star Del Valle linebacker is looking to make a commitment before the start of the season and said that right now the lead dogs are the Aggies and their SEC counterparts, Missouri, who were his second offer. A&M has yet to extend an offer of their own, but Wilkins is hopeful a strong performance at an upcoming camp might change that.
“It's between (A&M) and Missouri - they’re my top-two - so I need to decide between them,” he said. “College Station is a great place, I believe that I would adapt quite nicely out here, but you never know until you’re out experiencing it.”
The schedule won’t be easy for Wilkins if he plans on participating in A&M’s July 22 mini-camp on the heels of Missouri’s Night at the Zou event, scheduled for the previous day. He may choose to forego actually competing in Mizzou’s camp, but said he intends on traveling up on the 19th as he’s not made a visit to Columbia yet.
“I haven’t been up to see the campus, but I’ve heard good things about it,” he said. “I’ve heard they have a high intellectual standard for the players that come up there and I just have been hearing that they have a good program and the coaches work well with the players.
“I actually talked with a former Del Valle player that went to Missouri and graduated from there - he said that it was a great campus and he enjoyed it out there.”
IN HIS WORDS
On his relationship with Mizzou defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross
“He’s an amazing coach,” he said. “We have conversations all the time but he just really wants to get me on campus. He believes that I’m his guy, so I’m going to see what I can do at the elite camp up there.”
On his relationship with Texas A&M DC John Chavis
“I feel like it means a lot that I have the opportunity to talk directly with the defensive coordinator,” he said. “With most teams, I’m just talking to the recruiting coordinator in the area, but being able to go into his office and have a conversation with him and my mom, that means a lot to me.”
RIVALS REACTION
Wilkins is a girthier player as an inside linebacker, and A&M has seemed to focus recently on more lean and athletic prospects at the position. That doesn’t mean he’s not what the Aggies are looking for, but Missouri was one of the first teams to offer him.
If getting his commitment out of the way before the start of the season is a top priority - and he likes what he sees on his upcoming visit to Missouri - Wilkins may choose just to call it a wrap and not worry about where the cards fall with the Aggies, should that offer not come soon enough.