Priority defensive tackle Aaron Bryant goes in-depth

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By: Hudson Standish

2022 Southaven (MS) IDL Aaron Bryant announced on Sunday he would be making a commitment on August 26th. The Texas priority defensive lineman narrowed his choices to a top five of Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Texas A&M, and Texas in June.

On Monday Inside Texas made the trip to the Memphis suburb to chat with Bryant about the impending commitment and talk with Southaven Head Coach Eddie Stevenson during preseason workouts.

After brief introductions we started talking about the upcoming season on the way to the locker room before a Southaven teacher jokingly yelled to us both “YOU’RE LOOKING AT THE NEXT ALL-AMERICAN DEFENSIVE LINEMAN TO PLAY AT MISSISSIPPI STATE! GO DAWGS!”

Aaron smiled from ear to ear and politely responded to the teacher that it wasn’t going to happen. I asked how often Ole Miss and Mississippi State fans try to convince him to stay in-state.

“Haha it happens a lot, but they’re not really in it.”

After that exchange we had a couple of minutes before workouts started. Aaron wanted to make sure he was one of the first Chargers in the weight room, so that gave us a couple of minutes to chat.

“I just feel like this is the right time to make the decision. I know where I’m going and I’m ready to announce.”

When Bryant visited Texas in early June, he told Inside Texas UT was the only visit he made where he felt like he got better at football on the visit. Bryant was eager to talk Texas and I got the feeling Bo Davis did a tremendous job building an authentic relationship with Aaron.

“I know at Texas I could get an amazing education and play big time football, especially with them making the move to the SEC soon. Coach Davis has coached elite defensive lineman in the NFL and has put dudes into the league from college.”

With Ole Miss seemingly not in the picture even after a recent unofficial visit with a teammate, Bryant and I focused on the other four schools in his top five list.

“I really enjoyed my visits to Texas A&M and Georgia. Coach Price at Texas A&M did a really good job building the relationship with me and my parents.”

Aaron then led me into the coach’s office before workouts started to meet with Southaven Head Coach Eddie Stevenson, who had nothing but praise for the rising senior and was gracious with his time during the ramp up to the 2021 football season.

“Aaron is by far one of the highest character guys that we’ve ever had in our program. There is nobody that will outwork him and he’s exactly what you want in a teammate. All Aaron wants to do is go full speed for every snap/rep and be a dependable leader. He’s always led by example but heading into this year we challenged him to take a verbal leadership role and he’s aced that test. I can’t say enough kind things about him.”

After hearing about Bryant the leader, I asked Coach Stevenson about what type of player he was on the field and how they are planning on using him this upcoming football season.

“I say this all the time but the biggest compliment I can give is that I think he would fit perfectly on the 1970’s Oakland Raiders’ defenses. He has a relentless motor at 6’4” 300 pounds and he’s a throwback nasty defensive lineman that’s going to stay assignment sound and punish people while doing it. He doesn’t care what he looks like or any of that nonsense, he’s out there to get nasty.”

“Last year we primarily played him at Nose, but this year I’m going to move him around to matchup hunt on every possible occasion. We’re setting it up so Aaron can play 1-Tech, 3-Tech, right defensive end, left defensive end, and even MLB at times.”

Then before we left the coach’s offices for the weight room, I mentioned a lot of Texas fans felt like stealing a highly coveted defensive lineman from the heart of SEC country was too good to be true. Especially considering (to my knowledge) Texas hasn’t signed a high school player from the Magnolia State in the recruiting service era. I directly asked if he thought Ole Miss or Mississippi State could enter the recruitment late in the cycle and grab a flip.

“I understand where you’re coming from, but Aaron isn’t a kid that’s going to decommit. Whichever school he commits to he’ll remain loyal towards, he’s been raised the right way.”

I left Southaven with the impression Texas was in a fantastic position to win out for Bryant’s signature, which has been strongly reinforced over the past 36 hours by Inside Texas and Ole Miss sources. Bryant has the desired blend of on-field production, attitude, and measurables along with off the field intangibles that make him a must get prospect.

Aaron Bryant is ranked as the 157th best player in the nation in the 2022 On300, and the 3rd best prospect from the state of Mississippi according to On3.