Quarterback Kyle Allen (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain) knew he wanted to work quickly through the recruiting process. ESPN's No. 128 overall player and No. 5 pocket passer began doing his homework on various schools throughout the country very early, and when it came time to narrow things to a final destination, he didn't take long at all.
On Tuesday, Allen announced his final five schools: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and UCLA. Less than a week later, the 6-foot-3, 197-pound quarterback took to Twitter to announce he was ready to put an end to the process.
"I will be playing my college football for Coach Sumlin at TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY!! GIG EM!!" Allen posted.
"To be honest, last week when I released my top five, it was dead even," Allen said. "I had no clue where I wanted to go, and all the schools were exactly the same to me."
Allen said that over the weekend, he spoke with an Elite 11 coach who told him to take out a piece of paper and write down what was most important to him -- not his friends, family or teammates -- in selecting a school.
"I ended up with Texas A&M by far," Allen said. "It met the criteria of what I wanted. I was really excited about it."
Allen came up with Texas A&M on Saturday night and slept on it for a few days. When he woke up Monday morning, he knew he was ready to announce his decision.
"It's been real for me since this morning," he said. "Now I'm letting everyone else know, and it feels good to get it out, get it done with, and start concentrating on my senior season and Texas A&M recruiting."
Allen had trips scheduled to Notre Dame and Ohio State in June but said he will cancel those and likely will return two more times to College Station -- once on an unofficial visit this summer and then again after his season for an official visit.
"It was a combination of a bunch of things," Allen said of why Texas A&M stood out in the end. "So many things were so great there. So many things made me feel comfortable."
One of those things was the fact that the Aggies play in the SEC.
"That played a big part," Allen said. "If you want to be the best, you have to compete against the best. A lot of quarterbacks come out of the Pac-12 and Big 12, where they throw the ball around, but they don't play against as good of defenses. A&M does the same thing those programs do on offense but they do it against the best defenses in the country. My dream is to someday become an NFL quarterback, and I want the best training and the best preparation for that. That's in the SEC."
Allen's commitment is a big win for Texas A&M, which continues to capitalize on the success of quarterback Johnny Manziel.
Allen, the No. 2 quarterback in the West, was the top target at the position for a number of programs, and it wouldn't be surprising to see his commitment trigger something of a domino effect as other quarterbacks begin falling into place. Things continue to move slowly out west, where only seven of the region's top 30 players have announced their college decisions. More surprisingly for Pac-12 programs, only three of those players are staying home in the conference.
Allen is commitment No. 12 for the Aggies and gives Texas A&M four players in the ESPN 150.