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Aggies Land Top-5 Recruiting Class

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Texas A&M has signed a player who could replace Johnny Football and another who should boost its struggling defense.

The Aggies signed Kyle Allen, who is rated the top quarterback prospect in the nation, to compete for the job left open when 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel declared for the NFL draft last month. Allen threw for more than 8,000 yards and 86 touchdowns in his career at Desert Mountain high school in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"This is a class that I think addresses our needs across the board," coach Kevin Sumlin said Wednesday as the Aggies unveiled their national signing class. "We have a plan of how we want to do things. We lost some very, very talented players offensively this year and we've kind of replaced those and we had a depth issue last year on defense."

They also inked the No. 1 rated defensive end in Arlington Martin's Myles Garrett. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Garrett had 81 tackles and 19 1/2 sacks last season.  Sumlin joked about his shock when he saw Garrett shirtless after going to watch him play basketball recently.

"He looked like he had on a Batman costume," Sumlin said shaking his head. "He's put together like crazy. He's got a tremendous upside. He's what we need as an edge threat. He's real explosive off the edge."

A third standout in the 22-player class, which is ranked No. 6 by Rivals.com and fifth by Scout.com, is athlete Devante "Speedy" Noil. He was ranked as the top prospect as an athlete after piling up passing, rushing and receiving yards at Edna Karr high school in New Orleans.

 Texas A&M's 2014 football signees announced Wednesday:

Otaro Alaka, lb, 6-3, 210, Cypress Falls HS, Houston

Kyle Allen, qb, 6-3, 200, Desert Mountain HS, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Cedric Collins, db, 5-10, 165, Skyline HS, Dallas

Qualen Cunningham, de, 6-3, 220, Hamilton HS, Chandler, Ariz.

Kealvin "Tank" Davis, ol, 6-4, 265, Lakeview Centennial HS, Garland, Texas

Jermaine Eluemunor, ol, 6-4, 315, Lackawanna College (Pa.)

Myles Garrett, de, 6-5, 250, Martin HS, Arlington, Texas

Avery Gennesy, ol, 6-5, 310, East Mississippi CC

J.J. Gustafson, ol, 6-5, 275, Jesuit HS, Dallas

Nick Harvey, db, 5-10, 180, Travis HS, Richmond, Texas

Zaycoven Henderson, dt, 6-1, 310, Longview (Texas) HS

Frank Iheanacho, wr, 6-6, 220, Westside HS, Houston

Jamal Jeffery, wr, 5-9, 175, Lufkin (Texas) HS

Jarrett Johnson, de, 6-3, 240, Seven Lakes HS, Katy, Texas

Zach Ledwik, ol, 6-5, 270, La Grange (Texas) HS

Koda Martin, ol, 6-6, 275, Manvel (Texas) HS

Devante "Speedy" Noil, wr, 5-11, 190, Edna Karr HS, New Orleans

Josh Reynolds, wr, 6-4, 190, Tyler JC (Texas)

Josh Walker, lb, 6-1, 220, Gilmer (Texas) HS

DeShawn Washington, dt, 6-3, 285, Nederland (Texas) HS

Armani Watts, db, 5-11, 175, North Forney HS, Forney, Texas

Donovan Wilson, db, 6-1, 185, Woodlawn HS, Shreveport, La.

(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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