You can take someone out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of someone.

Jonte Newman knows.

He's been committed to Texas A&M since April 19, but his future in College Station wasn't always guaranteed.

“Through my recruiting process, I think I had USC at first,” Newman said. 

The Trojans offered him two months after Texas A&M, around the same time he also picked up offers from Texas, Baylor, Missouri and several others.

While Texas A&M stuck out in his recruitment along with the likes of Texas, Oklahoma and TCU, USC began to stick out to Newman because of his relationship with the coaching staff.

Not to mention, Southern California offered a change of scenery for Newman that was hard to turn down.

“Every day they were like, ‘This is the place for you. You come here, you’re going to start sophomore year,’” Newman said. “And it’s Cali, what can you not like about Cali? That was definitely a lifestyle for me.”

While Newman communicated with the Trojans’ frequently, a visit to Texas A&M during the spring changed everything.

Newman got to know the new Texas A&M staff following Jimbo Fisher’s departure from College Station. Between head coach Mike Elko, offensive line coach Adam Cushing and offensive analyst Wisly Desire, Newman was able to see himself at Texas A&M.

But when Newman was at a practice during spring football, he spoke to fellow Aggie commit, Landon Rink, about how he did not like one thing about Texas A&M: the jerseys. Newman was not a fan of the Adidas branding, and liked Nike jerseys instead.

Rink knew that if that was the only thing keeping him from pledging to Texas A&M, he definitely wanted to be an Aggie.

“He was like, ‘man, if that’s the only thing you have a problem with, just go ahead and commit,’” Newman said. “That day really flipped a switch for me.”

To everyone’s surprise, including Newman himself, he committed to Texas A&M on the spot. A week-and-a-half after he committed to Elko and Texas A&M, he announced to the public that he was an Aggie.

“After talking with Coach Elko, [seeing] what he’s about, and Coach Cushing, Coach Matt [Salvaggio], Coach Wis, all those guys helped me [see] that A&M was home for me,” Newman said. 

Along with his connection with the staff, however, Newman saw one critical factor when evaluating a school in Texas A&M: family.

He saw a family with his fellow Texas A&M commits. With players not just from Texas, but also Florida, California, Arizona and Alabama committed to the Aggies, it took some time for the commits to gel with one another.

Once they did, they were tight as glue.

“Over the next couple months that we knew each other, we grew a lot closer,” Newman said. “I can confidently say that with everyone, not just the offensive line.”

But while there was a family waiting in College Station for Newman, he was also able to have his family in Cypress able to see him play at Kyle Field.

“My mom was happy because she really thought I was going to go to USC, too, and she was like, ‘that’s so far for you,’” Newman said. 

Now, Newman will only be an hour away from home, playing college football with players and coaches he’s already grown so close to, and representing his home state through it all.