With one season of eligibility remaining, Northwestern edge rusher Anto Saka committed to the Texas A&M Aggies on Wednesday, according to On3's Hayes Fawcett.
Saka arrives in College Station after spending four seasons at Northwestern, where he appeared in 33 total games. During his Wildcats career, he recorded 41 total tackles, 14 tackles for loss, and 12.0 sacks, while also forcing three fumbles and recovering one. His production was spread across three playing seasons after redshirting in 2022, with appearances in 11 games in each of the following years. In the 2025 season alone, he garnered 13 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery, including a strip-sack in a win over the Purdue Boilermakers on Oct. 18.
A former four-star high school recruit from Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Maryland, Saka was highly regarded coming out of the 2022 class. He was ranked between No. 211 and No. 257 nationally depending on the service, graded as a top-25 edge rusher, and listed among the top five players in Maryland. He originally chose Northwestern over offers from programs such as Penn State, Michigan, Duke, USC, Tennessee, and South Carolina.
Saka entered the transfer portal shortly after Northwestern defensive line coach Christian Smith left for Penn State, where Smith had been Saka’s position coach. Speculation pointed to Penn State as the frontrunner, but Texas A&M won Saka over after he visited their campus this week. He entered the portal with a no-contact designation and committed within days, becoming the Aggies’ 11th scholarship transfer addition.
From a national perspective, Saka was one of the most sought-after defenders available. He was rated as a four-star transfer, ranked inside the top 80 overall portal prospects by 247Sports, and listed as the No. 13 edge rusher in the portal. He also earned widespread recognition as the No. 56 player on Bruce Feldman’s 2025 “Freaks List,” showcasing his size and athletic profile at 6-foot-4 and 255 pounds.
Texas A&M’s need at edge rusher is well-documented. The Aggies finished this past season ranked third nationally in both sacks (3.31 per game) and tackles for loss (8.46 per game), but lost unanimous All-American Cashius Howell, who led the team with 11.5 sacks, 31 tackles, and 14 tackles for loss before exhausting his eligibility and heading to the NFL Draft. Saka is primed to help offset that loss after also generating NFL Draft notoriety himself, including a top-150 grade on Pro Football Focus’ big board and an 82.5 pass-rush grade.
Texas A&M, now joined by transfer defensive linemen Saka, Brandon Davis-Swain, and Ryan Henderson, holds the No. 4-ranked transfer class in the 2026 cycle, according to On3.
