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Due to the bizarre meta nature of topic discussions on this board, discussing Texas A&M for the 2025 football season, like those before it, has become a bizarre exercise in either posting on the ATM recruiting thread or the football board "Tell me about A&M" thread, neither of which actually wind up satisfying the purpose of staying updated on the team. This is a similar phenomenon for every other team any of us would give a shit about besides Texas itself. 

Given that, I decided to start a new thread for the express purpose of tracking 2025 itself for Texas 8&4. I'll post my preseason thoughts here, and then I, and hopefully others, can provide updates towards and into the season when there's something new regarding the aggies. Will I be the only person tracking this thread and wind up posting to myself in an echo chamber? Wouldn't be the first time. Still, it's our little brother rival and I get tired of trying to parse signal from noise in other threads when it comes to their team.

In regard to their outlook for 2025, here are my thoughts, offense first:

QB: QB1 Marcel Reed (Soph); QB2 Jacob Zeno (SR); QB3 Miles O’Neill (FR); QB4 Brady Hart (FR) – Reed is slight and short, coming in at 6’2”, 180 lbs. Neither of those are accurate. He’s shorter than 6’2” and likely 5-10 pounds less than the sad 180 in his listing. He’s not some witch with escapability, but he is mobile. Klein likes to run his QBs and Reed’s arm isn’t begging to be heavily utilized. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got hurt and stayed hurt, prompting 7th year guy Zeno to fit into aggie fans’ favorite role, the elevated back-up QB.

RB: RB1 La’Veon Moss (SR); RB2 Reuben Owens (Soph); RB3 Amari Daniels (SR); RB4 EJ Smith (SR) – Moss was having a quality season last year before going down to injury. It sounds like he’s recovered and aggies are justified in expecting another good season. Owens went down early, came back late, and continued sucking from his Freshman year. Few RBs have been hyped this far into their career without having broken an arm tackle or 4 ypc (3.9), but this guy gets discussed every time an aggie preview is discussed. Daniels is the personification of average and Smith is worse than that. Moss needs to stay healthy for ATM to do much on offense.   

 TE: TE1 Theo Melin Ohrstrom (JR); TE2 Amari Niblacj (SR); TE3 Nate Boerkircher (SR); TE4  Micah Riley (SR) – The Swede is “really coming on!” and then we’ll see him this fall continue to disappear into the field, like a magic trick. They started talking shit about Niblack in the spring, but that’s been toned down. Now that it’s clear he’s allergic to contact and won’t learn the playbook, let’s see them smirk about luring him away from mean ol’Texas for $500k that Texas had no intention of matching. Today I learned that “Boerkircher” means “also ran” in Dutch. Micah Riley is rushing Sigma Chi this fall and might not even be able to attend most practices.

WR-X: WR1 Mario Craver (Soph); WR2 Ashton Bethel-Roman (Soph); WR3 Jerome Myles (FR) – Craver was a good get from the portal. He averaged over 21 ypc last year at Miss State and he has 3 years left to play. He’s a burner. Is he going to be a world beater in Klein’s offense like the aggies believe? Right. They also talk up this ABR guy a lot but I don’t recall him in a game or in recruiting. Myles is a 5 star that didn’t get to campus until this summer. Why on earth a 5 star WR would go to ATM to play for Klein is beyond me. It’s not like money isn’t available elsewhere.  

WR-Z: WR1 Terry Bussey (Soph); WR2 Jonah Wilson (Soph); WR3 Kelshaun Johnson (FR) – Bussey’s displaying all of the issues discussed about him before he landed on campus – he’s raw, he’s been sheltered in 2A and the bright lights are a lot, and he’s not necessarily actually a WR. They’re talking about incorporating a bunch of screens and jet sweeps to leverage his size/speed combo. Wilson, former UT commit who Texas didn’t want to lose, went to UH to be their star and busted out. Johnson is another guy that Sarkisian wanted who didn’t want to have to fight for the limelight in a crowded WR room.

WR-Y: WR1 KC Concepcion (JR); WR2 Isaiah Williams (FR) – Concepcion had a great freshman season at NC State and became a well-known weapon to CFB fans. Bizarrely, he had a terrible sophomore year without injury. His numbers got worse while the rest of the offense’s numbers got better. NCSU lowered their NIL offer for the upcoming season and Concepcion left their locker room looking for a sucker in the portal. Found them! The aggie talking heads talk about this guy as though he’s a burner. It’s bizarre. He averaged less than 9 ypc last year and less than 12 ypc in 2023. Meanwhile, the aggies poo-poo the loss of Noah Thomas to the portal and the Georgia mods are drooling about his performance so far in their fall camp.

LT: LT1 Trey Zuhn III (SR); LT2 Lamont Rogers (FR); LT3 Robert Bourdon(FR) – Zuhn is a good OT, the aggies claim he’s a great OT. He’s not a mauler, but he’s competent and stays in front of his guys pretty well. Depth behind him is horrific, so aggies need to pray he stays healthy.

LG: LG1 Chase Bisontits (JR); LG2 Ashton Funk (FR); LG3 Isendra Ahfua (FR) – Bisontits is getting all kinds of hype from the ATM side. I think Liucci said something ludicrous like he’s going to be an early draft pick next year. He’s a better Guard than Tackle, that’s for sure. I’m sure he’ll continue his progression from dogshit to mediocre to perhaps above average. Again, he better stay healthy because depth is an issue behind him. 

C : C1 Mark Nabou (JR); C2 Kolinu’u Faaiu (SR) – Nabou went down early against ND and missed the year. The aggies are high on him coming back. He was decent in 2023, so if healthy, this could be a solid return on the OL. Notice the depth behind these guys here as well. Attrition in the portal from guys like Shanahan could cause some ugly chickens to come home to roost this season.  

RG: RG1 Armaj Reed-Adams (SR); RG2 Blake Ivey (FR) – Reed-Adams was one of the 3 players that The Elk took to SEC Media Days and he’s a returning all conference caliber player. He is actually someone they’re hyping as a quality draft pick and I believe them. Ivey is a guy with a history of shoulder issues. This, again, is a really thin spot on their OL.

RT: RT1 Demetrious Crownover (SR); RT2 Reuben Fatheree (SR) – Crownover has turned into a league average RT, which is saying a lot. He was atrocious early on at ATM. Fatheree continues to be listed as a viable candidate on their roster for PT, but I don’t see it. He is a shadow of his pre-injury self and they’ve been really reluctant to give him snaps. Good luck if Crownover is hurt.

The aggies have been big on touting that they’re returning their entire OL for this season. Anyone would, I guess, but based on last year, are they managing anyone’s expectations effectively? No. This OL has a chance to be decent, which would be an improvement. It’s not going to win the Joe Moore Award, and that’s what those assclowns are talking like. If the injury bug shows up at all in BCS at the OL positions, those guys need to light their cigarettes right about then, because the lack of depth in that area on their roster says they’ll have just been fucked.  

Offensive Coaching: Collin Klein gets talked about every year as some sort of up and coming coaching star. His hire was lauded as a stroke of wizardry by The Elk in the winter of 2023. Apparently, none of the people talking in that way bothered to look anything up about the guy. He had his playcalling duties removed at KSU. KSU had no issues with helping the guy pack when he let them know that ATM had reached out. Then the aggie fans watched last season and perpetually scratched their heads about the offense.

Klein likes to use the QB in the run game a lot. Reed has the speed for it, but he’s bound for injury with overuse. The OL is expected to be a force, but those expectations seem lofty. The skill talent is being hailed as a source of strength for the aggie roster as well. The WRs might be better, but that’s a guess right now. There’s nothing interesting at TE. Moss is a good one at TB. All in all, the offense has a chance to be above average if they can stay healthy, but expecting some type of top 25 performing unit, which is how they’re talking, seems farfetched.

  • Hook 'Em 8
Posted

On the ATM defense, their outlook for 2025:

Edge (Left side): TJ Searcy (JR); LDE2 Dayon Hayes (SR); LDE3 Rylan Kennedy (JR); LDE4 Kendall Jackson (FR) – Searcy and Hayes are transfers who have started for P4 schools. Neither UF or CU put in effort to retain either guy when they left and both have underwhelmed in their first offseasons at ATM. The mods are actually hyping Rylan Kennedy more than the other two, FWIW.

DT: DT1 Tyler Onyedim (SR); DT2 DJ Hicks (J); DT3 Jadon Scarlett (Soph); DT4 Chace Sims (FR) – Onyedim is a transfer from Iowa State who had decent numbers there. Hicks is trending towards bust territory with Tarp now talking about the guy simply not having the tools to be a quality starter on their front. Scarlett is a vestige of the 2022 disaster class and he’s not doing anything to offset that group’s infamy.

NT: NT1 Albert Regis (SR); NT2 Daelyn Evans (FR); NT3 DJ Sanders (FR) – ATM doesn’t really have a true NT this season. Regis will likely be rotating more with Onyedim in a 3 man front due to the lack of an NT on the roster. He’s a mediocrity and their whole front 3/4 is a far cry from the talent they stacked last season, even though that group didn’t really do much above average themselves. DJ Sanders is built like a giant bran muffin standing on two toothpicks. I assume he’s redshirting.

Edge (Right side): RDE1 Cashius Howell (SR); RDE2 Sam M’Pemba (Soph); RDE3 Marco Jones (FR); RDE4  Solomon Williams (FR) – Howell made plays when on the field last year, so he’s in line to have a decent year. Given the lack of high end talent around him on the DL and behind him at LB, he’s going to need to do so. M’Pemba was another transfer from a big time program (UGA) who did nothing while there and Georgia was fine watching him leave. ATM has gotten a lot of credit for these kinds of transfers from the lazy talking heads. Getting guys that programs were happy to see leave, that other big time programs didn’t compete for in the portal, is not a net gain in talent for that roster.  

WLB: WLB1 Taurean York (JR); WLB2 Jordan Lockhart (SO); WLB3 Tristan Jernigan (Soph); WLB4 Kelvion Riggins (FR) – One of the more comical evaluations circulating talking season and shitty mock drafts is that York is some sort of budding superstar for the aggies. The guy is now LISTED! at 5’10”, 227 LBs. He’s smaller than that and he’s slow AF. We had this guy on our roster during a time of desperation and he was a helpful back-up, but completely limited in the same ways. His nickname was Tiny Dynamite. He was a transfer from JMU and I don’t remember his real name. Nice roster guy for early Sarkisian years, but he certainly was never lauded. Without 3 early draft picks playing in the front ¾ in front of him, times are only going to get harder for this mullet. I literally know nothing about the guys behind York and do not remember Texas recruiting any of them.

MLB: MLB1 Scooby Williams (SR); MLB2 Damion Sanford (JR); MLB3 Noah Mikhail (FR) – Williams is a guy that had Florida coaches packing his bags for him when he announced his transfer aspirations. He showed up at ATM and suddenly he was another “big get” heralded from the portal by The Elk and Co. If you need a guy with no instincts and mediocre physical talents to make up for that? Williams is your man. Sanford has been a nothing at ATM after being a decently ranked recruit. I had to go look up Noah Mikhail’s picture to make sure he is a real person.

NB: NB1 Tyreek Chappell (SR); NB2 Jordan Shaw (Soph); NB3 Bravion Rogers (JR) – Chappell is a guy coming off of serious injury who also played a different position (CB) before he was hurt. They’ve been tepid with their thoughts on him since returning. He had a bizarre decline before injury anyways, as he had a much better Soph season than JR season. Shaw is a transfer who played a lot last year at UW. He had plenty of tackles, but that’s it. No INTs, FFs, Sacks. Rogers is another bust getting older on their roster.

LCB: LCB1 Dezz Ricks (Soph); LCB2 Julian Humphrey (JR); LCB3 Cobey Sellers (FR) – Again, you can see the trend where ATM goes out and pays for transfer guys who were highly rated out of HS but disappointments in college. They beat their chest about landing these types and the media laps it up. Ricks was a 5 star that they celebrated picking up and starting, and then they were shocked that he was mediocre as a starter and a pain point with their pass defense. Then they repeated that this cycle with Humphrey, who had been benched at UGA and has attitude issues. What could go wrong?

RCB: RCB1 Will Lee III (SR); RCB2 Jayvon Thomas (JR); RCB3 Jordan Pride (FR); RCB4 Adonyss Currie (FR) – Lee, aka “The Blanket”, is a good college CB who will be drafted in 2026 if he’s healthy. He’s their best defensive player and will generally be avoided in the passing game by most teams. When he’s gone, they’re as likely to go get another portal guy as they to let Thomas actually start. The aggies are thin behind Lee.

Strong Safety: SS1 Dalton Brooks (JR); SS2 Marcus Ratcliffe (Soph); SS3 Rashad Johnson (FR) – Brooks is a big hitter who is a step slow. Ratcliffe is getting talked up a lot by the aggie mods, so maybe he makes a run at starter, especially if Brooks is in jail for a hit-and-run.

Free Safety: FS1 Bryce Anderson (SR); FS2 Myles Davis (Soph); FS3 Jarred Kerr (SR) – Anderson was one of the highest rated guys in the 2022 class and coveted by Texas. He had a great early start to his career but has struggled since then. Last year, he had a terrible season, marred by nagging injury, and played at NB. They’ve moved him back to safety. As of now, he’s got a long way to go to get back to the budding star he looked like years ago. Davis is getting praise by the ATM staff and he was also highly rated. Kerr is another 2022 class signee who sucks.

Defensive Outlook and Coaching:

Mike Elko gets a ton of credit being a defensive guru. Some of that is deserved, as he was pretty damned good as a DC at ATM, and ND and WF before that. Some of that hype is living off of that rep and ignoring last year and also ignoring the dearth of development with the talent he’s usually working with on campus. Now he’s waddling around the media circuit and telling anyone who will listen that he’s about to produce double digit draft picks, “just like every SEC team that has won the conference”, while ignoring what’s actually on the roster or being kennel blind about same.

If you look at the defense for 2025 as whole, there’s plenty of experience and age on the roster, but how much of that is good? The DTs are a step down from their 2024 counterparts. The DEs are the same. LB has two guys that ATM loves to hype who have major deficiencies in key parts of their game. The secondary was a problem last year, but, hey, they return all of it!

Maybe Chappell and Anderson have great years. Maybe Taurean York grows 3-4 inches and Scooby Doo wakes the fuck up for every pre-snap read. Maybe a light goes on for Ricks and maybe The Elk lets Howell play freely rather than trying to tie up blockers for the second level. That’s a lot of maybes.

 

 

Regarding the Texas 8&4 Special Teams, here you go:

PK: PK1 Randy Bond (SR) – If there’s a strong point on the ATM roster, it’s at PK and Punter. Bond went 20-24 in FGA and made all of his XPs. He’s a senior and I’ll be happy to see him leave.

P: P1 Tyler White (Soph) – Tyler White is the aggiest looking aggie to have ever aggied. He’s also a damned good Punter. He averaged 44.9 ypp, netted 42 and landed 54% of his punts inside the 20. Every team in the country would take those numbers.  

KR: KR1 Reuben Owens (Soph); KR2 Ashton Bethel-Roman (FR) – Reuben Owens is looking more like fool’s gold than the real gold he was promised to be during his recruitment. He’s been a bad RB, frankly, but at KR, he’s got the speed to play the role. His lack of wiggle and willingness to be arm tackled won’t matter if the KO team can open the occasional hole for him. ABR is someone that Liucci has talked up but I know nothing about him. The two transfer WRs, Concepcion and Craver, have been discussed as KRs as well.  

PR: PR1 Mario Craver (Soph); PR2 Isaiah Williams (FR) -Craver is really fast and has some jitter to him. He didn’t return punts at MSU, so I have no idea if he’s good at it or not. I wouldn’t rate PR as a strength that jumps off of the paper for the aggies in 2025. 

ST Coaching and Outlook: The Elk brought a STC with him to ATM, Patrick Dougherty. ATM had a top 35 unit last year under him and he’s had success wherever he’s been. He put two good years together for Elko at Duke and rose to industry esteem while cutting his teeth at Ball State before that. He’s a rising name in the space. I expect ATM to have another solid year at PK and P.

 

  • Hook 'Em 5
Posted (edited)

Regarding ATM's schedule:

8/30 6pm - UTSA – Everyone is chalking this match-up in ATM’s favor to the point of it being a blowout. Maybe that happens. That considered, UTSA returns their QB, TB, 2 WRs, TE, 4 OL starters and 8 out of 11 starters on the defense. Traylor’s a good coach, this was a bowl team in 2024, and he might see this as an opportunity to interview for the future ATM job opening. I expect a close game. Like ATM, UTSA is loaded with former highly ranked players who fled their original teams for the portal. There is a pedigree of talent on the UTSA roster.

9/6 11:45am – Utah State – These guys fired their HC after going 4-8 and hired Bronco Mendenhall, who is on one of the weirdest coaching journeys this side of Dick Rod. They were decimated by the portal but do have Bryson Barnes, formerly of Utah “Pig Farmer” fame. Looks like a grim one for the aggies. The Utah State Aggies.  

9/13 5:30pm - @ Notre Dame -Notre Dame returns a lot of talent. 54 starts on the OL 2 deep, Greathouse, Love, and 6 starters on defense. They have question marks at QB, TE and explosiveness at WR. Love might be the best returning RB in the country and the OL is going to be good. Freeman knows defense as well as anyone. I don’t expect a blowout, but ATM is an institutional disaster when it comes to big road games.

9/20 – OFF

9/27 5-7pm - Auburn - A lot of people are sleeping on Auburn for 2025. Maybe that's justified, I don't know. Freeze has been a disappointment. Arnold has been a disappointment. But, Freeze has recruited really well. Auburn has, potentially, an amazing WR corps. They return 3 OLs, a likely 1st round pick at Edge and the entire secondary except Jerrin Thompson. DJ Durkin has yet to kill anyone there, also. This one should be physical. Auburn is coming off of a road game at OU and this will be too much for them unless they’ve really turned a corner.

10/4 5-7pm – Mississippi State – If Shapen is healthy, MSU should be a better team this season. They return tons of experience and they have talent on defense. I’d be stunned if they beat ATM, but I will also be stunned if this is a blowout.

10/11 2:30-7pm - Florida – If Lagway is healthy, this is a team with enough talent and experience coming back to remember the beating ATM put on them last year in The Swamp.

10/18 2:30-7pm - @ Arkansas – Arkansas got beat up by the portal, which is embarrassing. They kept their QB, though, and he’s capable of giving someone fits. The DC, Travis Williams, had an excellent gameplan last year at home against Tennessee and they stupefied Iamaleava all game. I could see Arkansas doing this against ATM in this spot, as it’s a sandwich away game between the big Florida game and going to Death Valley the following week. Still, Arkansas seems to go out of their way to lose this game on an annual basis, so my expectations are low.

10/25 2:30-7pm - @ LSU - I did a write-up on LSU on a recruiting thread discussion and I've spoilered that below. The bottom line is that LSU is going to be good this year, but they're also not a top 10 team. Nussmeier gets a ton of credit for being a guy that can really hit a 10 yard out or dig decently. 

Spoiler

From May 8th:

We'll obviously discuss this more later in the offseason, but the hyping of LSU for 2025 appears comical.

On offense, they're replacing all but one OL. They didn't win big last year with a veteran OL that included 4! draft picks last month. They couldn't run the ball well with that group but surely that's getting fixed now with underclassmen who have never played, right? They also lost their starting TE, and his blocking, in the second round.

They return an overrated QB in Nussmeier. He's going to be pitched by the national media as a Heisman candidate and proclaimed QB1 or QB2 in the 2026 draft without, apparently, most of the people doing it having watched this guy or his film.

They will certainly have a strong WR corps including Barion Brown and Nic Anderson to go with Aaron Anderson and Zavion Thomas. The TE spot is fucking terrible. They took Bauer Sharp and Donovan Green in the portal and people actually lauded those takes. Durham is an excellent RB1.

Offensively, they should be able to put up points, but there will be growing pains with 3 RS Sophomores and 2 RS Freshmen on the OL and a noob at TE as well.

On defense, both Edges are gone to the draft, and they replaced one of them with the renowned loser, Patrick Peyton from FSU. Once crowned part of the greatest DL in the entire country by Thamel and other idiots ahead of 2024, if that guy was worth a shit, he'd have left for the draft. On the other side is Pyburn from Florida and he's decent.

They're relying on a soft as pudding Dominick McKinley and a butterball whiny bitch trending towards 450 pounds in Sydir Mitchell at DT. Their DT situation is laughably bad. Strong work by Bo Davis there.

Then you have Harold "I'm pretty good against Arkansas" Perkins Jr coming off of an ACL injury and being honked about again as some sort of wizard. The guy had 16 tackles, 0 sacks, 0 FFs, O INTs last season in 4 games before injury. He was really making his presence felt. Next to him is Weeks, coming off a fractured lower leg himself.

They return most of their secondary, which I am not sure is a good thing. They added the UH Safety, maybe he helps. The LSU defense of 2024 was plain as grits. They didn't get a ton of pressure, they didn't stop the run well, they didn't stop the pass well, they didn't get a bunch of turnovers and they sucked in the red zone. But suddenly this season, they're going to be awesome and the SEC is shaking in its boots. Right.

Regarding the schedule, they go: 

-@ Clemson 8/30

-La Tech 9/6

-Florida 9/13

-FCS 9/20

-@Ole Miss 9/27

off

-SCar 10/11

-@ Vandy 10/18

-ATM 10/25

off

-@ Bama 11/8

-Arkansas 11/15

-WKU 11/22

-@ OU 11/29

It's pretty easy to consider that depth chart, the lack of experience, and that schedule and see a ceiling of 9-3. GTFO on them as a playoff team in 2025, especially with Brian Kelly running things. Anyone talking about LSU being better than 9-3 or a playoff either hasn't critically reviewed the team at all, or they're inherently in the tank for LSU in the first place. 

11/1 - OFF

11/8 2:30-7pm - @ Missouri – Mizzou was a paper tiger in 2024 and everyone knew it. Once they were exposed later in the year, the bloom was off the rose for 2025 expectations. They lost key talent all over the field. I expect them to struggle to get to a winning record. (I wrote this for them in my OU schedule write-up from June. I’ve since read more on them and looked at their schedule and disagree with the preceding sentence.) – If Pribula is decent, Missouri has transfer talent at RB (ULM’s Hardy) and WR (MSU’s Coleman) plus most of their OL is returning, as is much of the defense. ATM made a mockery of Mizzou in BCS last year and this game will be circled on a weak schedule for Missouri. ATM sucks on the road. I expect this to be a match-up of ranked paper tigers, at best.

11/15 11am – South Carolina - SCar has two of the best players at their position in the country in Sellers (QB) and Stewart (Edge). They have to replace a metric ton around both of them. SCar is going to be overranked heading into this season and, by that, I mean they'll be ranked. Still, I'm sure they'll be a tough team and they certainly have no fear for ATM after last season. 

11/22 11am – Samford - Another brave scheduling choice by them Fightin’ Texas Aggies! These FCS games can get fucked.

11/28 6:30pm - @ Texas – If Texas is healthy, I expect Sarkisian to let his team get biblical on this ATM team and send a message to everyone involved with football in this state.

12/6 3pm – SEC Championship Game - LOL

Outlook: ATM is going to open the season ranked, yet again. I didn’t go further back than 2018, but only in 2018 and the absurd 2020 season has ATM finished a season ranked higher than when they started and, for the most part, they haven’t finished ranked at all. Then we see the same process each offseason. “Moves are made” and “player X is really coming on” and then Liucci and his PR machine go out and sell to anyone and everyone that this coming season, the sleeping giant will awaken! And then ATM usually shits itself and we all point and laugh.

I don’t see the outcome being any different this season. They’ve convinced themselves and anyone who will listen that they’re a tough out who has a lot to play for with a talented roster. The problem is, the roster isn’t that talented. Luckily for ATM, their schedule is a pretty lame draw in the SEC, avoiding Bama, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Tennessee. I see losses to Notre Dame, Texas and LSU, all being road games. They’ll inevitably flub another game or two and then choke a bowl game away. Same shit as always.  

 

Edited by closetojumping
LSU
  • Hook 'Em 7
Posted

They have some decent units and some decent players.  But laughable depth.  Any injuries at OL, QB, WR, the DB Lee, and they are cooked.  They look like an 8-4 team to me at best.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

Here's an article from Tarp gently trying to warn his fanbase that Marcel Reed pretty much sucks:

Spoiler

Some quick thoughts on Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed from early in fall camp

VIP

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  •  TarpSTAFF
    Posted on 49 mins, V I P, User Since 138 months ago, User Post Count: 87991
    • 49 minsVIP
    • 138 months
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    I'm still in the process of watching clips from Texas A&M's first two practices of fall camp and talking to people. Thus, I thought I would go over some things about Aggies' quarterback Marcel Reed who is the most discussed player going into fall camp.

    - Quarterbacks tend to be what they are from a mechanical and mental standpoint by the time they're Reed's age. They should get better at certain things and especially at processing their reads and progressions via experience. However, if you're expecting them to change a great deal from a delivery standpoint, that's not very common. I've seen it happen but that depends on the quality of the coach and the mental and physical makeup of the player.

    - The other item is that because of this, your offensive coaches have to be able to program things around the quarterback's strengths and weaknesses. That's hard for some people and they wind up asking someone to do too much.

     

    - Physically, Reed is a slender guy who is never going to be a lot bigger and have a lot more strength. I think worrying about his weight given his frame is a probably a misapplied concern…he can avoid defenders or work to get the ball out faster as opposed to taking hits. However, he is also probably never going to be able to generate high end velocity because of this. This means that Reed's delivery is probably always going to have something of a hitch in it because he is going to put everything into his throws with his arm motion. In turn, that means that ball placement can be an issue because you're trying to make throws with your arm and not your body.

    - That brings me to another point: Reed's delivery has improved in terms of keeping the ball higher during his drop and orienting his shoulder to the target. His footwork has gotten better but it's never going to be equal to that of football only athlete who's been trained most of their life to be a drop back passer. The primary thing for him from a mechanical standpoint is going to be orienting his feet in the direction of the target which increases his chances of getting the ball there. It's not about perfect throws as much as it is giving the wideout the best chance of making the grab. An extra hop that redirects him on the same line as the target is a key for him.

    - However, this means that he is going to have to step up in the in the pocket more and scramble less. That's because he wants to get outside in space (even if it's just a step or two) but he may run into a blocker or defender (if he can't break containment) attempting to do that. As a result, it impacts his ability to set his feet and eventually deliver the ball. Not only that, because he wants to hold the ball, there are more things that can go wrong when he does that…defenders can close on him or his intended targets. He can scramble for positive gains playing like this but getting the ball down the field is what the position is about.

    Reed is going to set a tone for you on and off the field and he is going to work hard to make himself and everyone else around him better. I would like to see A&M move him around more if they want to throw it to the outside guys and create better spacing in the middle of the field to reduce his margin for error. RPOs will be his friend and experience should help him process things more quickly in 2025 and help A&M along the way.

 

  • Haha 2
Posted
22 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

WLB: WLB1 Taurean York (JR); WLB2 Jordan Lockhart (SO); WLB3 Tristan Jernigan (Soph); WLB4 Kelvion Riggins (FR) – One of the more comical evaluations circulating talking season and shitty mock drafts is that York is some sort of budding superstar for the aggies. The guy is now LISTED! at 5’10”, 227 LBs. He’s smaller than that and he’s slow AF. We had this guy on our roster during a time of desperation and he was a helpful back-up, but completely limited in the same ways. His nickname was Tiny Dynamite. He was a transfer from JMU and I don’t remember his real name. Nice roster guy for early Sarkisian years, but he certainly was never lauded. Without 3 early draft picks playing in the front ¾ in front of him, times are only going to get harder for this mullet. I literally know nothing about the guys behind York and do not remember Texas recruiting any of them.

 

 

Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, I believe.  Had to look it up because I certainly don't remember him playing or doing anything.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

Here's an article where Tarp is trying to gently let his readers know that their DTs this year are very likely to blow goats.

Spoiler

How Texas A&M's defensive tackle rotation is going to have to win in 2025

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  •  TarpStaff
    Posted on 9 hrs, V I P, User Since 138 months ago, User Post Count: 88036
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    Texas A&M's defensive tackles are going to have to win in a different way in 2025 than what we have seen in past seasons and particularly under former head coach Jimbo Fisher. The group has some size but it's lacking the big, space eating nose tackle that can hold their ground versus double teams. I understand that everyone has some reservations about this approach but that's not how this defensive scheme works. A&M boss Mike Elko really has never had big interior defenders at most of his stops and so he has built the position around people that have certain attributes….guys that can stay on their feet after contact, get up the field, not get washed down, maintain their gap integrity as part of an interconnected approach with the rest of the unit, and redirect plays. A&M also wants to play their interior defenders anywhere at the one, two, or three tech spots and flip them via alignment If necessary.

    Veteran Albert Regis and Iowa State transfer Tyler Onyedim are very much in this mode. For example, Regis is listed at 6 foot 1 and 317 pounds. He doesn't have long arms although he does have a good base. Regis played tight end in high school and so his lateral movement as well as his ability to chase the ball are much better than what you see from most interior guys. Most of all, he has very active hands since he had to catch passes in high school. He uses them to beat blockers with hand placement, hand fighting, and punch. Even if he gets stalemated as a pass rusher, they're quick enough to knock down passes.

    Onyedim is a longer version of Regis to an extent. He is very twitchy and has the length to keep his frame unblocked, taking on blockers and maintaining them at arm's length until he can shed them. He has the athleticism to follow the ball (which starts with good vision play recognition) and a motor that means he won't stop until he gets there. Onyedim can play a bit high, and he isn't someone who sufficiently powerful hands to escape blocks early.

     

    Former five star DJ Hicks has added more mass, but his hand placement, footwork, and lack of bend negates the remainder of his attributes some of the time. He's got the length and explosion to snap blockers back and get up the field but doing it consistently is the key. If Hicks can do those things, he should be the most naturally gifted guy at position and be no worse than a starting caliber player. He is not a natural nose in terms of holding ground, but his long arms should enable him to at least stalemate blockers.

    When I wrote about A&M's defensive rotations right before fall camp started, I noted that the Aggies had a three man rotation at the spot, and I haven't heard anything to change my mind about that. I'm not sure that any of the freshmen can become a fourth player at the position although I think you'll hear more about Landon Rink in fall camp than anyone else. However, the reason for that is because he is far more technically advanced than most of the backups he has or will be facing, is quick, and has a great motor and run down ability. Thus, he is going to more active and evident than most interior defenders. However, things will probably be different facing veteran competition for right now.

    I'm not going to say that he is a prototype for what A&M wants at the position, but he probably comes closer than anyone else because he is like Regis or Onyedim (staying engaged and following the ball) except that his explosion is superior. Those guys play laterally, and Rink plays vertically much like Shemar Turner did.

 

  • Haha 2
Posted

It’s a team with some talent, a lot of gaps, and a pretty easy schedule outside the top 4-5 teams they play. 8-4 seems certain. 

Posted
1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

On the ATM defense, their outlook for 2025:

Edge (Left side): TJ Searcy (JR); LDE2 Dayon Hayes (SR); LDE3 Rylan Kennedy (JR); LDE4 Kendall Jackson (FR) – Searcy and Hayes are transfers who have started for P4 schools. Neither UF or CU put in effort to retain either guy when they left and both have underwhelmed in their first offseasons at ATM. The mods are actually hyping Rylan Kennedy more than the other two, FWIW.

DT: DT1 Tyler Onyedim (SR); DT2 DJ Hicks (J); DT3 Jadon Scarlett (Soph); DT4 Chace Sims (FR) – Onyedim is a transfer from Iowa State who had decent numbers there. Hicks is trending towards bust territory with Tarp now talking about the guy simply not having the tools to be a quality starter on their front. Scarlett is a vestige of the 2022 disaster class and he’s not doing anything to offset that group’s infamy.

NT: NT1 Albert Regis (SR); NT2 Daelyn Evans (FR); NT3 DJ Sanders (FR) – ATM doesn’t really have a true NT this season. Regis will likely be rotating more with Onyedim in a 3 man front due to the lack of an NT on the roster. He’s a mediocrity and their whole front 3/4 is a far cry from the talent they stacked last season, even though that group didn’t really do much above average themselves. DJ Sanders is built like a giant bran muffin standing on two toothpicks. I assume he’s redshirting.

Edge (Right side): RDE1 Cashius Howell (SR); RDE2 Sam M’Pemba (Soph); RDE3 Marco Jones (FR); RDE4  Solomon Williams (FR) – Howell made plays when on the field last year, so he’s in line to have a decent year. Given the lack of high end talent around him on the DL and behind him at LB, he’s going to need to do so. M’Pemba was another transfer from a big time program (UGA) who did nothing while there and Georgia was fine watching him leave. ATM has gotten a lot of credit for these kinds of transfers from the lazy talking heads. Getting guys that programs were happy to see leave, that other big time programs didn’t compete for in the portal, is not a net gain in talent for that roster.  

WLB: WLB1 Taurean York (JR); WLB2 Jordan Lockhart (SO); WLB3 Tristan Jernigan (Soph); WLB4 Kelvion Riggins (FR) – One of the more comical evaluations circulating talking season and shitty mock drafts is that York is some sort of budding superstar for the aggies. The guy is now LISTED! at 5’10”, 227 LBs. He’s smaller than that and he’s slow AF. We had this guy on our roster during a time of desperation and he was a helpful back-up, but completely limited in the same ways. His nickname was Tiny Dynamite. He was a transfer from JMU and I don’t remember his real name. Nice roster guy for early Sarkisian years, but he certainly was never lauded. Without 3 early draft picks playing in the front ¾ in front of him, times are only going to get harder for this mullet. I literally know nothing about the guys behind York and do not remember Texas recruiting any of them.

MLB: MLB1 Scooby Williams (SR); MLB2 Damion Sanford (JR); MLB3 Noah Mikhail (FR) – Williams is a guy that had Florida coaches packing his bags for him when he announced his transfer aspirations. He showed up at ATM and suddenly he was another “big get” heralded from the portal by The Elk and Co. If you need a guy with no instincts and mediocre physical talents to make up for that? Williams is your man. Sanford has been a nothing at ATM after being a decently ranked recruit. I had to go look up Noah Mikhail’s picture to make sure he is a real person.

NB: NB1 Tyreek Chappell (SR); NB2 Jordan Shaw (Soph); NB3 Bravion Rogers (JR) – Chappell is a guy coming off of serious injury who also played a different position (CB) before he was hurt. They’ve been tepid with their thoughts on him since returning. He had a bizarre decline before injury anyways, as he had a much better Soph season than JR season. Shaw is a transfer who played a lot last year at UW. He had plenty of tackles, but that’s it. No INTs, FFs, Sacks. Rogers is another bust getting older on their roster.

LCB: LCB1 Dezz Ricks (Soph); LCB2 Julian Humphrey (JR); LCB3 Cobey Sellers (FR) – Again, you can see the trend where ATM goes out and pays for transfer guys who were highly rated out of HS but disappointments in college. They beat their chest about landing these types and the media laps it up. Ricks was a 5 star that they celebrated picking up and starting, and then they were shocked that he was mediocre as a starter and a pain point with their pass defense. Then they repeated that this cycle with Humphrey, who had been benched at UGA and has attitude issues. What could go wrong?

RCB: RCB1 Will Lee III (SR); RCB2 Jayvon Thomas (JR); RCB3 Jordan Pride (FR); RCB4 Adonyss Currie (FR) – Lee, aka “The Blanket”, is a good college CB who will be drafted in 2026 if he’s healthy. He’s their best defensive player and will generally be avoided in the passing game by most teams. When he’s gone, they’re as likely to go get another portal guy as they to let Thomas actually start. The aggies are thin behind Lee.

Strong Safety: SS1 Dalton Brooks (JR); SS2 Marcus Ratcliffe (Soph); SS3 Rashad Johnson (FR) – Brooks is a big hitter who is a step slow. Ratcliffe is getting talked up a lot by the aggie mods, so maybe he makes a run at starter, especially if Brooks is in jail for a hit-and-run.

Free Safety: FS1 Bryce Anderson (SR); FS2 Myles Davis (Soph); FS3 Jarred Kerr (SR) – Anderson was one of the highest rated guys in the 2022 class and coveted by Texas. He had a great early start to his career but has struggled since then. Last year, he had a terrible season, marred by nagging injury, and played at NB. They’ve moved him back to safety. As of now, he’s got a long way to go to get back to the budding star he looked like years ago. Davis is getting praise by the ATM staff and he was also highly rated. Kerr is another 2022 class signee who sucks.

Defensive Outlook and Coaching:

Mike Elko gets a ton of credit being a defensive guru. Some of that is deserved, as he was pretty damned good as a DC at ATM, and ND and WF before that. Some of that hype is living off of that rep and ignoring last year and also ignoring the dearth of development with the talent he’s usually working with on campus. Now he’s waddling around the media circuit and telling anyone who will listen that he’s about to produce double digit draft picks, “just like every SEC team that has won the conference”, while ignoring what’s actually on the roster or being kennel blind about same.

If you look at the defense for 2025 as whole, there’s plenty of experience and age on the roster, but how much of that is good? The DTs are a step down from their 2024 counterparts. The DEs are the same. LB has two guys that ATM loves to hype who have major deficiencies in key parts of their game. The secondary was a problem last year, but, hey, they return all of it!

Maybe Chappell and Anderson have great years. Maybe Taurean York grows 3-4 inches and Scooby Doo wakes the fuck up for every pre-snap read. Maybe a light goes on for Ricks and maybe The Elk lets Howell play freely rather than trying to tie up blockers for the second level. That’s a lot of maybes.

 

 

Regarding the Texas 8&4 Special Teams, here you go:

PK: PK1 Randy Bond (SR) – If there’s a strong point on the ATM roster, it’s at PK and Punter. Bond went 20-24 in FGA and made all of his XPs. He’s a senior and I’ll be happy to see him leave.

P: P1 Tyler White (Soph) – Tyler White is the aggiest looking aggie to have ever aggied. He’s also a damned good Punter. He averaged 44.9 ypp, netted 42 and landed 54% of his punts inside the 20. Every team in the country would take those numbers.  

KR: KR1 Reuben Owens (Soph); KR2 Ashton Bethel-Roman (FR) – Reuben Owens is looking more like fool’s gold than the real gold he was promised to be during his recruitment. He’s been a bad RB, frankly, but at KR, he’s got the speed to play the role. His lack of wiggle and willingness to be arm tackled won’t matter if the KO team can open the occasional hole for him. ABR is someone that Liucci has talked up but I know nothing about him. The two transfer WRs, Concepcion and Craver, have been discussed as KRs as well.  

PR: PR1 Mario Craver (Soph); PR2 Isaiah Williams (FR) -Craver is really fast and has some jitter to him. He didn’t return punts at MSU, so I have no idea if he’s good at it or not. I wouldn’t rate PR as a strength that jumps off of the paper for the aggies in 2025. 

ST Coaching and Outlook: The Elk brought a STC with him to ATM, Patrick Dougherty. ATM had a top 35 unit last year under him and he’s had success wherever he’s been. He put two good years together for Elko at Duke and rose to industry esteem while cutting his teeth at Ball State before that. He’s a rising name in the space. I expect ATM to have another solid year at PK and P.

 

Holy fuck Bravion Roger’s is a junior. I hadn’t thought of that dude since he committed to aTm. What a fucking bust. 
 

Also, lol Landon Rink.

 

Posted
44 minutes ago, Darth Tron said:

Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, I believe.  Had to look it up because I certainly don't remember him playing or doing anything.

44 tackles, 3 TFLs, 2.5 sacks, and now he's slinging commercial real estate in Austin.

Posted (edited)

Yes! We needed another aggy thread. Who the fuck is Landon Rink?

Lemme quote my favorite line from Bear Bryant in the Junction Boys movie/book regarding aggy, "Half the team is smaller than monkeys' cajones, the other half is slower than smoke off shit."

Edited by DFW Horn
Post martinis, lucid moment
Posted
27 minutes ago, lemonandaturd said:

I see they are already hyping up Landon Rink.  

I didn't read that as hyping, more of "he's a physically maxed out white guy from a football family who's already had a lot of coaching"

Posted

It was pointed out that Elko didn’t take his QB to SEC media days. Either he knows there is a good chance he goes with someone else, or he doesn’t want Reed getting comfortable?

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