Young Aggie wideouts put forth encouraging spring showings

The departure of three starters raised concerns about Texas A&M’s receiving corps this autumn. But the level of encouragement there has been raised by play of several freshmen this spring.

On Wednesday night, Aggie coach Kevin Sumlin said that freshmen Jhamon Ausbon, Roshauud Paul, Hezekiah Jones and Quartney Davis have demonstrated enough during spring football drills to raise optimism that they can be productive targets for quarterbacks Jake Hubenak, Nick Starkel and Kellen Mond.

The Aggies, who still have All-American Christian Kirk on hand, needed to see signs that someone can step in and help fill the holes created by the losses of Josh Reynolds, Ricky Seals-Jones and Speedy Noil, a trio that combined for 108 receptions, 1,697 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. Backup Jeremy Tabuyo, who caught 14 passes for 229 yards, also completed his eligibility.

“You lose four, and you get these guys coming in. Remember (redshirt freshman) Quartney Davis didn’t do anything last year,” Sumlin said. “So, you add four guys to the receiver corps. You have to say with practice they’ve come in and hit the ground running and did a nice job. Just because of the luck of the draw would have it from an early graduation standpoint, those guys came in here and were able to fill some holes right away and have done a nice job.”

Those freshmen receivers have an opportunity to further demonstrate their skill during Saturday’s 'Maroon and White' game at Kyle Field. This year’s clash will be an actual game with traditional scoring. Kirk and safety Armani Watts are team captains who drafted their teams on Wednesday afternoon.

“They want to win,” Sumlin said. “(We’re) splitting up the coaches. They want to know who’s on what team. It will add to the competitiveness of the game instead of it just being another day of practice or scrimmage.”

Sumlin hopes he’ll see more of what he saw in last week’s Friday Night Lights scrimmage, especially from Ausbon. The freshman caught five passes for 110 yards and a touchdown.

“Since, really the first scrimmage, he’s gotten better every scrimmage,” Sumlin said. “Physically, here’s where he needs to be. He’s 219 (pounds). He just needs to continue to keep working his technique and understand the offense.

“Physically, you see why he was so highly-recruited. He’s put together. Here’s a guy that’s supposed to be going to the prom next month, and he already looks like he’s been here two or three years.”

Ausbon has shown so much promise that perhaps he can – at least to some degree – ease the loss of Reynolds, who is projected by some to go as high as the second round of the upcoming NFL draft. Reynolds caught 30 touchdown passes in his three-year career at A&M. Sumlin isn’t prepared to go that far. Not yet, anyway.

“Until you play, you never know,” Sumlin said. "Nobody knew who Josh Reynolds was when he got here. Nobody said he’s going to ease the loss of Mike Evans.

“I don’t know if you ease those losses at all. You just try to find another guy who can play like that. These young guys are good players. It’s not a matter of if they can play. This summer is going to be big for them from strength and conditioning. But being here and going through spring football has really helped them. They’ve done nothing but gotten better every week.”