Week 11's Overnight Sensation: LT Overton, Defensive Lineman

Each Monday during the 2022 Texas A&M football season, we’ll identify a first or second-year Aggie player who delivered an exceptional performance over the weekend and earned the distinction of being the week’s ‘Overnight Sensation.’

Reminder: LT Overton should still be in high school right now.

Instead, Overton is a starting defensive lineman in the Southeastern Conference.

In Saturday’s 13-10 loss to Auburn, a small amount of hope remains as the Aggies are now ineligible for a bowl game. However, if there is anything to be excited about, it’s the development of A&M’s freshman class. Is that a broken record claim? Yes, but it proves to be true, week in and week out.

Despite a nightmarish offensive performance all year, A&M has looked somewhat better on the defensive side of the ball.

Once you look past all the run defense miscues, A&M’s defense did only give up 13 points to the Tigers, who average 22.9 points a game. Overton played a large role in the group’s production.

Against Auburn, the defensive lineman torched his previous 2022 season personal records as he was the second-leading tackler, totaling nine total stops, seven of which were solo.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Overton has posted 23 tackles in his freshman season.

To make these stats even more impressive, Overton was facing a grouping of five senior offensive linemen who have years of collegiate playing experience under their belt. Overton has nine games.

Coming in at 6-foot-5, 280-pounds, Overton is built for the trenches even at the ripe age of 18.

He also broke through to tally his third tackle for loss this season for a loss of three yards.

Last week, the Aggies missed Overton’s presence on the line of scrimmage as he was sidelined with the flu, but the freshman quickly bounced back to have his best game yet.

Before coming to A&M, the Milton, GA native reclassified into the 2022 recruiting class, boosting the Aggies’ already-dominant defensive line haul, which has proven to be the real deal and will continue to improve with experience.

If Overton can have that kind of performance against defenders four to five years older than him, there is no telling what he will be able to do when they are his same age.

Overton’s stats vs. Auburn
Tackles: 9
Solo Tackles: 7
QB Hurries: 0
Sacks: 0
TFLs: 1.0

Overton’s 2022 stats
Tackles: 23
Solo Tackles: 10
QB Hurries: 4
Sacks: 1.0
TFLs: 3.0