'It starts today': A&M's offensive front expects a significant jump in 2023

There is little doubt that Texas A&M’s offensive line has an abundance of promise.

There have also been abundant promises that the Aggies' blocking will be significantly improved.

A couple of hours before A&M had its first practice of August camp, head coach Jimbo Fisher offered an abundance of reasons for the line’s expected improvement in the 2023 football season.

“I think, first of all, the leadership of it,” Fisher said on Wednesday. “The way they’ve acted. The way they’ve interacted with each other. The questions they’ve asked. The workouts they’ve had. The walk-throughs they’ve had. The spring ball which we went through.

“The questions have been a lot better with total understanding. And the execution has been better when we were in practice. Hopefully, we can take it out in the fall and go.”

So much hope for a successful rebound to last year’s 5-7 disappointment is centered on the play of the offensive line.

It’s no surprise that strong line play typically leads to a strong season. That’s been the case for A&M since joining the Southeastern Conference in 2012.

In that span, A&M usually has had its best seasons when ranking among the SEC leaders in rushing, which isn’t accomplished without exceptional blocking up front.

In 2012, A&M finished 11-2 and ranked fifth in the nation while leading the SEC in rushing.

The Aggies ranked third in the league in rushing in 2018 en route to a 9-4 finish and No. 16 ranking.

They were second in the SEC in rushing in 2020 and finished 9-1 and ranked fourth in the nation.

Interestingly, that spike in production in 2020 was in the second year of then-offensive line coach Josh Henson.

This season, the Aggies will be in their second year under offensive line coach Steve Addazio.

Senior guard Layden Robinson — who worked in both seasons with Henson — said that makes a difference.

“It’s always big going into the second season because you know your coach,” Robinson said. “You know what your coach expects from you. You adjust to his style. You adjust to his system.

“It’s always good, especially going through the spring with him. If you ask him, we’ve made tremendous strides. This is the best that we’ve looked with him. He’s very excited with us right now, but he’s not satisfied. We’ve still got a lot more work we need to do, but it’s all going to come together in his second season. I’m excited about it. He’s excited about it. Our O-line room … we’re excited about it.”

Fisher seems to be excited, too.

He acknowledged the second year, particularly with an offensive line coach, is vital because of the communication required to call blocking assignments and pick up blitzes.

“Any time you change a guy, you change an organization,” Fisher said. “How do we do it? Why do we do it? When do we do it? Things you expect them to do. Calls to be made.

“We had multiple guys (injured). You’re mixing and matching guys. The offensive line is one of the most communicative positions as anywhere.

“Fronts move. Blitzes come. Calls are made. It’s not that they don’t know. It’s being able to communicate it down the line with 100,000 people yelling. You can use hand signals, gestures, taps. There are so many different things guys are learning that routine in the heart of the moment. When you have younger guys, it’s always a challenge in those situations.”

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

After missing eight games with an injury last fall and representing A&M Track & Field this spring, center Bryce Foster returned to practice on Wednesday.

The Aggies line was extremely young last season.

Over the last month of the season, the right side of the line was comprised of redshirt freshman tackle Trey Zuhn, true freshman guard Kam Dewberry and redshirt freshman center Matthew Wykoff.

Zuhn and Dewberry return to join center Bryce Foster, who is back from injuries that forced him to miss eight games.

Robinson, of course, is back along with left tackle Reuben Fatheree. Fisher said Fatheree, who sustained an injury in spring drills, will be “eased back in.”

Zuhn and Dewberry figure to be better with their gained experience. Robinson said he’d be better because of lost weight.

Last year, he was listed at 330 pounds. This year, he’s listed at 315.

“I just made sure I worked on myself mentally. I worked on myself physically,” Robinson said about his efforts to improve. “I got down in weight because I realized in the springtime when I cut weight that I actually felt really good. It was the best spring I’ve had, according to my coaches.

“I moved better. I felt better. I just felt the movement in my body. I figured out myself and what I play best at.

“It was a wake-up call for me, so this summer I’ve just been working on my hand speed, making sure I move my feet on the inside move. I’ve been putting myself in situations that I struggled with last year so I won’t struggle with them this year.”

Robinson appeared confident the line as a whole won’t struggle.

“The offensive line — us just taking those reps last season — is just building the competition for this season because we know what we’re doing,” he said. “Guys are not so young anymore. They’ve experienced it. They’ve played. They got that feeling out of their system. They know what’s expected of them, and they know how to win and how to play.

“We’ve just got to make sure we have that chemistry with each other and make sure we bear down every single play. It starts today.”