On3's J.D. PicKell goes inside Bobby Petrino's scheme on TexAgs Radio

During Friday morning's edition of TexAgs Radio, On3's J.D. PicKell joined to go in-depth on Bobby Petrino's offensive system, how he will adapt to Texas A&M's talent to 'feed the studs' in Aggieland and much, much more.

Key notes from J.D. PicKell interview

• We're trying to piece together what Bobby Petrino has done over the years. It's clear that he is going to "feed the studs" this season at Texas A&M, but he may do that in different ways. In one game, it may be running, and it might be throwing in another. Last year, the Aggies were unbalanced offensively. Defenses were able to easily key on some tendencies. That also means that you're not "feeding the studs" and spreading the ball around. I think you'll see the A&M offense dictate things to defenses more this year. It'll be a lot more of a complete identity in 2023.
   
• I think the Aggies might need to be closer to 48 percent run to be balanced. It was 46 percent last year, which told me that they were trying to get the ball out quickly in the passing game, and maybe that goes back to the offensive line. Some of that goes back to winning on first and second down. Getting the ball to playmakers, and getting ahead of the chains for third down will be a big key for the offense.
   
• I think when you look at Petrino's offenses, last year at Missouri State, it was the power spread, which is about spreading the receivers out and trying to create matchups. They were trying to create space and matchups, getting the ball out and distributing the ball to whoever they wanted to. I think the Aggies will do that a lot this year. Get what they want pre-snap and go off of that.
   
• I think some of the struggles for Petrino's offense last year went back to limitations at quarterback. I saw what they did last year against Arkansas. They consistently got themselves into good down and distances and moved the football. I would worry less about last season with Petrino and more about the entire body of work.
   
• I like the POWER portion of the power spread game. You see a lot of teams block zone out of the spread, but in a power scheme, everyone has someone to block on every single play. You want to get north and south quickly. I think that wears down a defense more, and it makes it harder for safeties to want to come down and tackle a guy like Rueben Owens in the third and fourth quarters. That's when guys start to cheat up, and that will open up explosive plays for all of Texas A&M's weapons on the outside. I know Texas A&M fans are happy to see that.
   
• I don't think 30-34 points a game is unreasonable. I would lean more toward predicting 30. As an A&M fan, I would be more interested to see how the A&M offense looks toward the end of October. Do your young guys no longer look like "first-year" guys around game nine? It would be interesting to see, and you would hope that they are scoring around 35 points a game toward the end of the year. They have an abundance of riches talent-wise, so I really want to see how they look later in the season.
   
• Taking care of the games early in the season is a key thing to watch. Assuming Conner Weigman is named the starter, though not done yet, I really want to watch how he plays against the likes of Miami on the road and Auburn at home early in the season. This new offense is built around being more simple and getting the ball to your talented players.
   
• Payton Thorne is the starter at Auburn. The RPO scheme with Hugh Freeze is going to be huge. Freeze wants to run the football. Thorne will have the option to hand it off or throw it on every single play. If the Tigers can't get any momentum running the ball, it would make the passing game that much more difficult on The Plains. Payton Thorne missed all of spring ball, so it's interesting to see how they look early in the season with him being named the starter.
   
• Deion Sanders wasn't encouraging fighting at Colorado. He was encouraging being together as a team. Fights happen all the time in football camps. We just don't see them as much as we do in the pros. I think that was a team-building moment for Deion. That is a group of guys brought in through the transfer portal, and he needs to get them to bond as a team. It's going to be interesting to watch Coach Prime and Colorado this fall.