Reasons for optimism surface as A&M shows glimpses in spring game
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At least in one regard, the Aggies appeared in mid-season form during Texas A&M’s Maroon & White Game on Saturday.
It was in the third quarter. The Aggies faced fourth-and-1. Just like so often last season, they failed to convert.
Aside from reliving the hell of fourth-and-short in 2024, reasons for optimism in 2025 surfaced at Kyle Field.
The fact that Team White prevailed 19-7 is of secondary importance. Indeed, it’s not important at all.
What is important is that areas of concern for 2025 now appear as areas of intrigue.
• Where’s the pass rush gonna come from? Well, it might come from freshman Marco Jones.
• Can the defensive line, which has lost three NFL prospects, be adequately rebuilt?
• Will the receiving corps be more explosive? KC Concepcion and Mario Craver certainly appear to make a difference.
• Can pass coverage in the secondary be upgraded? All-SEC cornerback Will Lee III, aka “The Blanket,” made a blanket statement in the affirmative.
•Will Marcel Reed emerge as a star quarterback who can lead A&M into legitimate status as a Southeastern Conference championship contender?
Those questions were not answered in the Maroon & White Game. Few questions are ever answered in the spring.
But there were hints and clues.
For example: The two teams combined for a startling 12 sacks. Jones, who has drawn raves throughout the 15 sessions of spring practice, accounted for five of them. He also posted another tackle for loss and broke up a pass.
Don’t read too much into that outstanding performance, though.
Spring football All-Americans are like Bluebonnets. They blossom this time of year but disappear by fall. Does the name Avery Hughes ring a bell?
Jones, though, may not disappear.
“I think Marco Jones has a really bright future,” A&M coach Mike Elko said. “I think he’s extremely athletic. I think he’s got tremendous ability to rush the passer.
“I don’t know if Aggies should expect him to have five sacks a game this fall. That may be a little bit of a high expectation.
“But he had a really good spring. He’s gotten better every single practice. Obviously, a lot of it is matchups, so you have to take some of it with a grain of salt. But he’s going to be a really, really good football player for us.”
Jones is part of the defensive line reconstruction project. He is only one part, though.
Transfers Tyler Onyedim (one sack, 1.5 TFLs), T.J. Searcy (two sacks) and Dayon Hayes (1.5 sacks) demonstrated they might patch the holes left by the departures of Shemar Stewart, Shemar Turner and Nic Scourton.
“I think we have a pretty decent ability to evaluate players,” Elko said. “We felt like we added some quality players on the front. We knew we needed to because of the departures. We have some kids that we thought would step up, and they have.”
As for the newcomers at receivers… Concepcion caught seven passes for 64 yards. That includes a nifty shoelace grab for a first down. Craver had five catches for 78 yards.
Skeptics won’t be impressed. They saw A&M’s secondary get consistently torched last November. Of course, Concepcion and Craver would excel against A&M coverage. Seemingly, everyone else did.
However, A&M quarterbacks completed just 57.5 percent of passes attempted (38 of 66) in the spring game.
Further, three passes were intercepted.
There were a few busted coverages. It is spring, after all. Still, coverage was typically sound and often tight.
“I feel like we made big progress (since last season),” Lee said. “The whole thing was really just about being more deep into the playbook. Everybody’s coming in for their second year. They know what we’ve got to do. We’ve just got to execute at a high level.”
Reed did not execute at a high level. He completed 18 of 28 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown for Team Maroon. He also threw an interception.
That’s not bad. However, much more is expected from Reed this fall. No doubt, much more is needed.
Elko couldn’t offer a fair evaluation on Reed’s showing.
“It’s hard to say,” Elko said. “You know, the pockets weren’t great. I thought he made some really good throws into really tight windows. I thought we did some things in the passing game that we hadn’t done last year.
“But the internal pocket wasn’t great today.”
That’s because Reed played behind an offensive line of inexperienced backups. Center Mark Nabou Jr. was the only projected starter on the Team Maroon line.
That was the case for Team White, too. Guard Chase Bisontis was the only starter who played. He played sparingly because, as Elko said, they already know what he can do.
The absence of offensive line starters at least partially explains the overwhelming success of the pass rush.
On the bright side, maybe it also explains the inability to convert on fourth-and-1.
