James Coley explains how Texas A&M's speed can change the game offensively

Texas A&M plans to be fast on offense. Especially among its wide receiver corps, where the Aggies return several speedsters and added major talent as part of their No. 1 ranked 2022 recruiting class. At a recent press conference, A&M offensive coordinator and receivers coach James Coley explained why having that game-breaking speed is such an advantage for his playmakers.

Coley’s comments when asked how big of a literal boost speed is for his wideouts:

“Absolutely. That’s, you know, stolen. Those are yards you steal, right. Because of the leverage the defense may give you because of who you have in the backfield, right. That guy in the back of the room right there, right. So they wanna be stingy in the box, you know, you’re throwing a bubble out there to a guy who has speed. Could be the fastest guy on the team or could just be a guy who’s long and fast and strong and is hard to tackle. So, that adds an element to your game. Being explosive along with going deep.”

You can plan a perfect defense, but at the right angle, a speedster is simply going to bust one loose. Can’t replicate that type of asset on the football field.

During that same press conference, Coley also addressed his two true freshmen in the WR room, explaining how their physicality, but not necessarily their speed, gives them an advantage.

Coley on freshmen WRs Marshall and Thomas

James Coley added a few new toys to the war chest for his wideout room during the exceptional recruiting cycle for A&M this past offseason.

Namely, five-star, No. 24 overall players in the ’22 class, Chris Marshall. And top-400 four-star Noah Thomas. Both lofty, lanky targets standing 6-foot-3 or taller while weighing under 200 pounds. Here’s what their OC and position coach had to say about them ahead of their first season

“Yeah, being on the field, you know what I mean? I think that when you’re in training camp, you’re competing for jobs, you know. So, hopefully, they’re competing to be the starter.”

Coley then emphasized the size of the two wideouts and wonders how they’ll use that physicality to their advantage.

“With their size, one thing that you have to bring up with that is — big guys like that — are they guys who body you up to make grabs. Or are they guys who have a catch radius. And those guys have shown that they have a catch radius, right. They got to continue to work, you know. To continue to improve that catch radius and to stay on top of their game, right. But they got a skillset that makes them an issue on the perimeter.”