Bryce Foster to miss season opener with illness
Texas A&M sophomore center Bryce Foster will miss Saturday’s season opener against Sam Houston due to illness, reports Travis Brown of The Eagle.
As a true freshman, Foster started all 12 games on his way to earning multiple honors. Among the awards were the 2021 SEC All-Freshman Team, FWAA Freshman All-America Team, and The Athletic Freshman All-America First Team.
Expected to be starting in his place on Saturday will be redshirt-freshman Matthew Wykoff.
Wykoff has been splitting first team reps with Foster this fall as Foster also missed some time in fall camp.
Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher has talked about Foster and Wykoff during his most recent discussion on the Southeastern Conference teleconference. Fisher declined to say who would see the most time at center.
“We’ll wait and see,” Fisher said. “We feel very good about both guys. They both can play, and we’ll see who’s playing well and doing what we’re doing. Both guys are available [and have] played well.”
That question has now been answered for everyone as Foster is unable to play this weekend. According to Brown’s report, Foster will be able to play as soon as he cleared by doctors. This should be “soon.”
What to make of the interior of Texas A&M’s offensive line?
Earlier this week, before this Foster knews was known, AggieScoop’s Tim Verghese wrote about the Aggies interior line. Here were the questions that Tim was looking forward to being answered. These are still in play for the backups and reserve players.
If Wykoff trots out as the starter on Saturday, will Foster be the starting left guard? Or will he come off the bench. If it’s not Foster at guard, is it third year offensive lineman Aki Ogunbiyi starting there? Ogunbiyi’s versatility makes him an intriguing sixth option that can play all over the line, will the staff look to utilize his swing ability off the bench, or make him the mainstay at left guard? How do other interior linemen like Josh Bankhead and Jordan Spasojevic-Moko factor in? We likely won’t get much clarity on that until Saturday.