LOOK: Johnny Manziel, Mike Evans return to Texas A&M for season opener
Texas A&M welcomed back some big names for its season opener on Saturday. Johnny Manziel and Mike Evans were in the building.
The two former Aggies came back to Kyle Field for the first game of the year against Sam Houston State, which went into a lightning delay coming out of halftime. At the time, Texas A&M had a 17-0 lead, meaning Manziel and Evans saw some offense through the first two quarters.
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Manziel and Evans played together at Texas A&M. In that time, Manziel threw for 7,820 yards and 63 touchdowns over two seasons, including a Heisman Trophy campaign in 2012. Evans, meanwhile, totaled had 2,499 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns.
After the 2013 season, both players entered the NFL Draft. Evans went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the No. 7 overall pick while the Cleveland Browns selected Manziel at No. 22 overall.
Jimbo Fisher assesses Texas A&M’s first half vs. Sam Houston State
Texas A&M played a pretty quiet first half until the final minute when the Aggies hit on a 63-yard touchdown pass from King to Smith. That made it a 17-0 lead for Texas A&M, which was a brick wall on defense while working through some hiccups on offense with in the first half of Week 1.
At halftime, Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher reviewed King’s performance, pointing to one mistake while praising him otherwise.
“He made one bad mistake,” Fisher said. “He should’ve checked it down on first down. Had a chance to free one out of there. Made a couple really nice throws after that. Made some big plays on third down. And then, really big vertical throws. A solid first half. Just a couple things [to work on].”
Fisher would also like to see King get some help from the running game.
“Also, got to play a little bit better around him,” Fisher said. “We got to run the football. We’re not running the football enough. We’re getting behind on the sticks a little bit.”