AggieYell Mailbag
Here’s this week’s AggieYell Mailbag, sponsored by Tipton Auto Group:
Q: The term “brotherhood” has been used by both players and recruits, often referring to the team’s locker room chemistry. I don’t recall hearing it used in previous years. Is this a new development? If so, did it start with the players, the coaches, or someone else? (Spar2cus)
A: It may be a new development at A&M (and it’s not, really; I’ve heard it before) but it’s commonplace in sports. In the 40 years I’ve closely watched sports (and I started at a REALLY young age), I’ve heard it countless times. Now, having said that, it’s what you want to hear. That’s a sign of a good team culture and an indication that everyone has a common goal. I heard “brotherhood” used in 2009 and 2012, but didn’t hear it again until 2020 (I’m talking about A&M here). Now it’s being used a lot again. That’s a real credit to Mike Elko and his staff being good judges of character — and it also means they’re winning.
Q: In your opinion, is it good, bad, or something else having a Sanford the week before you go for an undefeated season and play tu?
A: I think it’s good. You can work on some concepts against real competition, keep your guys from getting rusty and, after a little bit of work, get them off the field. And it also helps Samford develop their program, because they’ll get a nice little check for being cannon fodder.
Also, it’s Samford. Sanford, Daymion, plays for the Aggies. Other Sanfords include a guy who owned a junk shop and had a son.
Can you believe the year we’ve had? (Tsip Despiser)
Remember what Elko did a couple of weeks ago when I asked him about job security and he knocked on the wood podium? I just knocked on my wood desk. I don’t want to say anything about it because it’s not over yet. One thing about streaks is you have to respect the streak. (Thank you, Crash Davis.)
Q: How many DTs do you think A&M will try to get in the portal? (Ag20)
A: Let’s start by seeing who they should have back: DJ Hicks, Dealyn Evans, Landon Rink, DJ Sanders and Chace Sims. Hicks has become the beast we all hoped he would be; Evans has played in every game but only has 5 tackles. Rink has played in 7 games and has 6, including 1.5 TFL. Sanders is probably going to redshirt (he’s played in three games) and Sims has been out all season. They should also add another in Jermaine Kinsler, but he needs to do some bulking up.
Right now, I would say Hicks and Rink start next year, but you have a senior, a redshirt sophomore, a true sophomore and two redshirt freshmen. I would definitely be shopping for one, if not two, DTs in the portal.
Q: The current line for tu v A&M is tu -10.5. I cannot for the life of me understand why? It feels like we are not the best matchup for them, even if Arch plays well.
A: that’s an old line from before the season began. It’ll be updated, probably on Sunday.
Adding to my question: w/ Anthony Hill reportedly out, am I biased/hopeful for thinking Arky might actually pull the upset? I definitely don’t think Texas w/o Anthony Hill beats us if their secondary doesn’t improve. I’d also add that given how Texas responded to the onside kick, it’s not crazy to think that Texas just rolls over and mopes their way to 7-6 (including the bowl game) (dp47)
Hold your horses — Hill is listed as questionable, so he’s not a certainty to be out. Now, I would love to think Arkansas is going to light them up and make it a track meet, but they won’t if they played like they did against LSU.
Q: Hate to be hyperbolic, but is this Sanford team the worst team in modern history to play at Kyle Field? (Naytch)
A: If they’re not, they’re close. I mean, geez…stats can’t lie that much.
Again, Sanford has a son. Samford has a football team, and provided A&M their basketball coach.
Q: If we lose to Bama after beating tu, any chance we are still a top 4 seed? I REALLY want that bye! (3s2ghill)
A: Kind of depends on what other teams do. Alabama is still 10th, so they’d have to jump a lot of teams. If Georgia loses to Ga. Tech, that would help. If Ole Miss would lose to State, that would help. If Oregon loses to USC or Washington, THAT would help. I think if A&M loses either game, they’ll lose the bye — unless someone highly rated drops one too. And, at this rate, it looks like that’s a certainty — Indiana will play Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game.
Q: Last hope drive for USC, 3rd down, York leaves tv frame out into coverage but then comes back from right side of screen and very near the whistle, drops his shoulder and lays a guy out with a blind side block. Didn’t get noticed but would’ve put them close to FG position with 49 sec or so left. He’s a captain. Smart kid. I get these guys are hyped up. But question is, are they given any supplements before the game to crank up their energy? Caffeine pills? Salt pills? Seems they can be very hyped. Does someone monitor this? (Eyecutter98)
A: no, nothing like that. This isn’t like baseball in the 70s when greenies were put in candy jars before each game. They’re kids, they’re well trained, in great shape and have adrenaline working on their side.
Q: Is this your most enjoyable season you’ve covered to this point in your career? (Elkofricks)
A: So far it is, but it’s not over yet.
Q: Where is Amari Daniels? Is he injured? Haven’t seen that. He was pretty clutch for us last year when Moss was out but he’s absent this year. (Boo yah)
A: He is not injured, he’s just been bumped out of the running back rotation by Jamarion Morrow and EJ Smith.
Q: I think Le’Veon Moss is worth 3 points to offense when healthy. If good to go, does he play against tu?
A: Yep.
Right now, I see some daylight between top 4 in the playoff and the rest but not all that much among them. Do you agree?
I think Oregon and Ole Miss are close, but I still don’t know if Oregon’s any good.
How long do the starters play Saturday? (JustAvgIllini)
Barring another absolute horror story, a half — max.
Q: Based on the last playoff ranking, which team is our biggest obstacle to the championship? (Other than our own based on the USC first half)
A: Take it a week at a time. Texas is first, then Alabama (or Georgia), then probably Ole Miss.
Q: Are you at all worried about the fact that we had absolutely no success running the ball against USCe (realizing that in the first half no one could do anything right, and in the second half we were so far down we had to pass almost every play)? (Phastman)
A: They actually ran the ball decently in the second half, picking up 73 yards at 4.1 yards a carry. But yeah, it concerns me a lot. Teams all year have been thinking they’ll stop the run and force Reed to throw, and nobody could — until last weekend. As amazing as The Comeback was, the Aggies need to flush that first half and realize there was still room for improvement in the second.
Q: NIL and the Portal. Maybe these are topics for a separate post by you. First the Portal. Can you explain how we judge the players we want to bring in? I assume that we have a fairly robust staff who are evaluating prospects during the course of the season. How do we prevent malcontents? How are we sure that the players who we do bring in will mesh with the team and the culture at A&M? If we go deeply into the playoffs, how do we interview those players? For the 2025 season, LSU reportedly had the best portal class and we are witnessing a slow-moving dumpster fire.
A: They scout guys, certainly. They look at more than stats; they look at the fit with the team. And that includes insight from current players, who likely have spent time with them away from the coaches.
How would A&M interview the players? They have staffers for that, and Elko’s a smart guy. He’ll be able to spare some time.
Where do we stand on an NIL budget in comparison to other teams? For an 85-man roster, what is our budget?
I’m not going to get into specifics, because that’s something the program doesn’t want out there. But it is significant and likely just increased with Elko’s new contract.
Can we put incentives on player performance, e.g., $100,000 per sack?
No, I don’t think any player would take an incentivized deal. They’ll be looking for a base salary, and if you start putting incentives into a contract, that’s an obvious pay for play and the contract will not be approved by the College Sports Commission.
Q: Why does Rivals ALWAYS drop the rankings of our committed recruits??? (El Capullo)
A: I don’t have an answer for you on that one. I have nothing to do with rankings.
Q: What do we need to know about recruiting rules during the playoffs? Including… are unofficial or official visits allowed at the games? If so, under what conditions? When is the dead period and what does that actually mean these days? (SGMan)
A: They are NOT allowed. Dec. 1 to Jan. 4 are dead periods, meaning that no visits are permissible for either the first round or the quarterfinals (which would be a bowl game anyway). The NCAA’s official definition for a dead period is that period of time when it is not permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on or off the member institution’s campus or to permit official or unofficial visits by prospective student-athletes to the institution’s campus.
Q: How confident are you in moss returning 100% healthy for Texas? (Diskyle22)
A: Very confident.
Q: Once Klein selects a play for the next down, does he communicate it directly to the QB via the helmet audio link? Does Klein communicate it to Cushing, Dougherty, Wiggens, Taylor and Elko at that time also? Does Klein also give the QB the “check down” play at that time as well? (BoxsterBoy72)
A: He communicates it straight to Marcel Reed, but Elko, at the very least, is listening in and can veto it — hence the “Bleep me, bleep me, bleep me” after the botched trick play on the 1 Saturday. Sometimes he’ll call two plays, but there really isn’t a “check down” play. There’s set audibles that Reed can call.
Q: It’s been an incredible year for the football team so far. Other sports are competing at high levels too like the volleyball team, women’s tennis, track & field, and even meat judging as I learned here. Do you think we’re at the dawn of a new era of Aggie athletic success, or would you say it’s more of a broken-clock-is-right-twice-a-day time for us? If the former, what changed? Who get’s the credit? Trev Alberts is still pretty new here and works behind the scenes, so it’s hard to see his contributions. Is he our guy? Thank you. (Kneuse)
A: I hope we’re entering a new era, because I like winning. As for Alberts, he’s kept an even keel through some turbulent times. He’s very involved, which some coaches, who are now at Texas and Maryland, did not like. But he’s not only an administrator, he’s a sports fan. Even though he’s only had two hires so far, in baseball and basketball, I’m giving him a lot of credit for staying loyal through a university president’s firing and moving quickly to ensure Elko stays around. But it’ll be a few years before he can truly be judged. But he’s already better than Eric Hyman.
Q: With portal and NIL, do any Power4 groups sniff JUCOs? Are they still there playing? Haven’t thought about jucos in 2 years or more…. (Rooster77)
A: They do, but the JUCO route has become far more difficult with the portal. Major programs who might otherwise be interested will just go out and buy a player who has already played in the FBS or starred in FCS.
Q: Elko seems to be extremely organized. He seems to have plans for the portal, recruiting, and for upcoming teams. Is he a great CEO, or does he personally get involved in the details in all of these areas? (GCJC)
A: Oh, he certainly is involved, but he’s not so hung up on himself that he has to be involved with every single aspect of things. He’s the boss, he went out and got people he believes are capable and he lets them do their jobs. If there’s something he wants changed, he can direct for it to be changed.
Q: In SEC games, the Ags have outscored their opponents 93-88 in the first half. In the second half it’s 151-62. What do you think they need to do come out of the gate firing on all cylinders? Is it pregame warmup? Have you noticed them doing anything differently than their opponents? (98 Percenter)
A: Every team does their warmups a little bit differently. I think in this case, it may be just a matter of focus. Sometimes, they’ve come out hot and then kind of relax and it bites them (LSU and Arkansas, for instance). Against South Carolina, they were largely clueless until halftime. They’ve been great in the third quarter, but if they think they can keep relying on halftime adjustments, they’re going to lose. It’s time for focus to be sharp for 60 minutes.
Q: Due to the 27-point deficit we started the 2nd half with tempo, which Elko referred to as their “6-minute offense”. This seemed to help Reed establish rhythm & led to a much cleaner & effective operation. Given our depth and ability to wear down & outlast opponents, why wouldn’t we start every game using this blitzkrieg approach? (Bo2001)
A: For one thing, it’s almost entirely passing. There’s no balance to it. But it’s good to know they can do it, and maybe they DO come out with it against Texas.
Q: Demarcus Belton from Alvarado, are we looking at him at all? (H273)
A: No.
Q: What sort of voodoo magic is LSU using to keep their recruiting class together? They have some great talent that’s staying committed. Do you see them losing any players, getting flipped to other schools?
A: Frank Wilson has done a great job keeping their class together, and some of those kids have wanted to play for LSU their entire lives (Lamar Brown, for instance). They have lost a few and will likely lose more, but Wilson and the rest of the remaining assistants have really done superior work.
Also, our Oline has been described as one of the best out there. Who are we losing after the season, who do you prognosticate as the starters and how good can they be next year? (Have Gun Will Travel)
I’m expecting they lose everyone but Mark Nabou. Chase Bisontis can come back, but I think he’ll head to the NFL. So right now, your starters would likely be Lamont Rogers at left tackle, Papa Ahfua or Nelson McGuire at left guard, Nabou at center, Blake Ivy, Tyler Thomas or Ashton Funk at right guard and Robbie Bourdon at right tackle.
I expect they will be active in the portal looking for more options, especially at tackle. How good can they be? They’ll take a massive step back as far as experience goes, so hoping for anything close to this year may be a reach.
Q: How many players get on the field and still don’t burn their redshirt? (Travster23)
A: You mean on Saturday? Lamont Rogers, Kelshaun Johnson and DJ Sanders have played in three games, so they can play in this one. Tiger Riden has played in two, I guess on special teams. He’s a 2024 guy, but Tristan Jernigan is in a position to redshirt, but can still play in this one. So can corner Adonyss Currie. Brady Hart could get some time at quarterback. TK Norman is already at four, so he probably won’t go.
Q: Looking at Samford’s stats, they seem to move the ball well, especially through the air. What seems to be the reason they have trouble scoring points considering they are 9th in passing offense and average 359.8 yards per game?
A: Two things: they’re horrible in the red zone and they turn the ball over a lot. They have only converted 71.4% of their red zone opportunities into points, and they have turned the ball over 27 times, including 19 interceptions — 125th out of 126 teams in FCS. They’re effective between the 20s, then fall apart.
Also, they are averaging 4.64 sacks per game. Have they been dealing with any injuries at QB? (Umpocket)
Not that I can see. They play several, but there’s no indication that that was because of injuries to other guys.
Q: What happened to Zirkel? He came into the season as the undisputed FG kicker, then he gets a groin injury and never gets the job back? With Randy missing 2 last week, any chance we see him get the nod on Saturday? (BlackdogAggie)
A: We asked Elko that question on Monday and his response was, “Randy’s our guy.”
Q: It looks like Feaster will be coming in this weekend. IF they manage to flip him from usc, do they back off Warren, or would they try to take both? (Maddog83)
A: Personally, I’d try to take them both, but I’d put the odds of flipping Feaster as pretty slim. If all things were equal between USC and A&M, he’d very likely pick the Aggies. But all things are NOT equal, if you get my meaning. I like Warren a lot, so I’d hate to see them let him get away.
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