AggieYell Mailbag
Here’s this week’s AggieYell Mailbag:
Q: 1.What improvements do you think Earley will make as a coach heading into year two?
A: I hope he trusts his players more. This is college ball, so the better player is usually going to succeed. He pulled a lot of pitchers to go lefty-lefty or righty-righty when, honestly, he probably shouldn’t have. Sometimes you don’t have to make a move just because the “book” says to, especially in college. If you’ve got a guy who is dealing, let him keep dealing.
2.Football record prediction?
9-3.
3. Times for each football game? (Chickennugget666777)
Not all times are set yet. Here’s the ones that are:
UTSA, Aug. 30, 6 p.m.
Utah State, Sept. 6, 11:45 a.m.
Notre Dame, Sept. 13, 6:30 p.m.
Samford, Nov. 22, 11 a.m.
Texas, Sept, 29, 6:30 p.m.
Here are the rest and the windows they’re currently set for:
Auburn, Sept. 27, Afternoon (between 2:30 and 3:30 central)
Mississippi State, Oct. 4, Night (between 5 and 7 p.m.)
Florida, Oct. 11, Flex (either 2:30-3:30 or 5-7)
Arkansas, Oct. 18, Flex
LSU, Oct. 25, Flex
Missouri, Nov. 8, Flex
South Carolina, Nov. 15, Early (between 11 a.m. and noon)
Q: When does Fall practice start?
A: Probably next week.
Are there any players with injury concerns that bear watching?
Not that I know of.
How much access will you get? (H273)
TBD. I’m assuming about the same as always.
Q: “Jack” Isn’t a traditional position. can you explain a little bit about the Jack’s responsibilities, what situations the Aggies will use him in, and who comes out of the game when he’s in there? I’ll hang up and listen. (98 Percenter)
A: Jack is a good term for it, because this player is a Jack of all trades. Primarily, a Jack is a standup pass rusher, but he can also be a third linebacker or drop off into coverage. So you can pull the nickel, a linebacker or a lineman if you want to utilize the Jack.
Q: What are you most looking forward to with this year’s team?
A: The maturation of Marcel Reed, hopefully. I’d also really like to see this offensive line live up to the hype it’s getting.
Anything new or interesting going into this season that we should be looking forward to? (Spar2cus)
I think the offense will likely look different as A&M has added new personnel that would seem to fit Collin Klein’s system better. I’m also curious to see if the fast over big theory at defensive end works.
Q: I think #10 played around 180 last year. What’s he added and how big can he get without losing that cat quickness?
A: He’s currently listed at 185. I’d love to see him get to about 200, because I think then he’ll be able to take a bit more of the beating that comes with playing in the SEC and still have that speed.
Feeling really good about most position groups on O, but it feels like we have zero depth at WR. What happens if we lose a guy or heaven forbid a couple of starters?
I don’t think they have zero depth; they have largely untested talent. They really like Ashton Bethel-Roman, and I’ve heard rave reviews about Jerome Myles. I think those two guys are going to play early. I think Izaiah Williams goes into camp as the backup in the slot, but I want to see if Kelshaun Johnson can make a move. He’s got elite speed. If they get down a couple of guys, they’ve still got Jonah Wilson and they can use Amari Niblack or Kiotti Armstrong in the slot.
What about the D? How do you feel about our depth on that side of the ball? (Elicrow)
I’m worried about the depth at defensive tackle and corner. I think they have four guys they can work with at tackle, but I’m not totally sold on that. My concern is simple: I don’t want true freshmen out there unless they earn it. At corner, my concern is the same. You’ve got three guys you can trust (four if you move Tyreek Chappell out there on occasion), but then it’s Jayvon Thomas and a bunch of true freshmen. At end, linebacker and safety, they’re good to go.
Q: Zuhn, Bisontis, Nabou, Armaj, and Demetrius.
Is that a list of crew members from the Nautilus? (Richard23)
A: That is either A&M’s offensive line or a bunch of fighter pilots from Battlestar Galactica. And that’s also a very old reset.
Q: Will Elko taking over play calling duties on the defensive side of the ball (or at least a more involved role) impact his role on other operations inside of the program? “CEO” of the team must not leave much more room for added responsibilities, much less significant ones like playcalling. (Shanehammett12)
A: He is taking over defensive play calls this season.
Q: Who’s been playing longer, Zach Calzada or Haynes King? I think both of them could have had law degrees by now. (H273)
A: Calzada signed in 2019 and King in 2020. Both should at least have Master’s degrees or I’d be very disappointed.
Q: Who are the Energizer Bunny’s on the team? The guys that never seem to lose steam and always talking their teammates up. (HeadleyG2)
A: Not surprisingly, the three captains — Trey Zuhn, Ar’maj Reed-Adams and Taurean York. I’d also add Bryce Anderson in there too.
Q: Is Bussey playing WR 100% or will he spend any time on defense? (JonnyRocketAg)
A: All wide receiver, all the time.
Q: Allright let’s kick it off…
- How’s your mom doing with the chemo? Are you able to go see her, especially with Arie struggling as well? Update us on Arie.
A: We nearly lost mom last Friday, as she had blood clots in her lungs and couldn’t swallow. It looked really bad. She has since rallied, and may get out of the hospital tomorrow. The oncologist came in today and said he was pleased with her progress, which was not something I thought I’d hear. Next round of chemo is scheduled for Aug. 3-6, so I’ll be in Round Rock at that time (Austin AY Happy Hour).
Arie is in constant pain, with a fractured hip, back issues and now a messed up right shoulder. She’s pretty down. She’s also essentially confined to a wheelchair, which doesn’t help her mood. Hopefully we can get her to the point where they can do the hip surgery and start the recovery process.
2. I’m sure you’ve covered this one way or another, but who is the X Factor this year on offense, and on defense?
That’s a great question, and I probably should do a series on it. For the offense, it would just be really easy to say Reed, and that may be it. For everything to go, he has to be better. But if it’s not him, because that’s too obvious, I’d say Bussey or Rueben Owens. If Bussey breaks out, defenses are going to have hell with him, KC Concepcion and Mario Craver. If Owens breaks out (and Moss stays healthy), that’s a nightmare scenario for opponents because they would truly have no respite against the run.
3. Given now that we have speed at the receiver position, how has Marcell looked at throwing the deep ball effectively? Sure would be nice to actually stretch the field…
We really haven’t seen anything yet. But I know they’ve been working on it since last season ended.
4. We now have a fully experienced OL. We have all our RB’s back and we’ve added speed on the outside. How do you see Klein’s distribution between run and pass? 50/50 or something else? (TSip Despiser)
Personally, I’d batter them with the run until they stop it or start adjusting their defense. Then I’d start opening things up. But that’s just me, personally. I like the idea of going in there and imposing your will on someone right off the bat, then expanding to hit them through the air as well.
Q: List your favorite non-Aggie, college FB coaches.
A: They do not exist.
Pick an activity (dinner, drinks, pick-up basketball game, film watching, golf, Tequila shots on a deserted island) and 3 famous people (dead or alive) that you’d want to do it with. (3rd Gen Ag)
Ok, I need some ground rules here. If we’re just BSing and telling stories, I’m going with drinks with George Washington, Ted Williams and Chuck Yeager. If there’s a possibility of some postgame, drinks with Marilyn Monroe, Kate Beckinsale and Grace Kelly.
Q: Last year Marcel Reed was pretty good as a quarterback except for on long balls. He consistently missed long passes that he should have made and where receivers were open. This gave defenses a huge favor as it shortened the field and denied us game changing plays.
What basis is there to believe that Reed will improve this year in that specific aspect of his game? (KeithDB)
A: Reps. Lots and lots of reps.
Q: Last season, coach Elko seem to be quick and pulling the quarterback out of the game then switching him if he wasn’t doing well. Do you think it’s going to be the same this season? Or will Marcel be given a little more leeway to try to get himself out of trouble if he needs to? (Aggdoc)
A: I don’t really agree with this. He only pulled Conner Weigman in the LSU game, and that was it. It was Weigman’s job, he got hurt, he got the job back when he came back, struggled against LSU and Elko made the switch. And he stuck with it the rest of the year, even when Reed wasn’t exactly killing it against South Carolina or Texas. He made the right call against LSU, and he made the right call by sticking with his (new) starter.
Q: The Athletic published an article this week about the value of CFB programs. They showed Texas with an annual average revenue of $183 million which was #1. A&M was 15th at $97 million. We were 9th in the SEC. Consider me uniformed, but I was shocked to see us almost $100 million behind Texas and in the bottom half of the SEC. What’s up with that?!? (Aggiewoo)
A: I have no idea. I’d like to see their definition of “average revenue”, because USA Today did the same thing (or close to it) and had A&M second overall behind Texas. I think we’re playing games with numbers.
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