Texas A&M Preview

A grueling road schedule for the Sun Devils begins at the No. 10-ranked team and a venue that will have a six-figure attendance. What are the keys for the matchup with Texas A&M? Here’s Joe Healey’s deep dive.  

2025 Season in Review: The 2025 season saw Texas A&M bulldoze through nearly the entire regular season, as the Aggies won their first 11 games of the year and rose to No. 3 in the nation according to the Associated Press prior to the regular season finale.

However, a 27-17 loss to Texas in the regular season’s final game kept A&M out of the SEC championship game but did not prevent the Aggies from a College Football Playoff berth. Prior to that loss to the Longhorns, the Aggies scored at least 31 points in 10 of the first 11 regular season games and topped 40 points on six occasions.

In Texas A&M’s postseason outing, the Aggies hosted Miami (Fla.) but dropped a low-scoring affair by a score of 10-3 to the Hurricanes, a team that would ultimately advance to the national championship game.

Texas A&M finished the season ranked No. 8 in both the final Associated Press poll and the final AFCA Coaches Poll.

2026 So Far: 1-0 (Texas A&M 50, Missouri State 0)

In its 2026 season opener, Texas A&M shut out Missouri State, a team in its second year at the FBS level.

Quarterback Marcell Reed threw for 233 yards with two touchdowns, a team rushing effort combined for 236 yards and three scores and star receivers Isaiah Horton and Mario Craver each caught a touchdown.

Defensively, Noah Mihail was the team leader with seven tackles, and overall, the Aggies held Missouri State to just 67 yards of total offense, and the Bears possessed the ball for under 17 minutes for the entire game.

Series History: This will be just the second all-time meeting between the Devils and the Aggies, with the first clash coming not too terribly long ago, when ASU opened the 2015 season in a neutral site game against Texas A&M in what proved to be a 38-17 Aggie victory in Houston.

That game saw the likes of Kyler Murray, Christian Kirk and Myles Garrett on the field for A&M in a game in which the Aggies produced nine quarterback sacks on the Sun Devils and outgained ASU by a total of 425 yards to 291.

Head Coach: Mike Elko

Beginning his third season at Texas A&M, Elko has a combined record of 20-7 with the Aggies, finishing 8-5 in 2024, 11-2 last season, and having won the opener this year. Prior to that, he spent the 2022-23 seasons at Duke with a combined record of 16-9.

Texas A&M Offense Preview

Key Returners: WR Ashton Bethel-Roman, WR Mario Craver, OL Mark Nabou, Jr., RB Ruben Owens II, QB Marcel Reed

Key Departures: OL Chase Bisontis (NFL Draft), TE Nate Boerkircher (NFL Draft), WR KC Concepcion (NFL Draft), OL Dametrious Crownover (NFL Draft), OL Ar’maj Reed-Adams (NFL Draft), OL Trey Zuhn III (NFL Draft)

Key Newcomers: OT Wilkin Formby (transfer from Alabama, No. 47 overall transfer), WR Isaiah Horton (transfer from Alabama, No. 75 overall transfer), RB KJ Edwards (No. 60 overall high school recruit)

Returning for his fourth year in the program is starting quarterback Marcel Reed, who compiled a career year in 2025 but also receives his share of criticism.

Last season, Reed threw for 3,169 yards with 25 touchdowns while he also rushed 104 times for 493 yards with six scores. However, he threw 12 interceptions and was sacked 17 times in 2025.

He had four games with at least 280 passing yards, including 439 against South Carolina and 360 against Notre Dame. He also had four games with at least 55 net rushing yards, including a high of 108 with two touchdowns against LSU and 71 in the SEC Championship Game against Texas.

To open 2026, Reed completed 21-of-30 passes for 233 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. On the ground, he carried seven times for 20 yards, and he was sacked twice by Missouri State defenders.

For his career – including last week’s game – Reed has completed 61.9% of his passes for 5,640 yards with 43 touchdowns and 19 interceptions, with 1,105 net rushing yards with 14 scores.  

At running back, though Owens returns, Texas A&M has had to replace the majority of its running back depth for 2026, as the running backs who totaled the second-, third-, and fourth-most carries on the team in 2025 are all gone from the roster – a trio that combined to rush for 835 yards last season.

With these departures, Jamarion Morrow is Texas A&M’s second-leading returning running back after he posted 43 carries for 182 yards with a touchdown along with six receptions for 80 yards with two scores in 2025.

In game one, Owens had team-highs of 17 carries for 77 yards, while Morrow posted eight carries for 29 yards with a touchdown. Freshmen Carsyn Baker and KJ Edwards saw early action as well, as the pair combined for 12 carries for 96 yards, with Baker adding a touchdown run.

Last season, the Aggies came within striking distance of having a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in KC Concepcion (919 yards) and Mario Craver (917 yards).

Craver returns as one of the better receivers in the SEC and had a team-best five receptions in week one, totaling 41 yards with a touchdown. This will not be Craver’s first taste of action against ASU, as he began his career at Mississippi State in 2024 before transferring to Texas A&M prior to last season. In that 2024 game in Tempe, Craver posted two catches for 22 yards.

Transfer Isaiah Horton was brought to Texas A&M to help replace the departed star Concepcion, and he submitted an impressive effort in his Aggie debut as he recorded a team-high 76 receiving yards on four catches with a score.

Horton (6-4, 215) spent the 2022-24 seasons at Miami and last year at Alabama before transferring to Texas A&M. Including last week’s game, he has career receiving totals of 116 catches for 1,377 yards with 15 scores.

Also likely to start at wide receiver along with Horton and Craver will be either Asthon Bethel-Roman or Terry Bussey.

Bethel-Roman was the Aggies’ third-leading receiver last year behind Concepcion and Craver, as he collected 24 receptions for 503 yards with five touchdowns and notched a team-best average of 21.0 yards per reception. He had one catch for 13 yards in the opener.

Bussey had 18 receptions for 195 yards and a touchdown in 2025 for the Aggies, and last week he caught three passes for 34 yards and had two carries for 10 yards with a touchdown run.

Multiple tight ends appear to be options for the Aggies to replace NFL Draft pick Nate Boerkircher, with Micah Riley, who caught two passes for 13 yards in the opener, atop the depth chart. A member of the Auburn roster from 2022-24 before coming to Texas A&M, Riley brought just three career receptions into the 2026 season.

After having an incredible four offensive linemen picked in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Aggie o-line will feature many new faces this season.

The lone returning starter for the Aggies is center Mark Nabou Jr., who brought 26 career starts into the 2026 season, including 12 last year.

Elsewhere on the line Tyree Adams is listed as the starting left tackle, either Blake Ivy or Tyler Thomas at left guard and either Trovon Baugh or Coen Echols at right guard.

Adams spent 2023-25 at LSU, appearing in 18 games with 11 starts; Ivy enters his third season in the Texas A&M program after appearing in 13 games over the past two years in a reserve role; and Thomas is a second-year Aggie who saw time in three games last year as a true freshman.

Baugh transferred in this offseason from South Carolina, where he spent the past three seasons and started 19 out of 35 games played. Like Adams, Echols is a former LSU transfer who spent the last two seasons with the Tigers, making eight starts in 18 total game appearances.

At right tackle, one of Texas A&M’s most notable transfer portal pickups from this offseason is slated to start in Wilkin Formby, the No. 47 overall transfer portal prospect for 2026. Formby spent the 2023-25 seasons at Alabama, appearing in 27 games with 16 starts.

Texas A&M Offense Summary

After having six offensive players selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Aggies had some reloading to do this offseason to help surround veteran quarterback Marcel Reed with championship level talent.

Texas A&M will look to use Reed’s versatility – and limit his turnovers – and a ground game with multiple options to supplement a pass game with NFL talent in the starting lineup.

Texas A&M Defense Preview

Key Returners: DB Dalton Brooks, DT DJ Hicks, DB Marcus Ratcliffe, LB Daymion Sanford, DE T.J. Searcy

Key Departures: DL Cashius Howell (NFL Draft), DB Will Lee III (NFL Draft), DL Tyler Onyedim (NFL Draft), DL Albert Regis (NFL Draft), LB Taurean York 

Key Newcomers: Edge Anto Saka (transfer from Northwestern, No. 42 overall transfer), CB Rickey Gibson (transfer from Tennessee, No. 43 overall transfer), CB Brandon Arrington (No. 8 overall high school recruit)

Operating primarily out of a 4-2-5 defensive set, the Aggie line figures to feature T.J. Searcy and Marco Jones at defensive end with D.J. Hicks and either C.J. Mims or Angelo McCullom starting at defensive tackle.

In last week’s contest, Hicks posted two tackles, Jones registered one stop, and Searcy posted two tackles, including half a tackle for loss. McCullom and Mims played against Missouri State but did not enter the stat books.

Daymion Sanford and Noah Mikhail are presumed to be the starting linebacker duo as the Aggies look to replace departed team-leading tackler Taurean York.

Sanford is Texas A&M’s third-leading returning tackler from 2025 as he had 52 tackles, including a team-high 9.5 for loss, with 3.5 sacks, three quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups, one interception, and one fumble recovery.

Mikhail collected 16 tackles, including 2.5 for loss with a quarterback hurry last year.

In game one, Mikhail had team-high seven tackles, while Sanford did not appear in the opening game. Sanford suffered an injury during spring practices that was expected to sideline him for a substantial portion of the 2026 season, but his recovery reportedly sped up his timeline, and he could make his season debut against ASU.

In Sanford’s absence, Ray Coney, a transfer this offseason from Tulsa, stepped in and posted six tackles, including half a TFL and a quarterback hurry.

In the secondary, Julio Humphrey will be joined by either Dezz Ricks or Rickey Gibson III as the starting cornerbacks, with Jordan Shaw as the nickel defensive back and returning standouts Dalton Brooks and Marcus Ratcliffe as the starting safeties.

Ratcliffe and Brooks are the team’s top two returning tacklers from 2025, as Ratcliffe posted 65 tackles including three for loss with three pass breakups and two quarterback hurries, while Brooks had a jam-packed stat line of 62 tackles including 6.5 for loss with 4.0 sacks along with three quarterback hurries, two fumble recoveries, a forced fumble, an interception and a pass breakups.

Ricks totaled 26 tackles, including 6.5 for loss, with 3.0 sacks and a quarterback hurry last year, while Shaw had 18 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, with a forced fumble, a pass breakup, and a quarterback hurry. Gibson spent the 2023-25 seasons at Tennessee and though he missed the majority of last season due to injury, he was a full-time starter in 2024 and posted 32 tackles with five pass deflections that year.

Against Missouri State, Brooks had two tackles, Gibson had one tackle, and Ratcliffe had one tackle and a pass breakup. Ricks and Shaw appeared in the game but did not record any statistics.

Texas A&M Defense Summary

Though Texas A&M lost four defenders to the 2026 NFL Draft – including three linemen – along with the team’s leading tackler from last year, this figures to remain a dangerous defense.

The Aggie defense began the season with a bang by limiting Missouri State to just 67 yards of total offense and an average of 1.7 yards per play and 1.76 yards per pass attempt. The Bears also converted on just 1-of-10 third-down opportunities.

Texas A&M undoubtedly will look to apply consistent pressure on ASU’s rebuilt offensive line and aim to take Cutter Boley further away from his game one performance for ASU and closer to his past efforts that featured turnover issues.

Texas A&M Special Teams Preview

In the kicking game, David Olano will handle placekicking duties, while Tyler White is the team’s punter.

An experienced and extremely accurate kicker, Olano came to Texas A&M this offseason after spending three seasons at Illinois, where he connected on 37-of-43 field goals with a career-long of 50 yards. White punted 50 times for Texas A&M in 2025, averaging 44.3 yards per punt.

Olano connected from 28 yards in his only field goal attempt in the opener, while White punted twice last week – one for 50 yards, one for 34.

With the departure of first-round draft pick KC Concepcion, not only does Texas A&M take a hit in the pass game, but on returns as well, as he was one of the nation’s premier punt returners in 2025 when he averaged 18.2 yards on 25 returns with two touchdowns.

Concepcion ranked third in the nation in punt return average and tied for second in punt return touchdowns, and Concepcion was both a Consensus All-American and the winner of the Paul Hornung Award in 2025 for his versatility.

Mario Craver and Terry Bussey are the prime candidates to return punts and kicks, as Craver had three punt returns for 27 yards last week, while Bussey had one 11-yard punt return and one 17-yard kickoff return in the opener.

Listed as the first-string long snapper is Shea Freibaum, a 2023 graduate of Scottsdale Saguaro High School who played for ASU’s tight ends coach Jason Mohns. Freibaum spent the 2023-25 seasons at Oklahoma State before transferring to Texas A&M this offseason.

Local Ties: DB Jamar Beal-Goines (Goodyear Desert Edge HS), LS Shea Freibaum (Scottsdale Saguaro HS), DB Camren Hamiel (Goodyear Desert Edge HS) and TE Caleb Tafua (Mesa HS) all played high school football in the state of Arizona.

Overall Summary: After a College Football Playoff Appearance, a No. 8 end of season ranking and an 11-win 2025 season – the program’s first double-digit win season since 2012 and tied for the most wins in a season by Texas A&M since 1992 – Texas A&M entered 2026 with a great deal of momentum and high expectations, despite double-digit losses to the NFL Draft.

Ranked No. 9 in the Coaches Poll and No. 10 in the Associated Press Poll this week, ASU will look to take down a top-10 opponent on the road for the first time since defeating No. 7 UCLA on Oct. 3, 2015, a win famously punctuated by a team effort touchdown to push Kalen Ballage across the goal line.

In ASU’s last 20 true road games against nationally ranked opponents – which dates us back through the entire 2013 season – ASU has a 7-13 record overall. Kenny Dillingham is 1-2 in such games, having beaten No. 16 Kansas State on the road in 2024 but having lost to No. 5 Washington and No. 18 Utah in 2023. For those wondering, though Utah won 11 games last year, the Utes were not ranked at the time they decisively defeated the Sun Devils last October.

A major talking point all offseason was the brutality of ASU’s road schedule, and this Saturday is not only the first test along those lines but could be the toughest ASU will face all season, as the Aggies will look to use a bullying defense to establish dominance against the visiting Devils.

In Texas A&M’s opener, the Aggies drew a staggering crowd of 107,782 fans to Kyle Field. To put that in perspective, since the start of the 1996 season, ASU has played just nine games (at any location) in front of a crowd of 80,000 or more fans, the most recent of which, coincidentally, was that 2015 road trip to UCLA.

In that span, there has been but one game where ASU played in front of a crowd of 100,000 or more – the 1997 Rose Bowl Game, which drew 100,635 fans. If Texas A&M draws a crowd anywhere near what it did last week, this will be the largest live audience for a Sun Devil football game in more than 30 years.

Can ASU, which has been susceptible to very poor starts in the recent past, drown out the six-digit crowd supporting a top-10 program and execute with the same efficiency and focus on the road as it has at home against similarly ranked teams such as Texas Tech and BYU?

Final Score Prediction (via Speak of the Devils Podcast): Texas A&M 34, Arizona State 24