Three Burning Questions

With just three days until kickoff we have three burning questions whose answers will determine the direction of this upcoming season. 

1. Who steps up to replace the recent opt outs?

The first noticeable opt out for the Aggies was corner Elijah Blades.  He was likely to start or play a significant amount, but has dealt with nagging injuries since arriving, so this one could be weathered fairly easily.  But the two recent opt outs of receiver Jhamon Ausbon and linebacker Anthony Hines really made Aggie fans sit up and take notice.  Both were starters last year and had lots of experience playing in the SEC that would have been counted on heavily this season.  This now opens the door for some of Jimbo Fisher’s prized young recruits to step up and earn some playing time.  

I expect Jhamon Ausbon’s catches to be replaced by a large committee of receivers.  Names like Jalen Preston, Caleb Chapman, Chase Lane, Kam Brown, and Demond Demas will have ample opportunity now to show they can compete here in College Station and make a sizable impact for the Aggie Football team in 2020.  On the defensive side of the ball, it would have been a nice luxury to have both starting linebackers back from last season.  However, there were murmurs that Aaron Hansford was coming on strong and was going to play a large amount of snaps at linebacker even with Hines in the mix.  Fisher and Elko have quickly turned one of the weakest units on the team into a strength with their recruiting the past two cycles so look for names like Andre White, Chris Russell, and Edgerrin Cooper to step up.  

2. Will Jimbo Fisher finally open things up on offense?

The Aggie offense was lacking in the big play department last year, ranking near the bottom in the SEC in both yards per play and explosiveness rating.  It often looked like each first down was painstakingly achieved as we had to fight for every yard.  There were several reasons for this watered down approach.  Jimbo was very deliberate in his play calling as he wanted to protect a defense that would get gashed if they were left on the field too long (this is the reason we have ranked among the nations best in time of possession the past two years).  He also had to be mindful of using Kellen Mond’s running ability (which is arguably his best asset) as the backup options behind Mond were very inexperienced if he got hurt.   This was compounded by the fact that the offensive line was inconsistent and hardly gave Jimbo and Mond enough time to set up big plays.  Lastly, there were simply not enough dynamic game-breakers on offense last season and the few they did have were true freshmen (Jalen Wydermyer and Ainias Smith). Moving into 2020, all these areas of concern seems to have been remedied to varying degrees.  It is time to see how effective the offensive line can be so that Kellen Mond has time to distribute the ball to his playmakers.  And now that the backup quarterbacks seem to be more serviceable and the defense is going to be a strength for this team, Jimbo will have more freedom to open things up and take more chances when calling plays. 

3. What constitutes a successful season in Aggieland?

2020 has been such a wild ride already, you can bet there will be lots of ups and downs this college football season.  The Aggies hope to lean on coaching continuity as well as key senior leadership to be able to best weather the unknowns that are sure to pop up.  It was briefly discussed in my schedule preview, but there are essentially four to five big games for Texas A&M this season.  Now, any team in the SEC can have a good day and knock you off if you don’t bring your “A” game (or lose several key contributors to injury or COVID the week of the game), but the success of this season will hinge on these “swing” games.  Find a way to win two to three of the games versus Alabama (not likely), Florida (toss up), Tennessee (best chance at a win), LSU (toss up), and Auburn (toss up) and that would catch a lot of attention around the country.  My concern is if the Aggies start out 1-2 with losses to Alabama and Florida, who are both ranked in the top six, then national pundits will begin to forget about A&M.  Ultimately, a 6-4 record is on par with the last two years and would be viewed as slightly disappointing, a 7-3 record is starting to show signs of improvement (and the most likely record), and 8-2 or better announces to the country that we are ready to start competing with the best.