Five Takeaways From Texas A&M Spring Football

1. What did we learn about Texas A&M this spring?

The number one thing that we learned is something that we pretty much already knew about this Aggie football team: This offense is really, really good. That sounds obvious, considering that A&M returns Heisman-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel to go along with playmakers like Ben Malena at running back and Mike Evans at wide receiver.

But consider what A&M lost off of it’s 2012 offense: Left tackle Luke Joeckel (projected No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft next week), center and four-year starter on the offensive line in Patrick Lewis, the explosive Christine Michael at running back, the school’s all-time greatest pass catcher in Ryan Swope and a pair of clutch performers at wideout in Uzoma Nwachukwu and Kenric McNeal.

And don’t forget that fearless play caller Kliff Kingsbury also left A&M after one season to become head coach at Texas Tech, his alma-mater. With all of that talent out the door, a lot of teams would not be able to maintain the same level of excellence.

But this offense has a real chance to be even better in 2013. A lot of that comes with more familiarity of the intricacies of the offense in year two in the system. Manziel is much further along in the knowledge of the system and appeared to be in total and complete control during an electrifying spring game that saw him pass for 300 yards and three touchdown in the first half this past Saturday.

Other factors include continued dominance up front, led by future NFL tackles Jake Matthews and Cedric Ogbuehi, a stacked four-member group of running backs (that doesn’t even count Manziel, who led the SEC in rushing in 2012) and a slew of young, talented receivers – led by Evans – that Johnny Football has at his disposal.

A&M should not miss a beat in the play calling, as running backs coach Clarence McKinney takes over for Kingsbury as OC following an outstanding job of calling plays in A&M’s win over OU in the Cotton Bowl. QB coach and Co-OC Jake Spavital left West Virginia and mentor Dana Holgorsen. He’ll play a major role in the scheme and gameday management of the offense, alongside McKinney.

More quick-hitting items that we learned about this team this spring…

1) Nate Askew has apparently been a linebacker all along. The senior-to-be moved to OLB after spending three years going through the motions at wide receiver. He’ll make an impact in special situations.

2) The A&M secondary is going to be a strength. Floyd Raven’s move from cornerback to safety has paid off and he’ll start at free safety in 2013, giving the Aggies an outstanding pair of safeties (Howard Matthews is the strong safety) to go along with talented corners in Deshazor Everett and De’Vante Harris and a senior leader at nickel in Toney Hurd, Jr.

3) Freshman will have to play right away along the defensive line. The Aggies are thin and inexperienced up front but welcome quite a few extremely talented freshmen to campus this June. They’ll immediately begin summer conditioning drills with Larry Jackson and two or three from this group – especially defensive tackles Justin Manning and Isaiah Golden and defensive end Daeshon Hall – will have a real chance at competing for starting positions during fall camp in August.

2. Were any of the pre-spring question marks successfully addressed? 

Yes. Here’s a quick breakdown:

– Offensive line: A&M replaced Joeckel by sliding Matthews from right tackle to left tackle. They moved Ogbuehi from right guard to his natural tackle position on the right side of the line.

Redshirt freshman Germain Ifedi dropped his weight from 338 to 317 and has drawn rave reviews from head coach Kevin Sumlin throughout the spring. He’ll play right guard. Jarvis Harrison is back for his third season at left guard.

And Lewis’ replacement just so happens to be yet another Matthews (son of Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews) … Mike. And he has already flashed the acumen and athleticism to thrive in this up-tempo attack at center.

– Wide receiver: A&M lost three seniors from last season, but Mike Evans and Malcome Kennedy have become even more consistent and the Aggies signed a six-pack of incredibly gifted prospects in the 2013 signing class. The position is loaded with explosive talent.

– Linebacker: It’s going to be really tough to replace Jonathan Stewart at MLB and Sean Porter at SAM ‘backer. But Donnie Baggs has filled the void nicely at MIKE and it does not appear that there will be a significant drop off from Stewart to Baggs. That sounds crazy but Baggs has been that good this spring.

Nobody on the roster can do what Porter did on the field throughout his career, but JUCO transfer Tommy Sanders has cold speed – SEC speed – and Nate Askew is a 4.4 40 guy in a 6-4, 230-pound frame.

– Kicking game: Taylor Bertolet has made major improvements and has shown much greater consistency throughout the spring. This can be attributed to the arrival of special teams coordinator Jeff Banks.

A former kicker and punter at Washington State University under Mike Price, Banks is unique in that he’s an actual full-fledged assistant coach that is also a kicker and a kicking instructor. He’s already played a major role in Bertolet’s setup, approach and delivery.

Banks has also turned the strong-legged Drew Kaser into a more consistent force at punter, after two seasons backing up Ryan Epperson.

– Defensive line: The only position group on the field with question marks that remain very much unanswered is defensive line.

3. Name a few players who emerged that could breakout this season

I’ve talked about most of them already so I’ll just list them here (guys who are not already household names)…

– Offense: Trey Williams (RB), Brandon Williams (RB), Tra Carson (RB), Derel Walker (WR), Ricky Seals-Jones (WR), Malcome Kennedy (WR), Cameron Clear (TE).

– Defense: Nate Askew (LB), Donnie Baggs (LB), Tommy Sanders (LB), De’Vante Harris (CB), Floyd Raven (S), Howard Matthews (S).

4. Can you quickly grade each position group? 

QB: A+

– Heisman winner. Period.

RB: A

– Four RBs – not counting Manziel – who could gain 1,000 yards if they were the featured back. The No. 4 back – Tra Carson – transferred from Oregon. Brandon Williams transferred from Oklahoma.

WR: B

– Mike Evans is a star and Malcome Kennedy has a chance to be pretty special. Beyond that, there is not a proven receiver on the roster. The talent is there and Johnny is at the controls, but quite a few of these young up-and-comers will have to step to the forefront from the word “Go.”

TE: B

– Nehemiah Hicks has been average at best as he enters his senior season, but his spring performance has been quite impressive. Added to that is the arrival of 6-7, 265-pound behemoth Cameron Clear, a JUCO transfer who began his career at Tennessee. Clear has star potential at tight end and can do so many different things on the field.

OL: A+

– By comparison, this offensive line may not be quite as dominant as it was in 2012, but it will not be far off. And when comparing the Aggie o-line to the rest of the nation, much like the ’12 OL unit, it will be right up there with the best in college football.

DL: C

– It’s the one position on the field with major question marks that remain unanswered after spring drills. Kirby Ennis (Nose) and Julien Obioha (SDE) are returning starters but both were injured for much of spring ball. Replacing Damontre Moore (WDE) and Spencer Nealy (DT) will not be an easy endeavor and true freshmen will have to step up and fill the void, along with current d-linemen that have not done much on the field in their A&M careers to this point.

LB: B

– The ‘backers shined during the spring despite losing seniors Jonathan Stewart and Sean Porter and with OLB Steven Jenkins – perhaps A&M’s best returning defensive player – sitting out after labrum surgery. But A&M found some answers in Baggs, Sanders and Askew and a nice crop of freshmen will offer depth to the position.

DB: A

– The secondary is the strength of the defense. A&M has at least defensive backs that could start for a lot of FBS teams and even more coming in this summer.

Specialists: B-

– Taylor Bertolet showed signs of major improvement at place kicker and Drew Kaser displayed much greater consistency with his strong leg at the punter position.

5. Are there any “surprises” we can expect from this team?

It sounds crazy to say this but I think Johnny Manziel is better now than he was last fall. He has improved in the little areas of his game that needed a little boost. Johnny knows the offense much better and has improved in his ability to read defenses pre-snap and within the confines of the play. His arm has gotten stronger and he’s noticeably bigger.

The expectations and pressure on Johnny Football will be through the roof entering the 2013 season, but this is a kid that thrives on so-called pressure. Because of that, I feel pretty good about the thought of the Aggies being a pre-season top five team nationally. And Johnny and the Aggies will be tested early, as they welcome Alabama to Kyle Field for the regular season game of the year on September 14.

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Gabe Bock of TexAgs.com provided the information for our Texas A&M 2013 spring football update.  For more Texas A&M football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Gabe on Twitter @TexAgsRadio and @TexAgs.

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