This week, 10 Things I think I think about the 2025 Aggie football team as their season opener looms:
I think they’re better than last year. Does that mean they’ll be better record-wise? I don’t know, but I think so. They’re better offensively, they’re largely healthy and the defense is pretty experienced. All of those things are clear reasons for optimism.
Marcel Reed doesn’t have to do it all by himself. I hope he realizes that. He’s got a great stable of backs and quality receivers. Let them do a lot of the heavy lifting and make plays when you need to and things should work out fine.
The running back group is elite. Texas A&M had the good fortune of having Le’Veon Moss, Rueben Owens and Amari Daniels come back — and they even got EJ Smith to return for good measure. Then they get to training camp and true freshman Jamarion Morrow goes off, adding even more quality that can make an immediate impact. The Aggies can come after opponents in waves in the running game.
The receiver corps is much, much better. No disrespect to Jahdae Walker, who made the Bears today, or to Noah Thomas, but as a whole the 2024 receiver corps was well below average. This group, headlined by KC Concepcion and Mario Craver, should be a lot better. Terry Bussey and Ashton Bethel-Roman have a year of experience, and TK Norman was one of the pleasant surprises of camp. Add in Amari Niblack in certain situations and the increase in talent is substantial.
The offensive line should be good. There are no excuses. Ok, let’s be fair: there is one — everyone gets hurt. Otherwise, this group is huge, it’s strong and it’s very experienced. Not many teams start a senior, a junior, a fourth-year sophomore and two grad students. A&M does. If they’re not able to lean on most of their opponents, something’s wrong.
DJ Hicks may make or break the defensive line. This may not be fair to him, but he’s now a junior who has not met 5-star expectations in his first two seasons. Now he gets to not only start, but to prove he deserved the high ranking he had coming out of high school (third overall in the Rivals.com rankings). If he’s a force, the defensive line will be salty. If he’s not, then A&M has a problem at a position group where they’re definitely inexeprienced.
This defense has a lot more moving parts. Mike Elko and Jay Bateman can play matchups much easier this season. They can rotate T.J. Searcy in on running downs, and then bring on Dayon Hayes at defensive end against the pass. Cashius Howell can play all three downs, but if they want to get big, they can bring in regular defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim and play him at end. They can play three safeties if they want. They have two (apparently) good options at nickel with Tyreek Chappell and Jordan Shaw. Jordan Lockhart and Daymion Sanford look like capable backups at linebacker. The coaches have said all offseason that this defense should look more like a normal Mike Elko defense, and one of the reasons is they now have players who can fit specific roles.
This should be the best secondary since 2021. That may be damning with faint praise as A&M’s defensive backfields have been putrid the last three seasons, but the safeties look like they have a clue about what they’re doing this year, Chappell is back and A&M appears to have three capable corners in Will Lee, Dezz Ricks and Julio Humphrey. That’s a far cry from no capable corners in 2023.
If Cashius Howell goes off, the whole defense becomes dangerous. By the end of last season, Howell was A&M’s best pass rusher, bar none. He was outstanding in the Las Vegas Bowl, with 5 tackles, a sack and a interception on a pass he tipped to himself. He did that in his first start at defensive end, something he’ll do every week this season. The pass rush must be better in 2025, and someone’s got to do better than 5 sacks (Nic Scourton’s team high last year). If Howell picks up where he left off, he creates serious problems for opponents who will have to key on him (read: double team, making life easier for someone else) or take their chances.
A&M may have the best special teams corps in the nation. Kicking-wise, I don’t know if anyone has a better trio than Randy Bond, Tyler White and Jared Zirkel. Concepcion, Bussey, Owens and Morrow could all be dangerous return men. If coverage teams are good, then A&M should consistently win this phase of the game.
