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Longhornfrenzy

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  1. Monday morning update on Harold Perkins Brian Perroni He says the weekend visit went really well. He spent Saturday and Sunday in Aggieland and says he got a chance to hang out with pretty much all the commits and recruits that were in town. He is still going to take his official visit this coming weekend to Oregon. He is set to leave Friday morning, since he and Cy Park and facing Cy Ranch on Thursday night. Speaking of that game, both Jimbo Fisher and Steve Sarkisian are supposed to be there, per Perkins. That would count as each head coach's one allowed visit. Perkins says he does not have anything set up in-home with either coach, but I'm guessing they do it at school earlier in the day. LSU is supposed to be there as well, but with no true head coach at the moment, it will be an assistant. He is still set to wait until the Under Armour game to announce. A&M is still in good shape and, as of now, he does not have any other officials planned beside the Oregon one. He has already used them to A&M and Texas
  2. If y'all have @NBCSportsNetwor they will be televising Arch Manning high School game at 7:00 p.m. tonight
  3. Where Texas A&M stands with every target in the 2022 class VIP ByBRIAN PERRONI 5 minutes ago Share 0 Comments Week Six Reaction: Texas A&M Stuns Alabama 41-38 (Late Kick Cut) It is just a little over two months until the Early Signing Period for the class of 2022. Prospect who choose to sign early can do so from Dec. 15 to 17. With that date approaching, Texas A&M is looking to put together yet another very highly-ranked class under Jimbo Fisher. The Aggies currently are ranked No. 9 overall, but are still major players with a ton of top prospects. In fact, just about every remaining target is a five-star or national top-100 player. The Aggies have 14 commitments at the moment, so there are still plenty of spots remaining in the class. Though a couple of positions are done, almost every spot still has targets that the team is after. Here is a look at where the Aggies stand with every player at every position at the moment, with this past weekend’s big win over Alabama and the fact that a ton of recruits were in town certainly helping things. QUARTERBACK (Photo: Brian Perroni, 247Sports) Texas A&M picked up a commitment from five-star Cypress (Texas) Bridgeland quarterback Conner Weigman back in the early spring. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound dual-threat is planning to enroll early, so this coming summer’s MLB Draft will not come into play. He is solid in his commitment and will play both sports in Aggieland. With Weigman committed, A&M is done at quarterback. Should there be an exodus or more injuries, that could change. But, as of now and with high school kids at least, I don’t expect another passer to sign. RUNNING BACK (Photo: Istrouma Football) Fisher has signed multiple running backs in all but one class of his in Aggieland. But, that is not likely going to be the case this year. There are a ton of young backs on campus, so it’s not a huge need to add bodies for depth’s sake. A&M had been in on a few backs in the spring and summer, but things are really down to one target now. The main guy is Baton Rouge (La.) Istrouma four-star Le'Veon Moss. The 6-foot, 190-pound national top-100 prospect had initially made a surprise commitment to Alabama on his first official visit but he continued to take trips after that. Two of his trips were to A&M – one for an official visit and another for the recruiting barbecue the same weekend Bama had a big recruiting weekend. Moss decommitted from the Tide at the end of July and is a player that keeps things very close to the vest. He is a quiet kid as well. But, A&M is in as good a shape as anybody with him. LSU is always a threat with an in-state – and in-town – kid, but the Tigers have a commitment from four-star in-state back TreVonte' Citizen already. On a sidenote, Citizen could potentially be a player to watch should an LSU coaching change happen. Moss does not have a timetable for a decision and is a player that could do anything at anytime. So he is always a candidate to be a possible commit. WIDE RECEIVER (Photo: Brian Perroni, 247Sports) To be completely honest, wide receiver is a bit of a tough sell for the Aggies at the moment. Going back to the beginning of the 2020 season, the wideouts have not put up huge numbers. But, you can bet that A&M is showing the Zach Calzada performance from Saturday night and also pointing to Haynes King and Weigman being on the roster. Noah Thomas of League City (Texas) Clear Springs has been committed for quite some time and is solid in his pledge. The 6-foot-5, 180-pound wideout will give A&M a player with a skillset that it does not have many of on campus, if any. He is a big-time redzone threat that can also stretch the field at times. The biggest target remaining is Chris Marshall of Fort Bend (Texas) Marshall. The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder is ranked as the No. 107 overall prospect in the nation and is still in just his second year of playing football. He was in town for the win over Alabama on Saturday and was already really high on the Aggies. He wants to wait until after the season to commit anywhere, but he should be considered a strong A&M lean. He has had a couple visits to USC, but the Trojans don’t have a head coach at the moment, so that is a tough sell. Marshall has mentioned other potential officials to Alabama and Arizona State, but I’m not positive those happen. The Aggies are still in contact with Suwanee (Ga.) Lambert four-star Kojo Antwi, who chose Ohio State over A&M and Georgia this past summer. He had family in town at Kyle Field over the weekend but we still have not talked to anybody that actually saw Antwi himself. Either way, it is going to be a tough flip from the Buckeyes. But, he is at least still in communication. We will talk about him more in the defensive back section, but there is always the potential that four-star athlete commit Deyon Bouie out of Bainbridge, Ga., ends up at receiver as well. He is committed currently as a cornerback, but A&M has talked to him about offense, especially should there be some other defensive backs that join the class. A&M has already made one transfer offer to Taj Harris from Syracuse. Looks for the Aggies to offer several others as well as the portal sees more players closer to the end of the season. I expect them to take at least one, and possibly two, transfers at the position. TIGHT END (Photo: Brian Perroni, 247Sports) Texas A&M landed what was pretty much its only tight end target back in January when four-star Donovan Green of Dickinson, Texas, committed. The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder is a player the Aggies love and he is completely locked in with his pledge to A&M. Over the summer, A&M saw a class of 2023 prospect from Sweden come to camp in Theodor Melin Ohrstrom. He earned an offer after just three plays at camp and has since committed to the Aggies over numerous other major programs. The four-star international prospect is working on potentially reclassifying and it’s probably a better than 50-50 chance he eventually ends up in the 2022 class as well. Green is aware of the possibility and is fine with it. Though I would be surprised if he were in the class, simply because of numbers, A&M liked Houston Thomas of College Station at camp as well. The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder was a one-time Kansas commit and would love an offer from his hometown team. There is still communication there but, again, it is likely a longshot. His is still a name at least worth keeping in the back of the mind, though. OFFENSIVE LINE (Photo: Brian Perroni, 247Sports) Texas A&M has a pair of commitments on the offensive line that it is really excited about. PJ Williams of Dickinson, Texas, committed at the same time as high school teammate Green. The nation’s No. 75 overall prospect, he has a 6-foot-4, 265-pound frame that has plenty of room to fill out and he is incredibly athletic. Like Green, Williams is solid in his commitment. The other commit is four-star tackle Hunter Erb of Haslet (Texas) Eaton. The 6-foot-6, 305-pounder saw his stock absolutely explode at the end of 2020 and the beginning of this year before committing to A&M back in February. He has helped the Eagles put up big numbers this year and is a versatile prospect that could play tackle or guard. He is completely solid in his pledge as well. The main targets remaining are five-star Kelvin Banks of Humble (Texas) Summer Creek, four-star Kam Dewberry of Humble (Texas) Atascocita, four-star Neto Umeozulu of Allen, Texas and Mark Nabou of Seattle (Wash.) O’Dea. Starting with Banks, he surprised a lot of people by committed to Oregon over A&M in July. However, there are still lines of communication open and the Aggies will continue to push distance as that will be a big factor with him and his family. As of now, though, Banks is happy with his pledge to the Ducks and just had head coach Mario Cristobal in home this past week. Fisher will use his later and A&M will keep after him until the ink is dry with wherever he signs. There is still a shot for sure, but it is not a sure thing. A&M was one of the first offers for Dewberry back after his freshman year, a season in which he played tackle opposite current Aggie All-American Kenyon Green. And Dewberry has been a big fan of the Aggies since. At the moment, the three main teams involved are A&M, Ohio State and Oklahoma, though Alabama, LSU and Texas are still in it as well. Many thought he was a big lean to Ohio State but I’ve still been told by multiple people that Oklahoma is the one to watch with him. He likes the staff there and just had an official visit last month. I think the Aggies and Sooners may actually both be a bit ahead of the Buckeyes, but I am not writing Ohio State of at all. Dewberry has long said he will announce when he knows, so he has no timeline. But I would expect it to likely be after the season. Umeozulu is another player that is relatively quiet and plays things very close to the vest. USC once looked likely with him, but the coaching change there could have an impact. But, A&M is still hoping to get him on campus for an official at some point and is in the thick of things as he is pretty open. A&M has the momentum with Nabou, a player the Aggies absolutely loved at camp. They immediately offered and got the then-Washington commit back in town the next weekend for an official visit. The 6-foot-4, 330-pounder does not want to rush into a decision a second time around, so he will wait until after the season as well. But A&M is in the best position with Michigan and USC the other major players. A&M also offered Snow College junior college tackle Tyrone Webber before the season. The Canada native has been a popular prospect among colleges. However, he is not as high on the A&M board at the moment and I would be surprised if he was in the class. I would look for A&M to keep kicking the tires on some possible junior college guys, though none have emerged to this point in the season. The Aggies will also look to the transfer portal there as well. DEFENSIVE LINE (Photo: Ryan Callahan, 247Sports) Texas A&M finally has a defensive line group on campus that looks like those of the other SEC contenders. That was probably the biggest area lacking in the first close to decade that the Aggies were in the conference. And, with the 2022 class, the Maroon and White should be able to reload. A&M picked up an early commitment from elite edge Malick Sylla of Katy, Texas, who is a national top-60 prospect. Though he has talked of possibly taking some other visits, I have my doubts that any of those will happen. The 6-foot-6, 230-pounder has a chance to fill out and big a huge and athletic pass rusher for A&M. The other current commit is Jadon Scarlett of Argyle, Texas. A small-school standout at private Flower Mound Coram Deo the past three years, the 6-foot-2.5, 265-pounder transferred to defending Class 4A-I state champion Argyle over the offseason. He could potentially play end or tackle for the Aggies. As for who fills out the rest of the class, A&M is in a ton of players, including a handful of five-stars. One of those five-stars, Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy of Lakeland, Fla., is set to announce Tuesday between A&M and Oklahoma. A Sooner legacy, he is very likely headed to Norman, despite A&M’s best efforts. But, the Aggies are still very much in it for the others. Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy five-star defensive tackle Bear Alexander started the semester at Fort Worth Brewer but eligibility issues due to transferring sent him to IMG late last month. A one-time Georgia commit, the elite defender decommitted from the Bulldogs after making an unofficial visit to A&M over the summer. He is now down to a final two of A&M and Georgia with both schools having hosted him for unofficials the past two weekend. He is close to a number of guys in the A&M class and was once seemingly written in (pencil) as a future Aggie commit. Georgia has done a good job getting back in it and the Bulldogs’ season this year has helped. But, him being at Kyle Field this past Saturday was huge and A&M still feels pretty good about where they stand. He will use an official to College Station at some point. He plans to announce at the Under Armour game in January. Another five-star was in town this past weekend in Powell, Tenn., tackle Walter Nolen. Ranked as the No. 2 overall prospect in the country, he had been to A&M for the recruiting barbecue in late July and loved it so much that he immediately put the Aggies in his top group. Powell is just outside of Knoxville and Tennessee is a huge player with Nolen, as is Georgia. He also has an official to Alabama set for November. But, the Aggies have as good a shot as any of those other schools and could be in a battle with the Vols for his services. He does not have a timeline, but an All-American game could be when he does it. Another five-star, defensive end Shemar Stewart of Miami (Fla.) Pace, had originally planned to also be on an official to A&M this past weekend but pushed it back. Though not set in stone, the South Carolina game in two weeks is probably when it will happen. He loves the A&M coaching staff and the 6-foot-5, 260-pounder could be considered an Aggie lean. Ohio State will get him for an official at the end of the moment with Georgia and Miami also being involved, but A&M is in good shape with Stewart. Five-star Omari Abor of Duncanville, Texas, also has a really good shot of ending up in Aggieland. Once thought likely headed to Oklahoma, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound edge is now very high on A&M. He has taken officials to Alabama, LSU and Ohio State but has been to A&M on a couple unofficials lately and will be back for an official to College Station. Though he is still pretty open, A&M is making up ground with Scottdale (Ariz.) Chapparal four-star lineman Anthony Lucas. The No. 63 overall prospect made an official visit to Aggieland the first weekend possible in June and looked to be down to A&M and Notre Dame. But subsequent officials to Alabama, Miami and Oregon added those teams to the mix as well. The 6-foot-4.5, 275-pounder was at A&M for an unofficial this past weekend, so got to see Kyle Field go crazy. He still has unofficials to LSU, Notre Dame and Alabama left this season, though, so nobody knows for sure where he will end up. Another player that made a recent unofficial to A&M is edge Enai White of Philadelphia (Pa.) Imhotep. The nation’s No. 34 overall prospect was in town on an unofficial for the Mississippi State game and will be back next month at some point for an official. He has already officially visited the other members of his final group – Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State. White hopes to have a decision before Early Signing Day and, at this point, A&M may be behind some of the others. But it was a good sign he came to town on his own dime and will be a positive that the Aggies get the final official visit. LINEBACKER (Photo: Brian Perroni, 247Sports) Texas A&M has a pair of linebackers committed already in four-star Ish Harris of Pilot Point, Texas, and Martrell Harris of The Woodlands. The former has played more running back than anything else at the high school level, but the Aggies love him at linebacker. They expect him to be an early contributor. The latter had to play on JV as a sophomore due to a move and then had a very short junior season before an injury sidelined him for the rest of it. A&M was one of a few schools that did not want to wait to see senior film and it looks like they may have been really smart in pushing for a commitment over the summer. The team wants three linebackers and there is pretty much one major target remaining – Harold Perkins of Houston Cy Park. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound five-star prospect might be the top overall target on the board as he is freakishly athletic for his size, as demonstrated by the fact he ran for over 1,000 yards as a junior and averaged over 10 yards per carry doing so. Perkins has been to A&M and LSU the most of any schools but did have two recent back-to-back visits to Austin. He also has an upcoming official visit to Oregon. But, A&M and LSU are still the two schools people close to his recruitment talk about the most. A&M has long had optimism and has good reason for that. He is also friends with a number of pledges. But, with his family from Louisiana, LSU can never be counted out. Perkins plans to announce at the Under Armour All-American Game in early January. The other player to at least keep an eye on is four-star Stone Blanton of Madison-Ridgeland, Miss. Currently a baseball commit to in-state Mississippi State, he is also looking close at A&M, Ole Miss and South Carolina. There is a chance he takes a late official to College Station. DEFENSIVE BACK (Photo: Brian Perroni, 247Sports) A&M wants to take five defensive backs and the Aggies already have four committed. Four-star Bobby Taylor of Katy, Texas, was the first of the group to commit and could play either cornerback or safety. He recently said he planned to use his other official visits but has since stated that he is shutting things down. The next pledge was Lexington, Texas, four-star safety Jarred Kerr, who announced over the summer. The 6-foot, 185-pounder has yet to play his senior season due to an injury, but he should be fine in the long run. Kerr is very solid to A&M. In early August, A&M got a big-time head-to-head win over Texas when national top-100 safety Bryce Anderson of Beaumont (Texas) West Brook chose the Aggies over the Longhorns. He will likely start out at nickel and then eventually end up at safety for A&M. Anderson is a defender that could see very early playing time and is also a guy that is friends with a lot of other recruits. The most recent pledge, as mentioned in the receiver section, was four-star Bainbridge, Ga., athlete Deyon Bouie. ‘Smoke’ is ranked as the No. 60 overall prospect in the class and is being recruited as a cornerback by A&M. He was once committed to in-state Georgia but decommitted at the same time as Alexander as the two were in College Station together for an unofficial. Though he committed to A&M in mid-August, Georgia has not given up and he was in Athens for an unofficial two weeks ago. But, in talking to some other players there, they said he absolutely loved A&M. Bouie will not be locked in until he signs, but A&M has a really good shot of keeping him in the boat. Getting Alexander would help even more. The biggest remaining target is Ponchatoula, La., five-star safety Jacoby Mathews. At one point a commitment to in-state LSU, he surprised a lot of people by going to A&M’s barbecue at the end of July instead of LSU’s big recruiting weekend. Mathews decommitted from the Tigers that same weekend. He had already officially visited College Station in June with Anderson being a big factor in his choice to do so. Though Anderson was not yet committed to the Aggies, he shared with his friend and 7-on-7 teammate why he liked A&M so much. Mathews is now looking at A&M, LSU and Texas and will be in Austin this coming weekend. The Longhorns have some momentum now but he does not plan to announce until early January. This past weekend, longtime Georgia four-star cornerback commit Marquis Groves-Killebrew was at A&M for an official visit. We have been told things went really well and that the Aggies are major players there. It helped that he saw a lot of familiar faces as well. The nation’s No. 109 prospect has been committed to the Bulldogs for a year-and-half and it will be tough to pry an in-state player from the nation’s top-ranked team, but A&M and LSU are both schools very much in the mix. After having officially visited Georgia the week prior, national top-100 Houston (Texas) Clear Lake cornerback Julian Humphrey was in College Station for an unofficial this past weekend. Currently committed to Florida, it is going to be tough for the Gators to hold onto him. Humphrey really likes A&M but, with spots at a premium, there’s a good chance there won’t end up being room. I think he probably ends up at Georgia, but should A&M push, he could be an Aggie. Five-star North Shore cornerback Denver Harris is still a possibility as well but is considered a longshot. Alabama is in the best shape with him
  4. Our school is different but our fans the same? 1,124 Views | 15 Replies ... Turf96 We Aggies pride ourself on our school being different in many good ways? Our military history producing great leaders that served us to protect our freedoms. Our perfect blend of country and city boys came together to form a university that led by work ethic, innovation, and respect. It doesn't really matter what you look at over time we all pride ourselves on being a bit unique. It is what made us proud and productive. It made us successful. It made us supportive of each other. Heard of the Aggie Network? It's what we are and should be in all aspects of our Aggie support. All of that gets thrown out the window each fall. Once the football team hits a speed bump we become the biggest bunch of babies. We cry about the coach. We cry about the players. We cry about the kickoff time, refs, play calls, even the price of chicken wraps. School sports were meant to bring joy and support not tear a bunch of 18-24 year old kids down because "we" didn't win it all. In the fall when our boys take the field we root for and second guess the coach or teams just like any school. I have never heard so much pouting after Miss state game. We were uneducated as a fan base and entitled as alumni. Reminded me of LSU fans. So I ask you this; why do we place the standard of our school of its just different here, yet we have a fan base that is just like the other schools? We have an amazing coach, tier one facilities, and incredible athletes. Yet we tear it all down at first thought of we won't win it all. I won't get what I want this year. You criticize the athletes for losing their fight when things go wrong yet the fan can turn on a dime? Why don't we try this? Pay for your overpriced tickets, pay for your overpriced parking spot, pay your overpriced beer and root for the Aggies win or lose. Sure I want to see us win. What's more important to me is to see them fight with all they have and a coach that is teaching and passionate about the game. I see effort and coaching passion at every game. You will tear this post up I know as I heard first hand how little our fan base knows about football just last Saturday. I've read what a bunch of idiots we have on this site for 2 weeks now. If you are this miserable at the games don't show up consider it a donation as you didn't pay for all of it looking at many of your tax returns even if no client ever sat in your seats and it was always your family. Enough of the crying about the team. Enough of crying about how long it has been for you. If the university is better because it is different, then why not make the team better by being supportive even when a few speed bumps have been hit? This board and games are getting too much like that other school in Austin. Entitled brats. Grow up and support this team. Get behind them. Help the team go where we all want to go. I highly doubt Rudder and our other fine leaders from our past would set in stands or get on a message board and dog our team. This week as fans let's pride ourself on being different. It's what makes us better. TLDNR: why do we pride ourselves on our school being different yet we all cry about football like every other team in country? Our Aggie fans are very important to field a team yet we do not reflect the leadership and support of our past greatness as a university. Want to be great root for our team coaches and players don't tear them down. Aggie fans are their own undoing for 40 plus years that I know of. Most likely all the way back to the late 30's. If we want to win get Red A$$ and support not chap A$$ed and cry. Also grammar nazis have a ball I was science based major. Liberal arts majors grab a tissue if I hurt your feeling as I'm just different. What makes me great Beat the hell out of Bama whoop
  5. aggy visit list for their impending beat down by Alabama
  6. Recruiting Country: The latest recruiting news surrounding the Maroon & White By Ryan Brauninger October 6, 2021 14 0 Tweet Share Key notes from Recruiting Country It's interesting because the atmosphere on Saturday night at Kyle field looked really good, and we were asking people who said it sounds great. Some of the kids and people who were inside Kyle Field said it was terrific and got really, really loud. The experience for a lot of the kids has been overwhelmingly positive for Texas A&M. Brenen Thompson‍, the athlete from Spearman, is going to make a decision today, and I do not expect it to be Texas A&M. He was supposed to be here this weekend for the Alabama game, but he had surgery recently and is struggling to get around on his scooter a bit. Texas doesn't try to hide it when they're getting kids. It sounds like some folks around him favored Texas, and with Texas moving to the SEC, it helped Texas build momentum. If you go through the season, what happens after Alabama is a huge deal. The season on the field is one thing, and the season off the field with the recruiting class is another. They're reaching a point where they're of equal importance. Can you reach 8-4? Can you say that 8-4 isn't what you wanted but point to what you were missing? It's not ideal, but it is a way to explain what has happened. If you look at college football as a whole right now, it's Alabama, Georgia and then what? If you're an A&M fan, you probably don't care what LSU or Texas does. You can't be that myopic when looking at it as a recruiting situation. Sure, the season hasn't gone how A&M had hoped. The season is in a bad spot, but the program is not. Look at what they have on the roster and the track record of the coaches as on-field coaches and recruiters. The young talent is getting better. Without a starting quarterback, that's a big deal. There are a lot of ways you can go into the offseason and continue to sell this program if you can get to that 8-4 mark. If you can win your next three after Alabama, the recruiting pitch becomes more understandable. I hate speculating whether or not A&M is going to lose guys. There will be guys that will be tough to keep, but until we get concrete evidence — and we don't have that right now that any kid is going to back away from his commitment to A&M — it does more harm than good to put rumors out there. If we do get that evidence, in our own TexAgs way, we will let the subscribers know. The December signing period is usually a three-day window right before Christmas. Watch our High School Football Show. We get into a lot of the underrated players in both Houston and Dallas. Right now, I'm not expecting any unexpected flips to Texas A&M. Walter Nolen‍ is a five-star defensive tackle out of Tennessee. He will be in this weekend for a visit. His name has come up a bunch as a guy that Texas A&M is right there in the mix for. When they came for the pool party, he made some connections and felt at home with the coaching staff and in College Station. Going into this weekend, A&M has positioned himself pretty well for this kid. Bryce Anderson‍ is committed. Jarred Kerr‍ is a kid that Mike Elko and Jimbo Fisher never wavered on. It's unfortunate that he got injured this year and missed a lot of action, but when a coaching staff goes about a recruitment like they did with Jarred, it makes you feel good about a kid. Deyon Bouie‍ is a really good defensive back, and A&M will have to fight Georgia to keep him. The Aggies are also right at the top and center for Jacoby Mathews‍. They're attacking the defensive backfield pretty hard. Taj Harris is a recent transfer portal entry from Syracuse. He's originally from New Jersey, and Elijah Robinson and Mike Elko have some serious connections up there. That will be a fight, and Billy just dropped some notes on what A&M is looking to do in the portal this morning, so subscribe. When your house is on fire, you don't notice that your neighbors' houses are on fire. That might be happening with the A&M fan base. Maybe just a room is on fire for the Aggies, and if they can put that fire out, maybe they'll be able to sell their house the easiest on signing day. There's one in Baton Rouge that is going to have a lot of burn damage. There is still a lot of football to be played and narratives to be changed going into signing day. Alabama is going to pop up on the radar somewhere down the stretch for sure. Don't be surprised if a current commit or a prime target that hasn't been involved with Alabama all of a sudden gets involved with Alabama
  7. Liucci, Part 1: Opportunity for improvement, the war grackle & more By Billy Liucci October 5, 2021 5.8k42Tweet Share As top-ranked Alabama gets ready to head to Kyle Field this weekend, fans in College Station are looking for any sign of optimism. Billy Liucci answers another round of subscriber questions regarding the team's improvement going forward, Jimbo's presence and more. Billy Liucci: Oh, all right. All right, Zane, let's get to it. Let's hit these, let's hit these questions. Coming off the loss to Mississippi state, 26-22. We've talked it into oblivion already this week, Alabama coming up. I know there's a lot of excitement. Anytime number one and the most powerful program and coach in college football history are coming to town. So on the one hand should be a great environment at Kyle Field Saturday night. On the other hand, there's not a lot of optimism, enthusiasm. Let's see what the questions are and let's see if the Aggies can come out and just kind of shock everybody this weekend and make a run at this thing. Zane, lets tackle all the questions they got. Richard Zane: Okay. First question comes from millerjohnr. Do you see objective improvement in Zach Calzada and will it be enough to win three SEC games? Billy Liucci: I do see, I did see improvement this past week, but it still wasn't enough. You know, same with the O-line. Like they, I thought the O-line took a big step in the running game, but still some major breakdowns in the passing game that really cost the team the game. I mean, you killed several drives with sacks or a bad snap, or the safety was 100% on the protection. And when I say protection, I talk about all the blocking, but Zane, Calzada looked better in some areas. He made some really nice plays Saturday night, but that's still, he's going to have to be, he's going to have to get a lot better even than he was though. And just over the course of a game, you can't just say, well, man, he made more good plays than you made last week. Billy Liucci: Well, he didn't, made very few against Arkansas. And so that number went up, but it needs to go up even higher and just the confidence and limiting the mistakes. Like a lot of guys on the team, he has a long way to go, but because he's the quarterback and because the offense right now between him and the O-line are operating with such a small margin for error that he's going to have to improve significantly over the next couple of weeks. Three SEC games, yeah, but I don't, I think he might be quarterback in three more. I know what Jimbo said yesterday. I still think there's a real chance you'd see a Haynes King coming back after the bye. We'll see. That remains to be seen. They're not going to rush him back if it puts him in harm's way at all. So something to fact, something to consider. Richard Zane: Next one comes from redline248. Why can't people get over Jimbo’s salary and why after two losses do a lot of people think he is suddenly a bad coach? Billy Liucci: College or sports fandom in 2021, social media, the media in 2021, shock jock, a lot of people got their feelings hurt that Jimbo left a football program for Texas A&M when so many of them laughed and said he wouldn't. So it makes them look bad. And then the contract and they don't like the way A&M spent. A lot of people are weak. A lot of people I think are weak and power and moves of strength offend them. And that goes for a lot of people in the media, I believe. I don't understand why Texas A&M moving to the SEC bothered them for whatever reason, but Texas moving to the SEC did not bother most because they're supposed to be there. Jimbo was supposed to stay at Florida State because they won national titles. Texas A&M has not. A bunch of oil guys spending money seems to bother people that don't have that kind of money. And people, they just, they don't like it. Billy Liucci: And if you think about just what you're seeing from the national media is society in general. Jimbo doesn't play their game. He's not disrespectful to the media at all, from what I've seen. And it's not just me because I've gotten to know the man on a personal level, but I'm talking about watching him interact with the entire media for four years here. It's not like I've got a one-month body of work to look at. He treats the media with respect. He, but he doesn't play their little game. He's not a leak and give them all the inside program info and available whenever they want to call it and writing books about him and things like that. They've just, the national media has never really, they haven't just bonded with him and embraced him. I mean, hell, you got a national media that embraced Ed Orgeron, all the crap he's done over the years and the terrible coaching he had performed over the years. Billy Liucci: They embraced Steve Sarkisian with all of his pitfalls and stuff. They embrace Lane Kiffin to a large degree. You know, Michael Wilbon got attacked this week for going after Lane Kiffin. The media went after him. You think anybody would go after somebody for going after Jimbo Fisher? So, it's certainly a double standard, but we'll take it. And you know, as far as the salary and two games, it's like, I think most people understand it's not going to be just two games, particularly with this weekend. And they understand that this year is certainly looking like a stumble. I could go on and tell you how I think it could be a really nice recovery. Beat Missouri and South Carolina, get Haynes back for the bye and win four out of five to close it out. Billy Liucci: I think that would certainly make you sit back and go, well, this team actually would have been 10 and 2, had King not broken his leg. Nobody outside of College Station will be saying that. And by the way, that's not easy to get to, but they're not going to give A&M or Jimbo Fisher the benefit of the doubt, because they've all been waiting on him to fall. And we, myself included, don't do any favors because we're going to fight for A&M, like last year when they should have been in the playoff ahead of Notre Dame and people don't like that either. People like Kirk Herbstreit, certain folks at ESPN, don't like being called out when they're actively trying to keep Ohio State, Notre Dame in the playoff field. Richard Zane: The next one's a two-part question from rjkiv04. First part, Georgia and Bama both have, both run much better during, excuse me. Georgia and Bama have both run much different-looking offenses lately in games of importance. What are the chances of us doing that? And can Alabama stop the run? Billy Liucci: I think Alabama can stop the run against an O-line that's still trying to put it together, but I do think there is a small, small window of opportunity there for A&M to run the football. It gives you at least a little hope when they ran. I haven't gone through and just completely crunched numbers when you take away the bad snap and actual sacks, what A&M’s yards gained were about. I think they're probably around over 230 against Mississippi State on the ground, which is really good. So it gives you a little bit of hope. I do think the answer for A&M is they have to line up and try to get physical with Alabama and let guys get hat on hat. Don't try to do things that are asking your lineman to be too athletic and block guys in space... Billy Liucci: And it's just going to be a nightmare. Let Spiller and Achane be your bell cows on Saturday. And it's your only hope. As far as Bama and Georgia and those offenses, man, I'm just going to, I know that Georgia has gone with a walk-on quarterback too right now. I say too, because I was a scholarship guy and Georgia wanted Zach, but I'll ask you this, if Zach Calzada was at Georgia right now, who do you think would be Georgia’s, who do you think would have started the Arkansas game for UGA? Forget the fact that he's a walk-on. Richard Zane: Probably go with Stetson Bennett. Billy Liucci: Yeah. It's Stetson Bennett, nothing against Zach. He’ just not ready for that, Stetson Bennett is. You watched Stetson Bennett, what he could do with his legs really hurt Arkansas, when early on in the game, when it was actually still a contest. What they're doing offensively has a lot to do with their offensive lines have been light years better than A&M and Zane, I think you, me and Dalton could go out there with Olin playing quarterback and get the ball to Ruggs, Jeudy, Waddle and Smith, the Heisman winner. So it's a lot, it's not apples to apples yet. It needs to be closer to being apples to apples though, four years in, I will say that. The Aggies need to really start getting more productive playmakers at the wide receiver position. Richard Zane: Second part of this question is completely unrelated. He asked how much significance do you place on the stadium visit from the war grackle on Saturday. And do you think it will make a return? Billy Liucci: I think he liked the spotlight clearly with the way he was just prancing down the field in the opposite end zone and just kind of sitting there in the end zone early, taunting the teams saying, you're not getting in here. I do think he'll be back. You know, it's kind of like one of you guys, if you get a bunch of like, it's like Brauny, right, or Gabe. I noticed Gabe on Instagram in the replies the other day tagged like me, the Republic, Tom Hart, maybe Cubelic, like six ads in a reply, in a comment. So, Brauny is the same way. Like if Brauny gets a thousand likes on a tweet. It's just like an incentive to do more. Richard Zane: Lord help us. Billy Liucci: It incentivizes him to try to get more. And that's what the war grackle got on Saturday. He just now realizes, hell Zane, there might be a whole flock of them down there Saturday night. We'll see. Richard Zane: A claydeezy joining a Brauny for more interactions. Is that what you mean? Billy Liucci: Oh God. That's like the, yeah. That's like the holy grail of Twitter. Deezy, Brauny and Gabe, and then Olin flying in with an off-color comment or Hop comes in there. That's like the holy grail of it all. Richard Zane: Back on track. Billy Liucci: But I'm the bad guy, but I'm the bad guy, Zane, because I don't want us to just completely fly off the rails. Richard Zane: Oh, you are the bad guy. The bully even, as they call you. Billy Liucci: I will play it. I will play it and relish it. Richard Zane: BoxingAg84. Will we see Bost on the field at any point this Saturday? Billy Liucci: I'm not going to say no. I mean, there's a lot of ways that can go. I would say yes, just, unfortunately, because I think at the worst, not in the worst case, but the most likely scenario is that Alabama, they'll get some distance and you want to see what your current backup quarterbacks got. Now, if Zach's really struggling, I think that's the more significant question. That's probably underlying what he meant there. Zach's really struggling. Will they go with the backup in the early going, and say the first half or by the third quarter or not? I think, yeah, I think you would. At some point, you've got to see what you've got. I mean, I don't care that he's a true freshman walk-on. He impressed guys during camp. And he's your backup quarterback right now? Just like when Zach was, if Haynes was struggling. So I think Zach needs to perform a lot better, but I also think Jimbo's committed to him and to seeing this through, that he gets a lot better. And again, I saw Zach Calzada do some things much better against Mississippi State than he did against Arkansas. Richard Zane: fullback44. And I assume he's talking about Saturday's game. He asked, it ain't going to be pretty, but how bad will it be? Is this O-line going to show some progress? Billy Liucci: I sure as hell hope so, man. I mean, this is a, yeah, this is tough. And it just sucks that we're talking about it. Like in these terms, I would have thought we were talking about can, A&M pull the upset. Can Haynes King and this ground game, and this defense carry them over Alabama. And if they were the team we thought they were, and I mean, in terms of health, and I thought the defense would be better at this point, much better. And certain guys I thought would be playing on both sides of the ball. And if it was that, and you went back to what you saw against Florida, you could go, well, that's the formula. And A&M can replicate that formula. A&M is as good as Florida. Billy Liucci: You know, like that's, I would've thought we'd be sitting here going the Aggies are actually better than Florida when it comes to running the ball. And when, with Haynes getting ran, like defensively, they're better. Like I would have thought all those things would have been, we'd have been talking about right now. And we're not. We're talking about an Alabama team that was up, was it 35 nothing? 30? 42? What was the score at halftime against Ole miss 35? 42 nothing Richard Zane: I'm not sure. I didn't watch much of that game. Billy Liucci: Massacre. Absolute massacre. 28, whatever it was. And you're talking about an A&M that's lost back to back to Arkansas, Mississippi State, and can't seem to figure it out offensively. And even to some degree on defense. Richard Zane: And I think this one kind of plays off the question, just asked. Redassag94. Historically speaking, how bad is it? I'm not sure what the "it" he's referring to is, but I'm going to assume it's the game on Saturday. Billy Liucci: I don't know, man. I don't like these questions, honestly. It's like, hey, Billy, let's make fun of the Ags and talk about how bad they're going to lose to Alabama and historically and measured up some of the worst losses ever before they play. Like, I don't, I don't, I'm not into that. Like you guys know me and I, to me like you, it's not a joking matter to me. And I also don't think historically, so I think this is one of the more disappointing A&M seasons in a while. Part of it is because the team's been disappointing. The other part is the injuries have really ravaged them offensively and killed them. The other part of the disappointment is the teams they're playing aren't that good. And it's a wonderful opportunity this year. You look at like a Penn State and an Iowa. Billy Liucci: You can beat, A&M could have beaten a couple of, a solid Arkansas team, solid to good. And an average Mississippi State team and A&M might not even be great, but could be five and 0 with college game day here playing in the second most high profile game of the season to date and they couldn't get there. So, disappointing, yeah. But historically, I just think you have to look at what's gone on and really be realistic and be disappointed and expect more. I expect more even in light of the injuries, cause it's been really, it's been really bad and you see that they were in both of those games in the fourth quarter and by in, I mean, within a score. By in, I mean with the ball to win and tie in each game in the fourth quarter and you played that poorly. It shows you that if you just had gotten some other things right, you probably could win those football games. Richard Zane: 96AgGrad asks, what is your take on the recruiting and development of the quarterbacks up until now and why so many misses? Billy Liucci: Well, first let me say this. Eli Stowers is clearly hurt. And I think maybe after this season and we'll see him get back, like he's a down-the-road project, because how I mentioned it during his senior year, he just didn't look right throwing the football. That hurt. That one, that one hurt. The development. I think they, Calzada not being where he, where you'd think he would be is what's making it look a lot worse. I mean, Haynes King, you felt great about. James Foster, you had four weeks, five weeks to sign. They went and took a flyer on a kid from Alabama. There wasn't much out there. Now, if I think anything, just evaluating the room, heading into the season, and you knew you saw Stowers in the spring, you saw Calzada, you've seen him for a couple of years. And either they felt a lot better about Calzada than what he's shown, or that would have been maybe a chance to go portal before this season. Billy Liucci: And maybe, it wouldn't have... probably not been that hard. Because yes, Haynes King was looking like he was going to be dialed in as a starter, but you were a program recruiting and going out into the transfer market without a starting quarterback. That could have been a sell to really anybody. So, but Jimbo recruiting QBs, I think right now you could go, if you want to include Foster, you say, well, he's one, he's one out of four. Well, I would say throw out Foster and Stowers. The injury changed, I think it changed everything. I'd say he was one out of two. But if you would say he's one out of four, I think he's three out of four moving forward, because Haynes King is going to be a hit. Conner Weigman is one of the best I've seen and I haven't seen the guy throw the ball. Billy Liucci: And here's the difference between Holstein, Calzada and Nick Starkel and I talked about this from the ball. Holstein has got the whole package. Athletically, might go win a state title this year. He's a big, big kid and he's got the best arm I've seen A&M recruit in a quarterback, ever since I've been covering this. So I think there'll be, I think he'll be three and four, three out of four, but that's not what everybody wants to hear today because we're in the situation we're in. I think the misstep would have been probably not going portal just for this season only. Richard Zane: stepwall wants to know the status of Tunmise Adeleye and Fadil Diggs? Billy Liucci: They've been out. You know, I don't know the specific status. Diggs has been banged up though, I do know that. And I don't think I haven't ever been told the same thing long-term with him. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see a little more of him moving forward. Richard Zane: ConfidentAg says, starting to realize it wasn't Mond at all, but this offense inherently struggles to get the wide receiver passing game going. It is what it is on that front. Or will there be any changes? And he says, hell, I'm not even sure it's Craig's fault. Billy Liucci: That receiver thing is interesting because it's so much a chicken and the chicken or the egg thing here and in the Damien discussions, a whole sidebar to it. But the Aggies haven't had impact receivers. They haven't had anybody that the NFL is taking a serious look at and some will go well, that's because of the system. But no, I think that the league would find those guys and they've been to camps and been cut and things like that. But I also think it's more running back/tight end friendly right now. But then you go, well, what would this look like if you had. Look at the receivers LSU had in '19, look at the receivers Clemson put on the field when A&M played them those two years. Look at the receivers Bama puts out there and Ohio State. And it's like, do you think that those guys wouldn't? Billy Liucci: Let's say everything else is the same, the coaching, the play calling. Those guys wouldn't be more open? Those guys wouldn't be more explosive? Those guys wouldn't be making, getting behind defenses and then Jimbo says, yeah, that guy can get behind defense whenever he wants. He can run a post and run right at the safety and take it to the house, but we're not going to use him. I don't think that's the case. I don't. But I also think it's on the staff to go out and get those kind of guys and then utilize them. And then, I do think you can get more out of the guys you've got right now as well, but it needs to be, I think they need a breakthrough in recruiting. And some of that too, by the way, would be in the evaluation aspect of it as well. Billy Liucci: You know, you look at who was it from up the road here, Mims, that went to OU and he's really good. I mean, I don't think he's the greatest. Everybody's really good and was really good as a freshman. And Woods from, who was at Arkansas and now is it, is up there. There's been a few of them. Jaxon Smith-Njigba at Ohio state who was really interested in A&M and the Aggies were slow on that one. So it's easy to do at any position any time. The good news is there's very few positions. We're sitting here doing that in terms of A&Ms recruiting, but receiver would be one of them. Richard Zane: You mentioned the portal a little earlier, Aggie95 has a portal-related question. With its continued rise and importance, will high-level power five schools hire a quote-unquote Director of Scouting, that is the lead scout for potential players. Seems too big a task for position coaches and others already tasked with high school recruiting. Billy Liucci: Yeah. I don't think it's something you task position coaches with. I'm sure you do have to consult with them and say, hey, who are some guys you guys saw along the way or were involved with that are good players elsewhere. But yeah, I do think it's a whole other... Buzz talked about it a little bit yesterday for basketball. That roster management slash like, almost like for lack of a better word free agency. That's the world we're living in college football right now. So the teams that are best at it are the teams that are going to thrive moving forward and the Aggies have to be one of those teams. So what do you do? You set up, you have to have a system in place, almost like where you've got a GM. Marshall Malchow, I think, can certainly handle that, but he needs it, you need to just keep expanding that team because it can't be cheap. You almost have to have a recruiting arm and a portal arm for lack of a better word. Richard Zane: All right Billy. I got like five minutes before I got to run a class. So how many more would you like to run through? Billy Liucci: Five more in five minutes. Richard Zane: Five in five minutes. With all the secondary- I'm sorry? Billy Liucci: Unless you want to get Dalton up here at 11:01? Richard Zane: No chance. You know that there's no chance that happens. Billy Liucci: If I say it's going to happen, he's going to come up here. See, this is why I'm the bad guy. Because like I know like Billy's the owner, but he's a jerk for making Dalton come upstairs on a lark to finish a question thread for the subscribers. Richard Zane: We can get five in, Billy. Billy Liucci: I'll send a text right now. Let's get some questions in. Richard Zane: nortex97. With all of the secondary injuries, any chance we see four or even five on the line on defense early? And does Bama try to capitalize with more four and even five wide receiver sets? Billy Liucci: Say that again? I'm texting to get someone up here. Richard Zane: With all of the secondary injuries, any chance we see four or even five on the line on defense early? Does Alabama try to capitalize with more four or even five wide receiver sets? Billy Liucci: I don't think, I think Bama is going to run what Bama runs. I don't think, I honestly don't think they're that worried about coming out and doing anything particularly revolutionary to attack. Yeah. I mean, they're going to scheme and try to score on every play if they can, whatever, they always do. But I don't think Bama is going to look at us and go, we can't run it on and we're just going to air it out the whole game. I think they're going to try to stay balanced, but they know that if they stay ahead of the chains, they're going to fire some shots down the field early and often, and probably exploit some weaknesses for the Aggies in the back seven. Richard Zane: Haileno40. Johnson and Cooper on defense didn't see the field much. Do you have any intel on that? Billy Liucci: No. Nope. I think it was opponent-related. Because I saw Cooper out there in other areas, special teams. Like, so, I think it was probably opponent-related and trying to get, trying to get match-ups there. Which Johnson is he talking about? Richard Zane: I assume it's defense. So, that would be- Billy Liucci: Tyree, Tyree. Richard Zane: Tyree. Billy Liucci: Well, I think that was, when you're going with a three-man rush for most of the contests, I don't think Tyree was going to be the guy to really help you out there. Richard Zane: I saw him out there too. He made a couple of big plays. FlyingAg. We never seem to figure out how to cover short passes or really developed much of a pass rush. Could this be mostly inexperience or the scheme we tried? Billy Liucci: I think it's you talking about personnel really still. And again, you go to like, hey, we're four years into this. You got to get some development out of guys like Diggs and Donell Harris. You got to get Malick Sylla in here. Get these edge-twitchier guys out there too, that that can be a monster to deal with one-on-one on the outside. Like DeMarvin Leal is an All-American, he's incredible. But if you paired him with someone that people, was just... It's kind of the problem Bama has had over the last few years, I feel like they've kind of drifted where they hadn't gotten those terrors off the air and we might feel differently watching them Saturday, but they don't have, they have, it's been a while since they've had that long rangy edge pass rusher. Georgia's had them, LSU's had them. I think the Aggies could use a couple. Two more, Zane. Richard Zane: jackson-kyle. Steak 48 or Mastro's? Billy Liucci: Oh, good question. You know, it's not going to be popular. I actually like, I like the atmosphere at, I like the classiness of a Mastro’s. I think I like Mastro's a little more. Steak 48, it's more fun. It's more a fun environment atmosphere. It, I liked the, for a steak dinner. Like if I want to go out, I'm going out. I don't need it to be at my dinner. But if you're looking for a fun time, it's Steak 48. If you're looking for the best steaks, man, I don't think personally, I don't know if it's either one of those in Houston. I'm still a big proponent that when you go to Pappas Brothers and they do it right, most nights, I think they might have as good a steak as anybody in Houston. Richard Zane: Wynn.derong. Why are we getting hurt so much? Is that the way we practice, the strength and conditioning program or just bad luck? Billy Liucci: I think it's just bad luck. And every time you have injuries, every program, every year, every time you have injuries, the way they practice is a strength and conditioning or what is it. But if you look a lot of these guys getting hurt, it's been a couple things. It's been a lot of guys that have always been hurt. Unfortunately, just some players have that. And other times it's things like it's like to me, the couple of ones that just are always harder to come back from, like a foot. And they've had a couple of foot deals, particularly at cornerback right now. But I think the other things it's just, it's tough luck. It really is. I mean, what Haynes King, we supposed to strength train them differently to keep him from snapping his leg when he gets slung down with all his body weight on it? Like so, tough break there, brutal break. Two more Zane, those were quick. Richard Zane: SECcess12, how do we anticipate the defense attacks, Bryce Young, and can they help us keep this game close? Billy Liucci: I think what keeps these games close is A&M being able to run the football and stop the run. I think that's the only thing that keeps the game close. And that means Bryce Young is still going to throw for yards. He's still going to, but at least get him in some third and seven and, and more. At least do that and give yourself a chance. And at least put Zach Calzada in some second and sixes or better. Give yourself a chance. Last one Zaniac. Richard Zane: Bighunter43. Is Stowers getting any snaps at all in practice at quarterback? I would love to have a package or two where he comes in. Billy Liucci: Let's do another one. Answer is yes, but he's so, he's not going to be able to throw the ball with the effectiveness necessary. If you're going to do what you're talking about, then you, and in my opinion, you may as well have Ainias Smith back there, who's very dynamic in the run game. Last one. Richard Zane: He's got another one. In Jimbo's first season, we saw some well-timed screen passes with Trayveon Williams, but not much since then. Do you ever think Jimbo will run some RB screens? Wouldn't you love to see Achane get some screen passes in space? Billy Liucci: Tried a nice one last week and it got tipped on third down and it looked like it was going to be wide open for a big play. But yeah, I love the screen game, especially with Spiller and Achane. I think they are really good at it. And of course, A&Ms tried a lot of stuff around the line of scrimmage where it requires blocking on the perimeter. And that's been pretty horrific so far. So they've got to improve on that. But yeah, I'm with you. I love the screen game. I even like, you know Wydermyer on a tight end screen, but a lot of that too, depends on the quarterback and blocking and timing and everything. And it just hasn't been there, unfortunately. Billy Liucci: All right Zane, I guess, is that your computer you're on? Richard Zane: It is. Billy Liucci: All right. Well, let's call it. We'll get, we'll get two more, I'll get two more of them in writing. We have not gotten a reply from Dalton, so the team suffers
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