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Jimbo 2022: Balls To The Face

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Pato del Muerto

Pato del Muerto 52,616

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Looks like they covered all bases in rapid form

1) not over til the ink dries, keep working on him and tu will fall apart soon enough

2) Craig isn’t getting it done (pairs well with 1)

3) no big loss, he’s fast but too small to be good

4) no big loss, he is a quitter. 

i especially liked the post about how the wr room is what’s holding back the offense, when the exact opposite is true. 

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AntsInMyPants
AntsInMyPants

A&M is playing the NIL game smarter than everyone else. You can bitch and moan all you want, but they are ahead of us. Our OL package is us (finally) trying to catch up.

closetojumping
closetojumping

I talked to two people separately that are connected at ATM.  I know this will sound unbelievable because it is so predictable, including us saying it a bunch here, but apparently they really did

Chuckie Finster
Chuckie Finster

I think my favorite part of all of this is the unquestioned agreement that the dude who threw three interceptions vs. Kent State would have solved all of their problems.

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Sejjr

Sejjr 3,246

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12 minutes ago, UncleSonny said:

I wonder if Aggierogue thinks Devanta Smith is David Boston’s size or if he just hasn’t watched college football for 3 years. 

Exactly. The "He's too small for the SEC" take is pretty hilarious considering last years' Heisman winner was about 165 soaking wet as a high school senior. And not much bigger as a Heisman winner. 

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UncleSonny

UncleSonny 6,573

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2 minutes ago, Sejjr said:

Exactly. The "He's too small for the SEC" take is pretty hilarious considering last years' Heisman winner was about 165 soaking wet as a high school senior. And not much bigger as a Heisman winner. 

Well sure, but he never had to play Alabama's defense! - aggy galaxy brain 

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texifornia

texifornia 57,163

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23 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Looks like they covered all bases in rapid form

1) not over til the ink dries, keep working on him and tu will fall apart soon enough

2) Craig isn’t getting it done (pairs well with 1)

3) no big loss, he’s fast but too small to be good

4) no big loss, he is a quitter. 

i especially liked the post about how the wr room is what’s holding back the offense, when the exact opposite is true. 

I was a big fan of "we need to become elite evaluators." Because that's totally a choice they can make on the fly.

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14,786

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1 hour ago, ClubWhatever said:

That screen shot scroll should be rolled up and put in a desert cave. 

Holy shit. It was a thing of beauty. The best recruiting staff in the country to the entire offensive staff sucks besides Craig, to what does Craig do?

I also like how they say we barely beat a team that lost to SMU, while failing to understand they just LOST to a team that lost to Memphis. The same Memphis team that gave up 17 straight to lose at home to UTSA.

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11,536

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Jimbo has done a pretty good job of getting the PR machine back in line since Sunday. TexAgs goes from blaming the MS State and Arkansas losses on Jimbo to blaming the disaster on Haynes King’s injury. 
 

I even heard this bullshit on 247 national podcast today. “Different team with Haynes King. Can you imagine the hype around his Alabama game if King were healthy?” I was dumbfounded. King also sucks. Blaming the season on King getting hurt is the laziest, drive by take I’ve seen since “Texas can’t win because they have too boosters meddling in the program.”

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Deej

Deej 76,946

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2 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

i especially liked the post about how the wr room is what’s holding back the offense, when the exact opposite is true.

Just need receivers who can catch balls 5 yards out of a normal catch radius.

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RomaVicta

RomaVicta 30,031

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image.png.9ef05e6df5d9644ff84350157ee2c608.png

Have they defeated a team better than anyone on our schedule other than Rice? Tech and TCU would shred the teams that A&M sneaked by.

So much sour grapes about Thompson, whom they considered a prestige take yesterday, now being too small, too weak for the SEC, and a quitter.

You go hard core Aggie, you go hard core irrational. 

They can't spell, conjugate, or distinguish between then and than. And they're college grads.

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Napoleon

Napoleon 8,700

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4 hours ago, texifornia said:

I was a big fan of "we need to become elite evaluators." Because that's totally a choice they can make on the fly.


Why have they chosen NOT "to become elite evaluators" up until now?

Wouldn't it always be in a team's best interest "to become elite evaluators"?

Something doesn't seem right.

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Barbacoa

Barbacoa 1,934

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They were all in on BT. They got out recruited, and they just found out their slapdick handler oversold their position. This one drew blood, and they're realizing their fears about Texas in the SEC are coming true. The less regarded ones are starting to see the writing on the wall. The full on agtistic ones wont understand whats happening to them until the power gets knocked out in the bunker and Jimbo and Karen swallow cyanide pills. 

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texifornia

texifornia 57,163

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6 hours ago, Napoleon said:


Why have they chosen NOT "to become elite evaluators" up until now?

Wouldn't it always be in a team's best interest "to become elite evaluators"?

Something doesn't seem right.

Well his argument is when they were just getting every bluechip they wanted it didnt really matter - any doofus can tell you Malick Sylla and Bryce Anderson are good at football. But once they need to distinguish between 3stars, they might be fucked.

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Huckleberry

Huckleberry 33,114

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20 hours ago, TBGFL said:

 

Reminder - The SEC is the easiest conference that A&M has ever been in thanks to their South Carolina partnership. All-time A&M conference records:

SWC: 254-219-30, 0.535 winning percentage
Big 12: 68-61-0, 0.527 winning percentage
SEC: 42-33-0, 0.560 winning percentage (includes the two losses this year)

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Huckleberry

Huckleberry 33,114

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6 hours ago, RomaVicta said:

 

image.png.9ef05e6df5d9644ff84350157ee2c608.png

Have they defeated a team better than anyone on our schedule other than Rice? Tech and TCU would shred the teams that A&M sneaked by.

So much sour grapes about Thompson, whom they considered a prestige take yesterday, now being too small, too weak for the SEC, and a quitter.

You go hard core Aggie, you go hard core irrational. 

They can't spell, conjugate, or distinguish between then and than. And they're college grads.

No. The three teams A&M has beaten in the Massey Composite:

#90 Kent State
#108 Colorado
#119 New Mexico

The fact they're getting votes in the polls is absurd.

(Texas has beaten #41 Texas Tech, #56 Louisiana, #61 TCU, and #115 Rice)

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Longhornfrenzy

Longhornfrenzy 5,858

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 Liucci, Part 1: Opportunity for improvement, the war grackle & more

By Billy Liucci October 5, 2021

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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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10 minutes ago, Longhornfrenzy said:

 Liucci, Part 1: Opportunity for improvement, the war grackle & more

By Billy Liucci October 5, 2021

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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

Fucking gold!

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TBGFL

TBGFL 397

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12 hours ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

I'm betting Jimbo won't get rid of Craig.  Believe this was a thing at FSU in that Dumbo refused to get rid of dead weight on the coaching staff @TBGFL

Based on his history, no, he will not. Jimbo has never fired an assistant in his time as head coach. Besides, Craig is his protege. 

Jimbo and Aggy like to spin the false narrative that Jimbo wasn't given enough money for assistants at FSU, which is a complete farce. Jimbo had a staff at FSU that was Top 5 or 10, can't remember which, in compensation. Jimbo just chose to allocate those dollars poorly.

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MonkeyDoughnut

MonkeyDoughnut 10,357

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My favorite Luicci line from post: " 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."

 

Power move being of course upping an already mocked one sided salary contract by a couple million a year to a coach who happens to have a WORSE records after this many games than the one they fired.  That power move...

Cracking Up Lol GIF by Rodney Dangerfield

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Hornlover

Hornlover 8,843

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53 minutes ago, Longhornfrenzy said:

 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.

This was my favorite part. He actually admits that A&M is terrible, and they were beat by teams that also suck.

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Mitch Cumsteen

Mitch Cumsteen 18,592

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It's the injuries, you stupid sips. If not for Haynes King, he of the three interceptions vs. Kent motherfucking State, they would be undefeated and hosting gameday this week. 

Also, the paragraph on WR recruiting is spectacular. They just need to recruit better there. Forget guys like Demas and their other blue chips. Dylan Wright hasn't even been that good for Minnesota, but would still be their second leading receiver with the stats he's put up so far. Just complete denial. Leach has been at MSU less than two years with not nearly as heralded talent, and they're slinging it all over the yard. 

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Big Woodrows

Big Woodrows 4,200

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1 hour ago, Longhornfrenzy said:

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.

what alternate reality is Liucci living in where Texas leaving the Big 12 didn't ruffle any feathers

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SydneyCarton

SydneyCarton 48,203

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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.

This whole fucking section. Just fucking unbelievable. I'm dying. A pictoral:

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dumbest.gif

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RomaVicta

RomaVicta 30,031

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2 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

No. The three teams A&M has beaten in the Massey Composite:

#90 Kent State
#108 Colorado
#119 New Mexico

The fact they're getting votes in the polls is absurd.

(Texas has beaten #41 Texas Tech, #56 Louisiana, #61 TCU, and #115 Rice)

You'll never see an answer this accurate, concise, and objective within 50 miles of College Station. Thanks.

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