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Phone: 281-971-3362
Email: paul@westhoustonsf.com
Arkansas, A&M have similar worries
Talking with people on the Arkansas side of things, they're very worried about the same things A&M fans are: the offensive line and the secondary. A&M's offensive has clearly not been good, but Arkansas' has been appalling: 104th in the country in sacks allowed, with KJ Jefferson having gone down 11 times already this season. LSU is understandable, because they are a top 15 team in sacks, but BYU got KJ Jefferson 4 times and they're 104th in sacks. Four of their six sacks on the year came against Arkansas. In other words, A&M should bring pressure.
Arkansas has been very good at getting to the quarterback, with 14 sacks so far. But as one person noted today, "they didn't get much pressure against LSU in the second half."
Arkansas' secondary was picked apart by Jaylen Daniels last weekend. They have a real concern that A&M will be able to replicate much of what LSU did as Daniels threw for 320 yards and two receivers went over the century mark.
Injury update:
Rocket Sanders looks like he's good for Arkansas. So that's a bit of an issue. Noah Thomas is expected back for A&M, and that's a big plus. I haven't heard of any other injuries on the A&M side that are of consequence.
Keep away:
One thing A&M did as they adjusted to Max Johnson at quarterback is they started using more bootlegs to get him out of the pocket and buy him some extra time. I would expect that, with the pressure Arkansas likes to bring, they'll do that again. Don't be surprised if you see more motion as a result to get another receiver on whichever side Max Johnson goes to.
It also wouldn't be a surprise if we saw a few more draws this weekend as Arkansas tries to push up the field.
Sacks, and not turnovers, are the historic issue for Max.
How close was it this summer?
I have heard from multiple sources that offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino made a strong argument in favor of Max winning the starting job this fall, citing his experience in the SEC. According to these folks, Jimbo was the one who made the final call on Conner Weigman getting the start, and Petrino didn't protest. But the fact that the offensive coordinator saw enough to debate it should make you feel pretty good about how Max played this spring and summer. He sure didn't look bad against Auburn, either.
Who came after Bussey late?
There was some concern over the past couple of days that Oklahoma was making a late run at Terry Bussey. But that was their imagination. From what I've heard, the team that came closest to getting to the 4-star athlete from Timpson to reconsider was LSU, not OU. So it got "interesting" late, but not that "interesting". This went the way everyone had expected for four months.
Who's seriously left out there?
With Bussey's commitment, A&M is really now starting to look at players committed to other programs that they can pick off. The only ones not committed are 3-star DE Solomon Williams. 4-star ATH Kamron Mickell and 4-star CB Kobe Black. A&M also offered Lugard Edokpayi out of Baltimore's Bishop McNamara. He was so off the radar he doesn't have a Rivals profile yet, but has exploded with a ton of D-1 over the past couple of weeks. He's 6-6, 225, so he sounds like a Malick Sylla type edge rusher.
Realignment chatter returning
This summer, I mentioned Clemson and FSU as the two ACC schools making the most noise about leaving, but the ACC's grant of rights deal seemed pretty airtight. There are rumblings going around now that Clemson may be about to test it and break away -- with UNC coming with them. Apparently North Carolina was not in favor of the latest round of expansion and it left them pretty pissed off. If that's true, those two schools would likely look to the SEC, but would also ask for admission to the Big 10 if the SEC sits still.
If this happens, and it's still an if, I can't see the SEC not making this move. And then all hell breaks loose again.
Supposedly, Clemson intends to announce its move as soon as "early October" which is...well, next week. So we'll see if there's some fire to this smoke.
Phone: 281-971-3362
Email: paul@westhoustonsf.com
Arkansas, A&M have similar worries
Talking with people on the Arkansas side of things, they're very worried about the same things A&M fans are: the offensive line and the secondary. A&M's offensive has clearly not been good, but Arkansas' has been appalling: 104th in the country in sacks allowed, with KJ Jefferson having gone down 11 times already this season. LSU is understandable, because they are a top 15 team in sacks, but BYU got KJ Jefferson 4 times and they're 104th in sacks. Four of their six sacks on the year came against Arkansas. In other words, A&M should bring pressure.
Arkansas has been very good at getting to the quarterback, with 14 sacks so far. But as one person noted today, "they didn't get much pressure against LSU in the second half."
Arkansas' secondary was picked apart by Jaylen Daniels last weekend. They have a real concern that A&M will be able to replicate much of what LSU did as Daniels threw for 320 yards and two receivers went over the century mark.
Injury update:
Rocket Sanders looks like he's good for Arkansas. So that's a bit of an issue. Noah Thomas is expected back for A&M, and that's a big plus. I haven't heard of any other injuries on the A&M side that are of consequence.
Keep away:
One thing A&M did as they adjusted to Max Johnson at quarterback is they started using more bootlegs to get him out of the pocket and buy him some extra time. I would expect that, with the pressure Arkansas likes to bring, they'll do that again. Don't be surprised if you see more motion as a result to get another receiver on whichever side Max Johnson goes to.
It also wouldn't be a surprise if we saw a few more draws this weekend as Arkansas tries to push up the field.
Sacks, and not turnovers, are the historic issue for Max.
How close was it this summer?
I have heard from multiple sources that offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino made a strong argument in favor of Max winning the starting job this fall, citing his experience in the SEC. According to these folks, Jimbo was the one who made the final call on Conner Weigman getting the start, and Petrino didn't protest. But the fact that the offensive coordinator saw enough to debate it should make you feel pretty good about how Max played this spring and summer. He sure didn't look bad against Auburn, either.
Who came after Bussey late?
There was some concern over the past couple of days that Oklahoma was making a late run at Terry Bussey. But that was their imagination. From what I've heard, the team that came closest to getting to the 4-star athlete from Timpson to reconsider was LSU, not OU. So it got "interesting" late, but not that "interesting". This went the way everyone had expected for four months.
Who's seriously left out there?
With Bussey's commitment, A&M is really now starting to look at players committed to other programs that they can pick off. The only ones not committed are 3-star DE Solomon Williams. 4-star ATH Kamron Mickell and 4-star CB Kobe Black. A&M also offered Lugard Edokpayi out of Baltimore's Bishop McNamara. He was so off the radar he doesn't have a Rivals profile yet, but has exploded with a ton of D-1 over the past couple of weeks. He's 6-6, 225, so he sounds like a Malick Sylla type edge rusher.
Realignment chatter returning
This summer, I mentioned Clemson and FSU as the two ACC schools making the most noise about leaving, but the ACC's grant of rights deal seemed pretty airtight. There are rumblings going around now that Clemson may be about to test it and break away -- with UNC coming with them. Apparently North Carolina was not in favor of the latest round of expansion and it left them pretty pissed off. If that's true, those two schools would likely look to the SEC, but would also ask for admission to the Big 10 if the SEC sits still.
If this happens, and it's still an if, I can't see the SEC not making this move. And then all hell breaks loose again.
Supposedly, Clemson intends to announce its move as soon as "early October" which is...well, next week. So we'll see if there's some fire to this smoke.
