After a couple hours of sleep, a few other things that come to mind or just add on to last night:
First, ffmedic's son Red was right -- there wasn't a whole lot of second looks from the QBs last night. They honed in on their receivers immediately, especially early, and nearly paid for it (Hubenak especially). The big plays were largely on the occasional second read, whether it was because their first look was covered or because the quarterback was flushed out. This is offense is still in the really early stages of implementation, so I wouldn't read too much into that right now.
Second, you can tell the defense is much more familiar with what they're doing and John Chavis feels like he can do a lot more. Last night, we saw a lot of blitzing from the linebackers (Dwaine Thomas seemed to go every snap) and more than a few instances where the nickel blitzed too. This is going to be something to keep watching, because this means one-on-one matchups are almost guaranteed for Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall. And that means death.
A few guys who are happy after last night:
Trevor Knight. Didn't play great, didn't play bad. Most importantly, didn't make mistakes. I think he put some distance between himself and Hubenak last night, and that should show on tape.
Frank Iheanacho. He flashed last night in a big way. I think you can put him in as RSJ's back up in ink.
Ed Pope. His knee is healthy and the speed is back. That has to make the QBs and Aaron Moorehead very happy. He'll be tough to beat as Josh Reynolds' backup.
Kwame Etwi. A couple of very impressive runs last night. Doesn't have the great speed, but he does a great job cutting back and finding holes.
Kendall Bussey. Another back on nights when the backs had struggles? Yes, and here's why. He's healthy and he showed his shiftiness. He does get a serious black mark for dropping what should have been a touchdown pass from Hubenak on a wheel route.
James White. Wait, you had him third on the list last night! Very true. But he showed he's healthy again and, as Rob pointed out, was running over people. A&M needs him to be that physical back and he did that well, especially in goal line situations. When the center of the line got blown up, there was nothing he could do.
David Turner. His five guys on the inside of the line performed impressively last night. You'd expect Daylon Mack to destroy second teamers and he did, but Reggie Chevis got a lot of snaps and showed signs that he'll be a rotation guy. Hardreck Walker didn't get a lot of playing time but made plays when he did. Kingsley Keke seems like he's improved a lot in a short period of time and Zaycoven Henderson continues to progress.
Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall. Garett is the best player in America and he showed his stuff last night. Hall was almost as good, and the Aggies probably have the top pass rushing duo in America with those two.
Mac Labhart. With Claude George, Josh Walker, Landis Durham and Tyrel Dodson in the middle, I don't know how he plays or if they'd want him to. But if the coaches have already seen the film, 50 made a whole lot of tackles coming downhill last night.
Priest Willis. Did well against Spedy Noil in pass coverage and tackled well. He helped himself.
Daniel LaCamera. This kid is good. Big leg and showed good accuracy last night. Jeff Banks has to be pumped.
Guys who probably aren't as thrilled:
Jim Turner. Outside of Erik McCoy handling the center job without any noticeable mistakes, I don't know what he's got to be happy about. Avery Gennesy and Koda Martin got eaten alive by Garrett and Hall (which will happen to almost anyone) and the middle of the line got very little push in the running game. There were a lot of false starts, with Tank Davis especially having trouble. At least Davis and Chad Loitz opened up a few holes in the running game.
Jake Hubenak. Almost had several passes picked off because he telegraphed them. Had a horrible fumble on a scramble. Missed some big passes that he needed to hit on to overtake Knight.
Deshawn Capers-Smith. Did ok in coverage, but if you don't tackle, John Chavis won't play you. He let a couple guys get loose last night and that will ding him.
Roney Elam. Looked good early, then got beat for the biggest play of the game late. Still think he's got a chance to be a player, maybe even this year.
Larry Pryor. He's certainly not going to take over for Watts or Evans this year, but he didn't do anything to secure his spot in the two deep either.
Shane Tripucka. He's locked in a tough contest with Braden Mann anyway, and he didn't need his first punt attempt blocked.
Jermaine Eluemunor. The Aggies need him to be not only a steady presence, but more than that as a senior. So far, they're not getting it. He got beat up pretty badly a few times in the running game.
Noel Mazzone. The pace that was advertised wasn't there consistently. The running game struggled. A lot of sacks were given up. It's probably to be expected, but he can't be pleased.
Tray Williams. The one guy who didn't flash last night among the backs. Not even close to a big deal, frankly, but it didn't help his cause for a lot of snaps as true freshman.
An incredibly premature two-deep:
QB: Knight, Hubenak
RB: White, Keith Ford OR Bussey
WR1: Noil, Damion Ratley
Slot1: Christian Kirk, Boone Niederhofer
Slot2: RSJ, Iheanacho
WR2: Reynolds, Pope
LT: Gennesy, Trevor Elbert
LG: Connor Lanfear, Keaton Sutherland
C: Erik McCoy, Brayden Talbert
RG: Eluemunor, Colton Prater
RT: Martin, TBD
DE: Garrett, Qualen Cunningham OR James Lockhart
DT: Mack, Keke
DT: Henderson, Walker OR Chevis
DE: Hall, Jarrett Johnson OR Lockhart
SLB: Otaro Alaka, TBD
MLB: Josh Walker, Claude George
WLB: Shaan Washington OR Richard Moore
CB: Nick Harvey, Roney Elam
FS: Armani Watts, Larry Pryor
SS: Justin Evans, Justin Dunning
CB: Priest Willis, Deshawn Capers-Smith
Nickel: Donovan Wilson, Noel Ellis
P: Mann, Tripucka
PK: LaCamera
PR/KR: Kirk
First, ffmedic's son Red was right -- there wasn't a whole lot of second looks from the QBs last night. They honed in on their receivers immediately, especially early, and nearly paid for it (Hubenak especially). The big plays were largely on the occasional second read, whether it was because their first look was covered or because the quarterback was flushed out. This is offense is still in the really early stages of implementation, so I wouldn't read too much into that right now.
Second, you can tell the defense is much more familiar with what they're doing and John Chavis feels like he can do a lot more. Last night, we saw a lot of blitzing from the linebackers (Dwaine Thomas seemed to go every snap) and more than a few instances where the nickel blitzed too. This is going to be something to keep watching, because this means one-on-one matchups are almost guaranteed for Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall. And that means death.
A few guys who are happy after last night:
Trevor Knight. Didn't play great, didn't play bad. Most importantly, didn't make mistakes. I think he put some distance between himself and Hubenak last night, and that should show on tape.
Frank Iheanacho. He flashed last night in a big way. I think you can put him in as RSJ's back up in ink.
Ed Pope. His knee is healthy and the speed is back. That has to make the QBs and Aaron Moorehead very happy. He'll be tough to beat as Josh Reynolds' backup.
Kwame Etwi. A couple of very impressive runs last night. Doesn't have the great speed, but he does a great job cutting back and finding holes.
Kendall Bussey. Another back on nights when the backs had struggles? Yes, and here's why. He's healthy and he showed his shiftiness. He does get a serious black mark for dropping what should have been a touchdown pass from Hubenak on a wheel route.
James White. Wait, you had him third on the list last night! Very true. But he showed he's healthy again and, as Rob pointed out, was running over people. A&M needs him to be that physical back and he did that well, especially in goal line situations. When the center of the line got blown up, there was nothing he could do.
David Turner. His five guys on the inside of the line performed impressively last night. You'd expect Daylon Mack to destroy second teamers and he did, but Reggie Chevis got a lot of snaps and showed signs that he'll be a rotation guy. Hardreck Walker didn't get a lot of playing time but made plays when he did. Kingsley Keke seems like he's improved a lot in a short period of time and Zaycoven Henderson continues to progress.
Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall. Garett is the best player in America and he showed his stuff last night. Hall was almost as good, and the Aggies probably have the top pass rushing duo in America with those two.
Mac Labhart. With Claude George, Josh Walker, Landis Durham and Tyrel Dodson in the middle, I don't know how he plays or if they'd want him to. But if the coaches have already seen the film, 50 made a whole lot of tackles coming downhill last night.
Priest Willis. Did well against Spedy Noil in pass coverage and tackled well. He helped himself.
Daniel LaCamera. This kid is good. Big leg and showed good accuracy last night. Jeff Banks has to be pumped.
Guys who probably aren't as thrilled:
Jim Turner. Outside of Erik McCoy handling the center job without any noticeable mistakes, I don't know what he's got to be happy about. Avery Gennesy and Koda Martin got eaten alive by Garrett and Hall (which will happen to almost anyone) and the middle of the line got very little push in the running game. There were a lot of false starts, with Tank Davis especially having trouble. At least Davis and Chad Loitz opened up a few holes in the running game.
Jake Hubenak. Almost had several passes picked off because he telegraphed them. Had a horrible fumble on a scramble. Missed some big passes that he needed to hit on to overtake Knight.
Deshawn Capers-Smith. Did ok in coverage, but if you don't tackle, John Chavis won't play you. He let a couple guys get loose last night and that will ding him.
Roney Elam. Looked good early, then got beat for the biggest play of the game late. Still think he's got a chance to be a player, maybe even this year.
Larry Pryor. He's certainly not going to take over for Watts or Evans this year, but he didn't do anything to secure his spot in the two deep either.
Shane Tripucka. He's locked in a tough contest with Braden Mann anyway, and he didn't need his first punt attempt blocked.
Jermaine Eluemunor. The Aggies need him to be not only a steady presence, but more than that as a senior. So far, they're not getting it. He got beat up pretty badly a few times in the running game.
Noel Mazzone. The pace that was advertised wasn't there consistently. The running game struggled. A lot of sacks were given up. It's probably to be expected, but he can't be pleased.
Tray Williams. The one guy who didn't flash last night among the backs. Not even close to a big deal, frankly, but it didn't help his cause for a lot of snaps as true freshman.
An incredibly premature two-deep:
QB: Knight, Hubenak
RB: White, Keith Ford OR Bussey
WR1: Noil, Damion Ratley
Slot1: Christian Kirk, Boone Niederhofer
Slot2: RSJ, Iheanacho
WR2: Reynolds, Pope
LT: Gennesy, Trevor Elbert
LG: Connor Lanfear, Keaton Sutherland
C: Erik McCoy, Brayden Talbert
RG: Eluemunor, Colton Prater
RT: Martin, TBD
DE: Garrett, Qualen Cunningham OR James Lockhart
DT: Mack, Keke
DT: Henderson, Walker OR Chevis
DE: Hall, Jarrett Johnson OR Lockhart
SLB: Otaro Alaka, TBD
MLB: Josh Walker, Claude George
WLB: Shaan Washington OR Richard Moore
CB: Nick Harvey, Roney Elam
FS: Armani Watts, Larry Pryor
SS: Justin Evans, Justin Dunning
CB: Priest Willis, Deshawn Capers-Smith
Nickel: Donovan Wilson, Noel Ellis
P: Mann, Tripucka
PK: LaCamera
PR/KR: Kirk
