Aggies likely to rest dinged up players Saturday
The injury list from last week’s 38-17 win over Arizona State wasn’t huge, but it was significant. With the Aggies a considerable favorite over Ball State, however, A&M will have an opportunity to rest their injured players and prepare them for next week’s game for Nevada so they can get serious snaps before conference play begins in Arlington against Arkansas.
LB Josh Walker, who suffered a concussion or a stinger last Saturday night, appears to be well on his way to recovery but probably won’t play tomorrow. That means walk-on Jake Blount will likely get the start in the middle, with freshman Landis Durham backing him up.
RB James White, who suffered a hip injury on his second carry, is also healing up by probably won’t play. That means walk-on Kwame Etwi and senior Brice Dolezal will back up Tra Carson. Brandon Williams will only return to running back in dire circumstances.
Drew Kaser should play, but it’s possible that even he may be held out for a week and Shane Tripucka will get the call tomorrow.
Remember, AJ Hilliard and Zaycoven Henderson are both suspended for this game and will return against Nevada. Julien Obioha may return for conference play, but that’s still undetermined.
Linebacker is the place to watch
If you want a look at the future, check out the linebacker position tomorrow evening. Jake Blount will probably start in the middle, which means true freshman Landis Durham will back him up and see plenty of playing time. Otaro Alaka is going to probably play at least a little bit, and Claude George will back him up. Shaan Washington will get the start at the other outside spot, but don’t be surprised if both Riley Garner and Dwaine Thomas get into this game and play some significant minutes. Richard Moore’s status is unknown at this point, and we’ll try to update you ASAP when we find out tomorrow.
Try, try again
As far as we can tell, there have been no major changes to the offensive front line. The coaching staff was delighted with the play of LT Avery Gennesy Saturday night and felt the veteran combo of RG Joe Check and RT Germain Ifedi was fine. They’re going to give freshman Keaton Sutherland and junior Jeremiah Stuckey another run at left guard, but they’re aiming for someone to lock the job down by the time Arkansas comes to call. If neither performs early in this one, don’t be surprised if they start to consider other options, which could include Koda Martin, Tank Davis and Connor Lanfear.
Austin, we have a problem – and it’s great for A&M (Fletch)
Last night, I went over to Mansfield to watch Eric Cuffee’s Waco Lions play (more from him later on). Cuffee, a friend of mine who knows Longhorn recruiting very well and I talked about his recruitment. Cuffee had plans to go take an official visit to Austin next weekend for the Texas game against Cal. Cuffee got word from the staff that they have decided to cancel his official that weekend and want him to wait until after the season to take his official. Apparently, they told Deontay Anderson the same thing, as he was expected to take an official to the Texas-Cal game too. It appears the new Texas recruiting strategy is to wait and bring kids on official visits until after the season. Cuffee told us that he was not worried about not being able to go that weekend and would try to official Texas during his bye week which just so happens to be Oct. 17. At the time I interviewed him, I did not know Texas was on a bye week that weekend, so I asked if he would rather take an official to Texas that weekend or take an official to A&M that weekend to see the A&M game against Alabama. Cuffee quickly responded that he would rather official A&M that weekend because “that is a big time SEC matchup and the SEC is where it’s at”.
Another problem I have been told is Texas has failed to contact South Grand Prairie 2017 safety Jeffery Okudah ever since the window opened for coaches to contact 2017 recruits. Okudah is a top twenty player in the nation and could likely be a five-star the next time rankings are done he is that good. Yet, Texas has not made an attempt to get him to come to a game, much less ask him how school is going.
Is Texas afraid of showing recruits what the team looks like? Is Texas afraid of showing recruits the atmosphere at Texas right now? Has Texas given up on certain top 2017 recruits? I don’t know the answers to those questions. Only Texas knows why they’re doing things the way they’re doing it. I have seen this story before though. Before coming here to AggieYell, I covered recruiting for the SMU Rivals site back in 2012 and part of 2013. June Jones and the rest of the SMU staff recruited similar to how Texas does. Jones did not want kids to take an official during the regular season and a lot of recruits decided SMU was not for them because they could not official during the regular season. If they wanted an official, they had to wait until the end of January.
So where does this leave A&M? Well if Texas continues their poor play and if the recruiting strategy there does not improve (J.K. Dobbins was a layup for Texas seven months ago and now A&M is a slight favorite, just to give an example) Texas will just continue to dwindle down and will never be successful as long as Charlie Strong is there. That will leave the door wide open for the Aggies to swoop in and sway recruits who would otherwise lean Texas’ way if the program were in decent shape.
Visit List (Fletch and Rob)
The list, potentially, isn’t bad, considering the opponent. There will likely be some names that we add on Saturday. Majority of the kids are waiting for the Alabama game and you can’t blame them. If you’re worried and want to compare it to the visitor list Texas may boast about, well… it only has three uncommitted guys with an A&M offer. One of them is Jordan Elliot, who is pretty much a lock to Texas. The second is J.K. Dobbins who was at the A&M-Arizona State game last week and is a probable for the Alabama game. The third is 2018 Katy Taylor defensive end Max Wright who has already confirmed he will be at the A&M-Alabama game. Fletch will try to get a small list put together for Tidbits in the next week or so just to preview it, but it’s already massive. It will likely be bigger than A&M-Alabama in 2013.
2016
Marrero (La.) outside linebacker Michael Divinity (Official)
Mineloa offensive lineman Austin Anderson (A&M commit)
Mineloa offensive lineman Riley Anderson (A&M commit)
Aldine Davis LB Jeffrey McCulloch
North Shore CB Eric Monroe (potentially)
Westfield WR Tyrie Cleveland
Westfield DT Ed Oliver (potentially)
2016 Aldine Davis LB Jeffrey McCulloch
2016 North Shore CB Eric Monroe (potentially)
2017:
George Ranch DB Adam Beck
One note on the Anderson twins, they will be at every A&M game this season.
Also a friendly public service announcement, we are not allowed to contact official visitors until after they have left campus. That is a rule from A&M and they will revoke our credentials if they find out.
(More in the next post)
The injury list from last week’s 38-17 win over Arizona State wasn’t huge, but it was significant. With the Aggies a considerable favorite over Ball State, however, A&M will have an opportunity to rest their injured players and prepare them for next week’s game for Nevada so they can get serious snaps before conference play begins in Arlington against Arkansas.
LB Josh Walker, who suffered a concussion or a stinger last Saturday night, appears to be well on his way to recovery but probably won’t play tomorrow. That means walk-on Jake Blount will likely get the start in the middle, with freshman Landis Durham backing him up.
RB James White, who suffered a hip injury on his second carry, is also healing up by probably won’t play. That means walk-on Kwame Etwi and senior Brice Dolezal will back up Tra Carson. Brandon Williams will only return to running back in dire circumstances.
Drew Kaser should play, but it’s possible that even he may be held out for a week and Shane Tripucka will get the call tomorrow.
Remember, AJ Hilliard and Zaycoven Henderson are both suspended for this game and will return against Nevada. Julien Obioha may return for conference play, but that’s still undetermined.
Linebacker is the place to watch
If you want a look at the future, check out the linebacker position tomorrow evening. Jake Blount will probably start in the middle, which means true freshman Landis Durham will back him up and see plenty of playing time. Otaro Alaka is going to probably play at least a little bit, and Claude George will back him up. Shaan Washington will get the start at the other outside spot, but don’t be surprised if both Riley Garner and Dwaine Thomas get into this game and play some significant minutes. Richard Moore’s status is unknown at this point, and we’ll try to update you ASAP when we find out tomorrow.
Try, try again
As far as we can tell, there have been no major changes to the offensive front line. The coaching staff was delighted with the play of LT Avery Gennesy Saturday night and felt the veteran combo of RG Joe Check and RT Germain Ifedi was fine. They’re going to give freshman Keaton Sutherland and junior Jeremiah Stuckey another run at left guard, but they’re aiming for someone to lock the job down by the time Arkansas comes to call. If neither performs early in this one, don’t be surprised if they start to consider other options, which could include Koda Martin, Tank Davis and Connor Lanfear.
Austin, we have a problem – and it’s great for A&M (Fletch)
Last night, I went over to Mansfield to watch Eric Cuffee’s Waco Lions play (more from him later on). Cuffee, a friend of mine who knows Longhorn recruiting very well and I talked about his recruitment. Cuffee had plans to go take an official visit to Austin next weekend for the Texas game against Cal. Cuffee got word from the staff that they have decided to cancel his official that weekend and want him to wait until after the season to take his official. Apparently, they told Deontay Anderson the same thing, as he was expected to take an official to the Texas-Cal game too. It appears the new Texas recruiting strategy is to wait and bring kids on official visits until after the season. Cuffee told us that he was not worried about not being able to go that weekend and would try to official Texas during his bye week which just so happens to be Oct. 17. At the time I interviewed him, I did not know Texas was on a bye week that weekend, so I asked if he would rather take an official to Texas that weekend or take an official to A&M that weekend to see the A&M game against Alabama. Cuffee quickly responded that he would rather official A&M that weekend because “that is a big time SEC matchup and the SEC is where it’s at”.
Another problem I have been told is Texas has failed to contact South Grand Prairie 2017 safety Jeffery Okudah ever since the window opened for coaches to contact 2017 recruits. Okudah is a top twenty player in the nation and could likely be a five-star the next time rankings are done he is that good. Yet, Texas has not made an attempt to get him to come to a game, much less ask him how school is going.
Is Texas afraid of showing recruits what the team looks like? Is Texas afraid of showing recruits the atmosphere at Texas right now? Has Texas given up on certain top 2017 recruits? I don’t know the answers to those questions. Only Texas knows why they’re doing things the way they’re doing it. I have seen this story before though. Before coming here to AggieYell, I covered recruiting for the SMU Rivals site back in 2012 and part of 2013. June Jones and the rest of the SMU staff recruited similar to how Texas does. Jones did not want kids to take an official during the regular season and a lot of recruits decided SMU was not for them because they could not official during the regular season. If they wanted an official, they had to wait until the end of January.
So where does this leave A&M? Well if Texas continues their poor play and if the recruiting strategy there does not improve (J.K. Dobbins was a layup for Texas seven months ago and now A&M is a slight favorite, just to give an example) Texas will just continue to dwindle down and will never be successful as long as Charlie Strong is there. That will leave the door wide open for the Aggies to swoop in and sway recruits who would otherwise lean Texas’ way if the program were in decent shape.
Visit List (Fletch and Rob)
The list, potentially, isn’t bad, considering the opponent. There will likely be some names that we add on Saturday. Majority of the kids are waiting for the Alabama game and you can’t blame them. If you’re worried and want to compare it to the visitor list Texas may boast about, well… it only has three uncommitted guys with an A&M offer. One of them is Jordan Elliot, who is pretty much a lock to Texas. The second is J.K. Dobbins who was at the A&M-Arizona State game last week and is a probable for the Alabama game. The third is 2018 Katy Taylor defensive end Max Wright who has already confirmed he will be at the A&M-Alabama game. Fletch will try to get a small list put together for Tidbits in the next week or so just to preview it, but it’s already massive. It will likely be bigger than A&M-Alabama in 2013.
2016
Marrero (La.) outside linebacker Michael Divinity (Official)
Mineloa offensive lineman Austin Anderson (A&M commit)
Mineloa offensive lineman Riley Anderson (A&M commit)
Aldine Davis LB Jeffrey McCulloch
North Shore CB Eric Monroe (potentially)
Westfield WR Tyrie Cleveland
Westfield DT Ed Oliver (potentially)
2016 Aldine Davis LB Jeffrey McCulloch
2016 North Shore CB Eric Monroe (potentially)
2017:
George Ranch DB Adam Beck
One note on the Anderson twins, they will be at every A&M game this season.
Also a friendly public service announcement, we are not allowed to contact official visitors until after they have left campus. That is a rule from A&M and they will revoke our credentials if they find out.
(More in the next post)
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