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👍🏻2022 Texas A&M Aggies Thread👍🏻


Stoney

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2 hours ago, osup116 said:

I'll eat crow - I supported King. Still do. Think he will be a good QB1.(May be somewhere else and we regret it ) That being said There were  a few  over throws to open receivers. Seemed he was more concerned about not throwing picks than making completion. 

King is going to be what he is at this stage of his career. You can have a gunslinger that throws interceptions or someone who is timid and takes the safe throw. I will take gunslinger anyday. I may be wrong but I dont think we went vertical all day. I wonder if was because of all the criticism of SMU game last week.   - King was 13 for 20 for 97 yds. 65% completion rate  With no interceptions and 1 fumble. 

Biggest elephant in room is defense  App. State controlled the ball for 41 mins and 29mins  to Texas A&M 18 mins 31 seconds. To their credit they pretty much were 3 yards and a cloud of dust and were almost perfect on 4th down.  

Offense got no rhythm because of it  

Saw McKinley Jackson was out. That’s a huge hole in the middle of your defense. Andre White was out. 

Offensively, we heard all off season that we wanted to get the ball down the field. Get the ball to our wide receivers and let them make plays. We saw that week 1. Was the running game issues because of that? Because of the o-line play? Did we try to game plan and over correct by trying to establish the run at the expense of the passing game?
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Just now, Stoney said:

Saw McKinley Jackson was out. That’s a huge hole in the middle of your defense. Andre White was out. 

Offensively, we heard all off season that we wanted to get the ball down the field. Get the ball to our wide receivers and let them make plays. We saw that week 1. Was the running game issues because of that? Because of the o-line play? Did we try to game plan and over correct by trying to establish the run at the expense of the passing game?
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Walter Nolen was out too. I didn’t like Durkins calls a lot of the time either. 

We can talk til we’re blue in the face about what happened. Basically every position didn’t play well. To me that’s on coaching. They just weren’t ready to play. For his part, Achane scored both TDs but he also missed like 3 blocks in the backfield  

Losing Henson and Elko hurt. Hoping we can fill those spots and with a play caller. A&M will be fine if we can do that. 

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Just now, JohnnyFootball said:

This is my biggest issue. I mentioned LSU losing to Troy in 2018 and winning it all in 2019. They did this because they had an elite Sr QB and hired a couple of offensive coaches that took them to the next level. I think Jimbo needs to hire a play caller and a new OL coach. Do this and a strong & maturing defense next season puts all the pieces in place. 

Now, will he do this? I don’t know…

I’m with you on this. Play calling needs to change. O-line shouldn’t be struggling this much but when you see how much shuffling was done in camp it makes sense. Freshman all American center has been missing. New starters on the left side. They’ve got to fix the issues. I’m not sure which issue they are going to address or if they will. We’ll see against Miami.

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1 minute ago, JohnnyFootball said:

Walter Nolen was out too. I didn’t like Durkins calls a lot of the time either. 

We can talk til we’re blue in the face about what happened. Basically every position didn’t play well. To me that’s on coaching. They just weren’t ready to play. For his part, Achane scored both TDs but he also missed like 3 blocks in the backfield  

Losing Henson and Elko hurt. Hoping we can fill those spots and with a play caller. A&M will be fine if we can do that. 

I know a lot of folks didn’t like Elko because they thought he played safe, didn’t dial up the blitzes, yada yada yada. Elko was a huge loss. They guy could coach defense. The Addazio hire was a interesting one from the start. Out of all the o-line coaches he’s the one we went. It’s looking like another year of when will the o-line gel. Play calling is having the humbleness to say this isn’t working and let someone else take the reins.

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Jeff Tarpley-

The biggest issue that everyone has today after the Appalachian State loss is really a big picture one….Texas A&M has assured the fan base and media that everything is on schedule with regard to the expectations driven by the investment (both emotional and financial) in the football program….and yesterday made it clear that it’s not.

It’s the type of disconnect that we’ve seen from past regimes but it’s really the first time that we’ve seen the same type of cracks in the current ones. 

You know….Player X is going to be really good and then everyone is talking about who they can replace him with.

However, the issue really goes deeper than that in terms of the fact that A&M has publicly touted itself as a program that is physical and fundamentally sound. It’s recruited well per the 247 Sports Composite so the talent is there. Yes, some of it is young and others don’t have a lot of reps yet (especially in the offensive line).

Even so, A&M has signed 22 defensive linemen in its past four classes and 17 of them have been four or five star rated prospects. They’ve invested an enormous amount of resources in that aspect of the program because the head coach (who has his fingerprints all over every aspect of it) has declared that the SEC is a line of scrimmage league. He wants to be able to come at offenses in waves up front and wear them down with big, fast people who can make a difference late in games when contests are on the line.

That means that A&M doesn’t always recruit numbers at other positions until they need to. For example, they brought in six linebackers in one class and then zero in two other classes. They brought in six offensive linemen in 2021 because they were losing four starters from the 2020 group and had just nine scholarship linemen available the following spring (one of them a converted defensive lineman).

That means that if you’re going to put that kind of an emphasis on a personnel group, they have to play at a high level to partially compensate for what you’re doing elsewhere. 

Even so, A&M’s defensive line got in four point stances yesterday, aligned itself generally from the C gaps on in to protect its backers (number one priority), but played too high or didn’t fight off blocks as well as they should have. They got worn down by an undersized offensive line even though they played nine different people up front.

Not only that, despite their investment in that front, they used only three down linemen too often in the first half. In addition, Appalachian State used two tight end sets on about half of its snaps which would normally call for a third backer in the game.

However, due to injuries and an overall lack of numbers at the position, A&M played two backers at a time regardless of whether they were facing 11 or 12 personnel. They essentially asked 200 pound nickel Antonio Johnson to be a third backer which meant that he had to take on bigger people and also that he also missed a couple of tackles (A&M missed 12 in all). 

In addition, because of the way they played their front…it’s not a great alignment for pass rushing and especially when they were in the stances that they were. Theoretically, it’s going to protect the backers but it also doesn’t create space to allow them to shoot gaps and make plays for losses. 

Finally…if they’re going to play that type of front and if they give any ground at all, your back end defenders are making plays five yards down the field too often. 

Like it or not, the front four has to be an elite group because you’ve built your program around it. If it’s not, then as we saw yesterday you get exposed elsewhere which brings us back to the Player X is going to be really good and the reality doesn’t match what we’re hearing discussion….

A&M really puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that you play how you practice but that hasn’t been true so far, particularly on offense. 

The left side of the offensive line has a couple of really smart players who have good feet and reportedly had quality camps. So far, they haven’t played up to their capabilities as run blockers. In particular, the left tackle doesn’t have a lot of heft and so tends to get muscled. 

I wondered about that in the off season and saw that happen in the open practice but was told it wasn’t an issue in the scrimmages.

Well…it’s an issue. 

Also…A&M brought in an offensive line coach that was going to emphasize being a drive blocking team and that simply hasn’t been forthcoming in games against smaller fronts. You can talk about injuries and the left side of the line but the right tackle gave up two pressures yesterday and rarely pushed anyone around in the run game.

A&M’s best run blockers so far have been freshman tight end Donovan Green and slot Ainias Smith when he lines up as a fullback. Despite recruiting three four star tight ends, they haven’t gotten them all on the field and the conversion of a tight end to tackle back to tight end didn’t work. They also signed a fullback in Earnest Crownover who never plays even when they go to 20 or 21 personnel.

Injuries…last year, A&M was missing 15 players and over 100 player games lost.

One new conditioning coach later, A&M was missing a tight end, center, defensive tackle, three cornerbacks, and a linebacker with starting experience for its second game of the season. Not only that, four and five star athletes got worn down in the fourth quarter of a game versus an undersized team from a much more temperate climate.

Is all of the fault of the program? I don’t know but if you’re going to make those types of changes and get those types of results….well…..

Finally…the financial investment in the program is just massive in the players, facilities, and staff. However, the program essentially comes down to one guy who has his hands in everything and gets everything that he wants. In addition, if he’s wrong, there’s no one that has the power or inclination to tell him that.  

We can talk about the offense and the quarterback position (and I will at some point today as the two need to be combined into one piece) but Appalachian State represents another loss (Auburn 2018, Alabama 2020, Mississippi State 2021) where the sense of urgency has to be ratcheted up for the following week when the urgency should be there every week.

Moreover, the public proclamations about what the program is about aren’t just there for fans or recruiting…they need to be seen on the field and not just expressed in interviews. If you’re going to claim to be detail oriented, then don’t be anything else or stop saying that you are.

Who knows…a year from now when the 2022 recruiting has grown up we may be having discussions in an entirely different tone about how well things are going. College football programs can turn on a dime from year to year and another year of maturity among players can make a world of difference. 

Nonetheless, A&M needs to say less, listen more, and be more open to ideas outside the current regime.

And it shouldn’t take a loss like yesterday’s to get them to that point.

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3 hours ago, Stoney said:

2.) Sadly, I like the Mark Richt comparison. He’s done a good job recruiting but the results aren’t there. 5 years in, coming off #1 recruiting class and we let App State dominate us in TOP. The frustrating thing is financially his buyout has hamstrung us and that’s totally on Ross Bjork. If you wanted to find your Kirby Smart you couldn’t unless you did a bunch of digging to find a at cause reason. Going on a 9-1 run rest of season won’t be enough to get the taste of this loss out my mouth. This is the loss that’s going to haunt Jimbo for rest of his A&M career. When things end App State is going to be when the support and perception of Jimbo shifted for most of A&M faithful. I’m not exactly thrilled with the work our assistant coaches are doing either. Dameyune Craig’s work with the QBs is starting to look like he’s back coaching WR’s. Steve Addazio is making me wonder if we can’t coach OL or our evaluation process on OL kids is faulty. Our Co-OC Darrell Dickey bless his heart is 62 years old. This offense plays like it’s Kirt and Hardin waiting on tapioca pudding at the senior center. DJ Durkin couldn’t get App State’s offense off the field. 1 sack, no turnovers. Jimbo has a week before Miami. He can’t fix all the issues but he darn well better fix the important ones. Can he? Will he? We’ll see.

Richt won the SEC twice, the sec East 6 times, was 2-1 in BCS bowl games in his time at Georgia(2001-2015).  He had 10 different 10-win seasons, having seasons of 10(5x), 11(2x), 12(1x) and 13(1x) wins.  
 

I said 5-6 years ago that Jimbo only had success as a HC with 1st round talent QB’s.  I was called a hater and troll.

 

mark Richt was a more consistent coach than fisher is.  

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53 minutes ago, DB2point0 said:

Richt won the SEC twice, the sec East 6 times, was 2-1 in BCS bowl games in his time at Georgia(2001-2015).  He had 10 different 10-win seasons, having seasons of 10(5x), 11(2x), 12(1x) and 13(1x) wins.  
 

I said 5-6 years ago that Jimbo only had success as a HC with 1st round talent QB’s.  I was called a hater and troll.

 

mark Richt was a more consistent coach than fisher is.  

Regardless of if you were “right” (and I say that loosely- you’ve been wrong far more than right over the years lmao), you’re a hater and a troll. And have admitted to being such. Hope that helps. 

Richt wasn’t “more consistent” when you supposedly made that claim- Jimbo had similar 10-win seasons every year with the lone exception being his last year at FSU when he had like a 3rd string QB. Oh and he won a national title. Richt never did. 

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26 minutes ago, JohnnyFootball said:

Regardless of if you were “right” (and I say that loosely- you’ve been wrong far more than right over the years lmao), you’re a hater and a troll. And have admitted to being such. Hope that helps. 

Richt wasn’t “more consistent” when you supposedly made that claim- Jimbo had similar 10-win seasons every year with the lone exception being his last year at FSU when he had like a 3rd string QB. Oh and he won a national title. Richt never did. 


The claim I made 5-6 years ago was that Jimbo had to have that level of QB talent to win big.  His time at aTm has proven that statement right.  I made the statement about Richt being more consistent literally today.  I don’t see how I’m wrong.  Richt’s success at Georgia was scattered over 15 years.  Jimbo left his in Tallahassee.  No, Richt never won a title at Georgia, but that doesn’t mean he stunk.  He was consistently good.

I think, like some of the guys here, that Jimbo needs to hand the offense over to somebody.  He doesn’t have it nor the qb .  

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Again, without 💩ing on A&M, I am a strong believer that your coach makes players better.  But the elite player makes the coach better.

Haynes King is not elite.  Nor will he be.  He will be a good serviceable guy that can execute your gameplan.  Jimbo’s gameplan sucked, So King sucked (he was more average, but you know what I mean.). 

I don’t know if King or Jimbo is the guy to win you a NC.  Jimbo seems to have lost his work ethic after the FSU NC as far as making the offense better with coaching.  This is just my outside looking in opinion.

On a positive note, LSU scored 30+ points in the first quarter…

against Southern.  So watch out Jimbo

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4 hours ago, MavGrad99 said:

Again, without 💩ing on A&M, I am a strong believer that your coach makes players better.  But the elite player makes the coach better.

Haynes King is not elite.  Nor will he be.  He will be a good serviceable guy that can execute your gameplan.  Jimbo’s gameplan sucked, So King sucked (he was more average, but you know what I mean.). 

I don’t know if King or Jimbo is the guy to win you a NC.  Jimbo seems to have lost his work ethic after the FSU NC as far as making the offense better with coaching.  This is just my outside looking in opinion.

On a positive note, LSU scored 30+ points in the first quarter…

against Southern.  So watch out Jimbo

The more I see it the the more I come around to the belief that I don’t want my head coach calling plays (offense or defense) on game days. It’s real easy to get centered in on one issue on one side of the ball and let the others fall through the cracks. Hand over play calling duties. Focus your attention on the entire team.

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36 minutes ago, Valhalla said:

Pretty much sums up my thoughts, and I have said this before this loss too.

Hate to say it but I agree. I love the old school style of football of running hard and playing tough defense to smother teams like Bama used to do in 08-12. But Saban moved away from it for a reason. 

Which is why I say that I think a lot of our problems can be solved. 

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8 hours ago, JohnnyFootball said:

Different reasons. Richt essentially got fired. Jimbo voluntarily left due to lack of support of boosters in facilities.

That's kind of the point with Fisher and FSU. Boosters didn't support his wants, he spoke about leaving, and the boosters didn't budge. FSU has since upgraded their football facilities. Not a knock on Jimbo. It's just what happened. TCU pushed Patterson out, and I truly believe he played a huge part in the success of our defense last week.

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8 hours ago, Lhornfan said:

That's kind of the point with Fisher and FSU. Boosters didn't support his wants, he spoke about leaving, and the boosters didn't budge. FSU has since upgraded their football facilities. Not a knock on Jimbo. It's just what happened. TCU pushed Patterson out, and I truly believe he played a huge part in the success of our defense last week.

No they countered but couldn’t match. 

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2 minutes ago, WETSU said:

No they countered but couldn’t match. 

I dont think it is "Couldn't match" its more of "wouldn't match."  For the most part, programs like that have unlimited cash, but its more of how much they are willing to ask for 1 salary.  

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2 hours ago, MavGrad99 said:

I dont think it is "Couldn't match" its more of "wouldn't match."  For the most part, programs like that have unlimited cash, but its more of how much they are willing to ask for 1 salary.  

Maybe. I think it’s one of those where fisher wasn’t anywhere near a hot seat but they also couldn’t/wouldn’t commit to a 10 year 75mil type offer. They wouldn’t give him the facilities the year after a natty. I think it’s more of what they couldn’t do than what they would do but that’s just me. There is not right answer other than he’s gone. 

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I've wanted to share my thoughts on the App State game, and the Aggies season, but wanted to make sure I came up with the right words, so that you Aggies didn't think I was simply bashing your team. So, here goes....

 

All we all heard coming into the season, was the FLOOR for A&M was 10 wins. A lot of what I've read since the game Saturday has been excuses, it's not the end of the world, they'll be just fine, 10 wins is still very much doable, etc. I'm sorry, but I don't understand how anyone can believe any of that.

 

Appalachian State was the 3rd easiest game on your schedule, behind only SHSU and UMass. Are there things that can be fixed and improved, sure, but to not only lose that game, but to lose in the manner in which you did, and AT HOME, should very much scream there's a problem, and raise doubts to the highest degree. Even with the players you had out, A&M was still an 18 point favorite in that game. There's no excuse for losing, especially the way both lines were manhandled. 

 

Here's my main area of concern for A&M...Haynes King.

First let me say, although he's an Aggie, I've hoped for nothing but the best for him, as a former Lobo. That said, I also don't believe he's good enough to start for a P5 college program. I understand he missed a lot of time over the last year, but the concerns with Haynes started further back than that. I think there's a reason his national rating dropped as much as it did his Senior year. After losing all the weapons on offense he did, he was really exposed a lot that season. Three years into college, and we're still seeing the same mistakes he made as a Senior in HS. That shouldn't happen. He struggles throwing the deep ball. He struggles with turnovers. He struggles more often than he should making good decisions with the ball. And here's the sad reality, for anyone that does NOT want to accept or admit this, you should! Why? Because if it isn't Haynes, then you have a bigger problem. 

And that leads me to Jimbo. 

I don't believe he is the QB guru he's been made out to be. Name a QB, just 1, that you've seen him develop. Name one that you've seen progress under Jimbo. Heck, even Jameis regressed in his second year with Jimbo. And this is why you should agree with my assessment on Haynes. Because if Haynes truly isn't the answer at QB, then things can obviously get better with a QB change. However, if it's not Haynes, and I'm right about Jimbo, then it's not going to matter who they put behind center. 

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I said it earlier, Haynes King is a poor man's Hudson Card .... neither team is going very far with either of them on the field .... A&Ms defense was really exposed .... to think they are going to somehow sail to a 10 win season with mediocre QB play is really wishful thinking  ....

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