Spring Practice: What to Watch for
Haynes King drops back to pass in the 2021 spring game. Photo via Sam Craft
Spring ball is quickly approaching and fans across the country are looking ahead to the 2022 season. What will the team look like? Who will emerge as impact players? How are we going to replace players like Leal, Clemons, Spiller, etc? Texas A&M sent nine players to the NFL Combine, so there is plenty of production to be replaced in Aggieland. Spring ball is the official beginning of the 2022 season. With no shortage of new blood needing to step up, A&M’s spring practices should be highly competitive and intriguing.
Outside of quarterback, which we’ll hit on later, the position group I am most interested in is the defensive line. Demarvin Leal, Jayden Peevy, Micheal Clemons and Tyree Johnson made up one of the better defensive lines in the country last year and all are off to the greener pastures of the NFL. McKinnley Jackson is the lone returning “starter” on the d line. He was selected to the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2020, but had an average sophomore year and due to some time missed for suspension early in the year, and only tallied four starts. Aside from Jackson, there is not much experience returning but the talent level is high. It’s time for guys like Donell Harris, Fadil Diggs, Isaiah Raikes, Shemar Turner, Tunmise Adeleye, Marcus Burris, Elijah Jeudy, and Jahzion Harris to step up. As you can see from their recruiting profiles, the talent is there on paper. Let’s hope they are ready to produce. Unfortunately, Donell Harris and McKinnley Jackson are injured and won’t be participating in Spring practices.
Former 5 star Shemar Turner has serious breakout potential in 2022. Photo via Craig Bisacre, Texas A&M Athletics
On the back end, the secondary returns a ton of production. Leon O’Neal is the only starter from 2021 departing, so this group should be stacked. Spring ball will be big for this unit though to see who ends up starting. I think it’s safe to assume that Jaylon Jones, Demani Richardson and Antonio Johnson will start, with Johnson likely moving from nickel to safety replacing O’Neal. So who steps up at nickel and corner opposite Jones? It’ll be interesting to see if new defensive coordinator DJ Durkin goes with a 4-2-5 base like Elko did or a more traditional 4-3. Either way, whoever grabs that nickel spot will still see significant time even if they aren't on the field every down. I think the leader in the clubhouse for that spot is sophomore Jardin Gilbert. He saw a decent amount of playing time last fall and played pretty well. Perhaps an older guy will step in like former top 100 recruit Brian Williams. The corner spot is where it gets really interesting. Myles Jones will be in his sixth year of college football (he started the 2017 opener at UCLA as a true freshman) and has so much meaningful experience under his belt. He was really good in 2020 but his 2021 was derailed due to injury. If he is fully healthy, it will be hard to beat him out. However, Jones’ replacement Tyreek Chappell showed out last fall as a true freshman. Brian George also looked solid in a couple games before he too went down for the year with an injury. I know whoever wins that job will be salty, but I have no idea how that battle will shake out.
The linebacker spot is less in flux. Again, some of this depends on what DJ Durkin wants to do with his base defense and how many linebackers he wants on the field. Assuming things stay the same and we run with two linebackers on the field most of the time, I don’t see how Andre White Jr and Edgerrin Cooper aren’t the two starters. What to keep an eye on in the spring is who can put a stranglehold on that third LB spot? Cooper and White rotated quite often as the second backer in 2021, so whoever solidifies themselves as the third linebacker should be on the field a good amount. Chris Russell is the third leading tackler coming back at linebacker (just 11 total tackles in 2021) so he has a good chance to earn that role in the Spring. This is a position I think Jimbo will look to add a player or two in the transfer portal. The starting group of White and Cooper is strong but the depth and experience behind them is lacking. Development from this group in the Spring is extremely important.
The Maroon Goons will have some interesting battles as well. Kenyon Green and Jahmir Johnson are gone, so who steps in? Fatheree will likely slide to left tackle, Layden Robinson and Bryce Foster will start on the interior, but there’s going to be a tackle and interior line spot open. Guys like Aki Ogunbiyi, Blake Trainor, Trey Zuhn, Josh Bankhead, Matthew Wykoff, and Remington Strickland will be vying for those spots. This coaching staff has to get those starters right and start the year strong. I feel really good about Fatheree, Foster and Robinson but new offensive line coach Steve Addazio needs to get two other guys ready. Offensive line play really hurt the Aggies early in 2021. Injuries didn't help that, but we can’t afford to start the year with that porous of an offensive line in 2022, injuries or not. Go back and see what Arkansas’ three man front did to our offensive line if you dare. Absolutely cannot happen again.
Running back should be pretty simple, especially in the Spring since Devon Achane won't be there often as he competes on the Texas A&M track team. LJ Johnson and Amari Daniels seem poised to win the backup role behind Achane. Johnson is a little bit bigger so maybe he gets more touches as a change of pace to Achane, but Daniels isn’t small at 200 pounds himself. That battle will be fascinating. And don’t count out Earnest Crownover who runs with real physicality and has been in the program for several years now. Crownover could work his way into a short yardage kind of role.
The wide receiver position is a complete mess outside of Ainais Smith. I don’t mean mess as in bad, but rather that I have no earthly idea how it will shake out. I think we’ll see a transfer or two from this group post Spring ball. There are just too many guys right now and Jimbo runs three wideouts most of the time with very limited substitutions. If you aren’t in that top three, you won’t play much. And with guys like Caleb Chapman and Chase Lane returning from injury, who in the hell ends up playing? Unfortunately, Hezekiah Jones will not be available as he is still sidelined with injury. Chapman and Lane are veterans who have produced at times during their careers but will need to earn their jobs back. This situation may have just worked itself out though with the recent arrest of Demond Demas, making that room slightly less crowded. I haven’t seen any official word that Demas is off the team, but there’s no coming back from this in my mind. Incredibly sad situation. We can only hope that the young woman he is accused of abusing is okay and this doesn’t have a lasting impact, and Demas finds the help he needs after taking whatever punishment he deserves. Hopefully the help he needs is elsewhere because I don’t think he should be an Aggie.
Back to the football field, Moose Muhammad and Yulkeith Brown will expect to play too. Oh and, several top 100 players from the 2022 class will be on campus and could factor in. With just two starting receiver spots open, there are a lot of guys who I just named that will end up on the outside looking in. Spring practice will be HUGE for those players and this position group overall. The production at receiver has to improve if A&M wants to take the next step.
Tight end is a bit of a wildcard too, although I think you’ll see Baylor Cupp, Max Wright and Blake Smith get most of the reps. The new guys from the class of 2022 won’t factor in much I don’t think. Not due to lack of talent but Cupp, Wright and Smith have been biding their time. This is another group I think we will see a transfer out of post Spring. With the influx of talent from the class of 2022 tight ends, future playing time could be hard to find so if one of the guys isn’t happy with their role coming out of Spring, the likelihood of it improving in the future is not good. Worth noting here too that former blue chip quarterback recruit Eli Stowers, who mysteriously moved to tight end in 2021 despite A&M only having one healthy scholarship QB, is injured and won't practice this spring, making it unlikely he earns any playing time.
Lastly, we have a quarterback battle on our hands. Hayseed Haynes King against Max Johnson. I want to give Max Johnson a funny nickname, but I don’t think I can come up with anything better than his actual name. I mean, his name is literally Max Johnson. Anyway, this battle will be neck and neck and Spring practice will be huge for both players. Johnson has shown himself to be a solid SEC starting quarterback but will need to get up to speed on a complex Jimbo Fisher offense. King should know the offense like the back of his hand by now, but has essentially no game experience. I really have no idea who will win this job. Fisher really likes King and he is very talented, but Johnson is no slouch. The dude completed just over 60% of his passes and threw for 27 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions in 2021 for LSU. That was all with a bad offensive line, the 12th ranked rushing attack in the SEC, and his best receiver Kayshon Boutte out for over half the year. Not too shabby. If the A&M quarterback had put up numbers like that in 2021, we would have been a hell of a lot better than 8-4. This battle will undoubtedly go into fall camp and Jimbo won’t tip his hand until he has to, but Spring is where the battle really begins. Who commands a huddle? Who is a leader? Who do the players like? Who has better chemistry with the wide outs? Who looks better in the Spring game? May the best man win.
