Texas A&M 2021 Season Recap
Quite the scene after A&M defeated Alabama. Photo via @RossBjorkAD on twitter
This has taken longer to write than I would like, but we’ve been busy over here and not quite delivering when needed is kind of a recurring theme of the 2021 season for Texas A&M football. There were so many ups and downs during this past season it’s hard to fit it all into one piece. Giving myself time to think over it all has also allowed some perspective so this won’t be all gloom and doom. Injuries, gutting losses, big wins, hope, and despair all come to mind when remembering 2021. The Aggies came into the year with a preseason AP ranking of #6 and finished unranked in the final AP poll and #25 in the coaches poll with an 8-4 final record. Not what anyone hoped for, but plenty of good to take away as well.
Thinking back to the very beginning of the year, optimism was high. We finished the prior year with an Orange Bowl win and a #4 final ranking, the highest since 1939. Despite losing Kellen Mond and with four starting offensive lineman to the NFL Draft, hopes were high. Hell, I predicted the Aggies to go 11-1 prior to the year. In hindsight, I should have been more skeptical of the team’s potential given the new faces at key positions. I think we as college football fans, myself included obviously, have become spoiled some recently by seeing teams like Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and others reload year after year at key positions like quarterback. I’m not trying to say that A&M is on par with those teams, simply saying that we as fans have begun to expect that if a player was highly rated coming out of high school, he should just step in and perform as well as the player who just left and got drafted into the NFL. Remember when Ohio State fans were clamoring for CJ Stroud to be benched? He was a Heisman finalist. Outside of Tuscaloosa, that kind of reload doesn't really happen, and it didn't happen for A&M in 2021, particularly at QB and along the offensive line.
To start out on a positive note, the group that did meet preseason expectations was the defense. There were some rough patches (Ole Miss first half, end of LSU, second half of Bama, etc) but this was a top 10 defense in the country by basically any metric. Aside from the Mississippi State game, I think Elko did a fantastic job coordinating the defense, mixing up blitz packages, and making impressive mid-game adjustments (Ole Miss second half). Demani Richardson and Leon O’Neal both had good years, and the emergence of Antonio Johnson and Tyreek Chappel will pay dividends in 2022. Jaylon Jones’ continued development was also encouraging. He looks like an NFL corner and will likely be gone after 2022. The linebackers had a solid year as well. If you want to nitpick I suppose this was the weakest part of the defense, but Aaron Hansford had a good season and the rotation of Andre Ware and Edgerrin Cooper made plenty of impact plays. Our linebacking corps is in good hands heading into 2022.
The defensive line balled out all year. Jayden Peevy was a consistent force inside, Demarvin Leal had a phenomenal year and fought through double teams all year. Micheal Clemons and Tyree Jonhson combined for 15.5 sacks and were relentless off the edge. No complaints about the performance of the defensive line this past year. Looking ahead to next year, that is where the most new faces will need to step up. There are plenty of highly rated thoroughbreds waiting for their chance, but if I learned anything in 2021, it’s not to count your eggs before they hatch. The talent is there for next year, but they need to prove it and get rolling early.
So how did a team with very high preseason expectations and one of the best defenses in the nation end up 8-4? The Haynes King injury was a major blow, for one. I believe if Haynes remained healthy the Aggies would have won another game or two, but there were issues deeper than simply quarterback play. Even with Calzada at quarterback, one of the Aggies biggest issues was the offensive line. That group really struggled early on and had a lot of issues up until the Alabama game, where they miraculously gelled. Injuries played a part here as well with Layden Robinson missed several games early and Jahmir Johnson went down mid game multiple times. That group just didn’t have much the first month of the year and really cost us against Arkansas and Mississippi State. Despite losing All American Kenyon Green to the NFL, the future is really bright up front but they weren’t quite ready in 2021.
The offensive line in particular made me take a step back and realize that just because players were highly rated out of high school doesn't mean they are ready for SEC football. It sounds silly to even say that, of course that doesn’t automatically mean they are ready, but I recall thinking in the preseason that given the potential and talent we had along the line, they could be as good as the unit was in 2020. Sure, it would take a few games to get it all together but by the Arkansas game in week 4, they should be solid right? No. Arkansas ate their lunch. The Hogs were able to get pressure with just 3-4 rushers and without a consistent run game, a backup quarterback who isn’t super mobile or comfortable in the offense, you get a poor offensive performance and score just 10 points. Experience and awareness is just as important on the offensive line as talent.
That Arkansas game was a bit of a harbinger for things to come down the line. In each loss, the Aggies started slow and got behind early. Then either due to poor line play or the need to throw the ball to catch up, we could never establish a consistent run game. What really caused the most pain this past year was how close A&M was in every loss, despite the injuries and poor play. The team and staff only have themselves to blame for losing, but man were we close to stealing wins in all those losses.
Arkansas outplayed A&M all game, but midway through the fourth quarter, it was a 7 point game and A&M had the ball, just couldn’t put a drive together. Against Mississippi State Calzada overthrew Ainais Smith by a yard in the end zone for what would have been the go ahead touchdown. After settling for a field goal and getting the ball back down two points, a blown blocking assignment resulted in a safety that sealed the game for the Bulldogs. After Ole Miss dominated A&M in the first half and being down 15-0, we clawed back to make it 15-13 with 10 minutes left in the game before allowing a Rebel touchdown followed by a pick 6 to seal it with just under 5 minutes left in the game. And we all know how the LSU game went down. Came out flat, battled back thanks to a big game from Zach Calzada and Jalen Preston and took the lead 7 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. But of course a horrendous call by the officials on a phantom forward progress followed up by a Max Jonhson dagger of a touchdown pass with 20 seconds left, dealt the Aggies their fourth loss.
A lot of people blamed the quarterback for A&M’s issues, and Calzada deserves some blame. He was inconsistent and did not perform well enough to cover up the offense’s issues. But he didn't get much help. The wide receivers and tight ends dropped a ton of balls all year. I’ve heard the argument that they dropped so many because Calzada threw it too hard and had no touch, and I can kind of see that, but at the same time, those guys need to catch the damn ball. It seemed like every game there were several inexplicable drops, several of which resulted in interceptions like the first possession against Mississippi State and the late 4th quarter interception at Ole Miss that went through Demas’ hands. The offensive line struggles impacted Calzada quite a bit as well. Kellen Mond was sacked 7 times in 2020, Calzada and King were sacked a combined 19 times in 2021. There were plenty of games where Calzada was under fire the entire game and never got comfortable in the pocket, leading to a season of happy feet back there. Again, some of that is on Zach. His footwork and pocket presence were not good, but it’s not like there was no reason for him to be a bit nervous back there. He was nervous because he was under pressure and took hits early and often.
Jimbo played a big role in the offense’s struggles as well. After a few games of seeing Calzada, it seemed like simplifying the offense a bit would have helped. It was clear he was missing reads, and just not very comfortable overall. I’m sure that was frustrating for Jimbo and the staff, but they kept trying to correct it and then tried the same stuff when it just wasn't working. At some point, you just need to reassess. Jimbo has forgotten more about football than I’ll ever know, so I’m trying not to sound like a monday morning quarterback and criticize his play calling with the aid of hindsight, but I think most objective fans and experts would share that opinion: 2021 was not a very good offensive coaching job from Jimbo. It’s very possible none of my ideas would have worked but trying some different things couldn’t have hurt, right? For instance, maybe sprint outs and bootlegs could have helped Calzada avoid pressure and simplify his reads early on to help him gain confidence. Maybe more deep shots to keep safeties honest would have helped. We know Calzada can throw the ball all the way to Dime Box, so why not let him air it out a few times a game? Maybe not pulling Achane in several games where he was on a roll in the second half would have helped. Again this is all revisionist history, but I was clamoring for this stuff during the year along with many other folks. At some point, coaches have to adjust their scheme and play calling to fit the players they have, and in 2021 Jimbo did not do a great job of that.
2021 wasn’t all a failure though. Far from it. Going 8-4 hurts, but things could be much worse. Just ask our rivals Texas and LSU. Eight wins sounds pretty great to those fans right now. The Alabama win was epic. Over 106,000 thousand fans packed into Kyle Field to witness an Aggie upset with a backup quarterback on the heels of two straight losses. The Ags were 18 point underdogs and beat Alabama despite allowing a blocked punt touchdown. Over 109,000 fans were in attendance for the 20-3 victory over Auburn. In both contests, Calzada showed so much grit, toughness and heart coming back from a knee injury against Alabama to lead the game winning drive and returning against Auburn after dislocating his shoulder. Even the Colorado game, despite nearly giving me a heart attack, was a great fourth quarter. Point is there were a ton of memorable moments and things I will look back on fondly from the 2021 season. There are also many reasons for optimism heading into 2022. I will try to not drink as much maroon kool aid over the offseason, but no promises. Oh, and we signed the best recruiting class of all time. More on that coming 👀👀
