The Aggies lose the left side of their line going into 2022, and they’ve got depth concerns at tackle. But I’m a lot more confident in the line being good right off the bat because there’s going to be backups with experience moving into the starting lineup.

Deuce Fatheree, Bryce Foster and Layden Robinson are set. The only question is whether Fatheree is at left tackle or right. Trey Zuhn looks like he’s slotting in at the other tackle spot. The only real question is left guard, and whether Blake Trainor starts or Aki Ogunbiyi takes his old job back. Either way, you’ll have players with plenty of snaps — even Zuhn has played significant minutes.

One positive is that Josh Henson has cross-trained guys like Trainor and Ogunbiyi. Trainor has been much better at guard than tackle, but he can play outside. Ogunbiyi did pretty well Saturday at right tackle, and I thought when he signed he may end up outside.

The Aggies have a ton of interior linemen, so that’s not really an issue. PJ Williams will need a year to bulk up and Hunter Erb may be a guard at the end of the day, so tackle may be an area where A&M looks to the portal for help if Kiyaunta Goodwin and Kelvin Banks sign elsewhere. But in terms of a starting lineup, there won’t be much drama.

We’ve pretty well established that Jimbo isn’t going anywhere. But that doesn’t mean A&M’s staff won’t take some hits this offseason.

The one of most interest would be DC Mike Elko. Virginia Tech is very much after Wake Forest’s Dave Clawson, and Wake is a job that might fit Elko’s situation. He’s kind of a tweener, in that he’s a highly experienced and well-paid coordinator who has never had a head coaching job. With his experience with Wake, he could be a candidate there.

But he’s not the only one. RB coach Tommie Robinson is a Troy graduate and his name has been thrown about as a possible candidate for that gig. Tight ends coach James Coley, with his past experience in South Florida, could be a candidate for Florida International.

If I were Robinson or Coley, I wouldn’t touch either job, but it’s a head coaching position. That may make a difference for them.

With the Aggies still short of wideouts this weekend, look for more Moose Muhammad at LSU. Like I said, the Prairie View game was a live fire audition for the wideouts and Muhammad was the standout. He has 8 catches on the year and 3 have been touchdowns. The Aggies need consistency at wideout and he’s been exactly that. So the big four the weekend should be Ainias Smith, Caleb Chapman, Jalen Preston and Muhammad.

A&M kept their schemes pretty basic on Saturday, but the defense did show a few new looks. But the message for LSU was clear: we’re coming after you. LSU’s running game has been anemic, forcing them to rely on Max Johnson heavily. He’s been good, but the offense as a whole has struggled of late and they give up a lot of sacks. It’s hard to throw from your back, so it makes sense for the Aggies to blitz a lot Saturday.

How bad has it been for Texas? Only a handful of teams have current losing skids longer than their 6 in a row. Those teams? Duke, New Mexico State, Florida International and Indiana — all residents of the Bottom 10.

Common courtesy will get you a long way, no matter the job. Dan Mullen did a terrible job at Florida this year, which is beyond dispute. But UF ate a huge sum of money to push him out the door — 5 years left on his contract — a year after an SEC Championship Game appearance. Why? Among other things, people can’t stand him. When he was a coordinator at Florida, he was considered eccentric. At Mississippi State, he was weird. But as a head coach at UF? Largely hated. His attitude likely contributed to his team quitting on him. As Eli Drinkwitz said today in his press conference in reference to Mullen, “if you reap jackass, you sow jackass.”

It’s been great to watch Leon O’Neal develop as a player and person over the past couple of years. What makes it better is he gets it. He understands what he’s gone through and his appreciation for A&M should endear him to Aggies for years.

One reason Elko may want to stick around, besides his nice salary, is he’s finally got personnel to fit his preferred scheme and that won’t change in 2022. He’s got quality interior linemen, both big and speed ends, fast linebackers and a nickel who can do it all in Antonio Johnson. The Aggies will lose quite a bit defensively after this year, but that doesn’t mean they’ll fall off. The talent is there to reload.

The situation at Florida doesn’t affect A&M much on the recruiting front, except it likely eliminated another contender for Evan Stewart. If Florida is out and Texas was the other big contender, where would you go right now?

LSU is going to make their pick sooner rather than later and if it’s Dave Aranda, I totally expect he’ll go after Harold Perkins immediately. And that’s one guy that could contribute next season at A&M, fitting that mold of speed linebacker.