1. It’s time to recognize that Buzz Williams has done a good job. A&M finished the regular season at .500 in the SEC and won 20 games. They ended eighth in the SEC. Last year, they won 8 games, total, and the Aggies were picked to come in 13th before the season began. This was a team that started the season relying on 3-pointers to score, and they adapted to a more attacking style with Quenton Jackson, Boots Radford and Wade Taylor going to the hoop. They were terrible at the free throw line early on, but got a lot better as the season went on.

The Aggies are still a limited team and struggle to rebound, but they have been strong on defense and have shifted their identity on the fly. That’s extremely tough to do in basketball, but they’ve pulled it off. They may not make the NCAA Tournament, but there’s no doubt Buzz has his whole team buying in. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have pulled off this change and certainly wouldn’t have come out of their mid-season plunge.

2. Not coincidentally, the Aggies got hot when their best player did. Quenton Jackson’s move into the starting lineup and to the point (more or less) energized A&M’s offense. They still struggle with long droughts and when Jackson is doubled, but he’s made a massive difference. He’s averaging 22 points a game over the four-game winning streak, including 31- and 28-point efforts. He’s sparked the revitalization, and that’s why he’s a second-team All-SEC selection.

3. You never want to see a player separate from a team in the middle of the season when they haven't done anything wrong, but the loss of Marcus Williams reshuffled the Aggies in a way that has worked out. With Jackson starting and the bench rotation shortened, A&M has been a more effective team offensively. It shouldn’t have worked out that way, but it has.

4. DeMarvin Leal had a decent, but not great, NFL Combine. His 5.0-second 40-yard-dash time was middle of the pack for defensive tackles, but his vertical and broad jumps (tests of explosiveness) were middling. He did really good in the 20-yard shuttle run. I’ve seen some analysts say that he’s slipped to being a mid-round pick, but that’s putting too much stock, in my opinion, into the underwear Olympics. If he has a good pro day and someone actually watches his film, he’ll be ok. His forte was never his explosiveness (though he showed it at times), it’s his relentlessness. He’ll just beat you up.

5. Kenyon Green’s numbers were just ok on the bench and the 40, and they were low in the broad jump and vertical. And I don’t care. GMs who know anything won’t care either. Green’s massive, has long arms and tremendous lower body strength. There isn’t a better run blocker in this draft, which is why he’ll still be a first (or at worst, high second) round pick.

6. Leon O’Neal may have been the biggest winner of all the Aggies at the combine. O’Neal did well on the drills that you can measure, but did especially well in coverage drills. He also interviewed extremely well, and now it looks like he could be mid-round pick. I’ve heard of several teams interested in him, including the 49ers.

7. Two guys who look like they’re a couple of years away from the combine are Tunmise Adeleye and Shemar Turner. It’s easy to forget how highly rated those two were with the influx of talent in the 2022 class, but these guys look like absolute monsters in their second seasons. I suspect we’ll hear their names a lot this season.

8. I saw some people worried about the depth, or lack of it, on the offensive line in day 1 of practice. Well, welcome to spring ball. Two starting linemen are gone, another two reserves are gone and yet another was held out for whatever reason — since it’s the spring, likely a minor injury. You also have a starter that’s involved in track. There are four incoming linemen, but they’re not here yet. This is how it usually is in the spring, so it’s nothing to worry about.

9. Another huge player is just a freshman — Anthony Lucas. He’s wearing 8 and if you didn’t know better, you’d think you were looking at DeMarvin Leal of maybe two years ago. He’s that big. Hopefully, he’ll be as good.

10. Top 5 positions I think the Aggies should recruit hardest in 2023: Offensive tackle, wide receiver, running back, linebacker and safety.