Each week, AggieYell.com's Jeff Tarpley and Mark Passwaters take questions from AggieYell.com readers and respond in the AggieYell Mailbag. Here's this week's edition:

Tarp: The starters are pretty much set this year at two positions: Baggs at Mike and Jenkins at Will. Tommy Sanders and Nate Askew will battle it out at Sam, but Sanders goes into camp with a big lead.

For next year, Jenkins graduates and we would expect right now that Brett Wade will take his spot. Wade will be his backup this season and looked good in the spring filling in for him as he was injured. Wade is a hitter and has the vision and agility to avoid blocks. If Hoza Scott makes it in, then he should back up Jenkins in 2014. This is Askew's senior year so Sanders should have Sam all to himself next year and Josh Walker has the athleticism to in as a freshman and serve as Sanders' backup. Finally, Baggs will be a senior in 2014 and A&M will have both Shaun Ward and Reggie Chevis available to back him up.

Tarp: It doesn't appear so. Mack has told us that A&M still leads for him. His parents like A&M a lot. At this point, A&M doesn't need to change its approach….it just needs to have the 2013 season that everyone thinks is coming.

Q: On numerous occasions since the end of 2012 season, you and your associcates at AggieYell.com have referred to A & M as a "top five" program. I looked at seven 2013 preseason ranking forecasts and only two, CBS and Bleacher, had the Aggies ranked at #3 and one, Lindy's, had them at #5. The other 2013 prognosticators (ESPN, Sporting News, Athlon and Phil Steele) that I looked at had them ranked from #6 to as low as #13. My questions are: (1) How can one call A & M a top 5 program when half of the the 2013 preseason ranking forecasts do not believe that to be the case for 2013?; and, (2) Is it more likely that A & M at this point in the Sumlin era is more of a top 20 program that has a lot of momentum and might cracked the top 5 level in the next couple of years if they continue to have win double digit winning seasons? (jmurchison)

Tarp: First, only ESPN and CBS continues to rank programs during the season. A&M is probably going to be ranked in the top five by the Associated Press to start the season and we can't imagine that ESPN won't follow suit in anticipation of the big A&M/Alabama battle on September 14.

Second, who would rank above them at this point? Bama? Georgia? Florida? South Carolina? Ohio State? Oregon? You can make a case for A&M being above any of those teams but it really doesn't matter. All that matters is what happens September 14 and how the Aggies respond to that, win or lose.

Q: Do you project Allen and Harvey both getting a 5th star? Anybody else close? Now that the film is out on Ledwik will he jump up and how far? (garymannino)

Tarp: I don't think Harvey will be a five star because he doesn't have five star size like a Tony Brown (six feet plus height). However, he has five star skills in terms of his speed, vision, and ability to break on the ball. Watching him in Chicago where receivers had the time in the world to get open and he was able to make up ground so quickly off of their break was a revelation to the Rivals analysts.

Allen will move up to be a five star because he's got five star size AND a five star arm. He was by far the best quarterback in Chicago and although scouts tend to love people with big arms, his accuracy won people over.

I think Ledwik should be a four star. He's not a 300 pound guy but his athleticism is off the charts for an offensive tackle. In addition, he's got the frame to be over 300 pounds early in his college career and the smarts to pick things up quickly. They may need more film on him from his junior year, especially in pass pro, but he's got four star skills and size.

Tarp: It's about scouting your opponent, obtaining their tendencies, and then coaching your players to execute in those situations. You've got to have the talent but in this instance you're seeing coaching coming to the forefront. Snyder has the ability to get his players to focus on what they have to do and motivate them that his schemes will work.

For example, A&M had been dropping its corners in a three deep look versus Oklahoma and giving up short passes underneath. Snyder dropped linebacker Jonathan Stewart deep into a robber look almost like a free safety which enabled him to roll the corners up in coverage. The variation threw Oklahoma QB landry Jones off and he wound up throwing a pick to Dustin Harris who was in a short zone and not where Jones expected him to be.

Although A&M had a premier pass rusher in Damontre Moore, the Aggies still spent most of their passing downs last season varying their fronts and coverages. With Moore's loss and no sure fire replacement in sight, you'll probably see even more of these fronts and coverages this season.

Tarp: He's still rehabbing at home and since he did not sign a letter of intent the earliest that he can be campus is January 2014.

Tarp: Mark Andrews is the Rivals 100 wideout who plays with A&M QB commit Kyle Allen in Arizona but so far he hasn't shown any interest in A&M, taking a Midwest swing during the spring (Michigan, Notre Dame, and Ohio State). Allen hasn't really indicated that he's trying to recruit Andrews (unlike some of the guys that he played with in Chicago) and it appears that Andrews has his own agenda. For right now, Andrews appears to be on the back burner for the Aggies.

Mark: Would coach Snyder take another head coaching job? Sure, but it won't be any job. A couple of MAC programs in his home state of Ohio offered him their jobs this past offseason, and he declined both to stay at A&M. He's well-compensated (and just got a raise); he loves A&M and he is working for a man he respects greatly in Kevin Sumlin. If you're a program interested in hiring Mark Snyder, you'd better be in good shape and be willing to pay for him.

Mark: The concern's pretty simple -- you're losing an All-American in Damontre Moore, the guy who was the source of most of your pass rush in 2012, and there's no real clear-cut replacement. Obioha is probably going to play there, but he's not in the same league with Moore when it comes to being a speed rusher. As you point out, Tyrell Taylor can bring pressure on passing downs, but he's not a guy who will hold up against the run. Hall and Tyrone Taylor won't either. Long story short, Moore was phenomenal in all aspects of the game last year and that's a lot to replace. There's no certainty with the plans to replace him, even if it looks like on paper there are some good prospects. Hence, concern.

Mark: This may sound odd, but the freshmen are the more experienced players at the position. Golden, Manning and Walker are longtime DTs who played at a high level in high school; Tipoti has played defensive tackle for a grand total of three weeks. His learning curve is probably more substantial than the other three, which is why most observers believe they'll be ahead of him when the season starts.

Mark: I don't think A&M has any interest in moving clear to tackle. The coaches think they have a guy who has the right combination of size and skill to be mismatch hell out of the slot, and they can also use him in a way Michael Lamothe was last year as a blocker in the backfield. Clear showed in the spring he can catch the football, so the coaches saw nothing to make them reassess their plans for him.

Mark: Well, when you have an all-world quarterback, any injury there is a dropoff, so we'll start there. Then offensive tackle, defensive end, outside linebacker and cornerback. Those would be the areas that I'd be most worried about injuries. Having said that, unlike last year and years past, the cupboard is not bare behind the starters; it's just not as strong as the coaches want it to be yet.

Mark: I think the moment for Patterson and Burns has come and gone. Ward looked pretty good this spring and will probably start the summer as the primary backup to Donnie Baggs at Mike linebacker, but he's going to have to play at a level he hasn't reached yet to hold off Reggie Chevis and Jordan Mastrogiovanni. Alexander shows his talent in spurts, then vanishes. That has to be tremendously frustrating for the coaching staff. If Derel Walker, Otis Jacobs and LeKendrick Williams make the jump, A&M will be much more potent in 2013. Of the three, Walker is the guy I believe is most likely to make that move.

Mark: Devante Harris seems to be the leader at punt returner going into the summer; at kick returner, Trey Williams has to be the first guy because he's the incumbent. After him, Alex Sezer looked really good returning kicks this spring. Whether or not A&M would put those two together remains to be seen.

Mark: They already have Jamal Jeffery, so they're not going to go 0-fer. They've also got a really good chance with Speedy Noil and D'haquille Williams, so it's not anywhere close to a lost cause. If they don't hit on those guys, then it's possible they skip to 2015.

Mark: Honestly, the depth should be better at most positions, save for rush end. Last year, A&M had one capable backup (Stansbury) at defensive end, one (Jonathan Mathis) for both defensive tackle spots and Tyrell Taylor at rush end. This year, Jordan Points and Jay Arnold can back up Stansbury, you've got a lot more depth at defensive tackle and both Taylors, Daeshon Hall and Brandon Alexander (maybe, if he's not in the mix at the other end position). You don't have a game-breaking talent like Moore this season, but the line should be bigger, stronger and deeper.

Mark: They don't need to build up any hate. They know they have the bulls-eye on their backs, that Alabama on Sept. 14 could decide everything and the nation is watching them. They're already motivated. When your goal is the national championship, gimmicks tend to go out the window. The only reason Alabama is doing what they're doing is because they believe the Aggies are the only thing between them and a three-peat.

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