Q: Injury update on Spiller and Brown? (dad_in_tx)

A: Jimbo indicated both should be good to go next week.

Q: What are the coaches doing this week and next week? will they be hitting the road recruiting this weekend watching big time recruits play?

A: They can’t go out on the road, but they’ll definitely be in contact with recruits. That and gameplanning will be two of the priorities.

(Arky is up next....how would u handle the running game vs them??? They give up plenty of running yards. Spiller, Smith and Achane....how many carries do each get? (El Capullo)

A: You go with the hot hand, but Spiller should be the guy who gets the most carries. Keep mixing in Smith in the backfield along with being at receiver and give Achane a few carries. And if he hits one big, keep feeding him.

Q: Would we take both LJ Johnson and Amari Daniels if they both want to commit to the good guys? (Phastman)

A: They have the space and they’re two different types of backs, so yeah, I think so.

Q: What’s ur go-to game in Vegas? (Kareie)

A: blackjack, but I tried roulette for the first time during our last trip out there and was fascinated. I may give it another go next time.

Q: Thoughts on when recruits will be allowed to do officials again? Since it is a dead period, what are the rules on interactions if they go to a game on their own? (3s2ghill)

A: I don’t think they’re going to be able to do them at all during this recruiting calendar, which is a screw job on the players and will probably lead to a lot of transfers. Players have come to the game on their own — Tunmise Adeyele comes to mind — and I think they can interact. They just can’t be “officially” invited. It’s all a bunch of garbage.

Q: Through the first 4 weeks what do u think we can modify in the offensive scheme to make us more dynamic ? We need to learn to simply put teams away. (gatillero_76)

A: Thing number one: don’t get busted for penalties in the red zone. Thing number two: find another receiver, particularly one who can stretch the field. That’s the biggest limitation they have at this point.

Q: How do you see this whole Florida COVID thing affecting the rest of the SEC? (BIMSAg02)

A: It may hurt them, but the biggest concern would have been them infecting their last opponent — A&M. And that didn’t happen. So while its cost them a postponed game — and the Dec. 12 bye week between the end of the season and the SEC Championship Game was put in for this purpose — it should affect anything.

Q: Less than 2 months from early signing day. Updates on top 6-8 key target recruits & your perceived chances with each:

B Foster

Ty Malone

Tunmise A

LJ Johnson

And whoever else I am missing...

Opinion on who's next? (Mozilla)

A: Who may be next could be Amari Daniels. He’ll decide next week between A&M and Georgia. As for Foster, it’s a two-horse race between A&M and OU. If OU keeps playing badly, good for A&M. Malone I can’t get a gauge on. Adeleye looks like he’s between A&M and Florida, and he’s been talking pretty good about A&M lately. He also saw A&M play and beat the Gators, so that’s a plus. I’m beginning to think he’s leaning A&M’s way. As for Johnson, the Aggies are back in it in large part due to Texas’ self-destruction. If that keeps going, then there’s a good shot he ends up in maroon.

Q: 1) other than Jackson, J Jones, and A. Johnson, who are the other true fish getting looks? D. Harris or Diggs to help boost pass rush?

A: Achane got in there last weekend, but outside of Edgerrin Cooper getting one snap, that’s it. As for Harris or Diggs, maybe they’re guys we could see after the bye.

2) anything come out of Fisher's complaints regarding shitty SEC officiating?

A: Nah. Even if they did, we wouldn’t be told. I asked him and he kinda walked around the question.

3) since we are in the drivers seat in the west to potentially finish 9-1 and make a top 6 bowl, any chance the SEC lords tell SEC officials to tilt the game our way instead of against us? (Rooster77)

A: Depends on who else is still in the mix.

Q: Except for the Florida game, our offense has been slow to catch fire. The biggest problem I see is consistency in the passing game. Some of Mond's passes don't seem to be thrown to anyone in particular, which makes me suspect that some of the WRs are running bad patterns. Is it Mond's accuracy or bad WR pattern-running that slows down our passing game? (Rick77)

A: Well, I don’t really agree with this. A&M started off well against Alabama; people just forget because Seth Small shanked a field goal and Bama immediately scored. But that game was tied at the end of the first quarter. As for who’s to blame, if there’s a pass and you don’t know who it was thrown to, someone made a bad read. It could be the quarterback, it could be the receiver. If Jimbo starts getting on Mond when he comes to the sideline, it was on him. If he doesn’t, it was on the receiver. I haven’t seen him yell at Mond all that much this season and you’ve got a bunch of newer receivers, so I think most of them are on the wideouts.

Q: Mark, what would you put our odds of us landing:

Foster?

LJ?

Adeleye?

Turner?

Jeudy ?

Thanks (thepassag)

A: I don’t do odds or percentages. They’re arbitrary and meaningless. I can tell you where things stand from what I’m told. Foster, as I said above, is down to A&M and OU; Adeleye seems to be eyeing the Aggies and Florida. Who leads depends on who you talk to (you may not be happy that Mike Farrell put in a future cast pick for Adeleye to A&M the other day). Turner I can’t get a gauge on. I think he’s leaning Texas, but he is working with Patrick Lewis, so there’s that. And I think Jeudy is a pretty strong A&M lean right now.

Q: What's seems to be the issue on getting plays called in a timely manner? Why aren't we going up tempo more or at least in situational drives that call for it? (Big Smoothie)

A: First one, you’ll have to ask Fisher. That’s on him and the staff. Second one, I’m not sure there have been many situations that have required it, so they haven’t needed to.

Q: Name a player on UT and OU’s roster you thought we’d get but didn’t and after watching them play you really wish we had signed.

A: I’m not sure Joseph Ossai would have fit in the A&M scheme, but he gets to the quarterback. Caden Sterns could help. On the OU side, I didn’t think Theo Wease was going to come to A&M, but having a fairly experienced fast receiver would be nice right now. Also, even though Ryan McCollum has done just fine, it would have been nice to hold on to Creed Humphrey. Putting him in the middle of this line would make it incredibly effective (if they keep this level of play up).

Conversely, name a player on each roster you thought we’d get, but didn’t and after watching them play you aren’t sad they didn’t pick us. (Aggiewoo)

I’m not at all sorry A&M didn’t get Troy Omeire, Vernon Broughton or B.J. Foster. On the OU side, Marcus Stripling wouldn’t have gotten much playing time at A&M. Looking at their roster, I was surprised to see on Jackson Sumlin on there as an H-Back.

Q: What are the prospects for improving the back end of the defense? Update on E. Young? (CypressAggie)

A: At corner, you hope that Jaylon Jones continues to mature. He really hasn’t been all that bad outside of the Alabama debacle, and the Tide makes everyone look bad. At safety, I hope Antonio Johnson can start getting some snaps opposite Demani Richardson because he’s got superior speed. As for Erick Young — we’ll see. I hope he’s back for Arkansas.

Q: Do you see any stumbling blocks for the b1g or pac12? Also, any chance the comittee makes a ruling that if a team has fewer than 10 games they don't qualify for the CFC playoffs? (84aggiect)

A: The PAC-12 has a huge problem: it sucks. Oregon should cruise through it. As for the B1G, Ohio State is already penciled in the playoff. If they don’t go unbeaten, it’ll be an upset. As for the committee, I can’t see them doing that. I can see them saying that they haven’t seen a good enough body of work, though. Maybe not for the B1G, but the PAC. But, like I said, the PAC sucks.

Q: Does Spiller have future high NFL draft pick potential? (Superag1000)

A: Considering I’ve heard A&M is telling running back recruits he may be gone after next year — and he’s averaging 6.7 yards per carry in his sophomore season — yeah, I think he does. Maybe not a first rounder, but second or third. If he keeps this up, he should not only be All-SEC this year with Najee Harris, but he’ll be preseason All-SEC in 2021 and possibly an All-American.

Q: How did the OL improve so dramatically from last season to this season?

A bunch of things coming together: Maturity, experience, another year in a high-caliber strength and conditioning program and a second year under Josh Henson. They may have just needed some time to get used to him. But they’re comfortable playing together as a unit, they’ve got a lot of games under their belt and they’re just beating up opposing linemen.

Why are we productive recruiting nationally? (ArmyTanker)

Again, a bunch of reasons. First, you have a nationally known coach. That coach has hired assistants with top-notch ties to regions around the nation. Then you have the idea, helped by those recruiters, that A&M is a program on the rise and can put you in the NFL.

Q: Javon Shepherd....is the staff still after him? I saw on Instagram where the staff offered a juco OT from Australia.....any truth to this? (Jakeh05)

A: Shepherd isn’t going to graduate from JUCO this year, so he’s a ’22 guy now As for the JUCO OL from Australia — yes, they did offer him. He’s an intriguing guy.

Q: We are almost to the midpoint of the season and we have a great chance to finish strong (9-1). Which of our players are you thinking will begin to emerge as impact players in the second half? Who in our 2-deep needs to step up and begin to play better in order for us to finish strong? (DXB19)

A: Some of these guys are already impact players, but I see Buddy Johnson is really starting to come on. I expect Jaylon Jones will improve. Watch out for McKinnley Jackson. And now that Devon Achane and Antonio Johnson have gotten onto the field, I suspect their roles will expand.

Outside of Jackson, Achane and Johnson, I hope someone in the two-deep at wideout will step up. Anyone. Please.

Q: Other than the absurd punt/jump/screen foolishness, can’t recall O’Neal in his usual MO. How was his play this week? Did someone set him on the straight and narrow? (Elicrow)

A: He had 6 tackles and, so far as I can tell, only missed one. PFF ranked him at a 70 for the game, which is easily the highest I can recall him having. So, in other words, he had a good game — except for whatever the heck that stunt was on the punt return. As for someone setting him straight, he may have realized that the guys wearing 27 and 13 could be coming for his job if he doesn’t step it up.

Q: If Mond were to go down, who do you think would come in, Calzada or King?

A: King.

Have you heard anything about how Braedon Mowry is progressing? Seems like we're hearing more about Donell Harris and Fadil Diggs but nothing about Mowry (phastman)

A: I think you don’t hear anything about Mowry because nobody’s asking. He seemed to have a good fall, but honestly, I can’t see him taking any snaps from DeMarvin Leal or Micheal Clemons at this point. Then you have Tyree Johnson behind Clemons — you just need a speed rusher behind Leal.

Q: (1) We hear that players do not lose a year of eligibility this year and they will not count against a team's 85 limit next year. But that leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Could you clarify the new rules for scholarship limits (NCAA and SEC)?

A: Simply put, there will not be an 85-man limit in 2021. But how they’re going to fund things is an issue for programs.

(2) In addition, what is the rule for graduate transfers next year, particularly for seniors this year who won't count against scholarship limits next year... can they transfer anywhere next year without affecting a team's scholarship limits? What will stop a team from loading up on graduate transfers next year if they won't count against a team's scholarship limits?

A: So far as I know, not much. But that may be a loophole the NCAA has to close.

(3) LSU has 18 commits listed and supposedly 8 scholarship reductions this year. Are they really going to sign 25 - 8 = 17 recruits only? If so, which recruits will this help us with the most? (SGMan)

A: A problem with the math: it’s 8 scholarships over two years, not one. So it’ll be 21 scholarships for each of the next two seasons.

Q: Any idea when a men's basketball roster might be available? (Agrabfan)

A: Pretty soon, I would think.