Q: Did you like the Home Run Derby? (FletchW)

A: I didn’t watch. But I was glad to see Trey Mancini do well.

Q: Do you have any further details on Demond's foot injury? (Big_ag)

A: I think this is one that is a carryover from the spring, and hopefully he’ll be ready to go in a couple of weeks.

Q: I’m assuming you don’t need season tickets to get in the games, right? Or do you? Where do you park? (H723)

A: I do not. We get press passes. As for where we park…we’ll see this year. It may be in a new lot.

Q: are these the droids you’re looking for? (Chandler Bhang)

A: No. Now you can go about your business.

Move along. Move along.

Q: How will A&Ms NIL strategy compete w/other schools? I.E. Miami & OR.

A: They’ll have their own ways.

Do you communicate w/other Nike schools regarding ORs NIL and Phil Knights affiliations to OR?

A: No.

Why do A&M players not get the same national recognition for individual achievements like other blue blood schools? (Big Smoothie) A: They don’t? I didn’t see any other team get four preseason All-Americans…

Q: Any updates on RC Slocum? (Win77)

A: He’s undergoing chemo in College Station and the prognosis is favorable.

Q: I've seen some Twitter promotions for the sips "pool party". Shows them on a houseboat on Lake Travis. Skiing under the 360 Bridge. Watching the bats fly out at dusk. Looks pretty cool. Might be exhausted by the next day... but I'm old.

What is our Pool Party like? Does Price cook? Anything else scheduled for the day? Or night? (Richard23)

A: They do it the apartment complex where the players live, with a basketball court next door. I don’t know if coach Price cooks for that event.

Q: Did the sips copy us on the pool party or were these the status quo for recruiting. (86Aggie)

A: I don’t think this is any earth shattering stuff.

Q: Considering Jimbo has gotten Calzada (in a shortened recruiting cycle for QBs), King, Stowers, Weigman (seems he could've had Klubnik if he opted to and might still get Carter also) and Holstein, what does that do to a QB room? I mean do you just start expecting transfers? You made the point in Tidbits that our RB room is an embarrassment of riches and that most of the guys that won't sniff playing time could start at half the FBS schools. Should we start expecting more transfers in the future? Is this what building a champion looks like or is my BAS flaring up?

A: I think there will inevitably be transfers. That’s just the nature of the beast with teams that have strong rosters. So take it easy with the BAS.

2nd and more important question: I feel like you really think AYers should act like adults. Why would you try to hold us to this obscene standard?

A: Because you’re adults?

Q: Most people assume King to be the starter, is that a safe bet?

A: I’m assuming it.

Thinnest position group going into fall?

A: I don’t know if there is one. Maybe safety. The O-line could be thin, but we just don’t really know. I think it’s going to be fine.

Does Jimbo's offense look different than the last 3 years based on a new QB? ie does he change schemes (Ag_2000)

A: He will if it doesn’t suit the new quarterback. So if King wins the job, then he won’t have to change much.

Q: Is Banks invited to the pool party? Is so do you think he will attend? (Stormnorm)

A: Yes and I have no idea.

Q: 1. DT Jadon Scarlett. Seems like a tweener and small. Seems there were better prospects out there that we were pursuing, like the one from Mississippi and Jaray (who I assume is still a grade risk and we’re passing). What’s your scouting take on Jadon?

A: I don’t really have one. Like I said last week, he seems like a tweener to me. I think he tends to lean towards a defensive end.

2. What’s your take on OL recruiting; We were in the middle of so many top recruits and now we appear to be struggling to get any those top guys beyond our first two commits. Gone are the top three TX guards, likely OT Early, lost Banks and in a dogfight for Dewberry.

A: Ok, we are in July. Nobody signs anywhere until December. PJ Williams is one of the best tackles in the nation and Hunter Erb can play guard. And they’re coming off of a recruiting class where they had the nation’s best haul.

3. We need speed at WR. With C. Marshall likely, we’ll have two big receivers. Sategna is gone and Stewart and B. Thompson aren’t likely at least at this juncture. Who do you think Jimbo is targeting at this point to close out WR?

A: Chris Marshall is more than a “Big” receiver. He’s also really fast. So don’t discount that. They’re still in it for Brenen Thompson, but I don’t think they lead for him. After that, I’m not quite sure where they’ll go.

4. Your scouting take on corner DK Friend? He’s not highly recruited. Hopefully we get the Georgia kid to go with B Taylor. (Haas89)

A: He’s pretty tall and extremely fast. I think he’s pretty underrated, honestly. And as for the Georgia kid, Deyon Bouie, they’re in strong shape there.

Q: Do you feel Jimbo will make his QB1 decision before the season, or does he give both some quality time in the first couple of games to see how they perform under the lights? (Option 1 seems more his MO, but there just hasn’t seemed to be a lot of separation between these two for a while now.) (TAMU-83)

A: I think there is separation and the choice will be made before the season begins. I really hate the idea of splitting time for quarterbacks when you want one to get settled in and acclimated as quickly as possible.

Q: why is it taking more timing to get our class filled compared to most teams in the top 20 in recruiting? (Mrdoctore86)

A: Seems like there’s nothing different this year than the past three years with Jimbo.

Q: Does QB2 transfer before the season, or after (assuming he leaves at all of course). Seems like King tends to get hurt on plays, so it wouldn’t be crazy to see him win QB1 and then injured. A solid #2 would be nice. (Ag98)

A: 1) I don’t know where you get “King tends to get hurt on plays”. He took a couple of big shots against Alabama and got right back up. He’s never been on the injury list.

2) And no, I don’t think he’ll transfer before the season begins.

Q: With the starting QB up for grabs, how does that affect the Center position? We take that position for granted, but the O line sucks without coordination/proper calls from the Center, and oh yea, a good/repeatable snap to who ever is back there. Who's the best at that, and will it vary by QB taking the snap ? Running QBs prefer the snap lower and leading toward the sprint out, dropback QBs prefer higher and to the side of their throwing shoulder. Is Matthews all we got... are they grooming "The Hulk" for that position? Wasn't the kid who got in trouble a center in high school and a candidate for the position? Your thoughts in general for the Center position and where we stand on it. Seems like every All American Center comes from Bama or Wisconsin. (Bobdoc54)

A: The quarterback competition has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the center position. Luke Matthews is going to start and they have a lot of options behind him. Smart Chibuzo has a season under his belt there now and Matthew Wykoff did well enough in the spring to start for the Maroon (first team) offense. Remington Strickland is also coming in to play center. Kenyon Green can do it if need be.

Chris Morris was a tackle.

And Bryce Foster is The Mountain, not The Hulk.

Q: Whos your surprise team,good or bad in SEC?

A: I’m not on board with Florida at all.

Better chance with E Cooper or Dindy? (Tschaar)

A: Cooper.

Q: Can you do a position group ranking across the SEC? Maybe article series? Perhaps you could start here with just QBs. Where do you think King/Calzada rank? (Elicrow)

A: I’ll do one in a couple of weeks. There’s going to be a lot of content this week, for sure.

Q: Does NIL impact the ability of A&M players to do media interviews? Put another way, does A&M now have less control over when a player does an interview? For example, it seems a real estate company paid Isaiah Spiller to do an interview on Texags. Prior to NIL I don’t recall current players doing interviews with Texags or the equivalent. (Aggiewoo)

A: A&M could potentially have less control, but I doubt it. I think they’ll still show up on Mondays or Tuesdays or whatever. But they’ll also have their separate deals where they’ll be on their own talking with that outlet.

Q: Is King big enough to take an SEC pounding? Say what you want about Mond but that guy was Teflon. I get he can run, but behind a new oline I am afraid we are going to be really screwed if he gets hurt. I don’t know with Calazada and Eli won’t have a clue. We will need a lot of rolling perfect dice. I guess we can just run and ball control but that won’t win in the playoffs.

A: I guess we’re gonna find out. He’s listed at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, but it would be nice if he was at 215.

Q: Also, thoughts on Old Miss (Pickitup)

A: Great offense makes them a threat. Horrible defense makes them significantly less of a threat.

Q: Does our/your Big Board permanently reside anywhere on AY so that one can check it when desired? (Tsip despiser)

A: No, but I’m going to make it a weekly content item.

Q: Is Rivals going to sponsor any athletes and pay them like TexAgs?

A: No.

if not, what is the difference? (El Capullo)

A: We’re part of national network and not a singular, stand-alone site. And paying for interviews goes against my journalistic principles. I’m not saying that Texags is wrong in what they’re doing — that’s not my call to make and their business model sure works for them — but we’re not gonna pay for interviews.

(Also, I don’t have $20,000 lying around.)

Q: Question about NIL. Can an individual alum sponsor a player interview on a fan site? Specifically could Phil Knight pay Oregon players $40,000 to give an interview on the Oregon Rivals site? Given he is worth in excess of 50 billion dollars it is peanuts to him. Impossible to compete with that. Perhaps for those wondering where the Banks commitment out of the blue to Oregon came from you now have your answer. (Agcatter123)

A: Sure, why not? Everything else goes.