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Q: When a player says they received a lot of love. Do they mean attention, lots of $100 handshakes, both, or…can you even say?

A: It probably varies from one kid to another. I don’t think the $100 handshake happens much anymore, but beware the Happy Meals.

When you’re in the press box, do you wear a good poker face, or fist pumping and WTH’ing?

A: Mostly a poker face. There’s an occasional “oh, wow” to a good play or an “ooooh” when you see a unblocked blitzer coming from the blindside, but that’s where I try to leave it. You don’t want to draw attention to yourself.

Except in South Carolina, where they openly root for the home team in the press box.

Did Justin change his name to Nnamdi (Madubuike)?

A: He sure did.

What can you do to take your mind off of things? Does Aggie football help, do us jackasses help? Do you need anything from us? Like meals, gift cards, anything really? (6.William.Bs)

A: A routine helps. So yeah, you guys, and your prayers, help a lot.

Q: Is this the week we see our TE’s break out?

A: I think that was last week, but if they’d like to do that again, it would be pretty nice.

How is Arie? Praying for you guys. (Richard23)

A: She’s a little better today. During the ER trip yesterday, they checked her heart and it appeared to be OK, but they think she may have walking pneumonia. So if it’s not one thing, it’s another.

Q: A number of backups, including freshmen, played against NMSU. You've spoken highly of the new receivers and linebackers, but I'm curious what your observations were for these guys and others. Might make for a Monday or Tuesday article. (DriverD)

A: Obviously, Malick Sylla stood out with 5 tackles and 2 sacks. He’s not a newbie, but he may have worked himself into extra playing time. But in terms of the new guys, I noticed Robert Bourdon was in at left tackle and Blake Ivy was at right guard. I was expecting Ivy to be at tackle, so that caught my attention. But Bourdon looked good. Miles O’Neill impressed me with his accuracy and Ashton Bethel-Roman looks like he could be a guy who could have a bigger role next season. I was really impressed with the freshman linebackers, Jordan Lockhart and Tristan Jernigan. They did a great job and were all over the place.

Q: Can we get the Cliff Notes on Miles O’Neil? How’d we end up with a guy from way up north, one who’s actually good? (H273)

A: He’s a prep school guy, which makes it all the more interesting. But high school football in the northeast…well, it kinda sucks once you get north of Pennsylvania. He seems to be an exception to the rule and did really well in some camps. Obviously, he has a massive arm and that got A&M’s attention, and Mike Elko definitely wanted to keep him when he arrived.

Q: Any insight on Jarquez Hunter going off for 278 v Kentucky and doing decent against Georgia, OU, and Akry, and then getting shutdown against Vandy & Mizzou? Did the latter do something different that worked and if so, what was it?

A: I watched some Vandy tape and the Commodores just put seven guys in the box, attacked off the edges to cut off the outside run and basically just physically beat Auburn’s offensive line. There wasn’t much complicated to it.

Do you see us playing more zone D or man/man D against their WR’s?

A: If they attack the way I expect, we’ll probably see more man.

With LSU imploding, and the fake Cajun running the show for now, do you know if we're after any of their 3, 5 stars (QB, ATH/WR, RB) ? (Tsip despiser)

A: They’d love to flip LB Keylan Moses, and the were after RB JT Lindsey early on. Whether those guys would be willing to take a second look, I don’t know.

Q: Would like to hear your point of view regarding utilization of the TE last week. I don't understand the timing more than anything. Better late than never BUT my thoughts are that showing this capability earlier in the season would have benefited the run game and the WRs in the passing game. (Pebbycree)

A: I think a good bit of it had to do with how NMSU played them. They played 3-deep and left the middle of the field wide open. On the first pass to Tre Watson, I was behind the end zone and so help me, there was no one within 20 yards of him. They just abandoned the middle of the field. So that worked for the tight ends and they used them. But hopefully they can use elements of that moving forward because it makes the offense a lot more versatile.

Q: For the Texas game, could Kyle field be in any danger of collapsing with the immense weigh of all those people stuffed in it?

A: Nah, it’s a new stadium.

What’s your guess of attendance? (Big Smoothie)

A: I would expect in excess of 110,000.

Q: Random question, but I've always wondered how big the AY community is.

Are the number of users in the hundreds? Thousands? (will_da_beast)

A: I don’t want to get into specifics, but we’re in the thousands. We have a lot of lurkers.

Q: 1. My wife wants to know if the A&M Administration/Athletic Department has taken reasonable steps to inform the students/fans how much A&M would have to pay tu ($250-$500K) if the field is stormed after beating the hell outa tu?

A: I’m sure they have, and I’m equally sure the students could not care less.

2. What's your frank assessment of the Aggies' chances to be in the 12 team playoff group given the inconsistent play on both sides of the ball, as well as the injuries to key contributors, the inability to keep players from causing needless penalties, and the somewhat uphill battle to win the last 2 games of the season?

A: Win the last two games in you’re in. Period.

3. What are the key holes in the offense and defense that must be filled through the portal and recruiting after this season? (Chuck70)

A: We still don’t know who’s going to leave or go pro, but I’d be looking for a quarterback, a running back, a couple of explosive receivers and help all across the defensive front. I expect they’ll lose a lot of talent there.

Q: It seems Rogers is bringing a '25 RB with him to visit. A month ago '25 recruiting seemed mostly over. Not so now. What do you see now as the finish to the class? (DriverD)

A: They’re looking at mostly flips. Lamont Rogers, clearly, is one of them. They’ve got 5-star OL Michael Fasusi visiting next weekend, along with a few other very highly ranked (and committed) prospects. They’re trying to get a quarterback, of course, after losing the one they had this week. Of the uncommitted, the only ones I see still available are defensive ends Javion Hilson, Tobi Haastrup and Zahir Mathis, though I could well be forgetting someone. We thought it might be an easy cruise in to signing day in two weeks; now, it may be pretty wild.

Q: Impressions of the focus (or lack thereof) of the team on Auburn? (BC93)

A: Hard to say, since we’re not around them much during the season. But if they’re overlooking Auburn, they’re insane.

Q: You've mentioned before seeing players who are nervous or unprepared looking in warmups and being able to have a good idea ahead of time how focused a team is.

How focused have we looked this week? Was kind of funny to hear Elko mistakenly say "we're solely focused on Texas, I mean Auburn.”

A: Like I said in the question just above, tough to say. But honestly, I would hope they had one of their most intense weeks of practice and are ready to go in to a hostile environment and win a game they must have.

Would love to hear your take on an offensive player who has exceeded their expectations. (Excluding Le'Veon)

Who on defense has exceeded theirs? (ChampKindKHOU11)

A: This is a great question. On offense, I’d say Theo Ohrstrom and Dametrious Crownover have easily exceeded preseason expectations. Even though expectations were high for Trey Zuhn, I think you can argue he’s topped them too.

On defense, Scooby Williams immediately comes to mind. This was a guy Florida fans ripped for being inconsistent and not that good, and he’s been nothing short of awesome for the Aggies. I’d also say Albert Regis has surpassed expectations. People were hoping for solid and they’ve gotten really good. And, of course, Marcus Ratcliffe came out of nowhere to be one of the better safeties in the conference, and he doesn’t even get to start because Dalton Brooks has been superb.

Q: Mark, what is the story on Gabe Brownlow-Dindy? (Ringdunker93)

A: I think two things happened here — he had a rough injury that took a whole lot longer to fully recover from, and Rodas Johnson happened. If Dindy sticks around, though, he could be a starter next year.