AggieYell Mailbag, sponsored by Tres Hermanos 1850
It's time for this week's AggieYell Mailbag, sponsored by Tres Hermanos 1850, a hunting ranch with native and exotic game, near Gatesville, Texas. Check out their website here.
Q: Is the lack of appropiate use of the Transfer Portal a Conscious Decision made by the staff, or just incompetence? Are you aware what measures are being taken to correct this? (MexAggie)
A: Ok, let's start this with a reminder: you can still get players out of the portal. Not all players in the portal have landed in new locations. It's possible that the coaching staff wants to see what they have in the spring and then will hit the second portal opening hard in May. Would I like to see them have added a bunch of guys really fast? Sure. But it didn't happen that way. .So I'm going to wait and see what goes on from here on out before I jump on their cases.
Q: I heard that Michigan has a NIL collective named "One More Year" that is focused on keeping some of your juniors around an extra year and not leaving for the NFL. I don't think you need a dedicated collective just for that, but are you aware of many of our players being looked after in this regard to prevent declaring for the NFL or entering the portal? Or is NIL money 98% going towards getting kids to come to A&M? (Boone8466)
A: That's something I wouldn't talk about even if I did know. That would violate the idea that NIL is not supposed to be pay for play -- which, of course, it is.
Q: Do you think A&M will ever win a national title? (mtholmes)
A: Y'all are just chipper as heck this week, aren't you? Yes, I do think they will. And before I retire.
Q: Any inkling or whispers that you have heard about how Petrino and Jimbo are working together so far?
A: They're both alive, so I would say things have been good to this point.
April 15th @ 3 p.m., will Jimbo be on the field standing behind Weigman and Johnson, or will he be on the sideline and letting Bobby P be out there?
A: He'll be out there. Doesn't mean he'll call the plays.
From your perspective, is Bryce Foster a vocal leader in the locker room with the OL and/or the greater team? (TSip Despiser)
A: No, not really. But that may change now that he's one of the veterans of the team.
Q: In your opinion, if it could possibly be narrowed down to one factor, what is the one piece that could push A&M to the top THIS season?
Yeah we need LB's, an OT or two, perhaps a WR that can take the top off.But the first game of the season, you see the team come out in the first quarter and you see this, and you will know without a doubt this team is going to take it to the wall and crush people. Offensive scheme? Defensive scheme? Special Teams play? Oline? Dline?There are so many factors that can come into play, but what is the big one? (Reckless75)
A: I don't know if you can just put it on one single thing. In fact, I don't know if I can even describe it that way. Let's put it like this: if the offense comes out and cruises down the field AND the defense looks like it's having a jailbreak into the backfield, I'll be feeling good.
Q: Surprised to see Tyree Wilson in the top 5 of one mock draft. Obviously, Murray was a loss that went to better things. In your opinion, who is the biggest player we have lost to transfer in recent history? (Tsmith3001)
A: Given what he did at OU, you would have to say Murray. But I'm not sure he would have survived at A&M if his attitude had remained the same.
Q: 1. What level of talent/quality do you think will be available (compared to Dec/Jan) when the portal opens again (May?)?
A: I honestly have no idea. I would hope that it would be good talent, because these are guys who thought they were in the discussion to start OR thought they were starters on a team that they thought was good and now may have had second thoughts.
2. Are you anticipating a smaller quantity of players declaring during the 2nd portal period?
A: Yeah, I am.
3. Will fewer teams be in the market for roster additions (seems like most of the top schools would be at or very near 85)? Just wondering what we're up against in terms of finding quality guys to fill our roster. (Pebbycree)
A: I would think most teams are already going to be full or close to it by May.
Q: 1. What's happened to the Lady Aggie Basketball Team?
A: I believe they suffered a whole lot of injuries and have been short-handed.
2. What positions still need to be filled going into Spring Practice and beyond?
A: No starting positions need to be filled. There are some backup slots that need to be filled.
3. Your frank impression of the new OC hire? Or is it too early to tell?
A: Way to early to tell. They haven't even had a practice yet.
4. Are there any players in the portal uncommitted, or high school unsigned, that could help the Ags this coming season? (Chuck70)
A: In the portal? Yes. Unsigned high schoolers? No.
Q: Current number of players from last years roster who have transferred out?
A: 23. Of that group, at least five were told their time at A&M was over. But anyway, 20 of the 23 have signed elsewhere.
Over/under on the number who make significant contributions somewhere next year? (TAMU-83)
A: I wish I could bring myself to care. I really hope guys like Haynes King, Chase Lane, Devin Price and Eli Stowers tear it up. There are several players from the 2022 class who left that I would rather not see do well, because that would just be rewarding bad behavior. And that's all I'm going to say on the matter. I mean, I have a lot more to say, but it would not be good for family audiences.
Q: Considering our needs at middle LB and the size and talent of Ant Hill can you think of a worse head to head recruiting loss to Texas?
A: No.
Who is to blame for blowing this one? the lousy on the field 2022 rush defense, failure to match Texas NIL $$ and inducements, Santucci getting out worked by Texas coaches, the disappointing performance of recruiting support staff once Malchow left, overall 5-7 embarrassment, or combination of all of the above. (AgCatter123)
A: All of the above. Man, the questions this week -- so happy and full of excitement!
Q: It seems that year after year we get the story about how a previous recruiting class performed. It appears that year after year we seem to fall short and have more misses than hits as far as contributors. What needs to happen in recruiting, coaching, and playing for that trend to finally change? (JeffMcd99)
A: Jeez, another one! Here's my thoughts on this, and I'll base it on the 2021 class because that was what I broke down yesterday. If your hit rate is better than 2/3, you're doing well. A&M has had 7 players leave from that class and 15 remain. That's better than 2/3. Of that group, 8 are starters and a ninth could be. So no, I don't agree with "more misses than hits" for this class.
For 2020, there are only 7 of 25 players left. So bust, right? Not exactly. Six of the seven are starters and all are in the two-deep. Three of the others were All-Americans or close to it and would have been 4 or 5s in my grading scale, but they left early (Achane, Jaylon Jones, Antonio Johnson). Four players were forced to medically retire. The rest transferred or were kicked off the team. So it was closer to 10 out of 21. Still not good, but when three are All-American caliber players, it's not nearly as bad.
Recruiting is a crap shoot. Nobody is going to have a perfect success rate.
Q: Now that signing day has come and gone, how long do you think it's going to be before we start firing and hiring the new coordinators? (MrRocknRolla)
A: The coordinators aren't going anywhere. Some position coaches may go, and that may happen sooner as opposed to later. But I've learned not to put a timetable on this bunch, because I'll be disappointed.
Q: Am I the only person not too disappointed in our recruiting this year?
I doubt it, but if you give them credit for a strong finish it requires an acknowledgement that they were ice cold for about six months.
Having said that why did you think we struggle recruiting linebackers? (h273)
A: They did get three of them, but I get the gist of the question. And we'll find out if it was just who was recruiting them or what this season.
Q: nice write up on the 2021 recruiting class. with 15 players remaining and an average score of 1.82, IYO is this on par with expectations? kids are still 2 yrs into the program and some redshirt so I can see a lower score. But with the transfer portal being as open as the southern boarder and our recruiting classes typically top 5-ish, would you expect a higher rating moving forward for the 75% of the kids remaining in the program per class? (Rooster77)
A: I think that the score for this group could definitely go up this season as more of them get playing time. And I wish it was 75% that stuck around. But if that were the case, then you wouldn't have any space for a recruiting class every few years.
Q: 1. Will our prep and portal recruiting "teams" be separated to place 100% emphasis on each area then recombined to build the roster into a whole?
A: No.
2. Will Smith see some more time back in the backfield?
A: Maybe in passing situations.
3. Your bet on who will be coaching our LBs next year, internal move or external hire?
A: I think it's going to be Durkin and they'll hire a secondary coach.
4. Like Jimbo, Petrino is pretty well known for counting on his QBs for reads at the line. Is that a strength of Weigman?
A: He's a smart guy, so I think he'll be able to handle it.
5. Who's making the defensive calls on the field for us next year? (JustAvgIllini)
A: We'll see. My guess is Chris Russell, but it's only a guess.
Q: Your thoughts on these 3 players from the DFW area “Top 50 Area Juniors” who list A&M offers:
#7 - Payton Pierce / Lovejoy / LB
#8 - Bryant Wesco / Midlothian / WR
#21 - Harry Stewart / Frisco Centennial/ RB (BoxsterBoy72)
A: A&M is in on Pierce -- I think they offered him last week -- and Wesco. Stewart, I'm not so sure.