True freshman defensive end Marco Jones had six tackles, all for loss, five sacks and a pass deflection as the White team defeated the Maroon team 19-7. Marcel Reed threw a touchdown pass for the Maroon, while Miles O’Neill threw one for the White.

Even though it was far from a work of art, coach Mike Elko gave the game a favorable assessment.

“Certainly (I feel) better than I felt after my first one,” he said after the game.

Quarterbacks were running for their lives all day, with a total of 12 sacks in the game. The offensive lines for both sides were depleted, with Ar’maj Reed-Adams, Demetrious Crownover, Trey Zuhn all sitting out. Papa Ahfua, normally a guard, started at left tackle for the White team while freshmen Robert Bourdon and Lamont Rogers were the tackles for the Maroon.

O’Neill (10-21, 130 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) was sacked on the second play of the game by linebacker Daymion Sanford, but was able to elude pressure long enough to find walk-on Johnny Ryder for a gain of 24. A 12-yard completion to transfer tight end Nate Boerkircher and a 13-yard catch by Izaiah Williams (4 catches, 51 yards, 1 TD) was enough to get the White team into field goal range, and Jared Zirkel connected from 32 yards out for a 3-0 lead.

On the Maroon’s first possession, Reed (18-28, 213 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) hooked up with transfer receiver KC Concepcion for a pair of receptions, but the drive stalled when TJ Searcy sacked Reed on fourth and five at the White 43 for his first of two sacks on the day.

The White team picked up another field goal early in the second half after Williams took a reverse for 16 yards and E.J. Smith added another 12-yard run, but a sack by Colorado transfer defensive end Dayon Hayes helped stall the drive. But Zirkel hit from 49 yards out for a 6-0 advantage.

Jones got his first sack of the game on the next Maroon drive, getting to fellow true freshman Brady Hart for a seven-yard loss. A group of reserves moved the White back into scoring range on the next drive, and redshirt freshman Liam Padron drilled a 52-yard field goal to make the score 9-0.

Jones sacked Reed for the first time on the Maroon’s next series of downs as they went three and out. But Hayes and Cashius Howell combined to sack Jacob Zeno to end the White’s drive in three plays.

Reed came out hot on the Maroon’s next drive, hitting Mississippi State transfer Mario Craver for completions of 17 and 29 yards — but he also made his only mistake, trying to force a pass to walk-on receiver Chase Burton that was picked off by linebacker Jordan Lockhart at the White 32.

The Maroon got the ball back quickly after a pass by O’Neill hit off the pads of receiver Jonah Wilson and bounced into the air and was picked off by linebacker Taurean York at the Maroon 33. They were able to move the ball into White territory, but Jones’ third sack of the day knocked the Maroon out of field goal range.

"Marco Jones has a really bright future,” Elko said. “He is extremely athletic and has a tremendous ability to rush the passer.”

The Maroon team did have enough time to score to start the second half, as Reed moved his group down the field largely through the air. After a 20-yard pass to a wide open Rueben Owens on a wheel route, Reed found Ashton Bethel-Roman for a 23-yard pass and then, one play later, lobbed one in to Bethel-Roman as he scrapped his feet inbounds for a 15-yard touchdown.

The White team would respond two series later, courtesy of a play that brought back nightmares of 2024. The Maroon team went for it on fourth and one at their own 29, and Owens was tripped up by an untouched Will Lee for a loss of one and a turnover on downs. Two plays later, O’Neill connected with a well-covered Williams for a 19-yard score.

Jones would pick up another sack before the end of the quarter, and another Maroon team mistake would set up the game’s final score. On his first and only snap, freshman quarterback Eli Morcos was stripped of the ball while scrambling by fellow freshman Coby Sellers and a third freshman, linebacker Kelvion Riggins, recovered the ball at the 27 and returned it back to the Maroon 21. That would lead to Zirkel’s third field goal of the game, a 35-yarder.

Sack number five for Jones came on the Maroon’s first play from scrimmage on their next drive, essentially ending it before it started.

“Marco, he put on display like none other man,” York said.

The White team marched back down the field into scoring range, but O’Neill threw a badly off-target pass that was picked off by freshman corner Adonyss Currie to end the threat.

Reed would get the Maroon team moving again with a 15-yard completion to Craver and a 24-yarder dart to a crossing Concepcion, but the moving clock prevented them from having a chance to score.

Elko compared the Maroon & White Game to the first NFL preseason game, giving players who hadn’t gotten meaningful snaps before some before a crowd. But the work of becoming a contending team, he said, has just started for the Aggies.

“We got really good work in the spring. I thought we made a lot of progress,” he said, “but in terms of the off season, it's half time, right? And so we've got to go out, and we've got to have a phenomenal summer. We've got to really, really work and master our scheme master what we're trying to get done, come back in the fall camp and play football at a significantly higher level.”