Erik McCoy

40: 4.89 (fastest for OL)

Bench: 29 reps at 225 (T-6)

Vertical: 31 inches (T-7)

McCoy is probably the big winner among the Aggies at the combine, as he crushed the three major elements of the event. We mentioned a couple months ago that there aren’t many centers who pull and lead backs on counter plays, but McCoy did. He showed his speed at the combine and people just need to look at his film to see what he can do on the field. He could now go as early as the second round, and though I’d be shocked to see him go in the first, I wouldn’t totally rule it out.

Daylon Mack

40: 5.1

Bench: 30 (T-5)

Vertical: 27 inches

20 yard shuttle: 4.95

Mack weighed in at 6-foot-1 and 336 pounds, but still made the upper portion of the leader board in the 40. He was strong on the bench as expected, and did some of the other drills most other tackles avoided to showcase his quickness. It was a good showing for him, and coming on top of a great season and domination at the East-West Shrine game and Senior Bowl, he’s now probably looking at going somewhere between rounds 2 and 4.

Trayveon Williams

40: 4.51 (9th)

Bench: 19

Vertical: 33 inches

Trayveon weighed in at 5-foot-8 and 206 pounds, then answered a lot of questions by running one of the better 40 times among the backs. He struggled in the 3 cone and 20-yard shuttle, so he may choose to do those again at Pro Day. But those, I think, lack the importance of the 40. And you’re talking about a guy who had 57 rushes of 10 yards or more this year, easily the tops in the nation’s best conference. He did just fine and I think he’s still underrated, but somewhere around the 3rd round he could get the call.

Tyrel Dodson

40: 4.60 (12th)

Bench: 24 (T-6th)

Vertical: N/A

Dodson came in at 6’, 237 and answered a lot of critics with a 4.6 40. He did really well in some of the drills that aren’t really timed that measure your ability to cut and catch. There’s no question he crushed the interview process — that’s who he is, really smart and engaging. He’s probably going in the middle rounds now with the belief he hasn’t played his best football yet.

Kingsley Keke

40: 4.95 (10th)

Bench: N/A

Vertical: 31.5 (T-13th)

Keke came in to the combine looking to showcase his athleticism and separate himself from other interior linemen/3-4 DEs. And it looks like he did a good job of it, running well in the 40 and the 3-cone. He’s probably in that 3rd-5th round range where teams start looking for “players”. He’s definitely one of those and can fill multiple roles.

Jace Sternberger

40: 4.75

Bench: 17

Vertical: 31.5

Sternberger’s drill numbers weren’t all that impressive, but he was the best at his forte: running routes and catching the football. His smooth cuts were one thing that apparently really impressed. There’s no question he’s the best receiving tight end in the draft and his solidified that over the weekend. Add in that a couple of other highly regarded TEs (Isaac Nuata and Kaden Smith) performed badly and Sternberger is another Aggie who made himself some money this weekend.

Otaro Alaka:

40: 4.82

Bench: 20

Vertical: 36 (T-10th)

Broad jump: 10 feet, 11 inches (best)

Alaka (6’3”, 239) didn’t run a good 40, but his vertical and broad jump probably caught the attention off scouts who are looking for guys who have potential explosiveness due to a strong lower body. I’m sure he would have liked to have run better, but he has a shot at that again at Pro Day. He probably helped himself a little bit and is in the later round pick range.

Donovan Wilson:

40: N/A

Bench: 18 (T-7th)

Vertical: 36 (T-9th)

Broad jump: 10 feet, 3 inches (4th)

Wilson (6’, 199) didn’t run the 40, but tested well otherwise (so far). The big tests for him outside of the 40 (which I guess he’ll run at pro day) will be the agility drills. He’s got to show he’s fairly fast and can change direction. But so far so good for him.

It’s not often you send 8 players to the combine and can feel pretty confident all of them boosted their stock. As long as Wilson finishes well today, A&M can say that — and some of them have helped themselves significantly. I’d say McCoy and Dodson helped themselves a lot; Williams, Mack and Sternberger helped themselves quite a bit and Keke and Alaka gave themselves at least a little bit of a positive boost. They all made money over the weekend. So maybe that’s why NFL Network Analyst Daniel Jeremiah said, “If I could buy stock in a college football program I’d be buying a lot of Texas A&M stock.”

Late last week, the NCAA Rules Committee met and released some proposed changes for the 2019 season. I’m not going to go over many of them, but I will look at one of them: the proposed changes to the targeting rule.

Short version: The changes suck and I hate them.

The following comes from the NCAA:

The committee … proposed a progressive penalty for those student-athletes who receive a second targeting foul in the same season. In addition to being disqualified from that game, the player would be suspended for the team’s next contest.

The second adjustment to the targeting rule deals with the instant replay review. Instant replay officials will be directed to examine all aspects of the play and confirm the foul when all elements of targeting are present. If any element of targeting cannot be confirmed, then the replay official will overturn the targeting foul. There will not be an option for letting the call on the field stand during a targeting review.

In other words, it will be a little tougher to have targeting called, even though it remains purely judgmental, but the penalties will be more severe. Frankly, that’s absurd and it is absolutely not what the situation calls for. What was needed was an assessment of the severity of the foul (intentional contact or coincidental contact) and whether offensive players should receive the same level of scrutiny. The idea of Targeting-I and Targeting-II, like flagrant fouls in the NBA, was a good one. Applying it to both sides of the ball was better. Instead, we get this garbage that will continue to make nobody happy.

The NCAA is frequently tone deaf. In this case, they’re staying true to form and are trying to sing Phantom of the Opera at a Metallica concert.

The baseball team bounced back from a couple of embarrassing losses to win the Shriner’s College Classic at Minute Maid Park over the weekend. A&M swept Baylor, TCU and Houston on the way to a 3-0 mark, and showed once again that pitching is how they’re going to win in 2019.

Ace John Doxakis ran his record to 3-0 with 8 innings of 1-run ball, striking out 12 in a 5-2 win over Baylor Friday. Asa Lacy topped it Saturday, giving up 1 hit in 7 innings of work while striking out 9 as A&M beat TCU 1-0.

The two lefties are making a case for being the best 1-2 punch in the nation. Right now, Doxakis has an ERA of .43 and a WHIP of .48; Lacy is right behind him with an ERA of .5 and a WHIP of .72. They have combined to give up 2 earned runs while walking 9 and striking out 62 in 39 innings. They have given up a total of 1 extra-base hit, a double. That’s all. Teams are bating a combined .111 against them.

The problem remains the hitting. While the Aggies’ team ERA is currently a fantastic 2.08, their team batting average is a woeful .232. They have nobody hitting over .300, and this is the time when they should be feasting on out-of-conference opponents. It’s not going to get any easier once conference play begins, so A&M’s best hope may be to eke out a bunch of 2-1 games unless someone gets really hot really fast.