"In all honesty, when I went down I thought my season was over," he said Monday. "I was thinking, 'There's no way your season's over because of a group tackle.'"

As it turned out, Regis' season wasn't over. Remarkably, his ankle injury only cost him a game, and he returned to make 3 tackles against Ole Miss. His presence was important, as fellow lineman Shemar Turner was ejected and tackle Walter Nolen missed some snaps due to an ongoing back issue.

Regis has been a key part of the defensive rotation in his redshirt sophomore season, teaming with Isaiah Raikes as the backup defensive tackles. He has racked up 10 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and his first career sack in 2023. With the reserves getting ample playing time, Regis said the goal is to ensure there's no dropoff when the twos come in.

"Honestly, we have belief in our rotation. If one goes down, we think the next guy can come in like (the starter) never left," he said. "It doesn't show any faults or cracks between us."

The 38-35 loss to Ole Miss was A&M's third in four games and left them at 5-4 for the season, which Regis said was a long way from the team's preseason expectation of being in the SEC title hunt. Still, he only needs to think back to last year and the empty feeling of not playing in a bowl to find motivation to keep playing hard.

It wasn't our best performance as a defense or the standard

we did everything we could within our power to keep the game close, but you either win or you lose.

"A lot of us remember that feeling after the LSU game, when we went 5-7," he said. "To cut your season short, and you watch everyone playing bowl games for three-and-a-half weeks, it's not a great feeling."

Regis said the team's goal now is simple: win out. That starts with Saturday's matchup against Mississippi State, where the 15th-ranked Aggie defense looks to get back on track against a Bulldogs offense ranked 100th nationally.

"We're just going to play to our standard," he said.

Regis is thankful that he'll be able to play on two healthy legs.

"You never know how awesome having two ankles is until you lose one," he quipped.