TTFT, sponsored by Brent Campbell

Sponsored by Brent Campbell, Fighting Texas Aggie Class of 1998. Brent is a Commercial Real Estate Broker, serving all of Central Texas and specializing in sales, leasing & development. He leads a retail acquisition and sales team and was recognized by the Austin Business Journal as a Commercial Real Estate Heavy Hitter in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 & 2023.

In the last 22 years, he has closed deals with a total transactional value of over $375 million and has leased more than 4.5 million square feet. Brent currently serves as the president of the board of directors for Habitat Homes, Inc. and Pathways Youth and Family Services. He is a former president of the Heart of Round Rock Neighborhood Association and a former member of the Round Rock Zoning Advisory Committee, the Round Rock Business and Retention Committee, and the City of Round Rock Ethics Commission, which has led him to begin developing in Williamson and Travis County.

An Austin native, Brent lives in Round Rock where he and his wife have raised four boys. Brent works for Don Quick and Associates, Inc. in Round Rock, TX and can be reached at brent@donquick.com.

There’s been a lot of griping, understandably so, about the bland and uninventive offense A&M has been so far this year, but some innovation helped them take the lead against Arkansas Saturday. On the last run of Le’Veon Moss’ big three rushes, tight end Trey Watson went in motion and the Arkansas defender on their right edge took three steps after him as Moss ran away from the motion. The next play, Watson went in motion again and the edge defender didn’t move. He was wide open for a touchdown as a result.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned was that Saturday was the first time Texas A&M had beaten former offensive coordinator in any capacity. He beat the Aggies every time they played while he was at Arkansas, then beat them again in the 2015 Music City Bowl.

After beating McNeese in week 2, the Aggies were 109th in rushing defense, allowing 189 yards a game. They’re now 55th, allowing 124 yards a game. Arkansas is the only opponent in the last three to gain more than 100 yards as a team on the ground, and they only got 106 — thanks to their punter, don’t forget.

The run defense will be seriously tested this weekend, though, as Missouri’s Nate Noel is on a tear. He rushed for 121 yards against Boston College, then 199 yards against Vandy. And he’s played against A&M before — he was part of the 2022 Appalachian State team…and I’ll just stop right there.

Texas A&M has had a problem covering slot receivers since Tyreek Chappell got hurt. Missouri’s Luther Burden is one of the best receivers in the country, and he plays most of the time in the slot. As a result, it seems pretty likely BJ Mayes will get more time at nickel this weekend in an effort to limit Burden’s effectiveness.

One of the more interesting, and overlooked, stats from Saturday was linebacker Solomon DeShields’ snap count. DeShields didn’t play in the opener and had only played as many as 11 snaps in any game until Arkansas, when it suddenly jumped up to 31. This isn’t necessarily because anyone’s playing badly, but because DeShields brings size and speed to the equation. He had almost exclusively been a pass rusher until Saturday, when he did a whole lot more. It seems like he has figured out the Aggie defense, and could be a real weapon in the second half of the year.

Like a lot of guys on AY, A&M coach Mike Elko does not seem to think much of ProFootballFocus and their grading system. When Jaydon Hill’s pass rushing ability was brought up yesterday, Elko said that, while the coaches liked his blitzing ability, they weren’t putting any stock in his 96.1 pass rush grade. “He rushed twice and nobody blocked him,” Elko said.

There’s not much doubt about who will have Mizzou WR Theo Wease, who already has 26 catches, Saturday. Will Lee will have that assignment, and Lee is proving to be the CB1 the Aggies needed. Arkansas threw his way 7 times, completing 2 passes for just 13 yards. He also broke up 4 passes and shut down Andrew Armstrong in crunch time. It was the best performance by a corner since Jaylon Jones left.

Watching the game over again this afternoon, the difference that Dalton Brooks made jumped off the screen. The sophomore safety led the team in tackles Saturday, but it wasn’t a matter of players coming to him; he went and stalked them down. His ability to diagnose outside runs, turn on the jets and make the play in the backfield was very impressive. Maybe coach Elko is going to be right after all, and this group will be among the deepest and best groups on the team.

One of the more remarkable things about this season has been the performance of the right tackle duo of Deuce Fatheree and Dametrious Crownover. They continue to about evenly split reps, and honestly, you can’t tell the difference in performance. Both have taken major steps since last year, or in Fatheree’s case, 2022. I’ve been a big fan of Fatheree’s since he was a recruit, and seeing him open up big holes for Le’Veon Moss on A&M’s final scoring drive had to make a whole lot of people happy.