The Biggest STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES For Texas A&M Football In 2024...

we're gonna dive right into it we'll talk extensively about Texas A&M Notre Dame coming up as Olan Buchanan from texags will join us a little bit later on in the show lot to get to today but first let's talk about our friends at bet online the world's most trusted betting platform and your number one source for everything football from preseason NFL to college kickoff bet online has every stat every matchup and even live odds and spreads while the games are being played think you know your stuff get in on a winner take all $300,000 NFL Survivor pool for the upcoming season when the game's over you can go to the online casino get in on a game of blackjack or poker or one of the over50 slots games head over to the website today and use promo code believe bav to get it on the action bet online the game starts here also if you'd be interested in sponsoring any of our content here we've got some slides available caroline. Smith southeaster 14.com is who you can contact if you would like to have those conversations if you'd like to get the word out about your business to the southeast we can help you do that here at Southeastern 16 so caroline. Smith at Southeastern 14.com we're going to talk some Aggie football now Chris I'll let you uh introduce our Our Guest we're bringing on today yeah when we talk Texas a in football this is our guy Olan banon at texags they just kill it with their coverage over there Olen and I been friends for many years and uh one of the nicest guys in the sports media business knows that Aggie's inside and out so when we talk Aggie football this is the go-to guy Olen thanks for joining us today oh thanks for having me you know I got to tell you both of you guys I'm really impressed with uh your backgrounds there I see Chase with all the penants I see you with that uh sec I don't know what you call that it's the wheel of vertigo en what it is and you know Tex uh wanted to find a uh an office befitting of my stature so they put me in this broom closet here with nothing on it and uh so I'm kind of envious of what you guys got going on with it I think you need to renegotiate the contract there my man hey I'm just trying to keep getting paid are we all well ol in a big weekend this weekend uh it's not only opening weekend but Notre Dame coming to College Station I I got to imagine there's a a a pretty nice uh feel around College Station right now with with having a team like Notre Dame coming in for opening week well a lot of excitement you know I I I know this the case all over the SEC right season opening uh there's always going to be a you know crazy anticipation for that and what could be after what had been and you know you get all excited about hey this is our year and all so you're gonna have that anyway but when you bring in the Fighting Irish come to town and you know maybe they're Elite maybe they're not but the name is always that Mystique is real so whenever uh uh you have a team like Notre Dame coming into town and they're going to open the season with them and then game days coming and all the things go with it well heck yeah it's a big weekend in College Station oh we talked a lot before the podcast about the culture change and just some things that are different how dramatic has the shift been from Jimbo Fisher to Mike Elco that's hard to say uh because it really doesn't matter uh if the shift in in wins and losses uh doesn't change but I'll say this there's a a feel right uh go out to practice and I I feel like it's not just Mike it's Mike's staff it seems like it feels like uh you know guys are coaching harder I'm hearing a lot less profanity uh I'll say that and seeing a lot more teaching and a lot less yelling not saying that there wasn't that also uh because coaches do get frustrated sometimes and let the players know about it but I um I felt like I heard a lot less of that um that's neither good nor bad it's just a different style I think of coaching um I I do believe that there's more accountability uh I know that from talking to players current and former players that uh there were times when I would say uh last year and maybe in previous years some guys got away with being really LAX about uh strength and conditioning and when they were supposed to be there that that that's out that's out the window now brought in Tommy Moffett formerly of LSU you know he he was TR the conditioning coaches for three different uh national championship coaches at LSU and he's come in here and uh they have some expectations and if you're not willing to uh do everything you can to meet those expectations they told some guys then you can go find a place elsewhere to go and they did uh but the you got the feeling that the guys here uh maybe before and I don't want to completely trash Jimbo because he had some good years here but maybe the last couple of years you got to a feeling that there might be more image than substance yeah and I think you're getting a feeling now we'll see but there's at least a feeling that maybe there's more substance than image and when it comes to this year's team uh Conor Wegman at quarterback had the foot injury last year just from what you're hearing what maybe what you've seen uh where is he at I mean is there is should should agie fans be excited about Conor Wegman leading this offense oh absolutely look he's 100% he's ready to go in the spring he was still limping a little bit but he's sufficiently recovered he's a uh he's ready to go look if Conor wigman hadn't gotten hurt Jimbo Fisher is probably still your coach here and that's just that's just fact he's a uh most of us feel like that he's the best quarterback A&M will have had since Johnny mans now that's not necessarily a high standard Kell M had some couple of good years and Trevor Knight came in here played pretty well but uh beyond that you know Kenny Hill had a had a really nice half of the Season uh but beyond that you know there there's been some issues at quarterbacks so um Conor when he's healthy I I was looking at it uh the games that he started and finished and keep in mind these are half more than half of them as were as a true freshman but if you look at theame he started and finished for A&M he's averaging uh around 250 passing yards and three touchdowns a game and he's only thrown two interceptions in his career both of them were against Miami last year and neither were his fault um so you if you project that over a 12 or 13 game season you know he projects to be a 3,000 plus pass uh passer with 30 touchdowns and uh again only a few interceptions and goly you know A&M will take it if you if you can reduce that interceptions total right there uh that that doesn't guarantee that he's going to thr throw for 300 or 3,000 yards but I think he's a guy that absolutely can do that and more if they keep him healthy he's uh has a he has great accuracy and he doesn't mind throwing the ball downfield you know he's not gonna make anybody get confused him with Jackson Dart or some of the better running quarterbacks but he runs well enough to extend drives ohen I look at their skill guys and they got a lot of good players you got Daniels and Moss at running back you got moose muhamad you got Noah Thomas Jay Walker you got the transfer Cyrus Allen jabis Barber I see a lot of guys there what I want to know is at the end of the year who has stood out like who leads them in rushing and maybe who are their top two or three pass catchers yeah um those are great questions because that's uh I think receiver is one of the biggest question question marks that ain't has this year look Leon Moss was projected to be the starting running back he he's pretty good uh um now they did the committee last year and they're still going to uh but like I said Leon's going to be the starting runningback but Ruben Owens was expected to have a really big um be a big factor a huge role in the offense he's uh got big play potential and he's lost for the year with a with a foot injury so that's a significant loss and there's no two around it you've got to you've got to own that look that hurts that's a guy that you could give the ball to and he can go 70 yards you can hit him in the flat he can catch it make somebody Miss and make big play um Levon has made big plays I think but I think his longest run so far has been 36 yards he's a big powerful guy who's Nimble he can avoid tackles I can remember him spinning out of a uh well should have been a three- yard loss on a fourth and one against Arkansas last year and got the first down so he's more Nimble than you might think but he's more of a PowerBack and Amari Daniels is a guy actually led the team in rushing last year and had a 75 yard run against Auburn so you know he's got something to T too they're not bad at uh at running back by any means but they' rather have Ruben around there's no doubt about that as far as the receivers go they have a lot of guys that have had great moments but they don't have anybody that's had a great season and that's the big question now or the big concern uh do they have a number one receiver you know an Earl Bennett remember that guy you need a big play that's who you went to you know Georgia at AJ Green Alabama had a ton of them and LSU had seever a couple of them last year but you have that number one receiver that the defense you know he's gonna they're gonna have to be a little bit preoccupied with him and worried about him uh they don't have that guy yet Mike Elco didn't identify he said he thought he had that number one guy didn't identify him but we think he's referring to Noah Thomas 66 200 pound guy who's gotten stronger and he needed to but he's got a great what what they call catch radius I guess that means if it's high he can go up and get it um and he he he's had some nice games but he he had some injury issues last year Jay Walker was a pleasant surprise last year and you know you mentioned moose moose has made spectacular plays but Moose has never been a starter is moose and he may not be because Cyrus Allen has looked so good uh uh this August but if uh if moose can come in and prove that he can be a consistent player he could turn into a weapon yeah I guess the LA I'm trying to think of like the the alpha dogs that those stud ones and since Mike Evans it feels like they hadn't really had I feel like I'm I feel like there was a slot guy somewhere I'm forgetting but it feels like it's been kind of more committee lightly it has you the guy you're forgetting who was absolutely the alpha guy was Christian Cur yeah that's that's who I was thinking few years ago they had Christian Kirk and Josh Reynolds and that was a pretty good passing combination yeah or or t tandem with uh for Trevor Knight um right now they don't have anybody like that now again they're convinced that Noah Thomas could be we've seen I don't know if you saw two years ago when A&M upset LSU moose is making one-handed catches all over the place a one-handed touchdown catch is pretty catch as you'll ever see and he's he's been productive but he's never been the starter part of that was because anniah Smith was around yeah um but uh he's got to go out and prove that he can make those plays on a consistent bases as far as the offensive line goes um couple of transfers in there a lot of guys back um is there any is there any concern is there maybe one side stronger than the other when you look at the offensive line heck yeah there's concern that was the the problem the the primary problem area last season uh now why is that there's several theories you they weren't Tommy mofet came in here and tested them said hey we're not strong enough we can't win at the point of attack and he said but we're going to get stronger and who knows they look strong you know they look they looked the part at least you brought in a Maj Reed Adams from Kansas where he was a starter last year we still don't know if he's going to start at uh at right tackle or Right Guard the uh depth chart they Rel released this week said Right Guard we're still skeptical if they're playing games or not um they feel good about the left side Trey zoom's been at left tackle been their best player he's a third year starter started as true freshman and they're moving um Chase bantes to left guard which is his natural position last year he started as a true freshman at right tackle and that's just not fair usually to ask a true freshman to play in a grown man's league in the SEC against a a grown man typically defensive end that was also a high ranked recruit but had a couple of years to develop so uh he had some Growing Pains but now he's at a he's grown he's a really strong kid and he's at the position that he's supposed to play so there's some feelings that'll be that he should be better there uh but the right side is a Maj Reed Adams going to play tackle if not you got either Ruben thy or Demetrius crownover two really big guys that have had some moments but once again uh throughout their career have been inconsistent and uh Center we think it's Mark nabou who started about 12 games at guard last year and one game at Center but they brought in and I'm going to butcher the name I'm probably getting it wrong KY fi from Utah where he was a starter last year I have trouble on the Polynesian name sorry it took me took me about two years to get Tagle aloa down so I have uh trouble with those names still don't I still just say DJ you when I'm when I'm watching Florida State so uh but uh whoever they decide to start at Center and we may not know until the offense comes out on the field Saturday night May decide who starts at guard and then who starts at uh at tackle because if you let's say CO's and I I go with his first name because easier if Coley starts at Center I wouldn't be surprised if nabou ends up at guard and then Reed Adams out at tackle so I guess what I'm getting at is hey they're still juggling things gotta get better though have to get better all right I'm gonna throw you another pronunciation question this time we're going to the defensive side of the ball and this guy is gonna main name is it Nick scouton or scorton from Purdue SC with him maybe the maybe the& defense will score a ton who knows you know he's yeah well and he's he's a local kid he's from Brian he came out of Brian Texas uh two years ago he's still only 19 maybe his birthday might be today might be he might turn 20 today but uh he came out of Brian High when Mike ELO was the coach was the defensive coordinator here and he weighed 220 and Elco really liked him but he said son I just don't know that you're going to be big enough to play defensive end in the SEC so he goes up to Purdue works his butt off actually not not off because he he uh got up to 280 and and led the Big 10 last year in sacks so he's came he's coming home um and man he throughout you know practice is practice but throughout practice he certainly looks the part a big guy very agile uh strong you know everything you want in a in a defensive lineman by the way let me say this he had 10 sacks last year every one of them were was against a power five competition and he had two against M uh Michigan so it's not like and who else you who else did you feel like you had the block when you were playing Purdue so um uh you know that 10 10 sacks was legitimate and with Mike Elko being the the defensive guy that he is uh what what is are we going to see what we saw a couple of years ago when he was a defensive coordinator is that kind of what what what they're leaning to what the defense will look like yeah I think so uh I think this could be one of the better ANM defenses definitely one one of the better A&M defensive lines look uh Shamar I got got to get my Shamar straight Shamar Turner was an all SEC guy as a playing out of position at end last year at 270 they got him bulked up to about 295 he's moving inside where he should be got you six sacks and he can get you an inside pass rush Shamar Turner I'm sorry Sam I'm already messing up Shamar Stewart is a guy with Incredible physical ability 65 290 I saw him with my own run down a New Mexico wide receiver in the back field on a reverse uh grabb the face mask unfortunately so it didn't show up but it just showed the kind of ability and athleticism he had but he still only had a sack and a half last year they think that he's going to be a breakout guy this year and uh then uh probably a five-star guy last year DJ Hicks will probably be the starter uh at the other tackle position so they feel like that defensive line uh could be among the best in the country but they've got to replace an a departed All-American Edan Cooper now with the Green Bay Packers they got to replace him at linebacker and they've got to rebuild a secondary that was really disappointing they brought in three corners through the transfer portal a couple of safeties and let's face it some of the guys that had to play as freshman should be better at sophomores but until you actually see them go out and play better uh there's going to be some concern about that that secondary all right old and last one for me then I'll let Chase wrap us up uh biggest strength for this team biggest point of concern going into the opener yeah just what I've talked about this biggest strength at defensive line yeah and by the way Notre Dame's offensive line if you believe their Scouting Report I think they've got six uh combined starts of that offensive line uh you know you lost uh what two all what one All-American Joe Al two NFL players alt up there with the Tennessee Titans now uh he's no longer tack Notre Dame and then the other guy Blake fiser was a second round pick of the Texans those guys aren't gone in fact the left tackle uh they're talking about is got Anthony H gosh what was his last name I already forgotten uh but he's a he's a true freshman so uh I'm sure he's going to get a good dose of Nick scorton so that's the strength of A&M and that's the matchup they're they're going to like and the the weakness or the point of concern is g to be the offensive line until it shows that it's not a wi well it should be fun at College Station on Saturday night A&M hosting Notre Dame to start the season off ol really appreciate you hopping on with us today talking to Maggie football we will uh we'll definitely have you on again uh during the season but thanks so much for coming on today I I look forward to it always enjoy talking about college football and remember this America starts with A&M