2012-13 Football Previews – (SEC) – Texas A+M Aggies
While it is a tragedy to college football fans that the storied Texas-Texas A&M rivalry has come to a close, there will be plenty of excitement around College Station in 2012 with A&M’s move to the SEC. The Aggies will play in the West division; they move to a conference and division that – with all due respect to Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State – is more ferocious than the Big 12.
SEC 2012-13 Football Previews: Texas A&M Aggies
Coach: Kevin Sumlin
2011 Record: 7-6
Texas A&M Gambling Odds from Bovada.lv to win BCS: 150-1
Texas A&M Team Page – Players Stats – Roster – 2012 Schedule –>
New coach Kevin Sumlin must squeeze every drop out of his kids in order to earn a seat at the table in the SEC. There clearly is talent on this A&M team; it has always been an advantage recruiting in the talent-rich state of Texas. After some key departures this off-season, however, the pressure will be on to make a splash in some way with a new set of opponents. Sumlin likely will have a grace period to get his feet wet, but after the school turfed former coach Mike Sherman, don’t expect an endless stream of patience from this football-mad institution.
It should be a very interesting first season for Texas A&M in its new surroundings.
The Aggies are looking for someone to emerge under center, after last year’s starter Ryan Tannehill and his record-setting 3,744 passing yards moved on to the first-round of the NFL Draft.
The QB battle should be a race between Jameill Showers (strongest arm), Johnny Manziel (dynamic athlete), Matt Davis (heralded freshman), and sophomore Matt Joeckel (probably the most acquainted with the schemes).
Clearly, it is a battle that could break one of several ways. Look for Showers or Manziel to have the inside track on the starting job.
Whoever plays at QB will have seniors Ryan Swope and Uzoma Nwachukwu to throw to, though dynamic WR Jeff Fuller moved on in the off-season. There will also be handoffs given to senior RB Christine Michael; 2011 leading rusher Cyrus Gray is gone, but Michael gained nearly 900 yards and scored eight majors last year.
Michael is prodigiously talented and should be one of the better runners in the SEC. The big boys up front will be anchored by C Patrick Lewis and tackles Jake Matthews and Luke Joeckel; Texas A&M will have a strong offensive line.
Defensively, the Aggies will lean heavily on a couple of linebackers, MLB Jonathan Stewart and OLB Sean Porter. They were among the team’s top tacklers last season and will certainly have a new set of challenges in 2012.
On the D-line, look for the contributions to come from junior Damontre Moore, who is coming off an 8.5 sack campaign. A&M must replace both starting CBs, which likely will be a headache. Texas A&M usually always has a dominant special teams unit (the infamous “12th Man”) but it must break in a new kicker with redshirt freshman Taylor Bertolet. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
2012-13 Texas A&M Football Prediction: 7-6
It should be an exciting first season for A&M fans with the conference shift, if nothing else. The Aggies have the players to be a good football team, but they get a dose of reality right away with their 2012 schedule. A&M gets Florida from the East division in the second game of the season, then travels to Dallas to play SMU in a pesky non-con game.
Then the divisional stuff happens: Arkansas, LSU, at Auburn, at Mississippi State, at Alabama. For a kicker, A&M gets the also newly-transplanted Missouri Tigers to finish the regular season.
How A&M emerges from this minefield will obviously tell us a lot about this team’s mettle. It’s a tough season for the Aggies to be breaking in a new starting pivot. Tannehill was a good passer and a world-class athlete, and they’ll miss him.
Michael should be a good catalyst for the offense, however, and the Aggies will surely be competitive, especially when SEC teams travel to College Station to play in the deafening Kyle Field. It won’t be dominance from A&M from the get-go, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, either.
2012 Schedule
8/30/12 7:30 PM ET @LTECH
9/8/12 TBD FLA
9/15/12 TBD @SMU
9/22/12 TBD SCSU
9/29/12 TBD ARK
10/6/12 TBD @MISS
10/20/12 TBD LSU
10/27/12 TBD @AUB
11/3/12 TBD @MISST
11/10/12 TBD @ALAB
11/17/12 TBD SAM
11/24/12 TBD MISOU
