Texas A&M Football: 3 biggest questions facing Aggies in spring 2018

2. Can anyone step up on defense in place of Armani Watts?

The Aggies’ secondary has more holes to fill than any of the other levels of the defense. Senior defensive backs like former transfer nickelback Priest Willis and cornerback Nick Harvey are both gone. Altogether Texas A&M does lose three key pieces of the 2017 secondary group.

Yet, the most costly loss, possibly along the entire defense, is strong safety Armani Watts. As the leader and most valuable defensive player for the Aggies last year, Watts’ absence is going to hurt the fortunes of the team’s pass defense through spring, and possibly the beginning of the regular season.

His replacement likely falls between two rising sophomore safeties in Keldrick Carper (the projected starter entering spring) and Ikenna Okeke (who enters his third year as an Aggie). Carper got more playing time of the two young safeties, and should be next in line as the starting strong safety.

However, neither Carper nor Okeke is likely to fall into the role of a defensive leader for Texas A&M, at least as soon as the 2018 campaign. A more proven player like rising junior middle linebacker Tyrel Dodson (who led the team in tackles in 2017) or rising senior weakside linebacker Otaro Alaka (who led the team in tackles for loss in 2017), could step into Watts’ former role as a leader for Texas A&M, and possibly the best defensive player too.