A real key for Texas A&M football to take the next step in the SEC West in 2018 is showing more consistent offensive production.
Texas A&M football is one of the most upward trending programs in the nation at this moment with so many good things happened on the recruiting trail and the hire of a new coach. Jimbo Fisher surprisingly made the move to jump over to join the Aggies from the Florida State Seminoles.
This means pretty much an entirely new offensive scheme for Texas A&M this year. Some of the offensive starters this season don’t have too much experience. The star power quality is lacking on the offensive side of the ball too.
Sophomore quarterback Nick Starkel and junior running back Trayveon Williams could become stars for the Aggies this year, but each would need a big 2018 campaign. Williams seemed to be on the path to stardom after the 2016 season, when he was a freshman, but that slowed down in 2017.
The main departure that Texas A&M has to fill is the former star wide receiver Christian Kirk. Texas A&M could rely on Kirk to make plays with both the offense and special teams. Now, the Aggies will turn to younger wide receivers like Camron Buckley and Jhamon Ausbon to step up in the wake of Kirk’s absence.
The area of the offense that the Aggies can rely heavily on this year is the ground game. The reasons for that are two fold. If the Aggies do wind up starting sophomore quarterback Kellen Mond over Starkel, the ground game will get an immediate boost. Along with Mond’s legs, Texas A&M has Williams and Jacob Kibodi, to break through opposing front sevens.
Most of the talent on this offense comes from the running backs. However, Starkel did cap off the 2017 campaign in great fashion with nearly 500 passing yards in the nail-biting Belk Bowl loss to John Wolford and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
We should also watch out for some new faces for the Texas A&M offense with Fisher running a new system. JUCO transfer Jace Sternberger and a pair of sophomore wide receivers in Roshauud Paul and Kendrick Rogers. There’s no telling who could emerge as a star with Fisher leading the way since he did well with the offense for the Florida State Seminoles.
Given all the ingredients for a successful Power Five offense this year, Texas A&M does have enough firepower on that side of the ball to be competitive in the SEC West. It might take another year or two to fully develop all this young offensive talent for the Aggies to be in contention to win the division.