Texas A&M Football: Who will step up in place of Jhamon Ausbon?

Texas A&M football planned to have two senior receivers leading the offense, but that has changed. Who has to step up in Ausbon and Buckley’s absence?

The Aggies expected to have Camron Buckley and Jhamon Ausbon, both senior wide outs, leading the charge on the offensive side of the ball. However, now Ausbon has opted out and Buckley tore his ACL and now Texas A&M has questions on who will start at wide receiver come Sept. 26 against Vanderbilt.

Throw in being down two tight ends in Blake Smith and Baylor Cupp and the Aggies have a lot of questions to answer.

At the tight end spot, the Aggies have Jalen Wydermeyer who splashed onto the scene a season ago. He will likely be backed up by Max Wright, a defender who made the move to tight end and walk-on Ryan Renick.

When it comes to receiver however, things are not as clear. There are quite a few options and a lot of talented guys that could fill in the holes left by Ausbon and Buckley. The first is junior Hezekiah Jones. He is the oldest receiver left on the roster. Could he be the leader that Buckley and Ausbon were? Maybe, maybe not. His playing time doesn’t back up the leadership role, but nobody else really has playing time either.

That moves us to guys like Caleb Chapman and Jalen Preston, both listed as sophomores. Both have played a bit, but haven’t made significant impacts. Now though, with Ausbon and Buckley no longer in contention, that may change. Personally, I’ve been waiting for Preston to make his big time debut and this year may be the one that it happens in.

Finally, we have the freshman Demond Demas and Moose Muhammad III. Both of these guys are insanely talented and were talked about as good enough to make an instant impact. Now, they may just get that chance with the seniors out.

The question is this- who emerges as wide out number one? With the lack of spring ball to show us who is on the up and up and who isn’t, that question doesn’t have an answer and likely won’t until after the season gets going. My money is on Demas or Preston though to emerge in that top spot. We will all have to wait and see though.