Way-too-early Top 25 projections for 2021 college football season

Kellen Mond finished his Texas A&M career as the Aggies all-time leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns, capping his four seasons in College Station with a workmanlike 232 yards on 16-of-26 passing and a rushing touchdown. While Mond won’t be back for the 2021 season, the Aggies will still get a bowl bump from their New Year’s Six victory over North Carolina. That should push Jimbo Fisher’s crew somewhere into the top 10 of the preseason AP Top 25 after finishing as one of three Power Five teams with only one loss in 2020.

Replacing Mond will likely be either Zach Calzada or Haynes King, though incoming freshman Eli Stowers could challenge for playing time as well. Both Isaiah Spiller and Ainias Smith return in the backfield, mitigating the pressure on whoever wins the race to take over at quarterback. The nation’s third-best rushing defense will need to get more help from its secondary, but should still be among the nation’s elite units.

The biggest non-conference test on Texas A&M’s schedule in 2021 is a road trip to Boulder to play former Big 12 rival Colorado. The Aggies also host Kent State, New Mexico, and FCS Prairie View A&M before SEC play. In conference, Texas A&M avoids both Florida and Georgia in interdivisional play. While that might impact schedule strength a little, perceptions about the SEC will more than make up for that discrepancy and provide a slightly easier path to challenge for the SEC West.