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Texas A&M Football

Texas A&M adds former UAB quarterback Jacob Zeno via transfer portal

December 10, 2024
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The Aggies have added a quarterback via the transfer portal today as former San Antonio Jay standout Jacob Zeno is headed back to the Lone Star State for his final year of college football.

Originally a Baylor signee, the 6-foot-4, 210-pounder spent three years in Waco before transferring to UAB before the 2022 season.

As a Bear, he only appeared in six games. However, he came into his own with the Blazers. As a redshirt sophomore, he appeared in nine games and threw for 721 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions. He posted a career-best 332 yards that year against UTSA.

In 2023, he took over as the full-time starter in Birmingham and turned in one of their best seasons in school history. He set a single-season record for completions (279) and completion percentage (73.6). He totaled 3,126 yards passing and connected for 20 touchdowns through the air. He also added four more scores with his legs. That season, Zeno finished 11th in the country in total offense per game and had three games of over 300 yards passing.

He's the first pledge for Mike Elko & Co. in this transfer portal window.

Stay tuned. We'll have more soon for our TexAgs Premium subscribers. 

Discussion from...

Texas A&M adds former UAB quarterback Jacob Zeno via transfer portal

13,930 Views | 66 Replies | Last: 5 hrs ago by agracer
Reno Hightower
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Better start hitting the open receivers.
Bunk Moreland
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TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

We sucked when we needed to win. Cmon. I get it. Pump up the possibility but gosh it's so dead now.


He didn't suck when we needed to win. We lost Moss, the play calling was atrocious, our skill position talent was lacking, yet Reed continued to play well. I'm sorry about these facts.


Qbr 59.3 for that game is a fact.

Marcel was better than weigman.

It took complete failure to change that.

Why such a blind faith and optimism?


It's not faith, he still has a lot to prove, but the optimism isn't blind. Reed is a buy stock in cfb, not a hold or sell. That doesn't mean he's a guaranteed success, but people who can't understand that aren't worth wasting time discussing it with.

You or I can have whatever opinion we want, but no team in the country would be walking away from Reed trying to find his replacement given the body of work we saw this year alomh with what he had to work with. They'd be doing everything in their power to develop him and build the best possible team around him.


They'd also fire the OC instantly when he wasn't able to stop the QB from having tells of pass/run and had terrible play calls


Oh you're one of these guys.
TAMUallen
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AG
Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

We sucked when we needed to win. Cmon. I get it. Pump up the possibility but gosh it's so dead now.


He didn't suck when we needed to win. We lost Moss, the play calling was atrocious, our skill position talent was lacking, yet Reed continued to play well. I'm sorry about these facts.


Qbr 59.3 for that game is a fact.

Marcel was better than weigman.

It took complete failure to change that.

Why such a blind faith and optimism?


It's not faith, he still has a lot to prove, but the optimism isn't blind. Reed is a buy stock in cfb, not a hold or sell. That doesn't mean he's a guaranteed success, but people who can't understand that aren't worth wasting time discussing it with.

You or I can have whatever opinion we want, but no team in the country would be walking away from Reed trying to find his replacement given the body of work we saw this year alomh with what he had to work with. They'd be doing everything in their power to develop him and build the best possible team around him.


They'd also fire the OC instantly when he wasn't able to stop the QB from having tells of pass/run and had terrible play calls


Oh you're one of these guys.


You just said the play calling was atrocious.

You can't blame and then act oblivious
Bunk Moreland
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TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

We sucked when we needed to win. Cmon. I get it. Pump up the possibility but gosh it's so dead now.


He didn't suck when we needed to win. We lost Moss, the play calling was atrocious, our skill position talent was lacking, yet Reed continued to play well. I'm sorry about these facts.


Qbr 59.3 for that game is a fact.

Marcel was better than weigman.

It took complete failure to change that.

Why such a blind faith and optimism?


It's not faith, he still has a lot to prove, but the optimism isn't blind. Reed is a buy stock in cfb, not a hold or sell. That doesn't mean he's a guaranteed success, but people who can't understand that aren't worth wasting time discussing it with.

You or I can have whatever opinion we want, but no team in the country would be walking away from Reed trying to find his replacement given the body of work we saw this year alomh with what he had to work with. They'd be doing everything in their power to develop him and build the best possible team around him.


They'd also fire the OC instantly when he wasn't able to stop the QB from having tells of pass/run and had terrible play calls


Oh you're one of these guys.


You just said the play calling was atrocious.

You can't blame and then act oblivious


I think play calling at key times was atrocious. Based on what I've seen I don't think we were "tipping" our plays near to the extent a random Twitter handle got a lot of traction posting about. The same was said about Jimbo's OL.

The decisions to run over and over vs tu on 3rd and 4th and short were stupid. Reed's foot placement had nothing to do with the bad play call.

If you believe he was tipping calls, I'd argue if his feet were in a "passing" position we still would have been blown up on those plays.
TAMUallen
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AG
So he was but you don't really think it was a problem and sometimes the play calls were atrocious. Is any of that something a championship level team does? It's not.
Bunk Moreland
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TAMUallen said:

So he was but you don't really think it was a problem and sometimes the play calls were atrocious. Is any of that something a championship level team does? It's not.



Did you watch Carson Beck this year? UGA has an OC who is calling an offense that is getting archaic. Their qb was a top 5 draft pick going into the season. Everything seemed against them as the season went on. Beck looked bad. Skill players looked bad. Offense struggled. And they won the SEC.

What about that screams championship level? You're putting everything on the qb just to make an argument, but imo shows quite the lack of knowledge of the game. If we put the right team around Reed and the coaches do a good enough job he's plenty good enough to lead us to a championship if he keeps developing and improving as much as he has shown in very limited time on the field.
TAMUallen
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AG
Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

So he was but you don't really think it was a problem and sometimes the play calls were atrocious. Is any of that something a championship level team does? It's not.



Did you watch Carson Beck this year? UGA has an OC who is calling an offense that is getting archaic. Their qb was a top 5 draft pick going into the season. Everything seemed against them as the season went on. Beck looked bad. Skill players looked bad. Offense struggled. And they won the SEC.

What about that screams championship level? You're putting everything on the qb just to make an argument, but imo shows quite the lack of knowledge of the game. If we put the right team around Reed and the coaches do a good enough job he's plenty good enough to lead us to a championship if he keeps developing and improving as much as he has shown in very limited time on the field.


Lol I am not. I have never put it all on the qb. I'm done with you. You're trying to compare us taking a **** qb to Georgia's misfires.

I have no problem with Reed either so quit your talking like a fool. I do want an OC who can use him. I want an OC that's not going to try to run Amari like Moss against a loaded box.

I have a problem with taking a bad qb as our experienced backup. That's not that hard to figure out.

Stop trying to claim I'm saying things I'm not
Bunk Moreland
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Then tell us who you wanted as a 3rd string qb given our situation where we are going to to pay and show Reed/Miles they are 1 and 2. Who do you actually think we could have recruited that would be better than this guy?

You ***** to *****. That's all you do. We aren't bringing in a 500k NIL QB to be a 3rd string. So we'd love to hear your expert analysis on what the staff should have done
TAMUallen
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AG
Bunk Moreland said:

Then tell us who you wanted as a 3rd string qb given our situation where we are going to to pay and show Reed/Miles they are 1 and 2. Who do you actually think we could have recruited that would be better than this guy?

You ***** to *****. That's all you do. We aren't bringing in a 500k NIL QB to be a 3rd string. So we'd love to hear your expert analysis on what the staff should have done



You squawk to squawk to act like you know ***** So just shove it

I'd rather have a staff that can identify some hs qbs to develop before getting 7th yr bad transfer. But who would want to come and play with Klein? If we're down to using a 32td/18int qb with a 2.1 yd rush average then there's no point because the coaching staff has failed so much that it isn't worth a discussion
Bunk Moreland
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You're right. It isn't worth a discussion. You don't mention we just signed a big level qb who re classified early plus a backup developmental qb within 2 weeks of losing our 5 star. You're just anti Klein no matter what.
TAMUallen
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AG
Cool buddy. You're a Klein pumper. He won't last
superunknown
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I wouldn't put too much stock in his '24 season stats. Yeah he got injured, but one reason to leave potentially starting at UAB is that the program is a dumpster fire and Dilfer is getting canned next year. Dilfer knows he's gotta pull something out and he's going to throw everything at the wall to keep his job. Zeno probably sees the opportunity here (clear qb3 but likely to see playing time given recent history) and a chance to work with a coaching staff that is in it for the long haul and learn from them plus make some contacts if he wants to be a GA some day, etc. Elko's got a network. Dilfer has 1 year left and he'll never be a head coach again. If I've got 1 year left and i can do it close to home where i can make great contacts? That's way better for my future than sticking it out on a sunken ship.

This al of course assuming that while we may be upset with our November failures, i think it's a no-brainer that Elko's staff has a future and Dilfer's does not.

A veteran back up/spot starter qb when we're young and thin at that position? Sign me up.
LB12Diamond
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Bunk Moreland said:

Rossticus said:

Bunk Moreland said:

Dex_Mick_Bear said:

BeatHellOutOfTU said:

What does this mean?!?


Confidence in Reed. Didn't bring in someone who would truly threaten his starting spot.


This. It should not be a shock. Reed is THE guy. Miles is next. This is an insurance policy. Good move. Now let's go buy some skill position talent and hogs up front.


Incorrect. A guy doesn't transfer from a place he was the starter at if he's told he'll be transferring to be QB3. The job will be open for competition. Reed will have an edge due to having a one year head start in the system and a part-time starter last year, but he's not guaranteed anything.


I'm sorry to burst your bubble. Reed is the guy going into spring. If this kid comes in and tears it up then fine, but his numbers in a much weaker conference with much more experience are not better than Reed's.

Want to lose the locker room? Go into the spring without a natural born leader at QB like Reed is. He won the team over this year and I'm fairly certain the roster was split during fall camp until Weigman had his huge scrimmage performance.


Would not surprise me at all if Reed is also named one of our captains in the spring.
Bobaloo
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Just watch some college football and note the injuries to QBs. We lost three QBs in 23. CW got banged up this year. Florida used three QBs this year. The Dawgs just beat Texas with a backup. Ewers was hurt this year. This list goes on. A team needs at least three functional QBs. Experience is at a premium.
SBDavis87
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AG
Year seven is a charm, not year 3 anymore.
Reed is in the portal - he just hasn't mentioned it yet.
SMU will pay more until A&M is finished paying Dumbo not to coach.
WGAS about any of these "student athlete" mercs anymore.
All looks silly.
AgFan1974
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I do not follow UAB but from what I have read, think Jimbo. UAB may be on the backside of the Dilfer hope train (similar to Jimbo's last couple of years). In that environment, why not transfer? If a school like A&M wants to take a shot at you, you go. Also, feels like Zeno was not a lock at QB1 in 2025. Basically puts himself in similar situation (may play, may not) at a great school in his home state where the hope train is just getting the furnace lit. Comes out of this with a TAMU diploma too, perhaps. All of that and he probably got a bump in NIL. Seems like a pretty easy decision to me.
DANManman
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AG
Definitely grew up as the last one called during attendance!

But welcome aboard!
Jesus saves
SourLakeAg
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This is the best part. If Reed were in the portal, he'd be one of the highest ranked QBs and the same ones crying on Texags would be jumping up and down to go get him.
MagnumLoad
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Why didn't he play in 2024? Also, how has he played 6 seasons? Just keep getting stranger.
I hate tu. It's in my blood.
beerad12man
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TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

Then tell us who you wanted as a 3rd string qb given our situation where we are going to to pay and show Reed/Miles they are 1 and 2. Who do you actually think we could have recruited that would be better than this guy?

You ***** to *****. That's all you do. We aren't bringing in a 500k NIL QB to be a 3rd string. So we'd love to hear your expert analysis on what the staff should have done



You squawk to squawk to act like you know ***** So just shove it

I'd rather have a staff that can identify some hs qbs to develop before getting 7th yr bad transfer. But who would want to come and play with Klein? If we're down to using a 32td/18int qb with a 2.1 yd rush average then there's no point because the coaching staff has failed so much that it isn't worth a discussion
We did that. We brought in 2 HS guys. This is literally an insurance policy to keep the HS guys off the field next year in case of injuries, and any reasonable person gets that.

And no, for 2025, Eli Morcos or Brady Hart are not likely to give us a better shot than Jacob Zeno. We are carrying 5 scholarship QBs. Most years, we carry 4, but usually only one HS guy. This year, we have 2 HS guys, so it makes some sense to have 3 that aren't true fish.

And as I have said, name the last time we had exactly 85 scholarships and filled up our full allocation? You do realize that most years, we end up with 78-82 scholarship players, right? Taking Zeno will not keep you from adding to other positions. He was literally an insurance policy in case both of the true fish were not ready, which is likely.

Because of Zeno instead of breaking the bank for a more expensive guy that may or may not even play or be an upgrade, we can spend more on WR, DL, and TE. Which is what matters.
TAM85
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Welcome and gig 'em!!
OMB100GAS
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AG
Bunk Moreland said:

ahpetty33 said:

Several of your statements are literally opinions though, not facts. Learn what a fact is

Improved as the season went on? He did. His accuracy, awareness and control of the position all improved during the season.

Seems like a troll, and I know trolling.

SEC play with over 10 attempts

Florida QBR 94.3, Passer Rating 191.5
Arky 58.8, 142.2
SC 52.7, 130.7
Auburn 67, 156.7 (142.8 before OT)
tu 59.3, 143.8

Don't have to plot these out to notice the lack of improvement
John Cocktolstoy
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AgFan1974 said:

I do not follow UAB but from what I have read, think Jimbo. UAB may be on the backside of the Dilfer hope train (similar to Jimbo's last couple of years). In that environment, why not transfer? If a school like A&M wants to take a shot at you, you go. Also, feels like Zeno was not a lock at QB1 in 2025. Basically puts himself in similar situation (may play, may not) at a great school in his home state where the hope train is just getting the furnace lit. Comes out of this with a TAMU diploma too, perhaps. All of that and he probably got a bump in NIL. Seems like a pretty easy decision to me.
^This^
And if you think Zeno is coming here with the intention of playing second fiddle to anyone you yourself don't know anything about div1 football. Elko does not go looking for backups. Elko looks for starters, and if that guy beats the incumbent starter the other becomes a backup. You go find the best player you can, and you want guys that have been around more than 4years in my opinion when your looking at QB. They are mentally and physically more mature. Hell I want 5 more OLinemen that are on year 6!!!
Second Hardest Workin Man on Texags
beerad12man
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OMB100GAS said:

Bunk Moreland said:

ahpetty33 said:

Several of your statements are literally opinions though, not facts. Learn what a fact is

Improved as the season went on? He did. His accuracy, awareness and control of the position all improved during the season.

Seems like a troll, and I know trolling.

SEC play with over 10 attempts

Florida QBR 94.3, Passer Rating 191.5
Arky 58.8, 142.2
SC 52.7, 130.7
Auburn 67, 156.7 (142.8 before OT)
tu 59.3, 143.8

Don't have to plot these out to notice the lack of improvement

I can see both arguments, but it's definitely not a troll. Texas overwhelmed our entire offense and was by far the best defense we played. Comparing that to any other game isn't really worth it considering the obvious variable in opponent strength.

His interception went up later in the year which is a concern and caused his QBR to not be that much better. But his completion percentage was also night and day. Florida was a solid start at 64%, but once teams keyed in on him being the starter (2nd half of florida), he basically became a 50% passer for 2.5 weeks. I mean, 55% against Bowling Green. The QB on the field against Auburn, and yes, even Texas, was much better than that. The last 4 games of the year, he was closer to a 66% passer versus the 55% he was his first 3 games, and 49% he was in 2.5 games from Florida 2nd half to the end of Arkansas.

And he did it against SC 2nd half, Auburn, and Texas without Leveon Moss.

QBR be damned. Interceptions hurt him. He was clearly hitting more passes later in the year than early on, outside of Florida which had the element of surprise. Now, he needs to get the interceptions under control having 4 in the last 4 games.
beerad12man
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AG
And don't forget the top 2 defenses we played BY FAR were in those last 4 games. Completely ignoring competition is wild to me. https://www.bcftoys.com/2024-dfei

The QB on the field against Arkansas and Bowling Green would have thrown for 40% completions against SC and Texas.

And this includes a stint in which he was benched for 3 games slowing him down.

Even Auburn was 32nd in efficiency versus Arkansas at 49 and BG at 57.
Bunk Moreland
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OMB100GAS said:

Bunk Moreland said:

ahpetty33 said:

Several of your statements are literally opinions though, not facts. Learn what a fact is

Improved as the season went on? He did. His accuracy, awareness and control of the position all improved during the season.

Seems like a troll, and I know trolling.

SEC play with over 10 attempts

Florida QBR 94.3, Passer Rating 191.5
Arky 58.8, 142.2
SC 52.7, 130.7
Auburn 67, 156.7 (142.8 before OT)
tu 59.3, 143.8

Don't have to plot these out to notice the lack of improvement


Total Defense rankings:

Florida | 91
Arkansas | 66
South Carolina | 15 (moss out 1H for rest of season)
Auburn | 31
tu | 3

Don't have to plot these out to notice the level of competition went up drastically and he continued to perform well and improve as the season went on.
OMB100GAS
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AG
So did he improve or not? Because you bringing up defensive stats is not a counter argument when we are discussing only QB play, which btw, sub 60 QBR is not playing well

You're leaving out factors like Oline, rushing offense, and which areas were strengths of opponents defense, front 7? DBs? Fact is, he had one good game against Florida, saved the day with his legs against LSU, and other than that he was not good
DTuba
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He improved his passing numbers, with his best game against Auburn, who does have a good defense. Texas just outplayed A&M in every facet.
Bunk Moreland
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OMB100GAS said:

So did he improve or not? Because you bringing up defensive stats is not a counter argument when we are discussing only QB play, which btw, sub 60 QBR is not playing well

You're leaving out factors like Oline, rushing offense, and which areas were strengths of opponents defense, front 7? DBs? Fact is, he had one good game against Florida, saved the day with his legs against LSU, and other than that he was not good

Yes. His passing game improved with the eye test and the stat test, even as defenses got much more difficult.

His Oline sustained more injuries, as did the WR corps and we lost our best offensive weapon by far in the USCe game.

Rational people look at Reed's season and say "wow the Aggies have a possible star in the making at QB."

Irrational people are on TexAgs saying he wasn't good and wanting a portal QB to try and take the job from him.
LatinAggie1997
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AG
You are trying to force your opinion as how others think and what we saw.
Reed was serviceable. Imo, his ceiling is not much higher. He will be good but not great.

I will call my shot - Miles wins the starting job.
agracer
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AG
Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

Bunk Moreland said:

TAMUallen said:

We sucked when we needed to win. Cmon. I get it. Pump up the possibility but gosh it's so dead now.


He didn't suck when we needed to win. We lost Moss, the play calling was atrocious, our skill position talent was lacking, yet Reed continued to play well. I'm sorry about these facts.


Qbr 59.3 for that game is a fact.

Marcel was better than weigman.

It took complete failure to change that.

Why such a blind faith and optimism?


It's not faith, he still has a lot to prove, but the optimism isn't blind. Reed is a buy stock in cfb, not a hold or sell. That doesn't mean he's a guaranteed success, but people who can't understand that aren't worth wasting time discussing it with.

You or I can have whatever opinion we want, but no team in the country would be walking away from Reed trying to find his replacement given the body of work we saw this year alomh with what he had to work with. They'd be doing everything in their power to develop him and build the best possible team around him.


They'd also fire the OC instantly when he wasn't able to stop the QB from having tells of pass/run and had terrible play calls


Oh you're one of these guys.


You just said the play calling was atrocious.

You can't blame and then act oblivious


I think play calling at key times was atrocious. Based on what I've seen I don't think we were "tipping" our plays near to the extent a random Twitter handle got a lot of traction posting about. The same was said about Jimbo's OL.

The decisions to run over and over vs tu on 3rd and 4th and short were stupid. Reed's foot placement had nothing to do with the bad play call.

If you believe he was tipping calls, I'd argue if his feet were in a "passing" position we still would have been blown up on those plays.
it was documented that the tipping was 85% accurate in the AU and tu game....
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