"We can't defend the forward pass" said Coach. How do you fix it? If it's coaching that would seem to be an easy fix. If it's personal do we have any DB's that are going to upgrade the position?

With the new coaching rule (unlimited amount, I believe), I hope we hire some great Xs & Os teachers who don't need to recruit.

Five 4 star DBs in the '25 class. Expect to see freshman starting or getting PT.

Portal.

New DC.

A healthy Chappell returning next season.

hopefully the new 4-stars are better than the current 4-stars

to me i don't buy the we can't play zone excuse. zone is not that complicated. if they can't handle the more complicated nuances of the zone scheme simplify to one they can actual comprehend. that's coaching 101 tough to execute what your not grasping it's the coaches job to make sure they grasp it or find something they can.

Bateman is an issue

But hopefully a healthy Chappell and Humphrey will be enough. CB/NB should be improved next year but will it be enough?

I liked BJ Mayes. He missed on some plays, but he flies around and gives max effort. Has awareness. Made more big plays this year than anyone not named Will Lee and he was a situational player. The rest of the secondary last night was absolute garbage. None should be on the field next year. Bryce Anderson is a maybe.. not sure if he was out of position all year or what, but he regressed big time this year.

With healthy Lee and Chappel, and Anderson hopefully getting his head on, 3 of 5 spots should be at least solid. Brooks is young so hopefully he can take a step-up next year and be better. But I envision just about every newcomer having a shot to be a starter. Nobody outside of Lee was good enough this year to be given a spot next year without earning it.

some DB's have good football I.Q....and others don't

they can be confused very easily

Heineken-Ashi said:

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I liked BJ Mayes. He missed on some plays, but he flies around and gives max effort. Has awareness. Made more big plays this year than anyone not named Will Lee and he was a situational player. The rest of the secondary last night was absolute garbage. None should be on the field next year. Bryce Anderson is a maybe.. not sure if he was out of position all year or what, but he regressed big time this year.

With healthy Lee and Chappel, and Anderson hopefully getting his head on, 3 of 5 spots should be at least solid. Brooks is young so hopefully he can take a step-up next year and be better. But I envision just about every newcomer having a shot to be a starter. Nobody outside of Lee was good enough this year to be given a spot next year without earning it.

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Lee and Chappell are for sure starters. After that it should be open with no one safe. We have talent in the secondary but they need to step up.

Like I said earlier i feel goid about CB/NB but our safeties weren't good. I hope the young guys are as good as advertised and make a move this offseason.

I would not use a bowl game to grade things where we are missing key players.

They looked pretty good against LSU.

Elko runs a 4-2-5. When the D line has no depth as will be the case in most bowl games, it's going to get ugly as the game progresses and they are tired.

I'm not a fan of the 4-2-5 but most teams run it now a days to counter all the spread offenses. You have to be able to get pressure with the front 4 though and if SEC refs stop calling holding, we are going to get beat at times.

I love the 4-2-5 when the NB is a bigger back and not just another CB. But it seems Elko is looking at a smaller NB for some reason.

That's why I prefer the 4-3 with the 3rd LB being strong but also good cover skills.

But I get it. When majority of team have 3-4 wide every snap on offense. Base 4-2-5 makes sense.

NB is typically similar to a CB. The strong safety needs to be strong and good at supporting the run.

LB12Diamond said:

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That's why I prefer the 4-3 with the 3rd LB being strong but also good cover skills.

But I get it. When majority of team have 3-4 wide every snap on offense. Base 4-2-5 makes sense.

NB is typically similar to a CB. The strong safety needs to be strong and good at supporting the run.

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Elko in the past has used the NB more as a hybrid LB or extra safety. Now he seems to be going more traditional and I'm not as big of a fan of that. I'd prefer his older defense and not this

Don't mail your game plan the day before to Las Vegas via USPS?

With hindsight, maybe expecting the DB to look good this year was ridiculous.

The room was bottom-of-the-barrel in the bowl game last year against Okie Lite and Elko had to fill it mostly with 3*s at the end of December.

Dex_Mick_Bear said:

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With hindsight, maybe expecting the DB to look good this year was ridiculous.

The room was bottom-of-the-barrel in the bowl game last year against Okie Lite and Elko had to fill it mostly with 3*s at the end of December.

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It was always going to be our weakness. It was just worse than many expected.

The good thing is we still have a ton a young talent but some of them will have no excuses next year. It will be their 3rd year in college and they should be able to be a major contributor.

The good news is CB/NB should be better next year with Lee, Chappell, and Humphrey (he will at least add competition). The young safeties need to step up or Anderson needs to return to his early form.

We haven't had a decent secondary at A&M since Sammy Davis and Terrance Kiel were here.

Getter better coaches and recruits better talent.

Emphasis on better coaching

Almost all the players that played last night were recruited and all the players that entered the Portal were Jimbo recruits and look at the culture he left Elmo: Give him time to have his own team. That team Jimbo left was a total mess

We need some new and replacement players....there's way too much 'hope' of player x, y, z coming back from injury in the same form and capability. That's a lot of wishing and hoping.

Zone coverage without good pressure has no chance

Ricks needs to see dramatic improvement or not see the field next year

The 655 yards account for nearly 25% of our total passing yards allowed.

Texas A&M CB Dezz Ricks gave up 655 receiving yards this season (per PFF), which is the most in the SEC and seventh-most nationally. No Aggie player has allowed more receiving yards in a season since Charles Oliver (664) in 2018. Ricks surrendered 6/115/1 vs. USC, per PFF.

— Carter Karels (@CarterKarels) December 28, 2024