Texas A&M at UCLA: Players to Watch

Texas A&M Players to Watch

MLB Tyrel Dodson
We've talked about the sophomore middle linebacker a lot dating back to last spring, and for good reason. Tyrel Dodson is the new man in the middle of the Aggie defense, and he's the first true middle linebacker the A&M defense has fielded since 2012 (and even then, Jonathan Stewart was probably best suited to play one of the outside spots).

The 6-2, 245-pounder is very big, very physical and very strong. He's also a pure MIKE who understands the position and plays it the way it's supposed to be played in the Southeastern Conference. In addition to boasting a near-700 pound max squat, Tyrel is just a very thick, heavy-headed dude in the middle, capable of taking on blocks and taking down SEC West ball-carriers between the tackles. He's also a capable blitzer and has made plays in coverage throughout fall camp (including a pick-six during one of the Aggie scrimmages).

Bright sources tell me that John Chavis believes his sophomore prodigy will soon see his name on the All-SEC team, and he's as high on the Tennessee native as just about any of the young players on the A&M roster. Dodson recorded 27 tackles and 1.5 TFLs last fall, but he's expected to be an impact player for the Maroon & White beginning this Sunday at the Rose Bowl against a UCLA offense that figures to come out committed to run the rock.

RBs Trayveon Williams and Keith Ford
Clarence McKinney’s 1-2 backfield punch is expected to be one of the SEC’s best in 2017.  Considering the Ags’ inexperience at QB and WR (outside of Christian Kirk), Trayveon Williams and Keith Ford probably need to be in mid-season form in a vital season opener.

Last fall, Williams burst onto the scene as the Aggie offense’s ‘closer’ in wins over Auburn, Arkansas and Tennessee. He finished the season with an A&M freshman record 1,057 yards while averaging a ridiculous 6.8 yards per carry. When Williams hit a bit of a freshman wall and slowed down some during the last month of the season, Ford stepped up in a big way.  The senior and one-time five-star Oklahoma signee was good against Alabama (15 carries for 62 very hard yards) and great against LSU and Kansas State (a combined 186 yards on just 25 carries versus two pretty stout defenses), leaving McKinney and Noel Mazzone feeling very good about what they have coming back this fall.

Williams and Ford combined for 1,726 yards on the ground in ’16 and have an outside shot at becoming a pair of 1,000-yard rushers for the Aggies.

QBs Nick Starkel and Kellen Mond
No way to leave these two off of the season-opening 'Players to Watch' list, was there? It's long been my assumption and expectation that we'll see not just one but two of the Ags' freshman signal-callers in the opener against UCLA, at least in the early going.

Starkel is the strong-armed gunslinger who can move within the pocket but isn't going to beat a defense with his legs, while Mond – who has even less experience as a true freshman – isn't yet there as a passer but is exceptional in the zone read game that made A&M so tough to defend last fall with Trevor Knight calling the shots. Noel Mazzone may very well have to execute a deft juggling act when it comes to managing two separate game plans and keeping things simple for both of his young guns if that's indeed the route he chooses to take.

Playing on the road with so many new receivers and a rebuilt offensive line, Mazzone desperately needs his quarterbacks to play beyond their years and not let their inexperience show. If he can get at least steady, solid play at the position, the Aggies should have enough horsepower and strength in the trenches to make it back to College Station with a big, Power Five victory. I suspect we'll see Noel ride with the hot hand if and when one is established, much like we saw two years ago against Arizona State.

DT Kingsley Keke
New UCLA offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch has stated repeatedly this summer that the Bruins intend to build their offense around a strong, physical ground game. That's where junior defensive tackle Kingsley Keke and his mates on the A&M interior step in. Keke leads a charge that goes at least five deep and features three proven vets, plus a next-level talent in redshirt freshman Justin Madubuike.

Senior Zaycoven Henderson (40 tackles, 6 sacks and 16.5 TFLs in '15 and '16) and junior Daylon Mack (57 tackles, 12 TFLs over the past two seasons) both specialize in backfield stops, but it's Keke who serves as the anchor for John Chavis' unit when it comes to stopping the run. At 6-4 and 305 rock-solid pounds, Kingsley is a big-time problem for opposing offensive linemen because he's heavy, incredibly strong and cat-quick off the snap and does a nice job with his hands.

The junior will not only help free up Tyrel Dodson and the Aggie linebackers to make tackles, he's also the kind of 300-pound playmaker you might find at Alabama or LSU up front – very active against the run and devastating as an inside pass-rusher.

Much of the off-season talk has centered around where the A&M pass rush will come from this fall, and we've tended to focus on the edge guys attempting to fill the extra large shoes of Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall. However, Keke, Henderson and Co. should provide one hell of a push from the inside. Last fall, Keke emerged as one of the top young interior linemen in the SEC, posting 37 tackles, 4 sacks and 7 TFLs in nine starts.

S Armani Watts and Donovan Wilson
We’ve spent most of the off-season wondering how the Ags will replace Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall but probably haven’t spent as much time as we should have discussing two players who form the foundation of one of the strongest positions on the A&M team.

They also both possess legitimate All-SEC and perhaps (in the case of Armani Watts) even All-American potential.

Despite 241 career stops entering his senior campaign, Watts heads into the season knowing he’ll have to improve as a tackler, and Wilson will be adjusting to playing on the hash as a deep safety full-time after spending the past two years lining up primarily at nickel. Room for improvement and adjustments aside, what new position coach Ron Cooper knows entering the season and the opener in Pasadena is that he has a pair of impact players on the back end, each of whom is capable of making game-changing plays versus the pass and in run support.

Wilson had a hand in an amazing 10 turnovers as a sophomore in 2015 and, despite missing most of the Ags’ last three games, Watts was involved in six takeaways last fall and has 13 to his credit during his four-year career as a starter in Aggieland. Last fall, it was fellow safety Justin Evans who picked off Josh Rosen twice. Watts and Wilson probably need make an equal impact on Sunday if the Ags intend to rattle the Heisman candidate without Garrett and Hall crashing down off the edge on every snap.

WR Christian Kirk
Last fall, Kirk got off to a relatively slow start (by his lofty, All-American standards) while building chemistry with a new quarterback and adjusting to a new system under Noel Mazzone. By mid-season, however, the former five-star signee began to put up eye-popping numbers and was good for at least a touchdown and an explosive play or two seemingly every Saturday.

Kirk did it as a receiver and in the return game, taking three punts back to the house and finishing his All-SEC sophomore season with 83 catches for 928 yards and 9 scores. Kirk, who is already the school record-holder with 5 punt returns for scores and is the only A&M receiver to catch 80+ passes in consecutive seasons, has amassed 163 catches for 1,937 yards and 16 TDs in two seasons in Aggieland and has 3,207 all-purpose yards to his credit.

The team captain fully intends to continue his assault on the A&M record books as a junior despite catching balls from yet another quarterback and standing out as the only returning receiver with any meaningful game experience. It starts on Saturday for Kirk, a West Coast product who strongly considered the Bruins out of Saguaro High School three years ago.

UCLA Players to Watch

QB Josh Rosen
Despite facing intense pressure from Myles Garrett and the A&M pass rush, Josh Rosen came to life in the fourth quarter and carved up the secondary last fall, nearly leading UCLA all the way back at Kyle Field. Rosen finished that game with 343 yards on 26-of-46 passing, but his undoing was three costly interceptions.

Rosen recovered from the loss and was putting up huge numbers right up until an injury that ended his season while he was throwing for 400 yards against Arizona State in game six. While playing half of the 2016 season, the then-sophomore was 137-of-241 for 1,915 yards, 10 touchdowns and five picks, averaging nearly 320 yards per game through the air.

The 6-4, 218-pound junior is not only considered one of the top quarterbacks in college football; he's also in contention to become a top-10 NFL Draft pick and perhaps even the first quarterback chosen next spring. Blessed with a cannon right arm, a quick release and supreme confidence and swagger, Rosen burst onto the Pac-12 and national scene as a true freshman when he threw for 3,668 yards and 23 TDs (versus 11 picks) en route to earning league Newcomer of the Year honors.

By season's end, the Southern California native will threaten several UCLA career passing records. Through just 1.5 seasons in Westwood, Rosen has 10 300-yard games to his credit and ranks sixth in school history with 5,583 yards through the air. If there's a weakness in Rosen's game, it's his propensity to force things in the face of pressure, as he's already had 15 passes caught by the other team, including the three picks at Kyle Field last fall (two of which came via overthrows and another that was the direct result of trying to avoid a sack).

RBs Soso Jamabo, Bolu Olorunfunmi and Nate Starks
Last fall, UCLA's tailbacks looked pretty salty against the Aggies in the season opener, but the Bruin backfield ended the season as one of the least productive groups in all of college football, ranking above only Texas State in yards per carry and rushing yards per game. However, Jim Mora has high hopes for his stable of runners this fall.

That's thanks in no small part to the return of Josh Rosen and the arrival of new offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch – both of whom should help open things up for Bruin ball-carriers in 2017.

A&M fans are familiar with Jamabo, a 6-2, 210-pound junior who stepped off 91 yards on 23 carries at Kyle Field while playing in his home state. The Plano West product ran for 321 yards and 3 scores last year, averaging a pedestrian 3.9 yards per carry. A borderline five-star recruit coming out, Jamabo has the combination of size and speed but has yet to put it all together and produce like most UCLA insiders believe he should.

Bolu Olorunfunmi is a powerfully-built, 5-10, 215-pound back who runs like he looks. In other words, he's compact, powerful and very difficult to bring down between the tackles, as Aggie defenders learned near the goal line last fall. Like Jamabo, he averaged 3.9 yards per tote last fall, running for 280 yards and reaching the end zone four times. Bolu is probably the guy who will see the most carries this fall, as Bruin insiders believe he's the guy who will eventually develop into a carry-the-load back.

Nate Starks rounds out the rotation for DeShaun Foster's stable. He ran for 281 yards on 85 carries last season at an unimpressive 3.3 yards per carry but is considered a pretty explosive and dangerous backfield weapon. Don't look too hard at the (lack of) production here. Remember what Jamabo and Olorunfunmi looked like at Kyle Field last fall when Rosen began dealing in the second half. That's the high end of what this group can do if the Bruin offense begins clicking behind a veteran offensive line.

DE Jaelan Phillips
The true freshman could be as problematic for the Aggies as any Bruin not named "Rosen." A five-star recruit from the Class of 2018, Phillips has been nothing short of sensational since stepping foot on campus as a mid-term enrollee in January.

Coming out of Redlands, California, Phillips was considered the by some to be the nation's top overall prospect – regardless of position – and the 6-5, 255-pounder has drawn comparisons to none other than Myles Garrett. Considering how disruptive Garrett was from his first game in an Aggie uniform (at South Carolina), downplaying this impact newcomer's ability to take over a game because of inexperience would be a mistake. It won't take long before Jaelan is the best player on the UCLA defense, and the Ags will have to account for him on each and every snap.

WR Darren Andrews
UCLA's receivers have been the subject of plenty of scrutiny during the Bruins' fall camp, as emotional, veteran quarterback Josh Rosen has been putting a lot of pressure on his group to play with more consistency than they demonstrated last fall. If the Bruin receiving corps is to make a sizeable leap this fall, Darren Andrews is likely to be the man leading the way.

As a junior last fall, the 5-10, 195-pounder led the Bruins with 55 grabs for 709 yards and 4 touchdowns. Andrews produced 100-yard games against Arizona and Washington State and figures to be Rosen's go-to target this fall. As a sophomore in 2015, Darren managed 43 receptions for 443 yards.

LB Kenny Young
Once a coveted Aggie target coming out of New Orleans, Young has developed into a solid linebacker for Tom Bradley's Bruin defense. Now a 6-1, 235-pound senior, Young is coming off of what was by far his best season in Westwood. Kenny earned Second Team All-Pac 12 honors after totaling 90 stops, 8.5 TFL, 5 sacks and an interception last fall.

He ranked second on the team in both tackles and TFLs and has amassed 194 stops in three seasons in Los Angeles. As a sophomore, Young registered 65 stops, 5 TFLs and 2 forced fumbles and took an interception back for a score. The Bruin linebacking corps will lean heavily on the experience and production of the veteran after losing First Team All-Pac 12 'backer Jayon Brown to the NFL.

S Jaleel Wadood
The senior safety joins Kenny Young as a leader on the Bruin D. He's the most veteran member of a talented UCLA secondary that looks to be a team strength despite losing three or four key performers off of last year's unit.

Wadood (5-9, 180) is on the small side as far as safeties go, but size didn't hold him back last fall when he was named an Honorable Mention All-Conference performer after posting a statline that included 76 tackles, 2 TFLs and 4 pass breakups. Wadood has picked off six passes over the past two seasons and has put his name on the All-Pac 12 defense as both a sophomore (2nd Team) and junior. He's the real deal from a talent standpoint and the most likely Bruin to create some real headaches for an A&M passing game devoid of experience at quarterback and receiver outside of Christian Kirk.