Aaron Hansford
Position: Linebacker
Classification: Graduate Student
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Listed Height: 6-3
Listed Weight: 240
Key notes from Olin’s analysis of Hansford
- He came in as a tight end. I remember that Kellen Mond threw as good of a pass as he has probably his entire career to Hansford in the end zone against Arkansas and he dropped it. He just didn't have great hands. He came in here as a four-star recruit that was rated higher than Chase Claypool. You forgot about him because the last staff misused him.
- Hansford was probably the most pleasant surprise last year. I even heard that he beat out Anthony Hines last August because Hines opted out.
- He played in nine games and had three sacks. For a linebacker, projecting that across 12 games against some lower-level competition, he might have had eight or nine. He was great in the pass rush, and it was just his first year as a starter. You usually get better in your second year.
- Hansford is one of those guys that nobody outside of College Station knows because he's one of those guys who does his job. He's relatively anonymous, which is not a bad thing. A reporter from Florida was calling me last year and he had no idea who DeMarvin Leal was because people in the SEC tend to ignore A&M. I'm not sure how long Aaron Hansford is going to fly under the radar because he's very good.
- He's going to go from capable to very good, and I think he'll make his presence felt most as a pass rusher.
- How does Leal not get on an all-conference team at all despite being projected as a top-five pick? The SEC coaches and media didn't notice him. I'm not saying Hansford will be a first or second-round pick, but he could play extremely well and not make an all-conference team because you have to be so significantly better than the old guard to make those lists. Erik McCoy was never an all-conference guy despite (now) being one of the better centers in the NFL. You have to start legitimately challenging for conference championships to get that recognition. Once you do that, it'll be hard to be ignored.
- Hansford has five things going for him. First is his speed. He can move. He's athletic. The other four are Micheal Clemons, DeMarvin Leal, McKinnley Jackson and Jayden Peevy. If you have competent linebackers, they will look good behind a great defensive line. Hansford is better than competent. I think we can expect a big year from Aaron Hansford.
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