Aggies avoiding serious injury bug through first two weeks of practice

The usual bumps and bruises have arisen through two weeks of Texas A&M football’s August camp.

Thus far, the Aggies have avoided the rashes, though.

The Aggies were victimized in 2020 by a rash of injuries that claimed tight ends Baylor Cupp and Blake Smith and receiver Kamron Buckley in camp and receiver Caleb Chapman early in the season.

Coach Jimbo Fisher announced on Sunday that A&M has been fortunate to avoid significant injuries. Other programs, like Florida, which lost starting cornerback Jaydon Hill for the season, have not been so lucky.

“You’ve always got some guys bumped and bruised, but that’s part of it,” Fisher said.

Cupp (shoulder), Chapman (knee), center Luke Matthews (shoulder) and receiver Demond Demas (foot) have been hampered by injuries. However, Fisher indicated they were all making significant progress toward playing in the season-opener against Kent State on Sept. 4.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Baylor Cupp has practiced some this fall as he continues to come back from a shoulder injury.

“Matthews is back in practice and doing well,” Fisher said. “Demond is still healing well. He’s been in meetings. He’s been very energetic, interacting, knowing what to do. (He’s) been great with the guys.”

Cupp was in t-shirt and shirts on Friday when his teammates began practicing in full pads. Fisher said that was a matter of managing his return to action.

“Cupp will be back,” Fisher said. “We’re working with him to make sure we put his body load back in, and we don’t overload him.”

Chapman appeared to be on the verge of a “break out” year in 2020. He had 14 catches for 197 yards and three touchdowns before sustaining his season-ending knee injury in the third game.

Fisher said Chapman is on pace to get back on the field.

“Caleb is in a non-contact jersey, but he’s running every route and practicing every rep,” Fisher said. “We want to ease him into contact as we go. We’re limiting when he can get bumped and bruised. Sometimes (the non-contact jersey is) on, and sometimes it’s off. He’s practiced the last two or three days and went really good.”

That positive health report might have been at least one reason Fisher appeared in a jovial mood prior to practice.

He is also feeling good because of the progress he’s seeing from his entire team and the members of the eighth-ranked 2021 recruiting class.

“I think our guys are doing a really nice job. Continuing to progress,” Fisher said. “They’re starting to get into camp very heavily now. The bangs and bruises and you find how much you love football.

“After the first couple of days, the shine wears off. You can’t see the end of the rainbow quite yet for the season, so you find out how much you really like going into practice each and every day.

“The guys are doing a good job. They seem to be getting better.”

That includes the newcomers.

“Very excited about our young guys,” Fisher said. “If you were a fisherman, you wouldn’t throw any of them out of the live well. You’ll keep who you got. We’re happy with those guys.

“They fit in, not only body size and athletically, but mentally they’re learning how to go. They’re doing a good job adjusting.”

The Aggies have been working heavily on situational football in recent practices. The last couple of days, they worked extensively on third-down situations. They’re focused more on red-zone execution now. Next, Fisher said they will work heavily on two-minute drills.

Obviously, he’ll be closely watching how quarterbacks Zach Calzada and Haynes King perform as they compete to replace Kellen Mond as the starter.

“I’ve been riding our guys pretty good,” Fisher said of the quarterbacks. “I’ve been pushing them. I want to see who can mentally do the things you’ve got to do, but they’re also progressing very nicely.”

Fisher couldn’t — or wouldn’t — yet say who will emerge as the starting quarterback.

However, he did reveal that whoever is the starter probably won’t be resigned to starting most series at the 25-yard line.

Last season, the Aggies ranked last in the nation in kickoff yardage largely because they only returned three.

Instead, Fisher chose to exercise the option to take possession at the 25-yard line. A 25-yard average ranked 19th nationally in kickoff returns last season.

The Aggies have a lot of big-play threats, so expect them to challenge opposing coverage teams this year.

“We have to do a good job (scouting) the (opposing) kicker, his hang time, how athletic they are on the field, what’s going on, how our matchups are,” Fisher said. “But we’ll definitely take shots at it. There’s no doubt.”

Some suspect speedy sophomore Devon Achane will get frequent opportunities to return kickoffs.

“I would suspect that pretty well,” Fisher said.