Opponents should keep an eye on A&M's offseason muscle additions

Muscle shows strength. Muscle provides power. Muscle demands respect. Underestimating muscle can be costly.

Consider Moe Greene, the disrespectful casino owner from “The Godfather.” He grossly underestimated the Corleones’ strength and power.

“First of all, you’re all done,” he said when asked to sell his business. “The Corleone Family don’t have that kind of muscle anymore.”

Turns out, Moe should’ve kept a close eye on just how much muscle the family had built up.

Maybe Texas A&M football opponents should be keeping a close eye on the Aggies’ muscle addition.

Last winter, new strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt told TexAgs Radio that physical tests revealed the Aggies needed to add strength. They were not strong enough to consistently win physical confrontations.

That was obvious by how many times the Aggies failed to convert in short-yardage situations. Failures against Miami, Alabama and Tennessee come to mind.

Zoe Kelton, TexAgs

Through two seasons at Texas A&M, Bryce Anderson has appeared in 22 games and has one career interception.

Moffitt spent the last seven months working to change that. All indications are he has.

“Last year, coming in, it was just a whole lot of talk going on,” safety Bryce Anderson said on Tuesday. “We were working, but I feel like we’ve worked way harder this summer.

“Coach Moffitt coming in … he put us in position to get bigger, get stronger to last, to have durability this season.”

Coach Mike Elko, who hired Moffitt, certainly likes what he saw in the offseason.

“We wanted to put on strength,” Elko said the day before the Aggies opened August camp. “We wanted to put on mass. We wanted to go in there and make that (weight) room very challenging and very difficult to create toughness, grit. To create an area where kids could really improve.

"We’ve embraced it. I don’t think we had a single kid miss a lift this summer. That’s good. If they’re in there and you have a competent strength and conditioning coach and they’re in there consistently working very hard, you’d anticipate seeing some strong gains.”

The bodies look different. At SEC Media Days, offensive tackle Trey Zuhn III, defensive tackle Shemar Turner and linebacker Taurean York were noticeably bigger and more toned.

A recent social media video showed guard Chase Bisontis easily squatting more than 600 pounds. Even receiver Noah Thomas looks to have added muscle to his 6-foot-6, 200-pound frame.

Of course, muscle alone doesn’t make a good football player. There is an old stigma about guys who “look like Tarzan, but play like Jane.”

A&M has seen that before. Years ago, the Aggies had a head football coach who emphasized strength. Bench pressing 400 pounds or more was the ultimate goal.

Those Aggies were strong but didn’t move well. Linemen often weren’t agile enough. Skill players often weren’t fast enough.

That doesn’t appear to be an issue under Moffitt, who served as strength and conditioning coach for three national championship teams — under three different head coaches — at LSU.

“Coach Moffitt really emphasized us getting stronger and faster. He promised us we would get stronger and faster,” Thomas said on Tuesday. “All the results are coming in. I feel much more explosive. I feel more stable.”

A stronger, faster receiving corps will absolutely be celebrated.

But the Southeastern Conference is often described as a “line of scrimmage” league, so added strength up front is of utmost importance.

So is a strong mind and — quite, frankly — a nasty temperament.

Fortunately, mental toughness and general orneriness are frequently a byproduct of the demands and discipline needed to build physical strength.

The physical gains are easily measured. The mental gains aren’t. They’ll remain uncertain until the season starts.

A&M’s line was disappointing last year. But opponents would be wise to keep a close eye on the Aggies.

You know, like Moe Greene should have kept a closer eye on the Corleones.