Josh Pate details keys to sustainability ahead of A&M's 2025 slate

College football analyst Josh Pate emphasized the importance of quarterback consistency for Texas A&M on Tuesday's edition of TexAgs Live. Pate also covered returning signal callers in the SEC and the five characteristics of successful coaches around the country.

Key notes from Josh Pate interview

• It's layered. We saw this with a couple of other teams last year. There are teams that get to the quarterback, and their disruption numbers were at the top half of whatever conference they were in, but their tackling was not good. It doesn't matter if you can get the guy to third and 13 if you can't tackle him on third and 13.
   
• If you ask Mike Elko if he would prefer high-level disruption or sound tackling, he'll pick the latter. He'd say that they can manufacture pressure when they need to. I think the number of teams, with the way people practice now, is less tackling to the ground. The way you learn how to tackle is by tackling. It's not an excuse, but when you don't tackle well, that's a contributing factor.
   
• The comparison I used was Cam Ward last year. You don't want Marcel Reed in a situation like Cam Ward was in last year, where he went to Miami and everyone says, "It's on you". It was on him. He played at a Heisman-caliber level, but that's what it took. When you watch Miami games, Ward knew he had to score 45. That should never be a situation Reed is in. That's not how Elko has built the team. You should be able to run the ball when you need to. They should be playing a complementary style.
   
• A&M should never have to ride Reed. That's not to say he has to be the invisible 11th man. Just be serviceable. He does need to elevate his game. If those themes coincide, that's how you are in the SEC Championship next season.
   
• You have to look at A&M’s quarterback position and call it an “if” because it has been so long since we have seen consistency in the name. There are some places that never deal with that. For A&M, it's been a constant. Everyone talks about what it takes to turn a program around. Big picture, just give me a quarterback that stays healthy all year. It's another element of the complementary nature of a team. It's nice to have a quarterback who is a star, but you don't need it. You do need the quarterback, singular and not plural. However, I would love to see Reed in Week 1, Week 6 and Week 12.
   
• Competitive character. Think about A&M Week 1 last year. The talking point last spring and summer was that A&M is going to have a nasty pass rush playing at Kyle Field, and Notre Dame's weakness is the offensive line. We thought A&M was going to feast. The offensive line was not a weakness for them, and it slowly became a strength. Then, they have injuries. It still gets them to the championship game. Next man up goes from the cliché to the way your team is built. If you get there, that is the key to sustainability. Every guy prepares like he is a starter and is capable of playing. Every guy from the neck up is brainwashed and required to not care about being a third stringer in Week 1. The best ones have that.
   
• Notable in the personnel world was when Chad Bowden left them to join USC. He was their general manager. In the player personnel portal world, there was talk about what the secret sauce at Notre Dame was. Is it Marcus Freeman? Was it what Bowden was doing? I think to myself that if that existed with the offensive line, I don't think that exists strictly in the offensive line room. I think that permeated throughout the team. If that's the case, then they are on the precipice of being a program you can insert into the conversation blindly. We've done that with Georgia. Georgia has a litany of questions, and it is still a favorite because they have earned the benefit of the doubt.
   
• I think with Notre Dame, I am excited to see them by midseason. That's when you start to realize what teams have the ceiling.
   
• Most of the league has a question. It isn't just the ones starting new guys. At the very next breath, you owe it to the audience to say that Ole Miss is as high on Austin Simmons as anyone can be on a new player. An SEC defensive coordinator and I were talking, and one of the first names out of his mouth was Jackson Arnold. He said that dude is going to be good.
   
• I think places like South Carolina, where they returned the quarterback, and they didn't do anything in the portal at wide receiver. I think they are below average there. DJ Lagway is healthy. Garrett Nussmeier has the run and pass splits were so lopsided. If they can't run the ball, I don't know if he can just take over. I think the one who can take the leap is John Mateer at Oklahoma. He comes into a good situation with an underrated roster. We didn't mention Alabama or Georgia.
   
• The tailback out of UL Monroe is going to be a really good player. The big question there is that Beau Pribula was supposed to be the guy at Penn State, but Drew Allar is still there, so Pribula transfers. A quarterback lands in their laps, and they are going to win with him. They are going to be right there in the hunt. It never matters with Eli Drinkwitz.
   
• The exercise was me asking the most powerful coaches in college football. Power means you have to be a winner, you have to command respect, your words have to carry weight, and you have to move the needle as you speak. Out of that group, I put Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, Dabo Swinney, Deion Sanders for different reasons, and then Steve Sarkisian. What's glaringly obvious is that Nick Saban is still the most powerful voice in college football. We are not watching him fade into the sunset. He has his name involved in political matters. It may be that Saban's voice is going nowhere.
   
• Saban's voice is probably the only one that would carry weight in the executive branch, at least the legislative portion. I saw a lawyer comparing that to Donald Trump's involvement. He called out Nick Saban for wanting to change the system, but what he failed to mention is the amount of money that law firms have made from college football being a disaster. They don’t want the change because it's a cash cow.