247 Sports’ Josh Pate sees Texas A&M as the ‘most interesting team in the country’ for 2023
Texas A&M’s spring football season came to an end excitingly last Saturday night, as the Maroon and White Spring Game ended as the White team, led by senior quarterback Max Johnson defeated the Maroon team, led by sophomore signal caller Conner Weigman 33-19.
In what was a riveting four quarters of back-and-forth play, both quarterbacks showed off their skill sets, while the defense looked more mature and even more explosive, especially on the defensive line.
Though the results are based on a yearly exhibition matchup that only means so much going forward, 247Sport’s Josh Pate recently reviewed several spring games that provide the most intrigue ahead of the 2023 season, and Texas A&M topped his list.
Josh Pate’s opinion on the SEC has always been that fact-based opinion, and though the Aggies have become a constant target to ridicule after their 5-7 2022 season coupled with the 30 players lost to the transfer portal, Pate will be watching the Maroon and White very closely next season.
“They had far more to like in this one than the one last year,” he said. “You remember the spring game last year? 98-percent of you say, ‘No. not really.’ It was very windy. And Jimbo just threw the ball anyway…I took that to mean, ‘Oh man, they’re going to air it out this fall.’ And then the offense just was what it always had been. “There was positives and negatives, but my feel for the team is I feel a little bit better than I did this time last year.”
Newly minted offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino had his hands all over both teams’ gameplan, as Johnson and Weigman aired it out as much as possible, which included some solid blocking from the revamped offensive line.
“They had 77 pass plays between Weigman and Max Johnson,” Pate stated. “A ton of starters missing, so we’re not going to draw definitives off this game, but they lost (Devon) Achane at running back and yet, in the aggregate, they’re going to more than make up for it.
In the backfield, next season might just be heading toward a running back by committee approach, though freshman back Reuben Owens looks to have a slight edge after his impressive debut. Oh, and start wide receiver Evan Stewart put on quite the show to lead both teams in receiving yards on the afternoon.
“Rueben Owens is there, Le’Veon Moss, Amari Daniels, they’re going to be I think plenty good enough in the tailback room…Evan Stewart at wide receiver – seven catches, 97 yards…he’s the real deal.”
Lastly, Pate, like many other outsiders not plugged into the Aggie ecosphere on a 24/7 basis, he believes that a quarterback battle is in the works, no matter how realistic it becomes once fall approaches.
“But what we do have is a quarterback competition – again,” he said. “Not a bad thing. But we’ve got one again. Conner Weigman was 17-for-40 [Saturday]. Max Johnson 21-of-37…got a quarterback competition here.
“It’s not one where I think Jimbo is just trying to sell you on it so he can keep both guys,” he added. “No, I really think it’s a dead heat out there.”
Josh Pate may not be completely behind Texas A&M to make a 360-degree turnaround next season, he at least believes that they’ll be worth watching, and much more exciting compared to the disaster that was the 2022 slugfest.
“I said this about Texas last year [and] I’ll say it about A&M this year – probably the most interesting team in the country,”
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty
More Football!
Texas A&M makes 2024 4-star linebacker Brayden Platt's Top 8 program list
Former Boston College CB Josh DeBerry has committed to Texas A&M
Texas A&M CB Bobby Taylor has entered the transfer portal
[mm-video type=playlist id=01fvdd4pnb49trk727 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=
