Texas A&M Football: Grading the Aggies Position by Position for 2011

The Texas A&M football team completed their 2011 season with a 33-22 win over Northwestern in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.

The Aggies finished a disappointing season with a 7-6 record. They won their first bowl game in 10 years.

The Aggies found ways to lose games in what will go down as one of the more disappointing seasons ever for the A&M program. The seniors did not provide the leadership needed for the Aggies to have a championship seeded.

The Ags' last season in the Big 12 was a letdown for the coaches, fans and players.

This is a position-by-position look at how the Aggies fared at each position for the 2011 season.

Quarterback: B

Ryan Tannehill had a strong senior season. He passed for a team record 3.744 yards to go along with 29 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Tannehill completed 61.6 percent of his passes in 2011 and finished his career as the most accurate passer in A&M history.

Tannehill did not receive an A-grade because his play in the OU and Texas losses directly led to the Aggies losing the game. Without his turnovers the Aggies have a better chance against OU and would have beaten Texas.

He still played well in every other game. He had a very good senior season and will be drafted in the first two rounds of the 2012 NFL draft.

Running Back: A+

The running back position was beset by injuries in 2011 but was one of the strengths of the team.

Cyrus Gray turned in another 1,000-yard rushing season before ending the year in the Kansas game.

Christine Michael rushed for 899 yards before he tore his ACL against Oklahoma.

Ben Malena filled in after Gray and Michael were injured and grinded out 259 yards and four touchdowns.

It was disappointing to see Gray and Michael go down, but Aggies fans should be encouraged by the tough running they saw from Malena. He only averaged 3.9 yards per carry, but he knows how to finish runs which will bode well for SEC play.

The three Aggies running backs combined for over 2,000 yards rushing on the season. They played well on a consistent basis.

Wide Receiver: B-

The wide receiver position was one of the most frustrating positions to watch in 2011.

The Aggies had three very talented receivers in Ryan Swope, Jeff Fuller and Uzoma Nwachukwu but they had issues with drops and were inconsistent.

Swope had the best season, setting school records for reception and receiving yardage in a season. Swope finished the year with 89 catches for 1,207 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Fuller struggled all year long but turned in 100-yard receiving games against Texas and Northwestern. He finished the year with 70 catches for 828 yards and six touchdowns.

Nwachukwu struggled with drops like Fuller, but had 50 passes for 639 yards and two touchdowns. He will be counted on to step up in 2012.

Malcome Kennedy flashed some potential with 11 catches for 140 yards.

Brandal Jackson and Kenric McNeal struggled with consistency.

The wide receiver group did not perform to expectations in 2011, but they were still good enough to help the Ags average 291 passing yards per game.

Offensive Line: A

The Aggies OL was very strong in 2011 despite multiple injuries.

They started four different combinations on the year, having to replace the guards multiple times.

The offense averaged over 490 yards per game and the offensive line was a huge part of that.

The OL needs to work on performing against the top defenses in the country as they will face those types of defenses every week in 2012 in the SEC. The offense struggled to run the ball against OU and Texas, and they need to improve on their run blocking in 2012.

Overall, you have to be happy with the performance from this group.

Tight End: C+

The tight ends blocked well on the season but were not the receiving threats they should have been.

Nehemiah Hicks only caught 12 passes for 106 yards and had some key drops.

Hutson Prioleau had 14 receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown.

Michael Lamothe had 14 catches for 109 and three touchdowns, and was a great blocker from the H-back position.

The position as a whole had way too many drops.

Defensive Line: A

The Aggies' defensive line was solid against the run all year and generated a good pass rush.

The defense only allowed 2.6 yards per carry for the season.

Tony Jerod-Eddie led the defensive line with 56 total tackles. He had seven tackles for loss and five sacks.

Spencer Nealy had 45 tackles, eight tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks on the year.

Eddie Brown had 29 tackles with four tackles for loss and three sacks.

The defensive line had a very good year overall.

Linebacker: B+

If the grade was just for the outside linebackers, then it would be an A+.

The linebackers got better as the season went on, but the inside linebackers struggled for much of the year.

Jonathan Stewart ended up leading the team with 98 tackles.

Steven Jenkins really came on as the season went on and finished with 61 tackles with three tackles for loss and a sack.

Sean Porter had 79 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks.

Damontre Moore had 72 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks.

The outside linebackers were truly elite. The Ags return their entire linebacker unit for 2012 and it should be a strength of the team.

Secondary: F

The secondary had some major injury issues in 2011, but their performance was still unacceptable.

Coryell Judie missed most of the season and the Aggies were never able to replace him.

Lionel Smith saw a lot of playing time in Judie's stead, but struggled all year in coverage.

Dustin Harris was inconsistent.

Terrence Frederick was solid at corner and was great against the run with nine tackles for loss, four sacks and one interception on the year.

Trent Hunter was second on the team with 80 tackles and had 2.5 sacks. He struggled in coverage all year.

The Aggies secondary was the weakness of the defense.

Special Teams: A

The Aggies struggled in coverage a little on the year and their punting was weak. Randy Bullock was exceptional on the year and won the Lou Groza Award.

Dustin Harris ended the season with an average of 18.6 yards on punt returns and scored two touchdowns.

Ryan Epperson was inconsistent as a punter and will likely be replaced in 2012 by Drew Kaser.

Randy Bullock is the most accurate kicker in school history and he will be missed.

Bullock performed so well in pressure situations that he made the special teams look good as a whole.

Coaching: F

The Ags started the season ranked in the top 10 and ended it out of the rankings at 7-6. That is the reason Mike Sherman was fired.

The bottom line is that Sherman should have made adjustments to prevent this team from losing games. If Sherman had played more conservatively in the third quarter of most games, the Aggies would have won those games.

The fact that Sherman did not simply run the ball against Texas in the third quarter, cost them the game. When you are that far into the season you have to know what your team is, and Sherman did not coach like it. That is why he is no longer the head coach.

The 2011 Aggies greatly underachieved, and in the end that falls at the feet of their head coach.