Texas A&M Football: Final Positional Grades for the Aggies

The Texas A&M football team finished the regular season with a disappointing 7-5 record. There were a number of positional groups that did not perform up to par in 2014. 

The Aggies had a young team in 2014, and their inconsistent play on the field reflected their youth. The defense struggled for much of the year, which led to the dismissal of defensive coordinator Mark Snyder after the LSU game.  

The offense started off like gangbusters, but a quarterback change in the middle of the season and the lack of a true identity hampered it down the stretch. 

These issues kept a very talented team from achieving its potential. This is a ranking of each position group on the Aggies. 

Quarterback

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The Aggies lost starting quarterback Kenny Hill to a suspension midway through the year and replaced him with true freshman Kyle Allen. The quarterback play for the Aggies was good but inconsistent, as should be expected with a transition like that. 

Allen completed 61.1 percent of his passes for 1,028 yards with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. Hill completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 2,649 yards with 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions. 

The Aggies led the SEC in passing yardage with 306.4 yards per game. However, their inconsistent play from the quarterback position kept them from living up to their potential as an offense. 

The Aggies had to suffer some growing pains at the quarterback position in 2014. That should pay dividends for them in 2015. 

Grade: C+

Running Back

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When they were given the opportunity, the Texas A&M running backs did well for the most part. The issue during the 2014 season was that the running backs were severely underutilized. 

Trey Williams led the Aggies with 474 yards rushing and six touchdowns. He averaged an impressive 6.8 yards per carry. The issue was that he only ran the ball 70 times in 11 games. 

Tra Carson was second on the team with 448 yards rushing and five touchdowns. He is a power back and would have been a nice complement to Williams if he was used properly. 

Brandon Williams seemed to be a favorite of the coaches and rushed for 374 yards with three touchdowns. His 4.3 yards-per-carry average was the worst of any running back on the team. 

The Aggies have a group of talented running backs on their roster, but the coaches' refusal to use them properly hurt the production from the position. 

Grade: B-

Wide Receivers

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The Texas A&M football team has one of the most talented groups of wide receivers in the country on its roster. The problem in 2014 was that most of these receivers were very young and their inconsistent play reflected their youth. 

Redshirt freshman Ricky Seals-Jones led the Aggies in receptions with 48 and had four receiving touchdowns to go along with his 444 receiving yards. Josh Reynolds was the Aggies' most explosive receiver. He caught 47 passes for 762 yards and 12 touchdowns. 

Reynolds earned second-team All-SEC honors during his first season of play at A&M. He is the Aggies' best combination of speed, size and route-running ability.

True freshman Speedy Noil caught 44 passes for 559 yards and five touchdowns. He had two spectacular leaping touchdown grabs during his freshman season. He should be a future star in Aggieland.

The receivers only received a "B" because they struggled with the drops during the middle of the season. This should be the strongest position on the team in 2015. 

Grade: B

Tight End

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The tight end position never developed into a weapon in 2014. Part of that was due to questionable play-calling. Part of that was due to senior tight end Cameron Clear never becoming the type of threat in the passing game that Aggie fans expected. 

Senior backup center Ben Compton moved over to tight end after the Alabama game and was an effective blocker from the H-back and tight end position. He had one big reception on the season for six yards on a third down to extend a drive. 

Clear ended the year with five catches for 34 yards. Texas A&M fans will soon get to watch him spend a few years getting paid to play on Sundays. 

The misuse of the talent at this position has been one of the most frustrating aspects of this team for the past two seasons. 

Grade: D

Offensive Line

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The offensive line had a solid year in 2014. There are Aggie fans who think the line played poorly, but they are not looking at the overall picture. 

The predictable play-calling on offense had a negative effect on the offensive line's ability to execute on certain plays. When everyone knows that the Aggies are going to run Tra Carson up the middle on 4th-and-short, it is hard to open up a hole. 

Per cfbstats.com, the offensive line allowed 24 sacks during the regular season. The 2012 Aggie offensive line, who many think was the best in the history of the program, allowed 23 sacks during the regular season. 

It did this while dealing with some significant injuries. Senior left tackle Cedric Ogbuehi was forced to move to right tackle when starting right tackle Germain Ifedi missed a couple games with a leg injury. 

Senior left guard Jarvis Harrison moved outside to left tackle to take Ogbuehi's place. Ogbuehi played at an All-SEC level in 2014. Harrison was out of shape to begin the season, but once he got into shape he was a huge asset at guard and tackle. He should join Ogbuehi in the NFL in 2015. 

Junior center Mike Matthews was as solid as ever. He will compete for all-conference honors in 2015. Right tackle Germain Ifedi struggled at times with speed-rushers but is coming along nicely. He should compete for all-conference honors as a junior and senior. 

Grade: B

Defensive Line

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The Texas A&M defensive line had a solid year. It still struggles at the point of attack, but 2014 was a vast improvement over 2013. 

Junior Alonzo Williams quietly had a good year. He had 57 tackles with 5.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks from his defensive tackle position. 

True freshman defensive end Myles Garrett is the best player on the Aggie football team. He had 50 tackles with 12.5 tackles for loss and shattered the SEC freshman sack record with 11. 

After a very poor 2013, junior defensive end Julien Obioha returned to form on the strong side of the line. He had 45 tackles with five tackles for loss and a sack.

True freshman nose guard Zaycoven Henderson played in 10 games and had 13 total tackles. He will be a solid player for the Aggies going forward.

Grade: B-

Linebackers

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The position most responsible for the Aggies losing five games in 2014 is the linebacker position. The Texas defense was bad in 2014, because more often than not the play from the linebacker unit was atrocious.

The Texas A&M linebackers were blocked out of position or missed tackles far too often. The position improved when the coaches resorted to playing true freshmen, but then injuries made that a shortlived experience.

Starting linebackers Jordan Mastrogiovanni and Justin Bass are simply not SEC-caliber linebackers. The unit will improve in 2015 with the graduation of senior linebackers Donnie Baggs and Bass.

The Aggies' best hope at the position are freshmen Otaro Alaka and Josh Reynolds. Alaka had 26 tackles with two tackles for loss in 11 games. He is arguably the best linebacker on the Aggies' roster.

Shaan Washington is a solid linebacker on the outside. He finished the year with 64 tackles and two sacks. He should compete for All-SEC honors in 2015.

If A.J. Hilliard comes back from his injury, then the Aggies should have four solid linebackers on the roster in 2015.  

Grade: F

Defensive Backs

The Aggie defensive backs were decent in 2014, but they were still beat too often to give them a high grade. There is some definite potential in the secondary in the form of true freshman safety Armani Watts. 

He led the Aggies in interceptions with three to go along with 56 tackles and two tackles for loss. Watts looks like a future NFL player. 

Senior safety Howard Matthews had a solid year. He led the Aggies in tackles with 82. Watts' ability to play the pass allowed Matthews to play near the line of scrimmage, where he excelled. 

Senior cornerback Deshazor Everett struggled at times in coverage, but he played through a major injury at the end of the season. He had 73 tackles from the cornerback position. No one can ever say that Everett did not give it his all on the field during his four seasons at A&M. 

Grade: C

Special Teams

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Special teams were the least talked about but most improved aspect of the team. Special teams coach Jeff Banks did a tremendous job improving the overall play on all special teams units. 

In the return game, Speedy Noil and Trey Williams were both threats to take it to the house when they touched the ball. Williams had a 70-yard kickoff return, while Noil had a 75-yard return. 

Noil also had a 67-yard punt return and averaged 12.7 yards per return attempt. Place-kicker Josh Lambo made 12 of 14 attempts. 

Drew Kaser was solid at punter with a 44.5-yard average and 19 punts downed inside the opponents' 20-yard line. The Aggies were actually a threat to block kicks in 2014. 

The blocked a field goal and returned it for a touchdown against Auburn. The Aggie special teams were definitely one of their strengths in 2014.  

Grade: A