Texas A&M Football: Grading the Aggies Position by Position Versus Kansas

The Texas A&M Football Team rolled past the Kansas Jayhawks 61-7 at Kyle Field on Saturday.

The Aggies made big plays in all three phases of the game against a clearly overmatched opponent.

The victory improved the Ags record to 6-5 on the season and an even 4-4 in the conference. The Aggies have a short week this week before taking on the University of Texas on Thanksgiving Day.

This is a position-by-position breakdown of how the Aggies performed against Kansas.

Quarterback: A+

Ryan Tannehill completed 21-of-26 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns. He was efficient and accurate.

Tannehill left the game after leading the offense to a touchdown on the first drive of the second half to allow the younger players to get some experience.

Jameill Showers saw playing time for the second straight week. Showers only attempted one pass, which was batted down at the line of scrimmage. He had 24 yards rushing on five attempts.

The game was out of reach at halftime. Mike Sherman did not allow Showers to pass the ball. He simply handed the ball off and tried to get the game over with as quickly as possible.

A solid day from the position. Tannehill threw one ill-advised pass that Ryan Swope made a great play on and scored a touchdown after two KU defensive backs failed to tackle him.

Running Back: A

Cyrus Gray rushed for 94 yards on nine carries and scored three touchdowns before leaving the game early with a bruised shoulder.

Kansas has one of the worst run defenses in the country, and Gray ran the ball at will against them.

Ben Malena had 32 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. He showed a good leg drive.

Will Randolph had his redshirt pulled when it became apparent that the extent of Gray's injury was not yet known. Randolph rushed for 37 yards on 10 carries behind the backup offensive line. He did fumble once and has to do a better job of holding onto the ball.

Randolph need to be features on toss sweeps and runs to the outside. He struggles to run between the tackles.

Wide Receivers: A+

Ryan Swope led the receiving corps with nine catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns. Swope became the second receiver in A&M history to go over 1,000 receiving yards in a season. He also broke his own school record of receptions in a season.

With the nine catches Swope now has 78 receptions on the year.

Malcome Kennedy had three catches for 23 yards and needs to see the field more.

Nate Askew had two receptions for 36 yards including a 27-yard touchdown catch.

Jeff Fuller and Brandal Jackson both had two catches for 33 yards.

A solid day for the receivers against a poor Kansas secondary.

Tight End: A

The Ags did not use their tight ends too much against KU. The game got out of reach quickly so the Aggies shut down their passing game.

Hutson Prioleau and Nehemiah Hicks each had a reception in the game.

The tight ends did a good job blocking in the running game.

Offensive Line: A+

The offensive line did a great job opening holes for the Aggies running game. Once again, the OL did not allow a sack.

The Aggies only gained 469 total yards on the day, but that was because they constantly played with a short field. The offense only faced five third downs all game.

The starting OL was dominant. The second team OL could use some work.

Defensive Line: A

The defensive line did a great job re-establishing the line of scrimmage in the Kansas backfield. They dot a great push up front.

Ben Bass had a tackle for loss.

Gavin Stansbury and Kirby Ennis both had half a tackle for loss.

Kansas was held to 1.2 yards per rush. The defensive line dominated the Kansas OL.

The Jayhawks kept the Baylor game close last week by running the ball and keeping the Bear offense on the sideline. They tried to do that against A&M, but the Aggie DL would not cooperate.

Linebackers: A+

As a unit, the linebackers may have played their best game of the season.

Steven Jenkins had a very good day with eight tackles and a tackle for loss.

Damontre Moore lived in the Kansas backfield and had eight tackles and two sacks. He forced two fumbles and recovered a fumble.

Sean Porter had five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.

Freshman Brandon Alexander saw his first action at OLB since he dislocated his elbow against Texas tech. Alexander led the team with 10 tackles. He had half a tackle for loss. He did all of this while only playing second half.

Jonathan Stewart had three tackles and a tackle for loss.

Just a great day from this unit.

Defensive Backs: B+

The secondary was good but still gave up too many completions on 3rd-and-long.

Junior safety Steven Terrell had his best game as an Aggie with eight tackles, a tackle for loss and an interception which he returned for 42 yards. The interception and return set up the offense with a short field which they converted into a touchdown.

Terrence Frederick had seven tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass broken up.

Dustin Harris made a great play on the ball to break up a pass in the end zone.

Howard Matthews had a tackle for loss.

Trent Hunter was solid against the run but did drop an interception that hit him in the hands.

A good day but still lots of room for improvement.

Special Teams: A+

The special teams were finally special.

Randy Bullock was his usual dependable self with a 28-yard field goal in his only attempt and five touchbacks on kickoffs.

The story of the game on special teams was Dustin Harris. The junior punt returner totaled 162 yards on three returns including a 72-yard return for a touchdown.

Harris's returns gave the Aggie offense a short field, and they converted into touchdowns every time. Harris has always had game-breaking ability. It was nice to see him put it together on the field.

Coaching: A+

Mike Sherman and the staff had the Aggies ready to play hard from the get go. The Aggies entered the game on a three-game losing streak but were business like in putting the game out of reach early.

Sherman went for the throat and kept the pressure on throughout the first half.

Once Tim Deruyter figured out that Kansas QB Jordan Webb was not going to hurt us with his feet, he blitzed appropriately and harassed the Kansas QB all game long.

The Aggies defense tallied five sacks and 18 tackles for loss on the day.

The coaches had the team ready to go, and they went out and got a feel good win.