Texas A&M Football: Projecting the offensive line depth chart

Replacing Elumanor and Ifedi

Whomever is playing quarterback, it will be important to protect them from blitzing linebackers and defensive ends that love to punish opposing passers. The prototypical tackle is someone who has long arms and legs, height and moves quicker than a guard. Since they have to protect against freaks of nature at defensive end, they must be fast, have great hands, and be strong enough to prevent the defender from bull rushing them into the quarterback’s lap.

This year, the Aggies have a few players that could fit this mold. Koda Martin (6-foot-6, 310 pounds) and Keaton Sutherland (6-foot-5, 305 pounds) are my two picks to play the tackle slots. Sutherland is a junior, and Martin is entering his redshirt junior year. These two players bring experience (extremely important on the line), and size.

Martin has played in 21 games over two years, and started four in 2016. Sutherland has played in 20 games while starting 11 of those. That’s an incredible amount of experience needed to see what defenses are going to try and do to stop the Aggie offense.

Backing them up should be newer faces Kellen Diesch, a redshirt freshman, and Christian Diamler, a transfer from Oklahoma. Diesch should see some time on the field in rotations, as well as depth if any of the starters get banged up. The depth is there, as well as the top end talent, for the tackles to be a bright spot in the Aggie offense.