Texas A&M Football: 5 overreactions from win over Ole Miss

4. Youth in the secondary is coming around

Texas A&M has seen a record number of true freshman see meaningful playing time this season. That’s been especially true of the secondary where JUCO transfer Antonio Howard and senior Priest Willis have been pushed aside to make way for the youth movement. The loss of Donovan Wilson in the Aggies’ opening game has left even more room in the defensive back field for newcomers to make a name for themselves.

Derrick Tucker was the star on Saturday. He led the way with a pick six, a forced fumble, a team high 14 tackles, two pass break ups and a tackle for a loss. Also seeing meaningful time were Keldrick Carper, Charles Oliver, Deboine Renfro and Larry Pryor.

Playing so many young guys in the secondary is not what any coach wants, and they’ve been burned on several occasions, but this is a fantastic sign of things to come. Next season the Aggies will have talent with meaningful experience at every position in the secondary. Losing Armani Watts is going to be a challenge, but the growth of players like Myles Jones and Tucker from the beginning of the season now leaves plenty of reasons to be hopeful for the future.