Texas A&M football 50 in 50: Will the offensive line improve?

Texas A&M football is 47 days away, and in the days leading up to the Aggie opener we’re answering the 50 biggest questions for the 2018 season.

Jimbo Fisher decided to keep offensive line coach Jim Turner on his staff as one of the few holdovers from the Kevin Sumlin staff. Turner had built a reputation in two different stints with Texas A&M football, one that clearly impressed Fisher.

There’s a good reason for that. Turner started his Aggie career with Mike Sherman and turned Texas A&M into a hot bed for NFL offensive linemen. Specifically, the Aggies had four guys taken in the first round of the NFL Draft in four consecutive drafts.

He and Sherman found and developed these guys, and it’s why Sumlin brought him back. The A&M offensive line has been in disarray since the guys Turner coached all moved on.

Specifically, A&M allowed 29 sacks last season, which was No. 75 in the country, and averaged only 155.6 yards per game on the ground,  No. 78 in the nation. Neither number is going to get it done in the SEC West.

The good news is, A&M is returning and will likely start five guys who saw the field last year. The main loss was the transfer of Koda Martin, but he struggled in pass protection and his spot in the lineup was not guaranteed anyways.

Dan Moore, Carson Green and Keaton Sutherland will all compete for the two starting tackle spots, with an outside chance that Kellen Diesch could find his way into the mix.

Erik McCoy is solidified as the starting center and has been far from the problem in recent years. He has started every game of his Aggie career and was placed on the Rimington Award Watch. This trophy is given to the nation’s top center every year.

Connor Lanfear is definitely going to be one of the starting guards, with the other to be one of either Colton Prater or Sutherland. Sutherland started games at both right tackle and left guard last season, and actually looked better inside.

Each of these guys will benefit from the extra year with Turner, but also the change in offensive scheme could turn out to be a positive for this unit. Going from a spread offense to a power run game with zone blocking will only work if the personnel is right, but the hog mollies will enjoy this switch. Run blocking is just way more fun.

Next: Nick Starkel or Kellen Mond at quarterback?

From an expected developmental level, you should see improvement from college players year to year anyway, but another year with Turner plus the offensive scheme change could make for a drastic improvement from 2017.

Jeff Shull is the Site Expert for the Gig Em Gazette on FanSided. Follow him on Twitter, and be sure to follow the Gig Em Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.