Texas A&M Football 50 in 50: More Aggies make award watch lists

Texas A&M football is 35 days away, and in the days leading up to the Aggie opener we’re answering the 50 biggest questions for the 2018 season.

There is a lot of untapped potential on the 2018 Texas A&M football team, and the athletic department is betting a lot of money that new head coach Jimbo Fisher can turn that into results on the field.

The Aggies are loaded with sophomore and junior level talent that saw the field a year ago. A fact the makers of the 2018 College Football Award watch lists clearly understand.

We already told you about some players who had been placed on some lists, and they are as follows:

• Maxwell Award (Offensive Player of the Year): Trayveon Williams
• Doak Walker Award (Top running back): Williams
• Bednarik Award (Defensive Player of the Year: Tyrel Dodson, Kingsley Keke
• Rimington Trophy (Best Center): Erik McCoy
• Maxwell Award (Top tight end): Jace Sternberger

More awards have released their watch lists this week, and the Aggies are represented on most.

For those who don’t have The Twitter or can’t see those tweets, here are the Aggies who appeared on lists this week:

• Butkus Award (Top linebacker): Otaro Alaka
• Nagurski Trophy (Best defensive player): Tyrel Dodson, Landis Durham
• Lou Groza Award (Top placekicker): Daniel LaCamera
• Wuerffel Trophy (Community service): Riley Garner

One thing that’s interesting is the fact that Dodson is on both the Nagurski Trophy and Bednarik Award watch list, both given to basically the best defensive player in the country, but he does not find himself on the Butkus watch list, given to the best linebacker.

Dodson played linebacker in 2017. Do the Butkus people believe Dodson will make a position change in 2018? It’s quite possible. Mike Elko’s “rover” position is a hybrid linebacker/defensive back position, and Dodson is the premier candidate to assume that role. He will still be playing mostly linebacker in this role, though, so his exclusion from the Butkus watch list is nonetheless confusing.

The people making these lists clearly believe A&M has a talented roster entering the 2018 season. Hopefully Jimbo Fisher harnesses that talent and competes in his first year.

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.