Texas A&M football: 5 players not getting the respect they deserve

DT Daylon Mack

The fact that Mack has not appeared on any preseason All-SEC teams or any awards watch lists isn’t unforgivable. Up to this point in his career, Mack has not lived up to the hype of being a top 15 nationally ranked player coming out of high school. He only has two career starts under his belt, one of which came in the 2017 Belk Bowl loss where A&M gave up 51 points.

Mack might not even start the season opener.

However, he has rededicated himself and is out to prove why he was so highly recruited. Thanks to new strength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt, whose résumé is about as good as they come, Mack has lost three percent body fat and gained seven pounds of muscle.

He also admits maturity played a part of his development, or lack thereof.

“I think the first year, I was pretty successful as a freshman. And then the next two years, I think there was a step I needed to take as a football player and I didn’t take it.”

Mack is fighting stiff competition from Justin Madubuike and Jayden Peevy for reps at defensive tackle. They will be in a rotation, but Mack is in his final season and likely has had aspirations of playing the NFL for some time now. He has extra motivation to get on the radar of NFL scouts and get drafted in 2019.