Texas A&M Football: 3 players to watch in Southwest Classic vs. Arkansas

The Texas A&M Football team is staring down the barrel of one of the toughest challengers they’ll face all season long. Those challengers are also known as the Arkansas Razorbacks, a squad of players who had little-to-no expectation of success in 2021.

The Hogs, however, didn’t care. They’ve gotten off to a 3-0 start on the back of one of the best rushing attacks in the nation. The team has accumulated 266 rushing yards per contest and reached the endzone on the ground 11 times already this year.

A&M has a strong defense, but the Razorbacks will be giving them all that they can handle.

Who will be the impact players in this game? Prior to kickoff, I’ll be giving you three players to watch in this year’s Southwest Classic. Specifically, I’ll be listing two Aggie players and one Arkansas player.

Player No. 1: Texas A&M Football QB Zach Calzada

I hate to just choose the quarterback on an article like this. Still, Calzada’s impact on this game cannot be understated.

Against Colorado, he had an excuse for his poor performance — he likely wasn’t even expecting to see the field unless the Aggies blew out the Buffaloes. Even so, he saved the day with a huge game-winning touchdown drive in the fourth quarter that saw him toss the game winner to Isaiah Spiller.

Thus far, his performances have translated directly to how the Aggies play. He had a bad game with a strong finish and Texas A&M barely snuck out of Boulder with a win. Against New Mexico, Calzada had a solid game with three touchdowns and one interception, but didn’t drop any jaws in College Station. The Aggies did the same, taking care of business without running up the score.

Expect Calzada’s performance to be a good indicator for how the Aggies’ first ranked matchup of the season goes. Jimbo Fisher needs a good game out of his starting quarterback.