Texas A&M Football: Why freshman QB Eli Stowers could save the season

The Texas A&M football team isn’t have the year that many expected. While the defense is thriving, the offense can hardly manage to score a touchdown against virtually any Power Five opponent. They’ve struggled enough to make fans hit the panic button by week four.

Look at their games against Colorado and Arkansas, where the Aggie offense only managed to score two touchdowns and a total of 17 points.

There is a very long list of reasons as to why things aren’t working right now, but at the forefront is quarterback play. Granted, Zach Calzada isn’t entirely to blame — the offensive line has been terrible, giving the pro-style passer little time to release the ball. Heck, a three-man Arkansas pass rush was getting to the backfield with ease. That said, Calzada hasn’t been doing himself any favors.

When pressured, he’s been really bad. All three of his interceptions this season came as a result of being hurried in the pocket. None of them have been honest mistakes, with each one reminding us that Calzada cannot thrive without a strong offensive line.

Texas A&M Football freshman QB Eli Stowers could save the Aggies’ season, if Jimbo Fisher is willing

So if Calzada isn’t getting the job done, why not turn to the next guy in line? Unfortunately, Jimbo Fisher may have inadvertently complicated things, sending his normal third-string quarterback to practice and develop with the tight ends, creating a weird situation in the quarterback room.

Fisher isn’t budging either, as he still has freshman QB Eli Stowers practicing with the tight ends. Here’s what CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah said about it.

Eli Stowers was an elite four-star dual-threat in high school so, as mentioned by Jeyarajah, it’s hard to believe that Stowers has been that much worse than expected. This is a kid that was one of your prized recruits last year, who was brought in to play quarterback.

At this point, the only clarity we have is that Stowers will not be the starting quarterback anytime soon. But he should be.

Heck, Stowers could be the worst passer in the SEC and he’d do a better job than Calzada simply by nature of his athleticism. One thing is clear with the current offense — it needs a dual-threat quarterback to thrive. Thrive isn’t even the right word, either — the offense needs a dual-threat quarterback to survive.

It won’t work with Calzada and this offense has given no indication that it can produce with him under center, so why not give the freshman quarterback a shot?

The only chance the Aggies have at some sort of success this season may ride on Fisher’s willingness to step into unknown territory. Calzada has been wildly inaccurate and has no scrambling capabilities. The worst case in throwing Stowers in the game is that you get another bad passer who has enough athleticism to escape pass rushers.

Time will tell, but as things stand, it doesn’t look like Stowers will be getting a shot at quarterback.