Texas A&M Football: These three Aggies are award semifinalists

The Texas A&M football team has had one of the most exciting seasons of college football in a long time. At 6-2, it’s not necessarily the season that Aggie fans were looking for, but it’s been a great ride.

Still, A&M has established itself as one of the hottest teams in the nation.

While some players haven’t had the seasons that many anticipated, a handful of players emerged as the best at their position in the nation. Specifically, there were three Aggie football players who have had particularly great seasons.

These three Texas A&M football players are 2021 award semifinalists

There have been a few memorable moments this year, but one stands above the rest. That moment was Seth Small‘s game-winning field goal against Alabama, which gave A&M their first win against the Tide since Johnny Manziel was in College Station.

Small’s field goal was one of the best moments of the year and his family’s reaction was captured on video. You can see it below.

But beyond this single kick, Small has had knocked down 14 of his 18 field goals and hasn’t missed an extra point all year long. This has him in the running for the Lou Groza Award, as he was listed as a semifinalist on Thursday.

Another player who is an award semifinalist doesn’t have a single outwardly impressive play, but his performances over the course of the 2021 season speak to his sheer football talent. That player is DeMarvin Leal, one of the best defensive linemen in the entire country.

Leal is having a career year, already posting new career-highs in sacks and tackles for loss. His total tackles are projected to break a new career record and he’s bound to force a fumble at some point this year.

On the season, he has 5.5 sacks. Leal has not had a two-game stretch without at least a single sack, posting important consistency for this football team. As a result, he has been named to the Bednarik Award Watch List, given to the best defensive player in college football.

But that’s not the end of it — one more Aggie is a semifinalist for a 2021 award and he should be able to campaign for it throughout the remainder of the season. That player is Jalen Wydermyer, who is a semifinalist for the Mackey Award, given to the nation’s best tight end.

The best part about this is that Wydermyer has actually had somewhat of a disappointing year statistically. He has still had a huge impact on this team, leading Texas A&M in receiving yards, but it’s clear that he hasn’t reached his ceiling yet. Expect his four-touchdown total to take a big jump at the end of the year.

Will any of these Aggies win their awards? We’ll have to wait and see.