Potential Position Battles for Texas A&M after Spring Practice
Who will start on the offensive line for Texas A&M football?
Anyone who watched Texas A&M football last year would know that the offensive line was rough for the Aggies. This is partially due to it being Steve Addazio’s first year, as well as losing the group’s leader, Kenyon Green, in the first round of the draft the year before. The group also has struggled with injuries, but after spring practice and a year of recruiting, we could potentially see a new line up on the field.
Texas A&M was spread very thin last year, with a multitude of injuries that hurt the offensive lineman’s efficiency. The projected unit has never started a real game together, and when they were on the field, they were particularly poor with pass blocking, where they ranked 113, and pass blocking efficiency, where they ranked 121. They also ranked at 70 for sacks allowed per game.
Despite this, the line did show some good signs, particularly from the then freshmen Kam Dewberry, who made his debut about half way through the season and never looked back. Dewberry looked great last year and with another offseason under his belt, could come out stronger than ever.
There are some newcomers for Texas A&M football, however, that could make a splash if the numbers start to look similar as they did last year. Despite their small class, the Aggies hit the offensive line position hard in the 2023 cycle, bringing in 4 stars Chase Bisontis, TJ Shanahan, and Colton Thommason. Bisontis was the first ranked interior linemen in the cycle and 46th overall. Shanahan was the number 8th ranked interior linemen, and 160th overall, and Thomasson was the 25th ranked offensive tackle, and 403rd overall.
Jimbo Fisher also brought in a few transfers to solidify the line. Interior linemen Finn Dirstine was brought in from Boston college as a veteran presence. Dirstine was a recruit in the 2018 cycle, and has played 14 games over his 4 years at Boston College. Derek Ferraro from the Richmond Spiders, also committed to Texas A&M out of the transfer portal, adding even more depth to the room. Ferraro was enrolled at Rice in 2018, then transferred to Richmond in 2022, where he played in 9 games for the Spiders.
The Aggies are now set to have much more depth coming into the 2023 season, with the only departure being PJ Williams from the 2022 class. This gives offensive line coach Steve Addazio much more room to experiment and find a group that gels together for a successful season.
My predictions: LT Chase Bisontis, LG Kam Dewberry, C Bryce Foster, RG Layden Robinson, and RT Reuben Fatheree