Texas A&M Football: 2023 Schedule Preview – Alabama

The 2023 Texas A&M football team will not only be facing a new-look Alabama offense, but a revamped defense as well. After a couple of lackluster years under Pete Golding (now at Ole Miss), Nick Saban brought in experienced coordinator Kevin Steele as the man on the defensive side for this upcoming season. Now, the defense will still principally be Saban’s baby, as has been the case for a while, but Steele will definitely bring a more aggressive flavor, as has been his specialty for some time.

Now, the defense will still principally be Saban’s baby, as has been the case for a while, but Steele will definitely bring a more aggressive flavor, as has been his specialty for some time.

Luckily, this Texas A&M football staff has some familiarity with—and, generally speaking, has had decent success against—Steele’s units in the past. He was at Auburn until Gus Malzahn was shown the door at the end of 2020, at which point he apparently attempted a coup in order to seize the head job. That didn’t work, and the Tigers ended up hiring Bryan Harsin (who only ended up lasting a year and a half), sending Steele out onto the market. He eventually ended up with Miami, whom the Aggies faced off against last year.

Steele’s Auburn units were, generally speaking, pretty stingy. They ranked 6th overall in the 2018 season in defensive SP+ and 5th overall in 2019 before a steep drop to 30th (still a decent mark) in the 2020 season. Those years, this Texas A&M football staff under Jimbo put up 24 points, 20 points, and 31 points respectively against Steele’s squads. Of course, last year, Steele was coordinating the Hurricanes’ defense, which ended up rather lackluster. The offense for this Texas A&M football team, however, was in the midst of an even more lackluster stretch, having made the switch from Haynes King to Max Johnson, and only ended up with 17 points on the night. It was an impressive showing in one sense, given that the entire offense was made up of Ainias Smith and Devon Achane that night.

The talent that Steele will be working with at Alabama far surpasses that which he had at either Auburn or Miami, however. The secondary should be a strength for the Tide this year, with returning stud Kool-Aid McKinstry should start at both CB and PR, and Terrion Arnold—who saw a lot of playing time against A&M in 2022—may have his time to shine at the other corner spot this year. Malachi Moore will be captaining the defense in an Antonio Johnson-type role for the Tide. The safety position is a bit of a question mark, with last year’s starters declaring for the NFL, but Alabama has reloaded well there through recruiting (Former 5-star Caleb Downs is a name to watch).

Alabama will also be breaking in new starters at linebacker—Deontae Lawson seems a safe bet to start, as he saw plenty of playing time last year, but the other LB spot is up for grabs. Likely the biggest name on the Tide defense is Dallas Turner, who shined opposite Will Anderson for the past two years at defensive end, and will now be the premier player off the edge for Saban and Steele. He’s not alone up front; Jaheim Oatis has the size and athleticism to be a supremely disruptive force in the middle of the line, and Justin Eboigbe is returning after an injury derailed last season to provide maturity and leadership among the group. Alabama is characteristically deep and talented along the line in their incoming freshman class as well—though the Aggies for the last two seasons have probably had the edge on that front (double pun not intended).

On that note, let’s take a look at the possible matchups that we’ll see at Kyle when the Tide roll in.