Texas A&M Football: Three Starters Enter Transfer Portal

Texas A&M Football Has Three Starters Test the Waters of the Transfer Portal

The first few portal entries for Texas A&M football were somewhat expected—though in the case of Nolen, less so by the fanbase and more so by those closer to the program. However, while still explicable, three of the announcements from yesterday were by no means good attrition for the Aggie program, assuming each does indeed end up departing College Station.

DE Fadil Diggs
This one was a bit of a shock. Diggs started both this year and last and was very productive. Recruited by Elko and Robinson, I certainly thought that Diggs would be much more a candidate to stick around since his original DC was now the head coach. He also tweeted a positive reaction to the Elko news, so that originally seemed to me to be further confirmation that he was going to stay.

I’d attribute this one to the loss of coach Robinson more than anything else—Diggs is from New Jersey, an area with which Robinson has much familiarity. Diggs has played very well over the last two years, so being able to get him back out of the portal would be a huge win for Elko.

OL Chase Bisontis
While Diggs’s announcement was a surprise, this one was less so. Texas A&M football fans had been anticipating this announcement ever since it became clear that Steve Addazio would not be retained, as his relationship with Bisontis was the prime mover in getting Chase to Aggieland.

Bisontis started every game this year for the Aggies, and while he flashed plenty of upside, he also struggled a bit. The return of Rueben Fatheree from injury will mitigate this blow a bit—he’s much more of a true tackle than Bisontis anyway, who projects best at guard—but the Aggies will definitely need to reach into the portal for reinforcements at the tackle position.

CB Tyreek Chappell
Chappell has played three years in the Aggie secondary, starting at one point or another in all three. He took Brian George’s spot in the latter half of 2021 and has locked down that starting corner position ever since (when healthy, of course).

This leaves an already-thin defensive back room for the Aggies even thinner. Those scholarship players who remain at the current moment are senior Josh DeBerry, junior Tony Grimes (currently injured), junior Deuce Harmon, freshman Jayvon Thomas, redshirt freshman Sam McCall, and freshman Bravion Rogers. If all goes well in this final stretch for the incoming class, the Aggies will be bringing in at least one shutdown corner in Terry Bussey, however.

Interestingly, out of the eleven Texas A&M football players that have entered the portal, only one of them (Remington Strickland) went to high school in the state of Texas. I’m not sure if there is any enduring significance to that, but it is definitely something to note. In fact, all of the three names on this list are from the northeast—Chappell from Philly and the other two from New Jersey. Since now-departed DL coach Elijah Robinson was the primary recruiter for that area of the country due to his connections up there, this again adds up.

Texas A&M Football DB Twitter Hacked, Fake Portal Announcement Made

A Texas A&M football player claims on his Twitter that he is entering the transfer portal. Expected, right? Not so fast, my friend.