When Michael Earley got the news that his stumping for the Texas A&M baseball job had paid off and that he would be named the new coach in College Station, I'm not sure if he envisioned quite this level of hype coming into the year.
The Aggies are well-decorated in the preseason awards— they are, by far, the most highly-anticipated team in the nation. As college baseball fans wait to see squads across the country take the diamond, the Aggies are the name that everyone is watching.
It's for good reason, as well. The Ags return nearly the entirety of an insanely loaded roster, and the preseason accolades have reflected the considerable level of MLB talent that Earley's team will be fielding.
Olsen Field will be packed for every single game, as the fans— denied a championship last year— cheer on the Aggies to victory. I'm not sure we'll see anything close in all of college baseball to the fan support that A&M will garner this season.
So how will the Aggies respond?
Texas A&M baseball must manage weight of expectation in Earley's first season
Last year, they were gunning to take down some big names, with a talented yet overlooked squad in the deepest conference in the nation. This year, they have been picked to win that conference, with a slew of projected all-SEC selections by the media.
There's plenty of reason for this Aggie squad to still feel like the hunter rather than the hunted, of course. They were not the team to dogpile at Omaha, as all A&M fans remember so painfully, and they were abandoned by their joke of a coach not long afterwards.
With such anticipation falling on the Aggies' shoulders, though, can Mike Earley effectively get this team to shut out the noise? As a first-time coach, that's one heck of an ask.
But this is one heck of a team.
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