Texas A&M badly needs the injury status of several players to change course for Alabama

Texas A&M was without many of their top players last weekend against The Citadel, which was a move many saw coming given the quality of opponent. The Aggies were obviously able to emerge with a dominant win over the FCS squad, blanking the Bulldogs 41-0 en route to their fourth victory of the year.

Things are a little bit different with this weekend's opponent, obviously. The Aggies are traveling to Tuscaloosa to take on the Crimson Tide, and with an opponent like that on the docket, Texas A&M badly needs to make sure they're as healthy as possible.

Unfortunately, it does not exactly look like a given that the players who rested against The Citadel will be back and ready to roll against the Tide. Both the Wednesday and Thursday night updates to the Student-Athlete Availability Report do not bode well for the Aggies— and some things will need to change up quick if the Ags are going to have a shot against Bama.

Texas A&M needs a lot of injury trends to flip if they want to topple the Tide

Here is the latest update on the injury report for the Aggies and the Crimson Tide:

A&M is obviously going to be missing Terry Bussey and Blake Ivy, both of whom are out for the season, and apparently Kelshaun Johnson as well. It's that "questionable" column where the biggest issues lie, however.

All five of the players listed there— WR Mario Craver, DT DJ Hicks, DE Anto Saka, LB Daymion Sanford, and OL Trovon Baugh— have been starters for the Aggies this year. That's nearly one quarter of your starting lineup on offense and defense— it's even more when you count the fact that Bussey and Ivy have also started games for the Ags.

Craver in particular will be a guy that the Aggies need in a big way here. He definitely needed a rest week against The Citadel; he was clearly not himself at all against Missouri, which costed the Aggies greatly. He's been dealing with an issue that he looked to have sustained against Kentucky and worsened against LSU: if he's unable to go, it will be a big problem.

Hicks, Saka, and Sanford are all key parts of this defensive front, a unit that the Aggies badly need to step up coming into this game. Alabama has allowed a lot of sacks this year, and A&M needs to put pressure on Keelon Russell to contain this very explosive Crimson Tide offense— despite the public sentiment in Tuscaloosa surrounding Ryan Grubb, this is a squad that can definitely break a big play at any given moment.

Trovon Baugh has had an up and down year so far, and Sam Roseborough looked good in his stead against The Citadel. Of course, this is an entirely different challenge in Tuscaloosa, and Baugh brings a lot of SEC starting experience to this game— he started for South Carolina against the Tide in T-Town a few years back, too. The Aggies need as deep of an OL as possible, so getting Baugh back healthy would help them out a lot.

On the flipside, Ryan Coleman-Williams will miss this game against the Aggies, one of Alabama's most explosive receivers. Zabien Brown, maybe the Tide's best corner, is also listed as questionable, which could help A&M as well.

Injuries are just a part of the game, but the Aggies are going to need quite a bit of help here if they are to win. Hopefully, we see most of these guys moved to "probable" in tonight's update, which is scheduled to come out just after 7 PM CT.

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