It took the USC bowl game last year for fans to say that something needed to change defensively.
Sure, Marcel Reed was raw in his freshman season and needed to work on his passing, but it's not his fault when the Aggies missed some easy tackles at times. The Aggies' defensive coordinator, Jay Bateman, didn't mince words when talking about what his defense was lacking in 2024.
Bateman made it pretty clear that he wanted to emphasize more communication within the defense. With some new faces but a mostly familiar group, this should be an easy fix, but it's nice to see that Bateman is highlighting what needs to be done.
Bateman says the Aggies' defense is working on communicating better
"(The defense) have played together for a year now. I think the communication is better, which obviously was a critical problem at the end of last year that I think we've addressed."Texas A&M DC Jay Bateman
This tells us a lot about what Bateman's real thoughts were. He says that something like communication was obviously on his mind a lot this offseason. The last straw was the USC game, where the Aggies should've had a win, but defensive lapses stopped the Aggies from getting what was a sure victory to end their season.
Texas A&M fans knew that something was wrong in all phases defensively. Reed played about as good as he could've in the USC game, but their defense should've been able to hold, and instead, they folded.
The LB tandem of Scooby Williams and Taurean York is one of the best in the country, and adding Tyler Onyedim in a group of familiar faces to the defensive line is something that we all want to see.
Communication is a huge part of playing football. In all the plays we see, the quarterback is yelling at who's playing the 'Mike' linebacker, the linebackers are shouting and rerouting the coverage, and the fact that we see the defensive coordinator emphasizing something as fundamental as better communication is a step in the right direction.