Texas A&M has two top-10 safeties in the SEC, but not the ones you think

The defensive back group for Texas A&M this year is set to be one of their strongest, thanks to returning studs like Marcus Ratcliffe and Dalton Brooks, as well as newcomers like Tawfiq Byard. With the recent emergence in fall camp of true freshman Chance Collins, it’s looking like this group will be talented all the way down.

Ratcliffe in particular was a great find for the Aggies out of the transfer portal in Mike Elko’s first year— he’s ascended to become one of the most effective and respected members of the team, which is shown by his selection as a team captain this year. The same could be said of Dalton Brooks, who has spent his whole career in College Station and is a first-time captain as well.

Colorado transfer Tawfiq Byard is a guy who has a chance to make some major waves as well, showcasing plenty of physicality in the spring game. A recent list released by Pro Football Focus of the highest-graded returning safeties in the conference sees the Aggies well-represented— with a chance to exit the year in even better position.

Safety grades show exactly why Mike Elko’s confidence is so high in key defensive group

The top ten returning safeties in the SEC, according to Pro Football Focus, can be found in the below graphic:

Only Alabama has a more highly-graded pair of safeties than the Aggies do, and the scary thing is that Dalton Brooks isn’t even on this list. By all accounts, he’s ready to take a jump this year, and so it very well could be that the Aggies find themselves with three entries on this list by the end of the season.

Safety play was a key part of Texas A&M’s defensive success last season. The big issue with the Aggies defense was giving up explosive runs— but they were absolutely nails when it came to covering the passing game downfield. They were one of the most elite teams in the conference; they routinely held opponents far beneath their season averages when it comes to yards per pass attempt— only Florida and South Carolina even managed to play an average game against them, by this metric.

Returning both safeties, adding Byard and Collins, and bringing back Dezz Ricks will help the Aggies replicate— or even surpass— that success. Shutting down opposing passing games is more than half the battle when it comes to playing defense in the modern era— though there has been a return of an emphasis on the run game overall, efficiency is still the name of the game, and inhibiting that efficiency through the air stymies the rest of pretty much any offensive strategy.

Under Lyle Hemphill, and with a deeper defensive line, we’ll see how much better the Aggies can get at this position group. They clearly have some of the best talent in the conference at this spot, and they have a chance to rise even higher by the time the 2026 season concludes.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow