Texas A&M is now halfway through their season, believe it or not, and things are about as bad as they've been in quite some time. The offense has fallen off of a cliff compared to expectations, so it would be easy to just give the whole thing a failing grade— but a close look actually shows there are things that can be built on here. Let's dive in and grade the unit position by position.
Grading Texas A&M's offense at midseason: Failing in most areas, but one spark of hope
Quarterback
It's hard to say this is the elephant in the room when it's the only thing people are talking about, but it is definitely the largest issue for a unit that has a bevy of problems. Marcel Reed has not at all shown in game that he has taken the steps that everyone said they saw in practice.
Marcel was never the prototypical NFL passer, but he had found ways to make his skillset work well with what the Aggies were doing. Ever since defenses started focusing on limiting explosives, though, Reed has struggled— and as Elko has said, it appears to be mostly mental at this point.
There has to be some kind of change that happens here. Whether that's personnel or Marcel suddenly reverting to his old self, the Aggies cannot continue like this— it has been an abject failure so far this season. A&M is dead last in the conference in passing success rate, passing explosiveness, EPA/pass, and explosive pass rate.
Grade: F
Offensive Line
There's been a bit of a game of musical chairs going on up front for the Aggies that has impacted some of the results here, but this is a spot overall where A&M has been up and down. There have been flashes of excellence and flashes of incompetence in each game they've played.
The big issue is in pass protection. Marcel has had more than his fair share of struggles through this point in the year, as we all know, but he is not helped by the fact that the interior line, especially, is struggling this hard to keep rushers out of his face.
Run blocking has been better in spots, but they had their season low point against Missouri. There's things to build on here, especially getting a young guy like Lamont Rogers involved (though, again, Mizzou was his nadir so far), but it's not quite what Aggie fans had hoped for.
Grade: C-
Tight End
The departure of Nate Boerkircher hit this offense harder than anyone expected, as TE has not only lacked the production in the pass game, but overall they've lacked in physicality in the run blocking game. Houston Thomas, Richie Anderson, and Micah Riley have had their issues in both of these departments, which is doubly disappointing given that Riley is a captain.
The big catch and run for Kiotti Armstrong against Arkansas has been the position's highlight so far this year, and Aggie fans looking for this team to more heavily involve the youth are excited to see more of him going forward. He's got to improve as a blocker as well, but the potential with his athleticism is clear.
Armstrong notwithstanding, this position group has been far quieter than most fans would want. The most noise they've made, on the whole, has been by failing to do their job— whether dropping passes or whiffing blocks. That's not a good look at all for the room.
Grade: D-
Wide Receivers
Pound for pound, this may be the biggest disappointment on the entire team. Now, it should be said that injuries have heavily impacted this group of players, but even with that factored in, there are some huge issues that remain.
Even apart from the question of actually catching the ball, it's been the blocking that has been embarrassing for this team at the position. There are concepts that the offensive staff draws up that get completely blown up because it's so easy for defenders to defeat the perimeter blocking, further hampering the Aggies' ability to get anything going on offense.
Isaiah Horton looked like he would be a monster for the Aggies, especially in the red zone, through two games, but has had a complete lack of production since then— and that's not just because the QB is struggling to find him. Losing Terry Bussey may turn out to be one of the biggest blows to this team, thanks to his toughness and his explosivity, in a season where they've had quite a few problems.
Grade: F
Runningback
This is the one spot on the offense that has been a positive. Fans wanted to see KJ Edwards start over Rueben Owens, and they got what they wanted, but even Owens has been much better than many anticipated up until this point.
Owens, Edwards, and Baker have shown a level of physicality that has been impressive for the position, and something that A&M was lacking in previous years. It gets overshadowed by the incompetence we've seen in other areas, but it's clear that this is a different level of play.
Jamarion Morrow flashed a bit of his old self against Missouri, as well, and he can definitely be a weapon for this team if he's back at 100%. If we're talking about what A&M can do well on offense, it has to be built around this room— they're far from perfect, but they've been the best part of this unit.
Grade: B+
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