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With the exceptions of Josh Reynolds’ 13 touchdown receptions and Myles Garrett’s 11.5 sacks, the 2014 Texas A&M Aggies didn’t have a lot of players putting eye-popping numbers on the stat sheets.
Part of that is the fact that after Johnny Manziel and Mike Evans moved on to the NFL, the Aggies seemed content to spread the wealth. Three different running backs had at least 80 carries while a pair of quarterbacks, Kenny Hill and Kyle Allen, got the ball to a wide variety of receivers.
Defensively, several Aggies put up solid numbers, with Garrett the only one to really standout.
But 2015 has an opportunity to be a breakout year for several players. Allen takes over the quarterback role full-time and will almost surely increase his numbers. He may develop a few favorite targets along the way.
Younger players are stepping into more prominent roles from the start of the season and should begin accumulating stats from the get-go.
Here’s a look at a few Aggies who might surprise folks and jump to the top of statistical categories this season.
Interceptions — Justin Evans
Texas A&M was terrible at forcing turnovers last season and particularly putrid when it came to intercepting passes. You can bet new defensive coordinator John Chavis is making improvement in that area a priority and will coach his defensive backs to be more aggressive going after picks.
Evans, a new strong safety from Gulf Coast Community College in Mississippi, comes in with a nose for the ball. He had five interceptions his first season at the junior college. That equals the total of the entire Aggies defense from 2014.
Armani Watts returns after leading Texas A&M with three picks last year, but of course that means he’s shown up on Aggies game film. Evans has a shot to catch people by surprise, especially early in the season. He could be the one to set the tone for a new era of Texas A&M defense.
All-Purpose Yardage — Speedy Noil
Noil was solid in both the return game and as a receiver last year, but his receiving numbers went down in the second half of the season as Kyle Allen started getting more snaps at quarterback. (Noil also endured a mid-season hamstring injury and came back sooner than expected, but without the same explosiveness for a few games.)
Noil, who caught 46 passes for 583 yards, has had all of spring and preseason camp to get on the same page with Allen. That means he could see his production get back to where it was in the first half of 2014 when he had five games with 50 or more receiving yards, compared to just one such game in his final six of the season.
Where he never dropped off was as a returner, where he had 825 yards combined on kickoffs and punts. Trey Williams and Laquvionte Gonzalez shared in the return duties in 2014, but are both gone.
Tackles — Shaan Washington
Washington likely will come off the bench behind Otaro Alaka, but he’ll get plenty of snaps. And he’s been very productive in terms of making tackles when he’s in the game.
The linebacker, who made 64 stops last year as a sophomore, could benefit greatly from the double teams teams are sure to put on dominating defensive end Myles Garrett. When you add in the fact that defensive linemen Daeshon Hall and Alonzo Williams have also been known to bring havoc to opposing backfields, Washington could find himself roaming the weak side with more freedom than he should.
Washington more than doubled his number of tackles from his freshman to sophomore year, despite playing in two fewer games. Washington was forced to get conservative and chase down tackles well past the line of scrimmage as the Aggies began to struggle last season.
New defensive coordinator John Chavis lets his outside linebackers play more aggressively and that should only help Washington increase his tackle total.
Shane Mettlen is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Texas A&M, Missouri and Alabama.
