Can John Chavis solve Texas A&M’s takeaway problem?

Texas A&M looks to improve on Kevin Sumlin’s worst season with the Aggies, 8-5 and 3-5 in the SEC, knowing one area that must improve is the ability to force turnovers.

The Aggies were minus-7 in turnover margin, tied for 105th in FBS, thanks mostly to an inability to get takeaways. Texas A&M’s opponents turned the ball over just 13 times in 2015. Worse still, the Aggies intercepted just five passes in 13 games last season. That’s bad.

One thing that should help is the addition of John Chavis as defensive coordinator. Chavis’ defenses at LSU, where he coached from 2009-14, were known for a lot of things, including forcing turnovers. Chavis’ squads averaged 25.3 takeaways per season and never forced fewer than 18 in a year.

Better still are the interception totals. Again, Texas A&M picked off just five passes in 2014, tied for 119th in the country. At LSU, Chavis never had a team finish with fewer than 10 interceptions and from 2010 to 2012 the Tigers had at least 18 picks each season.

But the coordinator can only do so much before it comes down to personnel. The good news for Chavis is two Aggies responsible for four of the team’s five interceptions last season are back. That includes safety Armani Watts, who had three. Texas A&M also adds junior college safety Justin Evans, who had five as a freshman at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. He also forced two fumbles that season and had another pick as a sophomore.

Returning cornerback De’Vante Harris had just one interception as a junior, but did recover a pair of fumbles. Then there’s sophomore Myles Garrett, who had an astounding 11.5 sacks as a freshman, but didn’t force or recover a fumble, leaving at least one area for Chavis and his staff to work on.

Beyond just Garrett, the pass rush should improve across the line as Texas A&M features some good overall depth there, which should help pressure quarterbacks into more mistakes.

Forcing turnovers serves as a huge benefit to the Aggies’ fast-paced offense, which can thrive if opposing defenses are spending extra time on the field. But while Texas A&M clearly has some talented young players on defense, it might take time for Chavis to really change the culture into one that values takeaways.

But perhaps 2014 was an aberration. The Aggies had 22 takeaways in 2013, including 17 interceptions. They also had four interception returns and a fumble recovery for touchdowns. Scoring points that way would certainly take some pressure off sophomore quarterback Kyle Allen in his first full season as a starter.

Hiring Chavis was a big step toward fixing what went wrong last season, but only time will tell if he can do enough in the first year to get the Aggies back on the plus side of turnover margin.

Shane Mettlen

Shane Mettlen is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Texas A&M, Missouri and Alabama.