Ad Disclosure
Speedy Noil: Has he plateued, or was it just a down year for the Texas A&M receiver?
Published:
The 2015 season was certainly one to forget for Texas A&M wide receiver Speedy Noil. The consensus five-star recruit turned in a spectacular freshman season last year, but the 5-foot-11, 192-pound catching machine was bitten by the sophomore jinx this season.
A suspension in the spring coupled with an injury kept Noil on the sidelines for a good portion of the 2015 schedule. It also led to a reduction in production. Noil’s stats were cut by less than half over the 2014 campaign, leading some to question whether Noil has plateued or if it was it just a down year.
Rated the nation’s top athlete coming out of high school in New Orleans, Noil was an Under Armour All-American after rushing and passing for 3,580 yards and 44 touchdowns in 2012.
The redshirt freshman led the Aggies in all-purpose yardage (1,418 yards) in 2014, playing in all 12 games. In addition to punt and kickoff return duties, Noil caught 46 passes for 583 yards and five touchdowns. He became the first player in school history to log a catch of 40-plus yards, return a kickoff 50-plus yards and return a punt 60-plus yards in a single game (vs. Lamar).
He was voted to the 2014 Freshman All-SEC team as a wide receiver and return specialist, and was an AP All-SEC honorable mention selection.
This was supposed to be the year he set the SEC and the nation on fire. In a system built for padding stats and lighting up scoreboards, it seemed like the perfect match.
But off-field problems hampered his development. He was suspended in the spring and then a mysterious muscle injury lingered on. He returned to the lineup, reportedly healthy again, and got suspended for a game. There was certainly no continuity to Noil’s season this year.
The Aggies were supposed to have the top receiving corps in the SEC coming into the 2015 season. Noil’s troubles only exemplified the team’s struggles in the passing game. Texas A&M’s top two quarterbacks played musical chairs midway through the season and neither one proved particularly accurate in throwing the football.
Noil’s numbers were way down, as was the Aggies passing game as a whole. In nine games, Noil caught 21 passes in 2015, which was 25 fewer than he caught the previous year. His 226 receiving yards weren’t even close to half of his 2014 output. And his two touchdowns were also less than half of the times he scored as a redshirt freshman. Even his return yardage was down by close to one-third of what it was last year.
His drop-off contributed to a decline in the Aggies’ passing game. On average this season, Texas A&M threw for 51 fewer yards per game than last year. With one game still to play – the Aggies take on Louisville in the Music City Bowl later this month – the passing game is nearly 1,000 yards behind last year’s totals (3,971 to 3,016).
That leaves a lot of question marks heading into the 2016 season for this highly sought-after talent. An uneventful 2016 season off the field could return Noil to superstar status. But it will take a lot of work both physically and mentally to reach that level again.
His abilities haven’t diminished and the Aggies will need his best effort if they hope to return to the feared offense that head coach Kevin Sumlin has produced in recent years.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
