Texas A&M football: 5 reasons Aggies fans should feel optimistic about the 2023 season

Texas A&M will unveil a new offense under offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino on Saturday night in its 2023 season opener against New Mexico (7 p.m. ET) at Kyle Field.

Don’t expect the former Arkansas head coach to open up the playbook completely against a Lobos team coming off a 2-10 season, which included an 0-8 record in the Mountain West Conference. The Aggies opened as a whopping 39.5-point favorite, so don’t judge the Petrino Era on Saturday’s performance. The offense will more than likely be as vanilla as he can make it while still coming away with a comfortable victory to get things started.

Nevertheless, here are 5 reasons for Aggies fans to be optimistic about the upcoming season, and Petrino’s thumbprint will be on most of them:

1. The new offense should be dynamic

No, we may not see it on Saturday, but Petrino’s offense should be flashy and fun to watch in 2023. The last time we saw Petrino in the SEC (2011), at a time when defense ruled, he had the top offense in the conference as head coach at Arkansas.

We don’t expect to see too much of his new offense on Saturday. But watch for quarterback Conner Weigman to air it out at the start of the game to open up the New Mexico defense and then look for a heavy dose of the running game. That’s an area that needs much more work (on paper, anyway) than the passing game. But we’ll wait and see what Petrino has up his sleeve for the Lobos.

2. The passing game will be dynamic

In that aforementioned 2011 season at Arkansas, Petrino helped guide Tyler Wilson to a huge season that included an SEC-leading 3,638 yards passing with 24 touchdowns, just 6 interceptions and a 63.2 completion percentage (277 for 438).

Now, Weigman may not reach those heights. Not just yet anyway. But he’s certainly going to be slinging it. That much you can count on if Petrino is indeed in control of the offense. And that would be a departure from head coach Jimbo Fisher’s ball-control, smash-mouth style.

So, we will know soon enough who’s running the show on offense. With Petrino at the helm, look for Weigman to have a breakout season, 1 which will put him in the conversation with the top QBs in the SEC.

3. A wide receiver group as good as any

We don’t know it just yet, but by the end of the season the Aggies will have 1 of the best receiving corps in the SEC. That’s right, this group will become feared around the league. Evan Stewart is a superstar in the making. Moose Muhammad III is uber reliable. And there are no more accolades I could give that aren’t already known about Ainias Smith.

Add to that list Noah Thomas who, according to Fisher, was “our MVP of spring” and you have a wide receiver room that matches up with any.

If Weigman is as good as advertised, this group will have some fun in 2023.

4. A healthy DL is a scary DL

Speaking of breakout seasons, this front 4 for Texas A&M, if it can remain healthy as a unit, looks to be fierce.

Shemar Turner, McKinnley Jackson, Walter Nolen and Fadil Diggs are as formidable a defensive line as there is. Keeping them on the field will be the key. If that happens, watch out. What last season was the worst run defense could flip back to the 2018-20 defenses that were among the best in the league against the run.

5. A top secondary, once again

Last year, the Aggies were tops in the SEC against the pass, giving up just 156.2 yards per game through the air. Returning standouts like cornerback Tyreek Chappell and safety Demani Richardson will see to it that there isn’t a drop off.

Jardin Gilbert also returns at safety and transfer Tony Grimes comes over from North Carolina, where he amassed 97 tackles to go with 19 pass breakups in 3 seasons.

It’s a secondary that will be 2nd-to-none again in 2023.

Glenn Sattell

Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.