Coming off of their 31-0 home victory over the Sam Houston State Bearkats last Saturday, Texas A&M is just a couple of days away from their week 2 showdown against the Appalachian State Mountaineers, meeting up on the gridiron for the first time in the history of each program.
Leading up to the matchup which is set to kick off this Saturday at 2:30 PM Central at Kyle Field, Aggies Wire will continue to provide every bit of information needed to prepare you for the game, while hopefully answering any lingering questions you may have in the process.
The Aggies are entering their week 2 matchup ranked in the top 10 in both the AP (6th) and moving up one spot to 6th in the USA Today Sports AFCA football coaches poll, looking to continue their dominant ways on defense, and add to what was their most explosive offensive outing in quite some time on offense.
As confident as I am after their season-opening performance, there were definitely moments of concern that left me questioning how much the Aggies can improve before Saturday against a mountaineers offense that scored 61 points in an opening loss vs. North Carolina. With that, here are a couple of my areas of concern for Texas A&M going into the weekend:
The Tackles vs. Outside linebacker Nick Hampton
The Aggie’s starting left tackle, redshirt freshman Trey Zuhn, and starting right tackle, sophomore Reuben Fatheree might have their hands full against mountaineers outside linebacker Nick Hampton, who is most noted for his pass rush ability after posting a stat line of 68 tackles, 11 sacks, and 17.5 tackles for loss last season, and leading the team to start the year with 2.5 sacks against North Carolina. As Reuben Fatheree enters the game with more experience and success in containing notable pass rushers, including Alabama’s game-wrecking linebacker Will Anderson last season, Trey Zuhn is only one full game into his first year starting role at left tackle and will need to stay vigilant throughout the game in order to avoid being caught off guard early.
Haynes King escaping the pocket
Aggies starting quarterback Haynes King is truly one of the fastest athletes on the roster, and that’s including track star and starting running back Devon Achane. However, as we near the anniversary of his season-ending injury in week 2 against Colorado in the 2021 season, some level of caution needs to be taken when King escapes the pocket or takes on defenders during designed quarterback runs. As the Mountaineer’s defense is sure to come into the game ready to prove that allowing 63 points to North Carolina was just a fluke, they’d like nothing more than to deter King in the running game as much as possible, while taking on multiple defenders head on poses a lot of potential injury risks. Best option? slide, slide, and slide some more!
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