Tag: Trey Zuhn III

Texas A&M HC Mike Elko names his captains for the 2024 season

Texas A&M HC Mike Elko has named linebacker Taurean York and left tackle Trey Zuhn as the 2024 season captains.

On Monday afternoon, just five days before Texas A&M’s annual Maroon & White spring game, head coach Mike Elko, along with defensive coordinator Jay Bateman and offensive line coach Adam Cushing, presented the jerseys to the two young men selected as the 2024 captains.

The recipients, sophomore linebacker Taurean York and redshirt sophomore left tackle Trey Zuhn III, were by far the most deserving candidates due to their leadership in the locker room and consistent play on the field in 2023.

York finished second on the team in tackles with 74, including three sacks. At the same time, Zuhn, who has fought through injuries throughout his career as a starter, was the top-graded offensive lineman for the Aggies throughout last season.

Before leaving to become Duke’s head coach after the 2021 season, Mike Elko, who served as the Aggies’ defensive coordinator (2018-2021), helped recruit both players, helping further ease his transition before Texas A&M opens the 2024 season vs. Notre Dame on Aug. 31.

Congratulations to both young men!

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Texas A&M OL Trey Zuhn will officially return for the 2024 season

Texas A&M OL Trey Zuhn III is the fourth Aggie to announce his return in 2024 through NIL partner, Texas United.

Texas A&M’s football roster in the beginning stages of the offseason has already dealt with significant attrition, as more than a dozen players have entered the transfer portal. At the same time, several 2024 commits have either flipped or de-committed this month.

Three veteran players have also declared for the 2024 NFL Draft, including wide receiver Ainias Smith, defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson, offensive lineman Layden Robinson, and standout linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, who will likely be the first of the four to hear his name called.

On Friday, two more vital members of the 2023 roster announced their return for the 2023 season, starting with star running back Le’Veon Moss, followed by starting left tackle Trey Zuhn III, one of the toughest players on the team, bar none. Appearing in all 12 games during the 2023 redshirt sophomore season, Zuhn was consistently one of the highest-rated pass blockers on an otherwise porous offensive line per Pro Football Focus.

Heading into the 2024 campaign, quarterback Conner Weigman will be back in the saddle after his season ended prematurely due to injury, and while the rest of the O-line is finally due to improve under new offensive line coach Adam Cushing, Zuhn’s trustworthy play while protection Weigman’s blindside has to help new head coach Mike Elko sleep better at night.

Including Zuhn and Moss, four Texas A&M starters have announced their returns.

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‘We’re locking in and trying to finish this season off strong.’ Max Johnson, Shemar Turner, and Trey Zuhn look ahead to facing Ole Miss

Max Johnson, Shemar Turner, and Trey Zuhn spoke on A&M’s goal to close out the season strong, starting with Ole Miss on the schedule.

As Texas A&M (5-3, 3-2 SEC) heads into Week 10, the goal moving forward remains the same: close out the season strong. The next obstacle in their path is a familiar foe in the No. 11 Ole Miss Rebels.

The Lane Kiffin-led squad has proven strong on both sides of the ball this season. Ole Miss is scoring at a clip of 38.9 PPG (10th) while holding their opponents to 21.4 PPG (43rd). On top of their hot start this year, the Rebels were the last ones to come out on top in their yearly matchup with the Aggies, surviving a 31-28 affair in College Station.

So yeah, the Aggies don’t need any more motivation as they head into The Vaught this weekend for the highly touted affair. Leaders Max Johnson, Shemar Turner, and Trey Zuhn echoed just the same on Monday afternoon.

In speaking to the media, all three noted that the Rebels pose an ample challenge for the Maroon and White and on both sides of the ball. But after a promising 30-17 win over South Carolina last weekend, each player noted that there is positive momentum brewing in the aftermath. And with that, the Aggies should be equipped to rise to the occasion in facing one of the SEC’s best teams this season.

Below are Max Johnson, Shemar Turner, and Trey Zuhn’s full press conferences from Monday afternoon, as well as notable takeaways from their time at the podium.

Texas A&M Football 2023 Midseason Grades: Offensive Line

Texas A&M’s offensive line midseason report card is in, and it’s an ugly sight to behold as the team comes off a pivotal bye week.

The Aggies Wire team is doing the same with Texas A&M (4-3, 2-2), looking to take a breather and reassess heading into the bye week. Namely, there’s no better time to take a pulse check on how the Aggies have fared through the first half of the season, with a deep dive on each positional group.

Next up, we’re looking at the Aggies offensive line, headlined by Bryce Foster, Layden Robinson, Trey Zuhn III, Chase Bisontis, and Mark Nabou Jr.

Highlights

We’ll be blunt; this section of the breakdown will not be expansive. The Maroon Goons were much more promising early on in the season, and when it comes to run blocking, they’ve been solid. Their 63.2 run-blocking grade, per Pro Football Focus, is decent, and they’re only allowing 2.0 sacks per game (66th) while gaining just 4.1 yards per carry (80th).

The drop-off in run efficiency was to be expected when losing a talent like De’Von Achane, who declared for the NFL Draft. It’s been a carousel of Le’Veon Moss, Amari Daniels, and Rueben Owens in the backfield. But for the most part, run blocking hasn’t been a stumbling block.

Areas of improvement

“Pass protection” should be bolded with an emphatic emergency alarm stamped alongside it when speaking on areas of improvement. This a huge area of weakness that needs to be addressed by the offensive line, and their second-year coach Steve Addazio. Their 47.5 pass-blocking grade, according to PFF, is absolutely atrocious and marks a decrease from their 49.4 grade in 2022.

The caveat there: last season the unit was plagued with injuries across the board. This season, they’re the ones responsible for the biggest injury this season, after Conner Weigman was pressured and suffered a foot injury back against Auburn, which ended up being season-ending.

Fast forward to today, and their porous pass protection has rendered veteran southpaw Max Johnson to that of an average quarterback. In their latest loss to Tennessee, Johnson was pressured on 64.1 percent of his dropbacks, which was the highest pressure rate since PFF started tracking the metric back in 2014. The Maroon Goons officially made history, and not in a good way.

Final grade: F

Without the ability to point toward injuries for their porous play, responsibility has to fall on o-line coach Steve Addazio for the unit’s putrid performance in SEC play. Bad snaps, miscommunication at the line of scrimmage, and Foster literally tripping over himself are illustrative of fundamental issues that must be corrected.

It falls on Addazio to get this unit prepared for Saturday afternoons, otherwise, this season is ready to steer off course toward utter disaster.

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Top 10 highest graded Aggies through Week 6 according to Pro Football Focus

Six weeks into the college football season, these Aggies have graded the highest according to Pro Football Focus.

Before Texas A&M (4-2, 2-1 SEC) heads to Neyland Stadium for a pivotal road matchup against No. 19 Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC), it’s worth checking how the roster has stacked up so far.

While the Maroon and White look to rebound from last week’s loss to No. 11 Alabama, the sky is not falling halfway through the season. Rather, Texas A&M has put together a significant leap regarding offensive and defensive efficiency from a season ago.

That leap resulted from both younger players piecing their skills together on the field, alongside the guidance of the veterans who returned to College Station for the 2023 campaign. There’s been no better example than that of the defense, where junior linebacker Edgerrin Cooper and true freshman linebacker Taurean York have been a force to be reckoned with.

Meanwhile, on the offensive side of the ball, it’s been a juxtaposition of talented wideouts such as Evan Stewart and Ainias Smith doing damage through the air. Alongside them are the likes of Trey Zuhn III and Le’Veon Moss holding it down in the running game.

Roughly halfway through the regular season, here are the ten highest-graded Aggies according to Pro Football Focus. For reference, we excluded those who will remain out for the rest of the season (e.g., Conner Weigman) and those with fewer than 100 total logged snaps through six games.

Texas A&M left tackle Trey Zuhn is already an elite blind side protector

Starting left tackle Trey Zuhn has continued to improve week to week, grading out as one of the top pass protectors in his last three games.

Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0 SEC) defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-3, 0-2 SEC) 34-22 on Saturday behind a prolific defensive effort, which included seven sacks and 15 tackles for loss for the second consecutive weeks, limiting the Razorbacks usually high-octane offense to 174 total yards.

Overall, Texas A&M’s offense, led by new signal caller Max Johnson (17/28, 210 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) and ascending running back Le’Veon Moss (17 car, 107 yards), paved the way for a solid 414-yard day. At the same time, a clean pocket aided Johnson’s efficient play due to elite pass protection from redshirt sophomore left tackle Trey Zuhn.

As a sports journalist, PFF’s collegiate week-to-week pass protection grades are one of my go-to metrics for offensive line play, leading to the best outing for Zuhn in his current four-game span against the Razorbacks, recording a borderline elite 89.5 pass protection grade without allowing a sack or a pressure on the afternoon.

Even more impressive, Zuhn’s lowest grade (54.9) came in the Aggies’ loss to Miami in Week 2, a game that was a collective poor effort in the trenches. His current pass pro grading before this weekend includes 82.0 against New Mexico, 85.6 against Lousiana Monroe, and 79.4 against Auburn for a cumulative grade of 79.7. Oh, and through 104 pass-blocking reps, he hasn’t allowed a single sack.

No doubt about it: greatness is earned through hard work and repetition, and through all the trials and tribulations Trey Zuhn has been through in his short Aggie career, head coach Jimbo Fisher and O-line coach Steven Addazio have a consistent presence at one of the most critical positions in the game.

Texas A&M will host No.10 Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 7, at 2:30 p.m. CT, inside Kyle Field (TV: CBS).

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Texas A&M left tackle Trey Zuhn III is already living up to his immense potential

Grading out as the best offensive lineman this weekend, Texas A&M left tack Trey Zuhn III is living up to his potential on the blind side.

Texas A&M’s (2-1) 2023 football season is already chock-full of storylines, both positive and, yes, very negative, but focusing on the improvements made after three games, the Aggies veteran-led offensive line has been a sight for sore eyes after what we all witnessed in 2022, and redshirt sophomore left tackle Trey Zuhn III has consistently stood out.

As a third-generation Aggie whose later grandfather was a professor at Texas A&M, Zuhn has always been well aware of the added pressure after earning the starting left tackle job last season, playing in all 12 games through injury and illness while building an “iron man” like persona in the locker room.

“I was taking the mental reps out there every day in practice, and then in meeting, keeping my mind crisp, I was going through lifting and strength training, but you can’t ever replicate going against a D-linemen.”

After a successful offseason, Zuhn, according to PFF, has graded out as one of the Aggie’s best offensive linemen in all three games, including a 90.9 run-blocking grade (best in the country), an 89.6 offensive grade (fourth in the country), and an 88.0 pass-blocking grade, which is good enough for 13th on the weekend during Texas A&M’s 47-3 win over UL Monroe.

For a young signal-caller like Weigman, having a stalwart blocker on the blindside keeps you clean and instills lasting confidence in every offensive drive, which we saw in droves on Saturday afternoon. The rest of the offensive line needs to continue gelling, and while starting right tackle Reuben Fatheree II’s eventual return still hangs in the balance, Zuhn will be relied on to continue his stellar play throughout SEC play.

Texas A&M will host the Auburn Tigers at Kyle Field on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 11:00 a.m., where it will air on ESPN.

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