Fear not, Aggie fans, meaningful college football is just around the corner, with the start of the 2023 season under a month away! Here at Aggies Wire, we’ll be counting down by looking at each Texas A&M football player that corresponds to the number of days left till the start of the football season.
With 19 days until kickoff, we’re looking at No. 19 for the Maroon and White: sophomore tight end Jake Johnson.
Johnson returns for his second season in Aggieland after appearing in five games last season, recording one reception for two yards. While the expectation early on was that he would see an elevated role in 2023, there is now a clear opportunity ahead of him to play a vital role in the passing game in the aftermath of sophomore Donovan Green‘s injury.
As shared through Aggies Wire, Green is expected to miss the entirety of the 2023 season after tearing his ACL during Texas A&M’s closed scrimmage on Saturday afternoon.
Johnson was a four-star prospect and the No. 3 ranked tight end in the 2022 cycle, and after enrolling early in the spring of 2022 he quickly turned heads with his fluidity and route-running. It’s keen to note that with a 245-pound frame, he’s built much differently than Green and more so like a bigger wideout as opposed to a traditional tight end.
Expect Jimbo Fisher and Bobby Petrino to leverage the tandem of Johson and Melin Ohrstrom in order to soften the blow of Green’s season-ending injury. Truth be told, the sheer depth of the tight end room in Johnson, Ohrstrom, Max Wright, and Fernando Garza is a key reason why the Aggies have been able to weather the consistent injuries to the group.
So long as Johnson can stay healthy, which feels like a big “if” considering this group’s track record with injuries, it should allow Texas A&M to leverage plenty of 12 personnel and give the starting quarterback an extra outlet, whether that be Conner Weigman or Max Johnson. The injury to Green is significant, but having the likes of Johnson in the fold is one of the reasons why this group can be equipped to weather the storm.
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