Conner Weigman was projected to be one of the best quarterbacks in the nation ahead of the 2024 season, with some even anticipating the Texas A&M signal-caller would be a dark horse candidate to be the best at the position in the nation.
He quickly fell from grace, though, struggling mightily in the season-opening loss against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He was not at all the quarterback who was advertised in the preseason, completing 12 of his 30 passing attempts for 100 yards with 2 interceptions.
Injury issues didn’t help. That’s exactly what hindered him when he injured the AC joint in his throwing shoulder at the very beginning of the season. Former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel sees that as something that instantly put Weigman up against the odds from the very beginning.
“You don’t really know how the injury stuff is going to go,” Manziel said. “You get hurt, you get banged up, and all you can really do is fight your way back to getting back on the field with your guys. Obviously, him coming back in his first game, I thought he handled it extremely well.”
He’s been solid ever since the return against Missouri, in which he completed 18 of his 22 passing attempts for 276 yards. In the following game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, he connected on 15 of his 25 passing attempts for 217 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.
“That’s the Conner Weigman you’ll see a lot more of moving forward rather than what you saw in the opening week against Notre Dame,” Manziel said. “He’s a very talented kid and one that I think has a lot of potential at Texas A&M.”
So far this season, Weigman has completed 61.5% of his passes for 718 yards with 3 touchdowns and 4 interceptions over four games.
Weigman has been a piece in the Aggies’ road to a 6-1 overall record, but a lot more has played into the success in 2024. Much of that has to do with the dawning of the Mike Elko era.
“I think they’ve done a great job. Coach (Mike) Elko has come in and brought a lot of life to our program,” Manziel said. “The guys have readily responded to it. Where we are right now throughout the season after starting out with an opening loss. It shows a lot of resilience and a lot of a team coming together.”
Moving forward, Texas A&M will look to record a seventh consecutive victory as the Aggies face LSU at Kyle Field on Saturday.
“It’s exciting to see where they’re at right now and hopefully they can continue to play well.”