Texas A&M’s defense continued to have the upper hand as the Aggies went through their third scrimmage of fall camp tonight at a newly renovated Kyle Field. The balance of the scrimmage was spent in situational football (red zone opportunities or trying to come out from their own end zone) and the Aggies’ offense also spent a majority of their time running the football.

Junior linebacker Shaan Washington had an interception in tonight's scrimmage on Kyle Field

The defensive front featured ends Daeshon Hall and Myles Garrett as the offense continued to have issues keeping them out of the backfield no matter who was blocking them. Freshman Daylon Mack was good enough to face off versus the first team at defensive tackle. Their ability to get upfield or push the linemen into gaps is a far cry from A&M was able to do up last season. Overall, there were few places for the backs to go no matter whether James White, Kendall Bussey Jr. or Bryce Dozeal was out there.

However, there’s another major difference between this season and last season that’s going to become apparent once the games begin and that’s the fact that the linebacking corps is much better. The offensive line rarely got to the second level to get to the linebackers who diagnosed plays, aligned themselves properly, filled the gaps in front of them, and didn’t overrun anything when going east-west. The first team backers were Josh Walker and Shaan Washington while the second team backers were junior college transfer Claude George and freshman Riley Garner. Washington reportedly had a very good scrimmage as he had an interception and was all over the field versus the run. Garner looked good as well as he got in the backfield quickly one time but couldn’t hang on to finish off a tackle.

The secondary had a number of pass breakups as the Aggies trotted out the same group that they’ve been running with most of the spring (Brandon Williams and De’Vante Harris at the corners, Justin Evans and Armani Watts at safety, and Donovan Wilson or Noel Ellis at the nickel). The corners can play press coverage when needed but they also proved to be adept at turning and running with receivers. They were very few open lanes available for quarterbacks to deliver the ball as the secondary stayed in proximity to people and closed on the ball quickly.

Overall, the defense is just a lot faster than they were last year.

Since the offense ran the ball much more than they threw it like they did in last Saturday’s scrimmage, the quarterbacks had more limited opportunities to make things happen throwing the football. For example, sophomore Kyle Allen apparently didn’t throw the ball at all on his first three series. Junior college transfer Jake Hubenak also got multiple reps at the position along with freshman Kyler Murray. Murray threw an interception coming off of his own goal line on one series to Washington but also threw a touchdown pass on a nice fade to junior college receiver Damion Ratley. Hubenak was more effective running the ball than Allen while Murray had multiple runs that could have been longer gains but a strict no contact policy was enforced on hitting the quarterback. Murray also displayed a nice touch on his sideline passes. A&M Consolidated walk on freshman Kobe Miller had a touchdown pass to Frank Inheanacho.

The receiving corps got off of the line versus press coverage but weren’t able to do much past that point in terms of getting separation. Veteran Jeremy Tabuyo had a nice catch and run, Iheanacho had a touchdown reception, and junior Edward Pope had a number of good catches. Ricky Seals-Jones had one good catch and then had another broken up in the end zone.

The first team line comprised Mike Matthews at center, Joseph Cheek at right guard, Germain Ifedi at right tackle, Keaton Sutherland at left guard, and Avery Gennesy at left tackle. The Aggies second team offensive line continues to struggle with injuries.

The kickers hit all of their field goal opportunities but one. Freshman Christian Kirk handled almost all of the return duties except for when sophomore safety Armani Watts stepped in.

The Aggies have meetings tomorrow and hit the practice fields again on Monday.

