BOULDER — An old Big 12 rival is coming back to town.
Well, sort of.
Colorado will host Texas A&M just down I-25 from Boulder at Empower Field in Denver on Sept. 11. The two teams last faced off in 2009, when Colorado pulled out a 35-34 win behind a 118-yard rushing game from Rodney Stewart to improve the series record to 6-3. (Oh, and Ryan Tannehill caught nine balls for 100 yards for the Aggies.)
This time around, Colorado has a chance to make a statement.
Texas A&M finished last season with an Orange Bowl win that earned them No. 4 ranking in the country and continued an upward trend that began when Jimbo Fisher took over the program. Some of A&M’s key players moved on to the NFL (more on that later) but the Aggies should take a top-10 spot in the preseason rankings and top-5 isn’t off the table.
Both Colorado and Texas A&M will have warm-up games before this Week 2 matchup—CU vs. Northern Colorado and A&M vs. Kent State—making this the first real contest for either side in 2021.
Here’s what you need to know about Texas A&M:
Jimbo Fisher is an offensive genius
Love him or hate him, Jimbo Fisher knows his football.
Fisher’s offense is usually labeled as “pro-style,” which isn’t a popular type of offense in 2021. College football is trending toward higher tempos and spread schemes with easy reads. Fisher’s teams run time off the clock and demand a lot from the quarterback. That’s why Fisher, famously, leads every quarterbacks meeting.
But don’t put Fisher’s scheme in a box. Sure, you could call it “pro-style,” but it looks more like he’s pulled the best from all styles of offensive football. He’ll line up in I formations and use tight ends often—two tell-tale signs of a pro-style system— but there’s plenty of shotgun and pistol mixed in, with jet sweeps, screens, speed options and RPOs. There are hybrid players who can align in multiple positions to create mismatches.
The result is a massive playbook, which is the most “pro-style” part of what Fisher’s offenses do. And again the heaviest burden falls on the quarterbacks. Not only are the passers required to make full-field reads, they also call out the protections.
Which leads us to…
Kellen Mond is gone
The biggest storyline for Texas A&M is the departure of three-year starting quarterback Kellen Mond to the NFL.
Mond ran the Fisher offense about as well as you could have asked for. He threw 19 touchdowns to three interceptions in his final season and his completion percentage ticked up to a career-high 63%. He got his team into the right plays, taking advantage of numbers advantages in the box by switching into a running play.
He was one of the best game managers in college football and he made very few bad decisions.
Now, Fisher’s massive playbook will likely be entrusted to redshirt-freshman dual-threat Haynes King, though redshirt-sophomore pocket passer Zach Calzada could win the job.
Can one of the young guys step up? And will they get into a rhythm early in the season?
Only time will tell.
Texas A&M has two matchup nightmares
Ainias Smith doesn’t have a position.
The Aggies called him a wide receiver in his freshman season and a running back in his sophomore season. The truth is that somebody needs to come up with a name for what he does.
Smith is in the mold of Kadarius Toney, Demetric Felton and Christian McCaffrey. To put it simply: if the defense accounts for him with a linebacker, Smith will probably flex out into the slot and torch him with his elite route-running and speed. If the defense puts a defensive back out there, then Smith will have the advantage in the running game.
But Isaiah Spiller is the key to letting Smith move around the formation. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound running back will be one of the first off the board in the 2022 NFL Draft, but he’s willing to block.
With Spiller on the quarterback’s left and Smith on the quarterback’s right, anything is possible. Smith could motion out to the slot and give you an 11-personnel look. There could be screens or RPOs. Spiller could lead block for Smith. In fact, A&M will even line Smith up behind Spiller in an I formation near the goal line.
And those two aren’t even the primary concern for opponents. Jalen Wydermyer, maybe the best tight end in college football, is.
He’s a really big man, who can run really well and he has great hands. So, basically everything you could ask for.
Does Colorado put Christian Gonzalez on Wydermyer and try to shut him down? That’d be my plan, at least until A&M proves they can take advantage in the running game, because…
The A&M offensive line is a question mark
The Aggies’ best unit last season was its offensive line. But four starters left for the NFL, so it’s anybody’s guess what that group will look like in 2021.
A&M has talented young players who are capable of stepping up, but they don’t have much experience. While the recruiting stars would make you think that the group will be solid again in 2020, Colorado is more worried about what the group will look like in Week 2, with only practices and a game against an FCS team to get up to speed.
The recruiting stars would say good things about the A&M receivers, too. But so far, that hasn’t really panned out. They’ve got a bunch of slot-type receivers who can get open underneath, including Smith. Their big guys outside leave plenty to be desired.
If Colorado can keep Smith and Wydermyer contained, while not giving up too much in the running game, the Buffs’ defense will have done its part.
DeMarvin Leal is a problem
Like Jalen Wydermyer, you’ll be seeing DeMarvin Leal’s name all over draft expert’s top 10 rankings for 2022.
The 6-foot-4, 290-pound defensive end didn’t put up astronomical numbers during his first two seasons as an Aggie, but 12.5 tackles for loss and a handful of sacks in the SEC before being able to drink legally is a great start to a career.
Bobby Brown III, the Aggies big-bodied defensive tackle, is a Los Angeles Ram now but there’s plenty of talent in the pipeline, and even more size.
Jake Percy is a 6-foot-6, 310-pound senior defensive tackle. McKinnley Jackson is only 6-foot-2 but he’s 335 pounds.
Colorado’s offensive line is a veteran group but they’ll have their hands full with the Aggies’ stout front seven.
J.T. Shrout has picked apart the Aggies’ secondary
Any of Colorado’s three quarterbacks could be the starter in 2021 but one of them has some experience against Texas A&M.
J.T. Shrout subbed in for Tennessee in the second quarter of its game against A&M at the end of last season and played a few series. His six completions on 14 attempts doesn’t look great but the big issue was a lack of touch and accuracy on the short throws. When he looked downfield, Shrout played well.
He rolled out and hit a receiver for a 14-yard gain on his first pass and then dropped a deep ball in over the top for a 46-yard touchdown on the next play. He hit a receiver in the hands on a 3rd & 18 but the receiver didn’t hold on. He hit a seam route through double-coverage. There was a lot to like.
A&M’s secondary is solid but it’s nothing special.
And if Shrout isn’t starting this game, it’s because the Buffs found somebody even better.
