Healing defensive Achilles heels could help Aggies to go far in 2025
The term “Achilles heel” refers to weakness or vulnerability which leads to defeat.
Yet, Achilles had two heels. So did Texas A&M last football season.
Big plays were Texas A&M’s “Achilles heel(s)” in 2024. Time and again, the Aggies were victimized by explosive plays.
You already know that. You saw it far too often in five losses.
You don’t need to be reminded about the Achilles heel. You just want the Achilles healed.
So does A&M head coach Mike Elko.
Most of the big plays allowed came on pass plays. So, Elko opted to call the defensive plays. He also brought in defensive backs Julian Humphrey and Jordan Shaw via the transfer portal. He welcomed back Tyreek Chappell from injury.
Those factors figure to help A&M upgrade the secondary.
Alas, there remains another heel which must be healed.
The Aggies' run defense was equally vulnerable.
You saw that when Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price ran 47 yards for a touchdown and Jeremiyah Love scored on a 21-yard run. You saw South Carolina’s Raheim Sanders notch a 52-yard touchdown run and LaNorris Sellers with a 23-yard touchdown.
You saw McNeese’s Bryce Strong run for 47 yards, and TreVonte’ Citizen ran for 26. You saw Bowling Green’s Rahkeem Smith ran for 40. Heck, you saw Arkansas punter Devin Bale run for 25.
A&M allowed 19 runs of 20 yards or more in 2024. That was the most in the SEC.
Those 19 plays resulted in 570 yards, which was almost a third of the 1,757 rushing yards allowed.
“I think that was the story of us on defense,” Elko said earlier this week. “We were play-in and play-out a lot more efficient than we were overall production-wise because of explosives.”
He later added: “I think when you look at it schematically, the big runs happen two ways. They happen because of a miss-fit and somebody being out of a gap, which certainly happened at times. Not a ton, but at times.
"Where we got in a lot of trouble last year was losing perimeter leverage. Whether that was a run that got through and got outside or a run that was designed to get outside, we did a really poor job at times of leveraging the football properly.”
A&M’s run defense wasn’t bad. It was just bad on those plays.
Take away those 19 plays, and A&M allowed just 91.3 yards per game. That would’ve ranked among the nation’s top 10 in run defense.
“A couple of things we’ve really tried to emphasize and point out to (A&M players) is the difference between being (ranked) 11, 12 in the conference and two, three in the conference and how small those margins are,” Elko said. “Those margins usually come down to those (big) plays. A lot of times, kids have the tendency to walk off the field thinking about the three plays they made.
“Hey, let’s focus on the three that we didn’t make and how we fix those.”
Reparations have long begun. Fortunately, linebacker Taurean York now has two years of starting experience. Also, linebacker Scooby Williams, who was in and out of the lineup with injuries, is now healthy.
Up front, A&M brought in defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim from Iowa State to join proven defensive lineman Albert Regis and hopefully-improving DJ Hicks to shore up the run defense.
Also, fortunately — or actually, unfortunately — the Aggies have more visual aids to teach run defense. Elko just has to show replays of last year’s breakdowns to demonstrate what went wrong.
“What you do is you go out, put all of (those plays) on tape. You show them to the guys consistently,” Elko said. “You point something out in practice, and you say, ‘This is the run from South Carolina. This is the play right here. This is the decision you made that cost you the ability (to make the play).’
“There’s a little bit more understanding of how it can impact them. Whereas maybe last year in fall camp, you were saying, ‘Hey, don’t do this,’ and you’d kind of get a little bit of, ‘Yeah, OK.’
“I think when you’re talking specifically about, ‘Hey, that’s why we gave up a big play at South Carolina. That’s why we gave up a big run against Notre Dame.’ It hits home a little bit more and makes those problems a little bit more fixable.”
Hopefully, those problems will be fixed.
The Aggies could go a long way this season if their Achilles’ are healed.
