Unanswered Questions (Football Edition)

As we mentioned before, hype continues to build around the 2020 football season. The favorable schedule, the key returning players due to the redshirt rule. Some stars are aligning in Aggie land for a special year on the gridiron. That being said, there are some gaping questions we all want answered before or soon after the ensuing kickoff. Here are the top 5:

#5 Is O'Maury Samuels the Real Deal? 

Larry Rose III, Jason Huntley, two NFL talents who anchored our backfield since 2014. For a pass-first offense, we've been lucky. Now, with a different style of RB at the helm, can we continue the momentum? Samuels was incredibly highly touted out of high school and all outside chatter indicates that he tore up our poor run defense on the scout team all of last year. We wait for his 2020 debut with patience.

#4 Can the defensive backfield hold up? 

Losing Lomax, Buford, Koffie, Phipps, and Perkins is arguably the biggest blow to a unit across the roster. Can Spaz and Martin fill the gaps? Redshirt frosh, Shivers and of course freshman phenom, Jason Simmons Jr. return to form a promising young core but the JuCo transfers are going to have to step up here if we are to have any shot at six wins.

#3 Special Teams

"Downtown" Dillon Brown and "Old Iron Leg" Payton Theisler are graduated--a core that won us an AZ Bowl crown and held down an admittedly shaky corps for most of Martin's tenure for the last four years. FWIW, punter, Josh Carlson, was featured on Lindy's sports "Players to Watch." Not sure if it's for our skeptical reasoning or a more optimistic one. JuCo transfer kicker will also have to step up to the metaphorical plate to give us a fighting chance.

#2 Can we stop the run?

The age old question. This was the difference maker in 2017 and our only hope in 2020. Fortunately, the deepest group returning in 2020 is the D-line. They return NFL prospect, Roy Lopez, as well as senior, Jamaious Williams, do-everything DE Xander Yarborough, along with Mr. pedigree himself, Matthew Young. Barring any injuries, this group up front has enough meat to stop the run--will they? (EDIT: since this blog was published the Aggies have lost both Roy Lopez and Jamaious Williams for the season, changing the dynamics of the defensive line entirely.)

#1 Quarterback Play

Will it be the frosh, Weston Eget or the JuCo transfer with the arm, Jonah Johnson? We faced a similar conundrum in 2018 and arguably the coaching staff made the wrong move not going with the frosh from the get-go. Martin's offense depends so heavily on the QB making plays--is either up to the task? These are the questions we need answered!