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Myles Garrett was Week One’s top edge rusher according to Pro Football Focus

PFF College graded the Aggies on Saturday and shared notes about standout performers with us.

By cuppycup

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NCAA Football: Alabama at Texas A&M Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

Follow PFF College and Vinnie Ronca on Twitter for fantastic information about player grades and performances throughout the college football season. Also check in with PFF College’s website.

Texas A&M defeated UCLA 31-24 in an exciting overtime battle at Kyle Field on Saturday. As fans using the eyeball test, we identify top performers based on the action from each play (Justin Evans comes to mind). Fortunately, since we cannot watch every player on every play, PFF College does that for us and grades everyone’s success in performing his own role no matter the focus or outcome of the play.

Here are some of PFF’s observations about Texas A&M’s performance on Saturday:

  • Myles Garrett racked up a remarkable 11 QB pressures, more than any edge rusher in the country. That translates to Garrett pressuring the QB on 1 out of every 4 pass rush snaps. Garrett, who earned a +12.0 grade from PFF, handed UCLA’s highly touted left tackle Conor McDermott his lowest career grade (-9.9).
  • Linebacker Otaro Alaka, back from a season-ending injury in 2015, played 51 snaps against UCLA and graded positively in run defense, pass rush and coverage. Alaka had two QB pressures on just ten pass rush snaps.
  • Safety Justin Evans, who snagged two huge interceptions for the Aggies on Saturday, earned the 3rd highest pass coverage grade in the nation among all safeties. Josh Rosen’s NFL QB Rating when throwing toward Evans was a meager 37.5.
  • The Aggie defense made a sack, QB hit or QB hurry on 39 out of Josh Rosen’s 55 dropbacks.
  • Texas A&M rotated five players at defensive tackle. Keke, Walker, Henderson, Chevis, and Mack each played at least 25 snaps.

Top offensive players

  • OG Connor Lanfear
  • C Erik McCoy
  • OT Jermaine Eluemunor
  • WR Josh Reynolds
  • WR Christian Kirk


Top defensive players

  • DE Myles Garrett
  • DT Zaycoven Henderson
  • LB Otaro Alaka
  • DT Kingsley Keke
  • LB Richard Moore

If you’re interested in hearing more about Pro Football Focus, check out our interview with Vinnie Ronca from last month.

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