Texas A&M WRs: Seals-Jones, Noil declare for draft, Iheanacho transferring

If you had a picture of what the Aggies’ 2017 receiving corps would look like, it just got a bit cloudier. After the somewhat expected announcement that Ricky Seals-Jones would forego his final year of eligibility to enter the NFL draft, sophomore Frank Iheanacho announced on Monday that he will be transferring from A&M.

UPDATE: Junior Speedy Noil has also declared for the NFL Draft.

This is not an insignificant loss for A&M at wide receiver. Seals-Jones was the Aggies’ third-best receiver in 2016, and when he was battling injury, Iheanacho served as his primary backup. The 6’6” Iheanacho was a four-star recruit out of high school, and likely would have battled for a starting role in the spring. Noil, despite a disappointing 2015 and 2016, still shows flashes of elite athleticism that A&M definitely could have used in 2017.

Add to this the departures of seniors Josh Reynolds, Edward Pope, Jeremy Tabuyo and Boone Niederhofer, and A&M will enter 2017 with a lot of questions about what their receiver rotation will look like. Every significant piece from 2016 aside from Christian Kirk is now gone.

That said, they are certainly not lacking in talent at the position. Damion Ratley, Kemah Siverand, and Jamal Jeffrey combined for just nine receptions this season, but they’ll compete for playing time with redshirt freshmen Clyde Chriss, Quartney Davis (recovering from a torn ACL) and Aaron Hansford, along with Oregon transfer Kirk Merritt. The Ags hope to add to the group a month from now, with 2017 recruits Jhamon Ausbon, Hezekiah Jones, Camron Buckley and Roshauud Paul.