TEXAS A&M POSITION PREVIEW: Cornerbacks

It’s that time of year and what better way to manage our football related anxiety than taking deep dives into position groupings for your 2022 Fightin’ Texas Aggies. Last week, Robert looked at the safety group for this year, and below we’ll get an overview of the corners.

Who did we lose?

Texas A&M lost one player to transfer. Dreyden Norwood, a four-star player out of Fort Smith, transferred to Missouri shortly after the season ended. Norwood saw playing time in a couple of games in the 2021 season.

Who do we bring back?

Basically everyone. This group has a great combo of talent depth and experience. Let’s take a look.

Jaylon Jones (JR): Jalen returns for his third year as a starter at his corner position. Jaylon has been a stalwart in the back end of the Aggie defense for the past couple of years. He had a few struggles last year but should put together another solid year in coverage.

Tyreek Chappell (SO): Chappell comes back after a very good freshman year at the corner spot, appearing in all 12 games and starting the last eight. Chappy, as I will affectionately call him, was on both the 2021 Freshman Team from both the SEC Coaches and “The Athletic.” Fair to pencil him in as a starter.

Myles Jones (Grad): This is an interesting one. Myles Jones is returning for his 6th year at A&M after missing much of 2021 to injury following a really good 2020 year. A solid cover guy with good size, Myles has racked up 123 tackles and 4 INTs in his time at A&M.

Deuce Harmon (SO): Another talented player with good experience who will push for starting time at the nickel position. Harmon started three games last year and was a regular playmaker on special teams.

Brian George (Grad): A JUCO transfer in his third year at A&M, George started the first few games of 2021 after being pushed into playing time late in the 2020 year. Talented player who could see a good amount of time this year

What other names should we know?

In addition to guys like Josh Moten, a former 4-star talent who missed 2021 with injury, the real focus here is on the newcomers. A&M managed to pull in one of the best DB classes in the country headlined by 5-star Denver Harris, and 4-stars Bryce Anderson, Deyon Bouie, Bobby Taylor, and Marquis Groves-Killebrew. Harris and Anderson will push for immediate starting time at the CB and Nickel spots respectively, and Bouie could see the field quickly as an ATH.

Overall Grade: A

When you combine the talent and experience of the corner group with the star power present of our safeties, it’s safe to say that the back end of this defense should be very good. The key question here is whether we will be better at creating turnovers in a new DJ Durkin coached offense (something we’ve struggled with the past few years).