Texas A&M picked as most improved team for 2023

The 2023 college football season is now less than two months away, which means we are firmly entering preview season (as evidenced by GBH kicking off weekly our position preview series yesterday). iGiven that the unpredictability of college football is one of it’s best attributes, one of the more popular genres of these previews are picking the team who will be the “most improved” this year - the teams who will bounce back from a subpar season and surprise everyone (or just take that next step into elite status).

Well 247 Sports took a crack at identifying those most improved teams for 2023, and wouldn’t you know it, they’ve got the Aggies sitting at No. 1.

“No team has a better recipe for a breakthrough year than Texas A&M, which boasts a No. 4 ranking in the 2023 Blue-Chip Ratio after compiling consecutive highly-ranked recruiting classes and which hired one of the game’s most established offensive minds in Bobby Petrino this offseason. The offense, which scored just 22.8 points per game, was the Aggies’ biggest problem last year and held them out of bowl eligibility despite entering the campaign with College Football Playoff aspirations. Jimbo Fisher proved in year five of his tenure that the floor is a losing season, but Texas A&M has a wide range of possible outcomes in 2023 that includes SEC title contention.”

The potential for A&M bounce back season is absolutely there, with a (hopefully) revamped offense and the most talent/most returning production Jimbo Fisher has had since coming to College Station in December 2017 (including every offensive starter but RB Devon Achane and every defensive starter but CBs Jaylon Jones/Antonio Johnson).

That said, A&M returning to form is far from a guarantee. While many of the issues that plagued the Aggies in 2022 could be written off as anomalies, what if they persist? If the offense still stagnates, the injury bug bites in the wrong places or a culture problem sets in, we could just as easily see A&M fail to meet expectations yet again this fall. Especially since their schedule includes back-to-back games against Alabama and Tennessee, not to mention they play three of the other bounce back candidates listed in Miami, Auburn and Arkansas.

Will A&M’s offseason attempts to right the ship pay off? We’ll begin to find out on Sept. 2.