Aggie spring football preview: CB
Junior Tyreek Chappell; 44 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, team-high 8 passes broken up, 1 fumble recovery in 11 games (all starts) in 2022
Junior Deuce Harmon; 9 tackles, 1 forced fumble in 4 games
Redshirt freshman Bobby Taylor; redshirted in 2022
Graduate student Myles Jones (transferred to Duke)
Sophomore Denver Harris (transferred to LSU)
Sophomore Smoke Bouie (transferred to Georgia)
Redshirt freshman Marquis Groves-Killebrew (transferred to Louisville)
Graduate student Brian George (transferred to Central Florida)
Junior Jaylon Jones (declared for the 2023 NFL draft)
A total revamp of the group. A&M assembled a remarkably talented group of knuckleheads at corner in 2022, and a number of them have been ushered out the door. The only consistently good players at the position last year were Chappell and Jaylon Jones, and Jones decided to turn pro early.
The attrition, which reached near-ridiculous levels, left A&M scrambling. To their credit, they landed two of the top corners in the portal in Grimes and McCall. They'll also have Thomas in as a mid-term enrollee, and Bobby Taylor back at full health.
A&M knows what they have in Chappell, and that's one of the best corners in the SEC. They think they know what they have in Grimes, an experienced defender who thrives playing in man coverage. McCall was a Rivals 100 player in the 2022 class, so A&M basically swapped one of their departures for him. Now, they have to see if he's an outside corner, a nickel or a safety.
The Aggies need to find out what Taylor can do now that he's healthy, and see where Deuce Harmon is after ankle surgery late last season. Thomas didn't play any corner last year, so they to get him back into the swing of things.
Outside of that, it should be a calm and sedate spring.
Chappell is a starter. That's set. Grimes will enter camp as the odds-on favorite to win the other job, and that could be settled too. Outside of that, the Aggies need to do a lot of evaluating to see if they need to crash the portal again in May.
