Texas A&M Aggies

2012 record: 11-2
2012 conference record: 6-2 (tied for second, West Division)
Returning starters: Offense: 6; defense: 6; kicker/punter: 1

Top returners

QB Johnny Manziel, RB Ben Malena, OT Jake Matthews, WR Mike Evans, DT Kirby Ennis, OLB Steven Jenkins, CB Deshazor Everett, S Howard Matthews

Key losses

LT Luke Joeckel, C Patrick Lewis, WR Ryan Swope, DE Damontre Moore, OLB Sean Porter, MLB Johnathan Stewart, FS Steven Terrell

2012 statistical leaders (*returners)

Rushing: Johnny Manziel* (1,409 yards)
Passing: Johnny Manziel* (3,706)
Receiving: Mike Evans* (1,105)
Tackles: Damontre Moore (85)
Sacks: Damontre Moore (12.5)
Interceptions: Deshazor Everett* and Steven Terrell (2)

Spring answers

1. Johnny Football: The Aggies are in the rare position of returning the previous season's Heisman Trophy winner. Heading into his sophomore season, Texas A&M is hoping that quarterback Johnny Manziel can be even better than he was a season ago. This will be his second year in the offense and for quarterbacks who have played in this system, year two is typically a season in which they progress significantly as passers. That's one of Manziel's primary goals, even though he'll still run when the time calls for it. As long as he's healthy and playing well, things bode well for the Aggies.

2. Experienced secondary: Last season, the defensive backfield was young and inexperienced. This fall, there are still young players back there, but it is the most experienced unit on the Aggies' defense. Three of the four starters in the secondary from the AT&T Cotton Bowl are back: Deshazor Everett, De'Vante Harris and Howard Matthews. Junior Floyd Raven has moved from cornerback to free safety and appears to have the skill set (range and tackling prowess) to fit into the position well.

3. Loaded backfield: The Aggies have four good options in their offensive backfield for Manziel to hand off or throw to. Starting running back Ben Malena returns, as does Trey Williams, who returned kicks and received carries as a true freshman. Add to the mix a pair of transfer backs who sat out last season, Brandon Williams (Oklahoma) and Tra Carson (Oregon) and the Aggies have a quartet that gives them a multitude of options.

Fall questions

1. Front seven: The Aggies are looking for someone to replace the production that third-round NFL draft pick Damontre Moore brought last season. Moore led the team in tackles, tackles for loss and sacks a year ago. Also, with two senior leaders gone from linebacker (Sean Porter and Jonathan Stewart) Texas A&M not only has to replace the bodies but also the leadership. Because of injuries, the Aggies were thin up front in the spring but when all their key players return in the fall, it will ease at least some of those concerns. Keep an eye on names like defensive end Julien Obioha (who started opposite Moore last year), defensive tackle Alonzo Williams and linebacker Donnie Baggs as players who have a chance to see their contributions increase significantly this year.

2. New receivers: Only one starting receiver returns from last year's squad: Mike Evans. Four of the top six players in receiving yardage are no longer on the roster, including second-leading receiver Ryan Swope. So who will Johnny Manziel throw to? Keep an eye on guys like Malcome Kennedy, who caught a fourth-quarter touchdown against Alabama last season, Derel Walker, who had a strong spring game, Edward Pope, who was a star on the scout team when he redshirted last year and a host of recruits from the 2013 class like Ja'Quay Williams and ESPN 150 duo Ricky Seals-Jones and Sebastian LaRue. Developing other reliable pass-catching options is critical, so keep an eye on how they use the tight ends with newcomer Cameron Clear (6-7, 270) on campus.

3. Kicking game: One player who fans kept a close eye on this spring was kicker Taylor Bertolet. In his redshirt freshman season, the strong-legged kicker struggled with consistency, hitting just 13-of-22 field goal attempts and missing seven point-after attempts. With a new special teams coordinator (Jeff Banks) who has college punting and kicking experience around to guide him, the Aggies are looking for an improvement from Bertolet this fall. Also the Aggies are working in a new punter, Drew Kaser, who takes the reins after senior Ryan Epperson graduated.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M hit the field on a cool, foggy afternoon for its first open-to-the-public scrimmage of the 2013 spring football season on Saturday at Kyle Field.

There is plenty to take away from the first extended on-field look at the 2013 Aggies, but here are a few things that stood out:

Brandon Williams looks like a potential playmaker: The Brookshire (Texas) Royal graduate, who is nicknamed "Slim," showed some nice moves and ability when he was on the field Saturday. In a handful of touches, Williams showed good vision and speed and was able to beat a few defenders to the pylon for a touchdown run midway through the scrimmage. His initial action was with the second-team offense, but he received plenty of time with the first team as well. Naturally, Ben Malena was the traditional first-team back and Tra Carson got some repetitions as well [freshman Trey Williams, who has been injured all spring, did not participate]. But Williams looked a lot like someone who will get touches and be productive this fall.

Floyd Raven experiment at safety is showing progress: As defensive coordinator Mark Snyder and head coach Kevin Sumlin noted earlier this spring, there are two things Raven does really well that fit the free safety position: He has good speed and he can hit. On Saturday he showed a nose for the football, intercepting quarterback Johnny Manziel once and nearly doing it a second time later in the scrimmage. The junior certainly looks the part so far.

Youth is served, especially on defense: Injuries are keeping several key players on the sideline, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. (Projected starters Julien Obioha, Kirby Ennis and Steven Jenkins are all sitting out this spring.) So it's giving the Aggies a chance to work out some younger players at key positions. Redshirt freshman Tyrone Taylor, younger brother of junior Tyrell Taylor, lined up at defensive end with the first-team offense, as did sophomore Alonzo Williams, who played the last half of the 2012 season and started in the AT&T Cotton Bowl. True freshman linebackers Reggie Chevis and Brett Wade also had plenty of playing time Saturday -- Wade as a second-team weakside linebacker and Chevis at middle linebacker, getting snaps with both the first- and second-team defense. (Junior Donnie Baggs started the scrimmage as the first-team middle linebacker.) Sophomore A.J. Hilliard, who transferred from TCU in January, also saw time with the first-team defensive unit at outside linebacker.

Offensive line set? Whenever the first-team offense was out on the field, the same group of five was out there: Jake Matthews at left tackle, Jarvis Harrison at left guard, Mike Matthews at center, Germain Ifedi at right guard and Cedric Ogbuehi at right tackle. The primary battles going into the spring were to be at center and right guard and so far, it appears Mike Matthews and Ifedi have a solid grasp on those spots.

Positive signs from the kicking game: Sure, the scrimmage doesn't count, but fans certainly had to be happy to see Taylor Bertolet connect on his kicks. The only miscue in the kicking game was a mistake by the holder, punter Drew Kaser, that forced Bertolet to stutter step before a kick that was blockes. But every other field goal and point-after-touchdown attempt that Bertolet tried went through the uprights. The sophomore is looking to bounce back from an inconsistent 2012 season in which he was 13-of-22 on field goal attempts and 67-of-74 on extra point tries.

The stars are still the stars: Manziel made some nice throws and though he did throw three interceptions -- some of which might have been forced since he wasn't really running the football himself -- he overall had a solid day. He certainly remembers how to get the ball to the Aggies' best receiver, Mike Evans, who probably had the most impressive day of anybody, catching two touchdowns and picking up where he left off from 2012.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Moments after his team's first practice in pads and scrimmage on March 7, Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mark Snyder was thankful for at least one thing.

"The fortunate thing is we don't have to play tomorrow, thank goodness," he said. "We've got a ways to go."

Flashing back to his team's first practice in pads a year ago, the Aggies' second-year defensive coordinator could at least see some progress.

"We may be a little further along, but we still have a long way to go," he said.

What Snyder and the Aggies' defense accomplished last year was significant. There were numerous questions about that side of the football going into Texas A&M's 2012 season, namely depth across the board and in particular, the defensive line.

Those questions were answered throughout the year as Snyder's unit played above expectations. Damontre Moore broke out as a star at defensive end, the defensive line stayed mostly healthy and performed well in its first season in the SEC, a league known for line-of-scrimmage play. Players like Spencer Nealy and Kirby Ennis were strong on the interior line, while leadership came from linebackers Sean Porter and Jonathan Stewart.

The result was a unit that was among the best in the nation on third down (16th), one of the better scoring defenses in the country (26th) and a unit that was solid against the run (35th).

Many of those key players are gone. Moore declared for the NFL draft; Nealy, Porter and Stewart were all seniors. A unit that may have been considered the weak link a year ago -- the secondary -- might actually be a strength this fall. The charge this year for Snyder and his staff is to reconstruct the front seven.

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The news of Texas A&M junior defensive end Damontre Moore's decision to declare for early entry into the 2013 NFL draft wasn't entirely unexpected.

After a strong junior season in which he earned first-team All-American honors from several publications and organizations and compiled some of the best statistics in the nation for his position (80 tackles, 12.5 sacks, 20 tackles for loss) in the Southeastern Conference, Moore's draft stock was as high as it has been. It could be argued that he wouldn't be able to elevate his stock higher than it is now.

So where do the Aggies go from here?

The good news is, there's another young defensive end on the roster, one who showed a lot of promise this season: freshman Julien Obioha. The 6-foot-4, 255-pound New Orleans Brother Martin product won the starting job at defensive end opposite Moore and showed flashes of his ability this season, with four quarterback hurries, six pass breakups, a forced fumble, a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The countdown to Texas A&M's first Southeastern Conference season officially began on Friday, as Kevin Sumlin and several Aggies players met with the media before their first practice of the year.

Sumlin, who is in his first year with the Aggies after spending the last four as the head coach at Houston, said there are no butterflies for him but there's an excitement and an edge for the coaching staff to get things going.

"No butterflies, just excitement," Sumlin said. "Particularly in a new job and a new situation. ... I think it's all of our staff. We have a new staff and you saw guys yesterday starting to get edgy a little bit as coaches. We've only had 15 practices with these guys. So the 29 opportunities that we have before the first game, we've got to maximize those opportunities to get ready to play a very difficult schedule."

That schedule includes games against five teams ranked in the top 25 of the preseason coaches' poll and eight total that are either ranked or received votes. Sumlin said there will definitely be a learning curve as the Aggies navigate their first SEC season.

"We haven't seen them and they haven't seen us. It's pretty simple," Sumlin said. "There's a learning curve for everybody. We've approached it in the same way since we've been here as an SEC job and an SEC program. So for us the transition is probably a little bit different than it is for everybody else because we weren't here last year. I think there's going to be a learning curve for us obviously just like everybody else. I said that a long time ago. There's only so much you can see on video."

Some noteworthy items that emerged from media day:

• Sumlin said that the quarterback competition is wide open and includes all four scholarship quarterbacks: Jameill Showers, Johnny Manziel, Matt Joeckel and Matt Davis. The timetable for when the staff decides a starter could vary.

"We will name a starter as late as two weeks before the first game and maybe by Sunday," Sumlin said. "Whenever we feel like somebody has clearly surfaced."

• Senior receiver Ryan Swope, who broke school records last season in catches and receiving yards, said he's excited to be a part of the Aggies' new up-tempo, spread offense.

"What they did at Houston was an incredible offense and a great scheme," Swope said. "I'm excited just to learn new knowledge and absorb the coaching. We've got great coaches on the staff and with a great offense and a fast tempo, it'll be interesting to see how these defenses adapt to that fast-tempo offense. As a senior on this football team, I'm thrilled to play for these guys, can't wait to come back and win games with this new coaching staff."

• As for the offseason, the tempo has also been increased there, according to senior linebacker Sean Porter. New director of sports performance Larry Jackson has increased the intensity of workouts, Porter said.

"The major difference is that we go faster," Porter said. "Before it was kind of at your own pace, you lifted weights at your own pace. Now, everything is all fast speed, it simulates the game. He tries to crank it up a little bit. It's high intensity, that's probably the biggest difference from last year."

• Porter also said that one of the biggest things that stands out to him about Sumlin is his enthusiasm.

"It's his first year and a lot of coaches I know would come in in their first year and try to rebuild and be like 'I'm starting over, it's my first year, I've just got to get through it,'" Porter said. "Coach Sumlin's not like that at all. He's ready to win right now. He knows that we have a lot of athletes on this team and that if we can put it all together, we can see a lot of wins. That's what has impressed me the most about him. He has a good expectation of our team. He doesn't expect us to lose. He wants us to be good right now."

• Freshman running back Trey Williams, who was the nation's fifth-ranked high school running back in the 2012 recruiting class, has gained weight this offseason. "I was a little bit surprised," Sumlin said of Williams, the Spring (Texas) Dekaney product. "He was 185 pounds this morning. For a little guy, he's put together."

A couple of personnel notes:

• Sumlin said he is still awaiting word from the NCAA on the eligibility status of running back Brandon Williams. Williams, who transferred to Texas A&M from Oklahoma, applied for a hardship waiver in order to be eligible this season rather than sit out the year, which is customary under NCAA transfer rules for players who transfer from one Football Bowl Subdivision school to another. As for when he might hear word on Williams, Sumlin said, "That's up to the NCAA. ... It'll probably be pretty soon."
• One of the Aggies 2012 signees, Edmond Ray, did not qualify academically and will be headed to junior college. Ray was a 6-foot-5, 290-pound defensive lineman from St. Louis (Mo.) Ritenour High. Also, Long Beach (Calif.) Poly defensive lineman Alonzo Williams is on campus with the rest of the freshmen but is still awaiting certification from the NCAA.
• Sophomore offensive lineman Ben Compton posted on his Twitter page on Thursday that he would be moving from center to guard. Compton spent the spring at center and he enters camp behind senior center Patrick Lewis on the depth chart. When asked about Compton, Sumlin said: "We'll see. He'll still snap for us. We've got to find a backup center though, obviously." True freshman Mike Matthews, younger brother of Jake Matthews, could also be a center candidate.
• Sumlin said that sophomore running back Will Randolph has decided to leave the program and will transfer. Though Randolph's destination is unknown, Sumlin said the decision was mutual.