Aggies’ receivers take step forward
With Merritt out, trio of youngsters catch TDs; QBs unspectacular
COLLEGE STATION — One of the biggest stories from Texas A&M’s spring game Saturday came from off the field rather than on it.
It surrounds the status of sophomore wide receiver Kirk Merritt, who recently pleaded not guilty to two charges of indecent exposure stemming from last fall. The two incidents allegedly took place in as many days in front of two tutors in October in the Bright Football Complex.
A&M coach Kevin Sumlin was unavailable to the media after the spring game to answer questions about Merritt due to hosting recruits on visits, which officials say was previously planned before Merritt’s arrest became public. Merritt, who was suspended indefinitely from the team following his Nov. 8 arrest and reinstated Feb. 1 following an investigation by the university, took part in spring drills but did not play in Saturday’s game.
Meanwhile, on the field, a trio of Merritt’s fellow young receivers provided reasons for the Aggies to be encouraged about the outlook of their receiving corps, which has littleknown commodities outside of junior Christian Kirk.
Quartney Davis, Aaron Hansford each caught a touchdown pass for the Maroon team, while Kendrick Rogers hauled in a 16-yarder from Nick Starkel to open the game’s scoring for the White team.
Davis and Rogers are redshirt freshmen, and Hansford is a sophomore.
“Just like the quarterbacks, we’ve kind of progressed as a receiver group over the 15 practices that we’ve had,” Kirk said. “Each practice, we’ve pretty much taken a step forward.
“You just kind of see guys molding into what they’re going to be in the fall.”
The Aggies aren’t any closer to figuring out who will throw those receivers the ball in the fall, either.
Starkel, Jake Hubenak and Kellen Mond split the snaps Saturday.
Hubenak relieved an injured Trevor Knight for two games last year.
Starkel is a redshirt freshman from Argyle Liberty Christian, and Mond is the highly touted recruit from IMG Academy by way of San Antonio Reagan.
Each of the quarterbacks threw a touchdown pass as they continue to gel with an offense that has a lot of new faces.
“Today they all kind of put it together,” Kirk said. “Kellen did have two picks, but there’s nothing that he could do about that. Those were two tipped balls. Great plays by the DBs. But overall I thought Nick, Kellen and Jake all played really well. I’m excited where they’re at at the end of this spring going into the summer and into fall camp.”
Mond’s two interceptions belonged to sophomore defensive backs Larry Pryor and Roney Elam.
“I think they performed well,” senior defensive back Armani Watts said of his unit. “They were competing with every ball, being able to be aggressive at points. Just doing what we’ve been doing all spring. I’m happy with both groups of DBs with how they
played and finished the plays.”
The biggest question on defense might be the defensive line and the lack of a pass rusher with Myles Garrett’s departure to the NFL.
Sumlin expects that position to get settled by the fall.
“We’ve got to continue to develop our defensive line and find us a pass rusher,” Sumlin said through a news release. “But we’ve got help coming. We signed 27 guys. We’ve got a couple of junior college guys that are going to come in here and come off the edge. We’ll get that solidified and get into fall camp.”