Greg McElroy identifies Texas A&M’s MVP entering 2023 season

The Texas A&M football team has most of its 2022 team returning, but it’s a brand new face that ESPN’s Greg McElroy will make the difference in College Station this fall.

On his YouTube show, Always College Football, McElroy broke down the key player or coach for various top college football programs, including the Aggies. A&M has a young talent at QB, in addition to some real weapons on offense, and plenty of former blue-chip recruits littered throughout the defense. However, McElroy opted to name a certain new assistant coach that he thinks will be a game-changing piece.

“Team MVP. If A&M’s gonna do what they want to do this year, it’s not a player you might think. This is not a cop-out, but I tried to think of just one individual, could I say Conner Weigman? Could I say some of these other guys that are wide receivers? Maybe the defensive line? No. It’s Bobby Petrino.”

Per McElroy, the talent wasn’t the problem in 2022. So maybe this big change on the sidelines provides the necessary boost.

“Because if you look at Texas A&M’s personnel, they have great personnel. They’ve had great personnel. But what they haven’t had is a really creative offensive identity,” McElroy continued.

McElroy went on to explain that a college football head coach’s job has grown so much broader now that NIL and roster management require a lot of time and effort every year. Perhaps coaches have to rely more on their coordinators for some of the on-field coaching.

“Not saying that Jimbo Fisher isn’t a great offensive mind, he is,” said McElroy. “But I think now in the NIL era and transfer portal and recruiting all those things have become more difficult. So your job as a head coach is more as a an administrator, so you don’t have the time to really totally hone in on the X’s and O’s and ways to attack the opposing defense.”

Whereas, Petrino comes in with the sole focus of running the offense. Unlike Fisher, who used to call plays and run the offense while also trying to serve his other duties as head coach.

“Bobby Petrino, his exclusive job this year is to take those playmakers and put them in great spots and create problems for the opposing defense,” McElroy added, noting that his performance is the key to the season. “If he has a great year, A&M will in turn have a great year.”