Report: Texas A&M to be without Evan Stewart, multiple other contributors against Miami

The hits keep coming for Texas A&M, as the Aggies will be without some of their impact players for Saturday’s contest against Miami.

Last week, the Aggies suffered a demoralizing defeat to Appalachian State. Now, with no small task coming to College Station in the Hurricanes, Jimbo Fisher will be coaching without athletes like Evan Stewart, according to reports.

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In addition to Stewart, reports mention that wide receiver Chris Marshall and defensive backs Smoke Bouie and Denver Harris will also miss Saturday’s game for a violation of team rules. It’s a disappointing turn of events as the Aggies look for a huge victory.

Fisher is fresh off praising two of the aforementioned players — wide receivers Stewart and Marshall — prior to last weekend’s loss. However, it’s evident something happened over the last week that’s now causing them to miss Saturday’s huge game for the Aggies.

Nevertheless, Texas A&M needs a victory as bad as anyone in the nation, especially when you consider they had College Football Playoff hopes before the season. Time will tell if they can send Miami home with a loss, or if the Hurricanes beat them into a tailspin.

David Pollack: Max Johnson should’ve won the Texas A&M job in camp

Moreover, Max Johnson will takeover the Texas A&M offense on Saturday against Miami, but David Pollack of ESPN believes it should’ve been his job over Haynes King all along.

Johnson joined the Aggies via the transfer portal this offseason, a transplant formerly of the LSU Tigers. Now, he’s ready to lead a new SEC team into battle with the Aggies, beginning on Saturday against Miami. Previewing the showdown, Pollack praised Johnson, stating that he’s more than ready for the moment.

“Offensively, you saw it last week, they’re just struggling. They’ve got to figure it out,” began Pollack. “They have one dominant player in [Devon] Achane, who runs the rock, but they need quarterback play. I think Max Johnson is a guy that we saw do it at LSU. We saw him compete at a high level. We saw his toughness. You saw him go through progessions. 

“So I think that you knew the way Haynes King was struggling a little bit, this offense was struggling a little bit. Needed a jump start, and that’s why you go to Max.”

Continuing, Johnson won the starting quarterback job for LSU last season, playing in 12 games. He completed just over 60% of his throws for 2,815 yards, 27 touchdowns, and six touchdowns. With all of the impressive skill position players on the field for Texas A&M, Johnson needs to find a way to effectively distribute the ball.

In the two starts King had, the offense was not effective for the entire game. In the season opener against Sam Houston State, the Aggies took some time to get rolling. In the Appalachian State loss, Texas A&M only had 180 total yards and just 83 from King.

Still, Pollack tried to make sense of the Aggies going with King over Johnson to begin the season.

“Haynes King was there, and he was Jimbo Fisher’s guy and you transfer in and you’re not the guy. You’re comfortable with him,” explained Pollack. “I think Haynes King is a great kid, he’s got a lot of ability. He can scramble, he can run, but there’s a big difference between the two. 

“Max Johnson should’ve won the job in camp.”