Report: Texas A&M tight end Donovan Green to miss 2023 season with torn ACL

Texas A&M tight end Donovan Green tore his ACL in Saturday’s scrimmage and will miss the 2023 season, it was reported Sunday evening. He was set to enter his sophomore year with the Aggies after appearing in 10 games with four starts in 2022.

Green was productive in those contests to finish out the year with 22 catches for 232 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His best game came against Arkansas in which he caught three passes for 50 yards, both season highs.

Donovan Green was one of the members of Texas A&M’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class in 2022 as a four-star recruit out of Dickinson (TX) High School. He ranked as the No. 153 overall prospect and No. 6 tight end according to the On3 Industry Rating, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Green figured to begin this season as the Aggies starting tight end and was named to the Mackey Award watch list. However, with this unfortunate news, the Aggies will now look at other options such as Max Wright, Jake Johnson, Theo Melin Öhrström and Fernando Garza III. They also brought in four-star freshman Jaden Platt out of Eaton (TX) High School.

Wright brings the most experience of those players as he is set to enter his sixth season in College Station. However, he is viewed as more of a blocker than pass catcher, having totaled just 13 catches for 194 yards and a pair of touchdowns across his entire career.

Johnson is also an interesting option. He joined the Aggies in 2022 along with Green and ranked as the No. 1 tight end in last year’s cycle. Johnson didn’t make as much of an impact as Green did in his first season, finishing with just one catch for two yards in five games. But he could be asked to take on a larger role given the recent injury news.

The loss of Green is a big blow for the A&M offense coming off of a disappointing 5-7 finish to 2022. The Aggies ranked just 13th in the SEC in points per game (22.8) this past season and Green was expected to be one of the primary playmakers in the passing game.

However, A&M will push forward as its season opener against New Mexico looms on Sept. 2. Hopefully Green can have a speed recovery from his injury and come back strong next season when he’ll still have three years of eligibility remaining.