'Guys Got Healthy!' Texas A&M Aggies' Max Wright Speaks on Bye Week Improvements
Entering a week that will feature Texas A&M Aggies football at the end of it — something last week lacked — two things are certain:
Coach Jimbo Fisher and company have their work cut out for them, and winning games in conference play will not be easy.
Since losing back-to-back matchups against Alabama and Tennessee and falling to 4-3 on its season, Texas A&M has faced a whirlwind of negative attention.
Are the Aggies destined to repeat last season? Will they win a bowl game?
Whatever the buzz may be, it doesn't stop the Aggies' season from raging on. Their next test is at home — luckily — against the South Carolina Gamecocks, a team fresh off of a demoralizing defeat in Columbia to the Missouri Tigers.
If the Aggies win, they'll have momentum again. They'll be back on track to at least make a bowl and could find themselves in a position to make more noise.
But that's in the future. And Aggies tight end Max Wright knows that his team can't focus on that. Right now, it's solely focused on implementing what it learned from the bye week against South Carolina on Saturday.
"We had a lot of guys get healthy," Wright said. "SEC season, anytime you have to go seven weeks in a row, it's pretty hard. ... [so] we've really been working on being technically sound and being more consistent.
"We're just trying to work on perfecting the little details of every play."
Sep 16, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies tight end Max Wright (42) makes a reception as Louisiana Monroe Warhawks linebacker Travor Randle (4) defends during the first quarter at Kyle Field.
© Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Little details might tell the story of the Aggies season if you look at their losses. All season, Fisher's squad has made clear it has talent — and lots of it. Losing Conner Weigman was a big blow that Texas A&M obviously wasn't accounting for, but Max Johnson proved himself in place of the injured star.
Once again, it came down to execution.
Fisher has preached to his team about "finding the inches" time and time again. It was the No. 1 takeaway he had when talking about his team's shortcomings last season and one of the first things he mentioned when talking about the Aggies' turnaround.
Safe to say, Wright agrees with his coach.
"We just have to be on the same page," Wright said. "We [came] out of the half with a lead [in both of those games.] We were winning. So, that's on us as players to keep the fire going. ... You don't ever want to let a team get life. ... We just have to finish drives."
As the Aggies look ahead to Saturday, when they'll face the Gamecocks on their home turf, they'll be looking to find the inches, execute efficiently, and keep their foot on the pedal. All things are easier said than done, but that's why they've practiced.
Texas A&M's bye week was extremely beneficial. And the Aggies are out to prove it.
"There's a sense of urgency every single week," Wright said. "Any team can surprise you. The past two weeks were games that we felt like we should have won. We felt like we shot ourselves in the foot. ... We've got to just go out there and do our job."
