Texas A&M Stock Report: Who Helped and Hurt Themselves Against Arizona State

The No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies continued a hot start to the 2026 season against the Arizona State Sun Devils Saturday afternoon, taking a second straight win to start the season in the form of a 48-20 win over the Big 12 school.

Similar to the season opener against Missouri State, the team's offensive production wasn't as impressive as many had hoped, with the Aggies only up 17-10 at half, but a 24-point fourth quarter allowed the team to make up for lost time.

As the final score of the Week 2 is in the books, and conference play now sits only a week away with a hosting of the Kentucky Wildcats, let's take a look at which Aggies improved their stock for the year and which Aggies trended downward after today.

Which Texas A&M Players Were Helped and Hurt?

Texas A&M Aggies defense — Texas A&M Aggies defensive end T.J. Searcy (18), linebacker Ray Coney (21) and linebacker Noah Mikhail (0) tackle Missouri State Bears running back Ramone Green Jr. (22) during the first quarter at Kyle Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Helped: Noah Mikhail, T.J. Searcy

Mikhail and Searcy were both tied for second on the Aggies with six total tackles, only behind the seven produced by Marcus Ratcliffe.

Searcy had a tackle for loss included in his six bringdowns, and Mikhail perfectly sniffed out a fake punt that the Sun Devils attempted, and it led to an easy turnover on downs that put the Aggies in perfect field position.

Mikhail was also a noteworthy name in the season opener, the sophomore wasting no time making a name for himself as he enters leadership status amongst the defense.

Helped: Julio Humphrey (and pretty much the rest of Texas A&M's defense)

We really should put the entire Texas A&M defense on here. They forced three consecutive turnovers in the fourth quarter, which was capped off by cornerback Julio Humphrey intercepting Arizona State quarterback Cutter Boley and taking it back to make it the final score of 48-20 that it was.

The occasional big play was given up, as is the case with any defense, but the second half was all A&M's defense, and it turned the game from a tight-knit contest to A&M's second straight blowout.

Hurt: Marcel Reed

Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed (10) looks to pass the ball during the first quarter against Arizona State Sun Devils at Kyle Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Even Mike Elko didn't want to talk about it in the postgame press conference.

Marcel Reed came out and had plenty of positives during the contest, with three passing touchdowns and a couple of large gains with his legs.

But it just seemed like he was off. The deep passes that were connecting last week were overthrown this week, and the first pass that he threw in the second half was picked off.

He didn't do bad, per se, but compared to last week and in terms of the topic of this article, Reed's stock definitely stalled.

Hurt: Ashton Bethel-Roman

The third-year A&M receiver was one of seven pass catchers who recorded receptions from Reed in today's matchup, but he had a rough second game of the year against the Sun Devils, catching only one of his two targets for no gain and dropping the other one.

"ABR" will look to get back to his productive ways when A&M hosts the Kentucky Wildcats next week, as Mike Elko takes on his defensive coordinator from last year, Jay Bateman.

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