The Texas A&M Player Everyone Will be Talking About by Mid-October

Marco Jones could flourish in his second year as an edge rusher in Mike Elko's Texas A&M defense. He may be a household name by October, in fact.

Anto Saka may have the buzz now, but Marco Jones could emerge on the other side of the line | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Texas A&M Aggies enter the 2026 season coming off a superb step forward for the defense under Mike Elko in his second year play-calling in College Station. There are exciting newcomers, but that's mostly on the offensive side of the ball. With that said, defensively, edge rusher Anto Saka and defensive tackle CJ Mims are expected to be difference-makers from the portal.

Will they be stars? It's possible.

Saka is violent and quick with his first step. Mims has good body control and does well pushing interior offensive linemen back. The smart money on who could break out defensively for TAMU is on a returning player, though. After all, the Aggies had the No. 1 third-down defense and the No. 14 Overall SP+ Defense, which accounts for strength of schedule and pace, in the country in 2025.

Saka's opposite EDGE, defensive end/Jack linebacker hybrid Marco Jones, could well have the opposite of a sophomore slump. And it might be Jones who ends up being the player we're all talking about by the time Texas A&M is playing a glorified midseason warmup with the Citadel Bulldogs on October 17.

Marco Jones is Finally Locked in on Football

Marco Jones was splitting his attention between football and baseball | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It's common for two-sport athletes in baseball and football to be quarterbacks. It's less common for elite edge-rushers to be. Jones finally gave up playing baseball for Michael Earley and is fully committed to making an NFL career happen on Elko's squad.

Jones fully understands that more will be expected of him now that he's dedicating his life to a pro football mission.

"I welcome it with open arms," said Jones on his lofty expectations after leaving baseball. "That's all I've wanted. Nobody comes here wanting to ride the bench or anything like that. So you kind of want to come in here and really do the right thing and be able to step up and fill big shoes and hopefully exceed big shoes at the end of time, too."

It's unbelievable that Jones played a second sport and still showed so much promise in 2025 on the gridiron. Jones had 17 total tackles, 10 solo tackles, and 2.5 sacks in 13 games as a true freshman. We'll see what he can do with a renewed focus.

It's hard to predict anything but even more production for Jones. It might be more than a 2x multiplier when it comes to improvement, too.

Texas A&M Facing Vulnerable Offensive Lines Early

Texas A&M's September sets Marco Jones' ascent to stardom up nicely | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

If there's something that's working heavily in Jones' favor to be a star on the edge during the 2026 season, it's the fact that TAMU's first few SEC opponents include several teams that ranked low in pass protection last year.

The Kentucky Wildcats and Arkansas Razorbacks are obvious weak links in the conference that could be open season with new offensive systems and potential growing pains to go with them. Meanwhile, the LSU Tigers may not be as much of a sure-thing with Jordan Seaton as they think.

Jones has a chance to build up some year-early NFL hype this fall. An athlete with as much going for him as Jones is one you should always expect big things from.

Why not full-on stardom for the former 4-star San Ramon Valley (CA) phenom?

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