Trey Zuhn Wins Major Award Despite Texas A&M OL Snub

Texas A&M has had one of the best offensive lines in the nation for the past two years in a row.

The Maroon Goons have provided a clean pocket for quarterback Marcel Reed and displaced the line of scrimmage for running backs Le’Veon Moss and Rueben Owens. They have been an integral part of the Aggies reaching their impressive 11-1 mark and the first College Football Playoff berth in program history.

On Wednesday, the Texas A&M offensive line was snubbed when they were missing off the list of finalists for the Joe Moore Award. Although the unit was not awarded with the high prestige, offensive lineman Trey Zuhn III walked away with SEC honors at his position.

Texas A&M’s Offensive Line

Texas A&M Aggies Trey Zuhn III Kyle Field — Texas A&M Aggies offensive lineman Trey Zuhn III (60) lines up during the fourth quarter against the Auburn Tigers at Kyle Field. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

The Joe Moore Award was created with the intention of being passed around by the best offensive line unit in the nation, until the next year’s winner is announced. The winning unit is determined by all 128 FBS offensive line coaches, media members who played offensive line and a “legacy committee” consisting of colleagues of legendary offensive line coach Joe Moore and players who were coached by him. Texas A&M just narrowly missed the cut.

On the individual level, Zuhn took home the Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the league's top offensive lineman by vote of the conference head coaches. On top of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, Zuhn was named First Team All-SEC.

Zuhn may have the most confidence in the league after receiving the awards. As soon as A&M was revealed to be facing the Miami Hurricanes, reporters asked him about Hurricanes' star defensive end Rueben Bain and Zuhn did not hold back.

"I haven't had any time to watch any film yet since this just got announced," Zuhn said when asked about the keys to stopping Bain. "I don't think that he will be a threat that we have to worry about too much. You know we have great players, we've got a great offensive line, so we will be able to handle him."

Bain is in the conversation to be the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

“I think [Miami has] the best combination of defensive ends that we've seen in my time here, probably going all the way back to 2018,” head coach Mike Elko said on Monday. ”These two kids can absolutely destroy a game. They're really, really talented. And then they've got a lot of really big, long, athletic inside bodies. I think they've only given up 79 runs or four yards or more in 12 games. So that's unbelievably impressive in terms of how they're controlling the line of scrimmage. And then there's just a lot of length and athleticism in the back two levels of the defense. They're really, really talented. I don't think they've given up 20 points in over about a month and a half. It'll be a big challenge for our offense."