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247Sports · Tarp

5d ago
Gigem 247 discusses the impact of the loss of Texas A&M wideout Terry Bussey
Summary
Injury: Gigem 247's Jeff Tarpley appeared on Your Afternoon Stretch with host Glenn "Stretch" Smith to discuss the loss of Texas A&M wideout Terry Bussey for the season with what was described as a lower...
Gigem 247's Jeff Tarpley appeared on Your Afternoon Stretch with host Glenn "Stretch" Smith to discuss the loss of Texas A&M wideout Terry Bussey for the season with what was described as a lower leg injury. Smith asked the impact of Bussey's loss who was seemingly coming into his own as both a pass catcher (four receptions for 58 yards versus Arizona State) and kick returner. Bussey technically wasn't a starting receiver, but he had that kind of production in his first two outings of the season. A&M lost him on the opening kickoff, and they were already down Ashton Bethel-Roman who did not play. They immediately had to go to a freshman, Aaron Gregory, who's going to be a really good player one day, but that's a lot to expect out of a newcomer. You've now got an issue where you're down a guy and you're having to play some young guys in those spots. You also lose him as a kickoff return guy. He was kind of electric in that role in 2025 with long returns versus Notre Dame and LSU. In fact, he jump started the Aggies' comeback against the Tigers last season with a long return to open the second half. Now you've got to find guys to do both roles, and it probably won't be the same guy. Are you going to take a Mario Craver or an Isaiah Horton, let them return kicks, and allow them take on that risk. They had to use running back Rueben Owens to field kickoffs and they didn't take a single one back for the rest of the game. That was the thing with Bussey…he was technically a backup coming into the season. He was certainly someone who you didn't necessarily think he was going to become a big time target for the Aggies in the passing game. Now, A&M has to rebuild the kick return spot and try to find someone who can do some of the same things that hoped for out of Bussey coming into the season as a receiver. Craver was targeted a lot (19 times) and Horton had five receptions, but they may have to ask even more out of them the rest of the season given the youth at the position on the roster. The thing is about Craver is you can play him outside and he can do some things for you. And as you saw against Miami last season, he had that go route for a big play that got A&M into the first deep drive into Miami territory. However, he's a guy that you're going to have to work to get the ball into his hands. He's kind of a slot and so you're going to try to get him going in the screen game, which is essentially an extension of the outside running game. You can get him down the field in the passing game, but he is not going to be the type of guy that KC Concepcion (2025 first round selection) was that could get down the field, stem a route, and he can get open for you. Craver is probably more of a yards-after catch guy. He's going to have to get some help in that regard, the other wide outs running their routes and providing windows for him to get the football if they don't get him going in the screen game. He can have a big game if you're paying attention to a Horton or Concepcion. We saw that happen against teams like Notre Dame. But he may not be a guy that's necessarily going to do that every game. They're also going to have to keep feeding Horton, especially when they get in the red zone, especially when they get in third downs. One last thing, they do seem to miss Concepcion because he was the type of guy that could take a very low risk play and he could make it a very high reward play. Concepcion was both a security blanket and a big play guy, and now they're both not getting the ball down the field or protecting it without him.

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Teams: Texas A&M

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