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Gigem 247's Jeff Tarpley appeared on Your Afternoon Stretch with host Glenn "Stretch" Smith to discuss Texas A&M's 2-0 start to the 2026 campaign. Smith asked "who are your surprising players on defense so far this year? Who are some players who have kind of shown out to you they may be playing at a little better level than what I thought they could play at?" It's interesting because you got guys like T.J. Searcy, who is not necessarily thought of as pass rusher. He was kind of miscast as an edge rusher at Florida. He transfers to College Station and A&M makes him more of a strong side end. He's six foot six, he's got a lot of length, he's really good technically. He's very valuable at setting the edge. However, when A&M needed a big play on Arizona State side of the football, he was able to lock the tackle opposite him with his hands. He was able to push him back into quarterback Cutter Boley, the ball pops up in the air, and the other end, Marco Jones, returns it for a touchdown. That was one of several pressures for him in that contest. That basically opened the flood gates for the Aggies and signaled that it was game over. Another guy is cornerback Julio Humphrey, who didn't win a starting job last season after transferring over from Georgia. He struggled to find the ball in the air, you know, on longer throws, getting his head turned around, that type of thing. If you watched any of A&M's workouts prior to the start of the season, you saw him make some strides in that regard. He's certainly been a much better player this season than last season, or when he was at Georgia in 2024 when he actually lost his starting job. He had the pick six on Saturday, he jumped the screen route just like Elko teaches everybody to do. A&M's very, very good at defending screens, very aggressive at attacking the blockers and intended targets. Another guy who is making a lot of his opportunity is an underclassman linebacker, Noah Mikhail. A&M really hasn't missed Daymion Sanford that much due to his injury, and it has given Mikhail more reps in practice and now games to show off what he can do. Mikhail has been able to hold up well, he's been able to get people lined up, he's been able to be in position, he doesn't get beat a lot, there's not a lot of big plays on his watch that are his responsibility. I think he's been pretty solid for the Aggies given the shoes that he is filling. I think from that standpoint, those are the guys that are standing out so far, that going into the season that you didn't maybe know what to expect from them, or you thought you knew what to expect from them based on what you have seen from them in the past. Instead, they've turned out to provide the Aggies with quite a bit more production, and they have been pleasant surprises for Mike Elko and his team.