Aggies Kick Off 2021 Season Against Kent State

No. 6 Texas A&M opens the 2021 season and the fourth year of the Jimbo Fisher era Saturday night at Kyle Field when the Aggies host the Kent State Golden Flashes.

Game 1: Texas A&M (0-0) vs Kent State (0-0)

• Saturday, September 4 • 7:02 p.m. (CT)
• Kyle Field (102,733)
• TV: ESPNU
• Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network, Sirius 211, XM 202
• Live Audio: 12th Man Mobile app
• Live Stats: Click Here

What to Watch For

• The Aggies and Golden Flashes meet for the first time as A&M faces its first non-conference opponent in the regular season since topping UTSA, 45-14, at Kyle Field in November of 2019.
• Junior RB Isaiah Spiller, who ranked third in the SEC in yards per game (103.60) and total yards (1,036) last season, is 18 rushing yards away from 2,000 for his career (1,982).
• Spiller, along with classmates WR Ainias Smith and TE Jalen Wydermyer, combined to tally eight 100-yard games and nine multi-touchdown games last season.
• Wydermyer is 47 yards away from becoming the fourth A&M tight end in program history to tally 1,000 receiving yards, entering the week with 953 yards ... His 12 career touchdown catches are the most by a tight end at A&M, while his next TD reception will move him into the top 10 among all players in program history.
• Freshman QB Haynes King will make his first start under center after being named QB1 during fall camp ... King appeared in two games last season, showing off his speed at Alabama and connecting on his first touchdown pass at South Carolina.
• The Aggies return 12 of their top 15 tacklers from 2020’s top-10 defense, nine being starters, which is the most returning starters on an A&M top-10 defense since the 1986 season.
• Graduate DB Myles Jones cracked the top 10 on A&M’s and the SEC’s career passes defended lists last season, sitting at 10th all-time at A&M and eighth in SEC history with 28 breakups to-date.

Quick Hits

• Texas A&M is coming off of one of its most impressive seasons in program history, making its first appearance in a New Year’s 6 bowl game and boasting a No. 4 ranking in both the AP and Coaches polls by season’s end.
• The defending Orange Bowl Champs posted a 9-1 mark on the year for the highest winning percentage (.900) since going undefeated (10-0-1, .955) in 1994.
• A&M closed out the 2020 season on an eight-game win streak, including seven straight against SEC opponents, stringing together the most consecutive victories since the 1998 season (10).
• Last season, 86-percent of the Aggies’ rushing yards and 91-percent of their receiving yards came from freshmen and sophomores ... Thirty-six of their 41 touchdowns were scored by freshmen and sophomores.
• The Aggies are 15-3 (.833 win pct.) at Kyle Field under Jimbo Fisher ... In the five seasons prior to Fisher’s arrival, the Aggies were 23-12 on their home turf (.657).
• Quick starts have been a harbinger of Aggie victories in the Jimbo Fisher era ... The Aggies are 19-4 when scoring first and a perfect 18-0 when leading after the first quarter.
• Under DC Mike Elko, the Aggies ranked in the top 35 in total defense in 2018 (No. 32), 2019 (No. 29) and 2020 (No. 9) FBS statistical rankings ... Prior to Elko’s arrival, the Aggies hadn’t ranked in the top 50 nationally in more than a decade (since 2006).

Milestone Watch

• Junior RB Isaiah Spiller needs 18 rushing yards to reach 2,000 for his career as he enters the week with 1,982 career yards on the ground ... He needs 60 yards to crack the top 20 on A&M’s all-time career rushing yards list.
• Junior TE Jalen Wydermyer needs one touchdown reception to move into the top 10 on A&M’s career receiving TD’s list ... Wydermyer’s 12 career touchdown grabs is already a school record among tight ends.
• Wydermyer is also in need of 47 receiving yards to hit the century mark for his career, entering the week with 953 in his first two seasons.
• Graduate DB Myles Jones is climbing A&M’s career pass breakups list with 28 to-date, and needs just one PBU to move into a tie for eighth all-time with Dustin Harris (09-12) and Sammy Davis (99-02) ... Jones’ PBU career total is also good for eighth on the SEC’s all-time list.
• Senior PLK Seth Small needs one PAT to move into the top five all-time at A&M ... He currently sits in sixth, having connected on 127 of his 128 career attempts.

Three-Headed Monster

• Juniors WR Ainias Smith and RB Isaiah Spiller, along with sophomore RB Devon Achane have become a reliable and unstoppable force for the Aggies ... The trio combined to score 24 of A&M’s 41 total touchdowns last season.
• Spiller was A&M’s most consistent performer in the backfield least season and finished the year third in the SEC in rushing ... He averaged 103.6 yards per game and scored at least one touchdown in six of A&M’s eight straight victories to close out the season.
• Spiller was a Doak Walker Award semifinalist in 2020 after tallying six 100-yard games through an all-SEC regular season ... He rushed for 15- plus yards on 32 occasions last year, which is the most among all returning SEC running backs.
• Smith will still be utilized in the backfield, despite making the move back to receiver in the offseason ... He flexed his versatility last year as he led the Aggies with 10 total touchdowns, six through the air and four on the ground.
• Smith is already the only player in school history with 200+ career yards in rushing (347), receiving (812), punt return (265) and kick return (257) ... The rarity has only been achieved by 14 SEC players, including notables like Carnell “Cadillac” Williams of Auburn, Randall Cobb of Kentucky and Chris Rainey of Florida.
• Achane was second on the team and second among SEC freshman RBs with 364 rushing yards on the season, scoring four times on the ground and once through the air ... His biggest performance of the year earned him Orange Bowl MVP honors after tallying 140 yards on 12 carries, making two trips to the end zone.
• Smith and Achane are the only players on the roster to have scored a rushing and receiving touchdown in the same game in their career ... Smith did so against Arkansas and at Tennessee last season, while Achane hauled in a 52-yard bomb and used a 3-yard run to return to the end zone on the very next drive at South Carolina

Wydermyer Setting the Standard

• Junior TE Jalen Wydermyer continues to set the bar for A&M tight ends, as his 12 career TD receptions are the most in program history by a tight end ... Wydermyer is 47 receiving yards away from 1,000 in his career, as he looks to become the fourth Aggie TE to eclipse the century mark in the category.
• Wydermyer has scored six touchdowns in each of his first two seasons, the second-most in a season by a tight end in program history ... He continues to chase Jace Sternberger’s 10 TD receptions in 2018.
• Last year, Wydermyer was the Aggies’ leader with 29 catches for first downs ... He also led the team with 14 catches for first downs on third-down plays.
• The Mackey Award finalist did the most damage in the Aggies’ two games vs. top-five opponents last season, tallying a combined 13 receptions for 135 yards against No. 2 Alabama and No. 4 Florida.

Green Anchors O-Line

• Junior OL Kenyon Green enters his third year as a starter and first as a veteran leader on a young offensive line as the Aggies look to replace four multi-year starters, all of whom have landed on preseason NFL rosters.
• Green, a consensus All-American and 2020 Outland Trophy semifinalist, has made 23 consecutive starts, which stands as the most on the current roster.
• Last season, A&M became the first school in the last 10 years to lead the SEC in sacks allowed (0.7), tackles for loss allowed (3.8) and yards per carry (5.45) in the same season.
• Green and the rest of the Maroon Goons also helped clear the way for RB Isaiah Spiller, who ranked top-three in the league in a number of rushing categories, and Orange Bowl MVP RB Devon Achane, as A&M posted the second-best rushing offense in the SEC last year.