What we all assumed to be true is finally confirmed
Ever since Conner Weigman started four of A&M’s last five games of the 2022 season as a true freshman, it’s been assumed that the former five-star would be the starter entering the 2023 season. But throughout spring practice and the majority of fall camp, Jimbo Fisher has maintained the notion that the starting spot was still up for grabs, seemingly between Weigman and redshirt junior Max Johnson. But that competition seemingly ended today, as Fisher announced at his game week press conference that Conner Weigman will be the Aggies’ starting quarterback for the season opener against New Mexico on Sept. 2.
This QB competition seemed to play out similarly to previous ones under Jimbo Fisher, with one player entering fall camp as the clear favorite, and eventually taking over the majority of first team reps. The past two years it was Haynes King (now the starter at Georgia Tech) winning that battle over Zach Calzada/Max Johnson. A&M hopes to see better results this time around, both from a health and production standpoint.
Weigman threw for 805 yards, 8 TD and 0 INTs in his four starts in 2022. While those aren’t eye-popping stats, it’s also more than respectable for a true freshman, especially given some truly miserable weather in both the Auburn and UMass games. If you look at just his starts against Ole Miss and LSU, he averaged 246.5 yards, 3 TDs per game with a 64.5% completion percentage. If he maintained that over a 12-game schedule, you’re looking at 2,958 yards and 36 TD passes, which would be the second-most yards and the most TD passes for an A&M QB since Johnny Manziel left following the 2013 season.
The Aggies will also hope that Weigman will benefit from improved offensive line play (A&M returns every offensive starter except RB Devon Achane), an extremely talented WR corps and an improved offensive scheme under new OC Bobby Petrino.
Behind Weigman, A&M’s QB depth has also improved from the past several years. Fourth year player Max Johnson represents perhaps the most experienced backup in college football, and that is supplemented by Fresno State transfer Jaylen Henderson and true freshman Marcel Reed.
Based on his five-star pedigree and the offensive talent around him, big things are expected of Weigman in 2023. We’ll begin finding out whether those expectations will be realized when the season kicks off at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 2, against New Mexico.