Bye Week Only Thing Slowing Down Texas A&M’s Christian Kirk’s All-American Season

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

Texas A&M enters Week 6 of the 2015 college football season on a well-deserved bye. The Aggies started the season unranked but have soared to a No. 9 AP spot in the polls with a 5-0 record. The unblemished mark includes two conference wins putting the Aggies tied with No. 7 LSU atop the SEC West.

The meat and potatoes of A&M’s season is still ahead with No. 8 Alabama at home in Week 7 followed by the team’s first trip outside the Lone Star State in a Week 8 showdown in Oxford against No. 14 Ole Miss. The final game on the schedule might be for all the marbles with a road trip to Death Valley to face No. 7 LSU.

The Aggies meteoric rise in the polls to SEC West title contenders and college football playoff hopefuls can be attributed to several positives like a much improved defense under new coordinator John Chavis but one individual has stood out among an extremely talented bunch, true freshman wide receiver/return specialist Christian Kirk.

The freshman has lived up to his 5- and 4-star recruiting rankings out of Scottsdale setting the tone for the Aggies offense and special teams from Game 1 of the season. Against then No. 15 Arizona State, Kirk took an early second quarter punt 79 yards to the house putting the Aggies up 14-0. When ASU was threatening in the fourth quarter, sophomore quarterback Kyle Allen found his freshman sensation on a simple pass that went for a 66-yard touchdown pushing the game back to a two score contest at 31-17.

Kirk started his collegiate career off with a six catch, 106 yard performance in the passing game with one score and a special teams touchdown.

In Game 2 against Ball State, Kirk contributed to a lopsided 56-23 win pushing the score to 49-3 on a late second quarter 10-yard touchdown reception. Lost in the stat line was a first quarter punt return for 24 yards that kept his team off their own goal line setting up an Allen to Josh Reynolds score and an early second quarter 56 yard punt return taken to the 30 yard line setting up a four-play scoring drive with Allen finding Jordan Davis on a 3-yard pitch and catch.

In Game 3, Kirk was dominate against Nevada with game-highs in receptions with six for 120 yards. Against Arkansas in Game 4, the Aggies needed every yard they could get in a 28-21 overtime win. Kirk got A&M on the board early in the second quarter on a 44-yard touchdown reception and then struck again on the second play in overtime when Allen hit him on a 20-yard touchdown route. Kirk blistered the Hogs for 173 yards on eight receptions in his first SEC game.

Before the bye, A&M welcomed No. 21 Mississippi State to College Station with an offensive fury ending in 516 yards amassed with 322 coming in the passing attack. Kirk pulled down a team-high eight passes for 77 yards helping keep drives alive throughout the game.

Kirk’s statistical line for the season: 32 receptions, 519 yards with four touchdowns. He is averaging 16.2 yards per reception and 103.8 receiving yards per game. He is leading the Aggies in punt return yards with 190 on seven attempts with one score and in kick return yards with 227 on 11 tries.

If the stat line has not impressed perhaps a fair comparison against the rest of the country will help put the mid-season accomplishments into perspective. Kirk is fifth in the nation in all-purpose yards per game averaging 191.6. The players he trails includes No. 1 Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey, No. 2 San Jose State running back Tyler Ervin, No. 3 LSU running back Leonard Fournette, and No. 4 Temple running back Jahad Thomas. The next closest wide receiver is Syracuse’s Brisly Estime at No. 11. The next closest freshman is TCU receiver Kavontae Turpin at No. 46.

Kirk is No. 11 in the nation in total receiving yards. What makes this stat all the more impressive is the cast of receivers around him on the Aggies’ roster. Josh Reynolds, Ricky Seals-Jones, Damion Ratley, and Speedy Noil are all impressive playmakers. Reynolds is a No. 1 receiver on any other team in the nation. That opinion is backed up with his 2014 performance pulling down 52 passes for a team-high 842 yards while setting an Aggies single-season record with 13 receiving touchdowns.

The scary thought for opposing SEC West defenses, when the 2016 season rolls around Reynolds will be gone due to graduation but Seals-Jones, Noil, and emerging true freshman Ratley will all be back anchored by Kirk and Allen in the pocket.

Due to the surrounding cast, Kirk may not end up with the overwhelming numbers Bowling Green’s Roger Lewis, TCU’s Josh Doctson, Baylor’s Corey Coleman, or Western Kentucky’s Taywan Taylor may produce but at this rate, given a little SEC bias, Kirk should be in consideration for All-American honors.

Adding to his wide receiver All-American credentials is the opportunity to be an All-American return specialist. Kirk is fifth in the nation in total return yards with 417. Maryland’s William Likely is leading the nation with 603 return yards having returned a national-high 15 punts for 360 yards.

Return yards, like catching passes, are subject to variables out of the player’s hands like the opposition scoring points and punting. When the ball is punted or kicked off against A&M, will the opposition kick in Kirk’s direction? If the Aggies defense continues to improve on defense, Kirk will have more opportunities to return punts giving their freshman a chance to keep in the race.

Another potential advantage Kirk will have over some of the other competitors is an SEC Championship Game. If the Aggies can upend Alabama, Ole Miss, and LSU, or manage to win the tie breaker as a one-loss team, the extra game can pad the numbers.

There is no doubt Kirk will be a freshman All-American as long as he stays on the field. The only question remaining is how the various All-American voters will view Kirk’s season is finished.

Photo credit: Tony Gutierrez; Christian Kirk hauls in overtime touchdown pass against the Arkansas Razorbacks in Week 4.