KC and Craver: Why Did It Take Us Ten Years to Find You?

I cannot believe I am about to say this, but Texas A&M finally has wide receivers. Real ones. Dangerous ones. Receivers who don’t just exist to run cardio for sixty minutes. KC Concepcion and Mario Craver are the two most exciting toys Aggie fans have seen in a long time.

Which brings us to the question we all have to ask. Why did it take a decade to find them?

The Wasteland Years

Last season the wide receiver room was a disaster. There was no separation. No consistency. No fear factor for opposing defenses. The top option, Noah Thomas, is now at Georgia. Do you know how often he is catching passes there? Rarely. He is barely targeted. That tells you everything about how empty our “WR1” label really was last season.

Aggie receivers have been stuck in purgatory for years. Talented on paper. Ineffective on Saturdays. Big bodies. Big ratings. Small results. Watching them try to run routes felt like watching someone trying to drive stick shift for the first time.

KC and Craver Change the Math

Now we have KC Concepcion and Mario Craver. KC looks like he was born to wear maroon. He can play inside. He can line up outside. He can catch a bubble screen and turn it into an 80-yard punt return touchdown. He is the definition of explosive.

Craver is smooth and quick. He is the kind of player who makes a corner panic before the ball is even snapped. Eight catches for 122 yards last week against UTSA. He looked like he had been waiting his whole life to wear Kyle Field’s lights.

These two are already producing highlight plays. They are already creating space. And most importantly, they make Marcel Reed’s job so much easier. For once in forever, the quarterback has weapons who can actually win their matchups.

Why Did This Take So Long?

This is what drives Aggie fans insane. It is not like A&M has never recruited highly rated wideouts. We have had four stars. We have had big recruits. But for whatever reason, development has been nonexistent. The last decade has been a parade of “next up” receivers who never materialized.

Why? Bad scheme. Bad development. Bad fits. Maybe all three. But now with KC and Craver, you see how modern football works when your receivers actually stress defenses.

How Do You Stop Them?

Let’s say I am on the other sideline. I have to come up with a plan to slow down Texas A&M’s offense. How do I do it?

First, bracket KC Concepcion. You cannot let him work the middle of the field. He is too quick in space. Roll a safety down. Make him run into traffic.

Second, double Mario Craver on third downs. He is Reed’s comfort target when the play matters most. Take him away. Force Reed to look elsewhere.

Third, spy Marcel Reed. He has legs. If you don’t keep him contained, he will scramble for backbreaking yards. A linebacker with speed has to mirror him.

Finally, load the box against Le’Veon Moss. If the Aggies get the run game going, everything else becomes impossible to stop. Make them beat you one-dimensional.

That is the game plan. The problem is you cannot cover all of it. If you sell out to stop Moss, KC will roast you on a slant. If you double Craver, Reed can run. If you spy Reed, Moss gets loose. Pick your poison.

The New Standard

The fact that we even have this conversation is a miracle. A&M finally has wideouts who scare people. KC and Craver are the beginning of a new identity.

The bigger question is why it took so long to get here. Why was there an entire decade where the receiver room was a graveyard of broken promises? Why did it take this coaching staff change, this QB change, and this new injection of playmakers to finally look modern?

I don’t have the answer. But I do know this. If KC and Craver are what they looked like last week, then the Aggies finally have the formula. A real quarterback. Real receivers. A real run game.

Let’s see how they do against a real test in Notre Dame this weekend.

TomAg