Jun 30, 2026 5:15 PM
Texas A&M football landed eight preseason All-Texas selections, led by Mario Craver, Marcus Ratcliffe and a transfer-heavy group built for 2026.
Texas A&M football isn’t sneaking into 2026.
The Aggies are walking in with receipts, hype and eight players on Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Preseason All-Texas College Team - a pretty loud reminder that Mike Elko’s roster has real statewide muscle heading into September.
The headliners are wide receiver Mario Craver, offensive lineman Wilkin Formby, linebacker Ray Coney and safety Marcus Ratcliffe, who all earned first-team honors.
Offensive lineman Mark Nabou Jr., running back Rueben Owens II, cornerback Rickey Gibson III and defensive end Anto Saka landed on the second team.
Craver is the name that jumps off the page first. He’s coming off a monster junior season with 59 catches, 917 receiving yards and four touchdowns, plus 81 rushing yards and another score.
He finished sixth in the SEC in receiving yards, earned FWAA Second Team All-America recognition and became a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist.
His 207-yard explosion at Notre Dame, including an 86-yard touchdown, was the kind of performance that changes defensive game plans fast.
Ratcliffe gives Texas A&M a proven tone-setter in the secondary. He finished 2025 with 65 tackles and three pass breakups, while Pro Football Focus credited him with an 80.3 defensive grade.
That ranked sixth among SEC safeties, which tells you he wasn’t just active — he was efficient.
The trenches may be where the Aggies really flex. Formby arrives from Alabama after starting 14 games in 2025 and getting flagged only twice in 816 snaps.
His 82.1 pass-blocking grade ranked third among SEC offensive linemen with at least 500 pass-blocking snaps. Nabou, meanwhile, brings 21 career starts and helped power an Aggies offense that ranked third nationally in tackles for loss allowed.
Coney could be one of the most important additions on defense. At Tulsa, he piled up 129 tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks while serving as a team captain.
That production wasn’t empty-calorie stat chasing. He led the American Conference in tackles and now brings that downhill edge to College Station.
Saka adds juice off the edge after posting 30 pressures and an 84.1 pass-rush grade at Northwestern, while Gibson gives Texas A&M another experienced SEC corner after three seasons at Tennessee.
Then there’s Owens, who led the Aggies with 639 rushing yards and five touchdowns in 2025. Put it all together, and Texas A&M won’t be short on star power when Missouri State visits Kyle Field on Sept. 5.
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