Can Texas A&M have a resurgent year?

College Station, Texas — A brisk February weekend at Blue Bell Park felt more like therapy than baseball for the Texas A&M Aggies. Back-to-back victories over Tennessee Tech pushed the Maroon & White to 2-0, but the subdued celebration inside the dugout hinted at a program still haunted by the nightmare of 2025.

Twelve months removed from a College World Series run that had fans dreaming of a first national title, A&M unraveled with historic speed. The preseason No. 1 team slipped out of the Top 25 before March and ultimately missed the NCAA Tournament altogether, the first top-ranked squad ever to do so. The collapse cost legendary coach Jim Schlossnagle his job—he left for rival Texas—and elevated former hitting coach Michael Early to the top spot. After a 2025 flame-out, Year 2 has already become a referendum on Early’s leadership.

“Every single thing is on me,” Early said after Sunday’s 9-4 series-clinching win. “Every part of the program, you’re responsible for it.”

The external skepticism is palpable. SEC coaches pegged the Aggies to finish 13th in the 16-team league, and eight regulars from a year ago are gone to the MLB Draft. Yet inside the clubhouse, optimism rests on the shoulders of three high-impact juniors who barely saw the field during the debacle.

Outfielder Caden Sorrell, a projected top-10 pick when healthy, played only 26 games in 2025 before a hamstring and right-hand injury shut him down. In that limited window he slashed .337 with 12 homers and 32 RBI. Sorrell bypassed the draft, citing loyalty to Early, who recruited him in high school.

“The coaches were a big part,” Sorrell said of his return. “Taking it one day at a time, getting one percent better each day—that’s the mindset.”

He’s joined by preseason All-SEC third baseman Gavin Grahovac, whose freshman campaign featured a school-record 23 home runs. A shoulder injury limited Grahovac to six games last spring, but the junior says the rehab process has refocused his approach.

“Every athlete needs adversity,” Grahovac noted. “I’m blessed to be here right now.”

On the mound, redshirt junior right-hander Shane Sdao will take the ball on Friday nights after missing all of 2025 with elbow issues. Early calls Sdao “right on track” and still a top-150 professional prospect. If the 6-foot-4 Texan can anchor the rotation, the Aggies believe a thin pitching staff could outperform modest projections.

The early-season schedule offers little breathing room. After Tennessee Tech, A&M faces a gauntlet of ranked opponents designed to rebuild an at-large tournament résumé. Early insists the outside noise—13th-place predictions, restless fans, a seat that warms with every loss—won’t steer the daily process.

“The fans don’t like us losing or having a bad season,” he acknowledged. “It’s a new year. It’s a new team.”

Two wins do not erase a season that many supporters would prefer to forget, but they represent the first steps toward redemption. If Sorrell, Grahovac and Sdao stay healthy, and if Early can coax production from a retooled lineup, the Aggies have the talent to make the SEC’s skepticism look foolish.

Whether that translates into a regional berth—or more—will determine whether 2026 becomes the year Texas A&M climbed out of its self-dug hole, or the season that cemented a regime change. For now, the resurgence is less a declaration than a question, asked daily inside Blue Bell Park: Can Texas A&M have a resurgent year? The answer begins with staying healthy, winning series, and proving that 2025 was an anomaly rather than the new normal.