The Texas A&M football team opens the season in Lamar and takes on the College Station-based head coach

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Preparations for Texas A&M’s football season opener Thursday at Lamar began about three years ago.

During the 2021 season and the three seasons prior, the Aggies coaching staff connected with then-volunteer assistant coach Nathan Kogut, a College Station native who was working his way through the football coaching ranks.

On Thursday, the Aggies will make an unusual preseason trip to a non-major opponent. The game against Lamar begins at 7 p.m. For those in the soccer program, it’s a chance to support one of their own while also getting some preseason game practice.

“We’re good friends. We were texting yesterday and I threw him some lineups that we probably wouldn’t play,” joked A&M assistant coach Phil Stephenson, who attended Kogut’s wedding.

Kogut, a graduate of A&M Consolidated, has progressed through various levels of men’s and women’s college soccer before landing at A&M in 2018. In his two years at Beaumont, the Cardinals have won two Southland Conference regular season championships.

Kogut told A&M’s coaches when he left that he had asked them to give him two years so they could start a streak that would keep the two programs close together.

“The fact that they not only wanted to come but wanted to start their year in Beaumont says a lot about how they view our program,” Kogut said. “They easily could have written a check and said, ‘Come join us for the next couple of years,’ but I think they know what we’re about and that’s why it’s a cool thing. It’s a privilege.”

A&M’s seniors are the last remaining players who worked under Kogut’s tutelage, including forward MaKhiya McDonald.

“He’s really helped me and my teammates grow as players,” McDonald told KBTX. “So it’ll be really nice to see him as head coach and play against him just to show how well we’ve grown as players.”

The game also gives the Aggies a chance to see how they’ve improved on offense. The Aggies lost five attackers last season due to eligibility and the transfer portal, including three of their top five players in terms of points: forward Maile Hayes and midfielder Carissa Boeckmann. Hayes, who transferred to Southern Cal, had four goals and three assists last season, while Boeckmann, who transferred from Florida State, had six assists and scored two goals.

Sammy Smith, Laney Carroll and Lauren Geczik all used their remaining eligibility.

Strengthening the Aggie offense was the biggest priority in the offseason, Stephenson said.

“We needed help there and I think we did a pretty good job of doing that. I call it speed dating because instead of watching these kids for years and spending a lot of time with them, we basically have one day to make our offer to them,” Stephenson explained.

A&M has signed five offensive players through the transfer portal, all of whom have scored goals. Sophomore Kennedy Clark had six assists and three goals for Xavier last season; graduate transfer Bri Severns had to work through injuries the past two seasons but scored six goals and six assists for Kansas in the 2021 season; and Allison Lowrey had six goals and four assists for Rutgers last season.

Midfielder Leah Pirro was named to the United Soccer Coaches’ preseason All-American watch list on Monday after recording 13 assists and two goals for Grand Canyon last year.

Finally, former South Carolina forward Shae O’Rourke transferred to Aggieland, but will miss the season due to a torn ACL suffered in the Aggies’ final spring game.

“They have some kids that are challenging and I think he can give us a hard time. We just have to be smart and disciplined,” Kogut revealed.

The Aggies also return leading scorer Jazmine Wilkinson, midfielders Sydney Becerra and Mia Pante, and striker McDonald.

“We lost some really good players, so it was critical that the coaches brought in exceptional players,” McDonald said. “I think they’ve done a great job of finding guys on and off the field. I feel like our chemistry is just constantly growing, and you can see that on the field, you hear a lot of people talking, communicating, and that’s just good to see, in the first two (preseason) games and now before our first regular season game.”

A&M had two 1-0 wins against Rice and SMU before the start of the regular season.

Kogut will be a familiar face when the team comes to town, but much of what Beaumont feels like is similar to what the Aggie football program has. After all, it’s a program built on the experiences and relationships Kogut has built while working in Aggieland under that coaching staff.

“I’ve worked very hard to get where I am now. I wouldn’t have made it here if I hadn’t spent four years doing basically a PhD in program development and execution with (head coach G Guerrieri), Phil and everyone else,” Kogut added.

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