USA TODAY Sports' Paul Myerberg gives his biggest surprises and takeaways from the top 25 ranked teams in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll. USA TODAY Sports
Santino Marchiol had no difficulty deciding in June that he needed to leave Texas A&M. The hard choice was how to get his football career moving as quickly as possible at the highest level possible.
A four-star linebacker who enrolled at College Station in January 2017, he was hopeful even after his redshirt season ended with Kevin Sumlin’s firing and Jimbo Fisher’s arrival. Backed by a 10-year, $75 million contract, Fisher had vowed to make a culture change that would lift the Aggies into college football’s elite.