Too many quality quarterbacks?

That’s a good problem to have, and Jaylen Henderson made that case for Texas A&M a few days ago.

Lost in all the commotion surrounding the firing of Jimbo Fisher is the fact that the future head coach will have plenty of options behind center, assuming he can sell certain young men on staying in College Station.

Who said this game was difficult to play? What’s all this talk about problems with offense? Red zone troubles? What red zone troubles? This game is simple. It’s a piece of cake. Just ask Henderson, the Aggies’ starter on Saturday night.

The sophomore transfer from Fresno State stepped in for the injured Max Johnson, who was subbing for the injured Conner Weigman. All Henderson did in his first collegiate start was account for 210 total yards, passing and rushing, and 4 TDs in the Aggies’ 51-10 thrashing of Mississippi State. Not a bad debut.

Fisher’s fate was already sealed at the time, but Henderson at least sent the 6th-year head coach off on a winning note.

In front of an appreciative home crowd at Kyle Field, Henderson toiled coolly and calmly like a seasoned veteran, took command of the Aggies’ offense, and moved the team up and down the field in a way Aggieland hasn’t seen in quite a while.

Texas A&M scored points on 8 of 11 drives in the game. In 7 1st half drives, Henderson drove the Aggies to 6 scores and a 34-10 halftime advantage. His leadership had the Aggies in control for the majority of the game.

He made it look easy for a team that’s had its difficulties throughout the 2023 season. He rushed 22 yards for a touchdown and 11 yards for another score. The left-hander threw TD passes of 19 and 11 yards to Ainias Smith and Jahdae Walker respectively.

He looked like anything but a 3rd string quarterback. He completed 11 of 19 passes for 150 yards and rushed 12 times for 60 yards. It was both a surprising as well as impressive performance from a quarterback who had thrown only 8 passes previously in his college career.

Sure, Weigman is the 5-star future of the program, assuming he stays, and Johnson is the crafty veteran backup. But where has this guy been? Granted he doesn’t have the credentials that either Weigman or Johnson have, but Henderson appears to have the “it” factor, that intangible that can’t be measured but is clearly evident.

The 6-3, 220-pound Californian has all the physical tools to be successful. He could and should be playing somewhere for somebody. On Saturday, he was playing for Texas A&M, and doing it very well. Well enough, in fact, to cause one to ponder the possibility of more playing time, either in College Station or perhaps in another locale.

The redshirt sophomore has plenty of eligibility remaining and based on Saturday’s performance could make some program a solid leader. He put on a heck of an audition, if that’s what Saturday’s performance turns out to be. A&M’s future coach likely will be among those kicking the tires.

The victory on Saturday made the Aggies (6-4, 4-3 SEC) bowl eligible heading into their Week 11 matchup with Abilene Christian. It’s a game in which the Aggies should be heavily favored under interim coach Elijah Robinson. Should they take care of business, they would go into the season finale at LSU with a chance for an 8-win regular season.

The Aggies have won 8 regular season games in 3 of the last 5 years under Fisher. It was their ceiling under the highly paid name coach who arrived in 2018 with an impressive resume. The Aggies haven’t won more than 8 regular season games since 2012 when Johnny Manziel was the quarterback for the 11-2 Aggies. That was 1 of only 3 times this century that Texas A&M has won more than 8 games in a regular season.

It’s a tall ask for Texas A&M to reach that mark this season. It would mean winning on Saturday and then beating LSU in Baton Rouge. Winning on the road is something the Aggies haven’t done in quite a while – 9 games to be exact.

But this is a new era, and the program has some talented players — especially at the QB position.