In the biggest win of the Mike Elko era of Texas A&M Aggies’ football to date, sophomore wide receiver Mario Craver proved that he has what it takes to be a superstar.
The signs were there over the first two weeks of the season. Craver started out his Aggies’ career with an eight-catch, 122-yard, and two-touchdown performance against UTSA in the season opener. He then followed that up with five catches for 114 yards and a touchdown against Utah State.
It was a blazing hot start for the Mississippi State transfer, but consider the competition. UTSA is an AAC program, and Utah State is in the Mountain West. No disrespect to those two programs or conferences, but those were games that Texas A&M and its players should have dominated.
It was a different story in Week 3, though, with a road game in South Bend against the then-No. 8-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Texas A&M came into the game ranked No. 16).
That was a real college football heavyweight battle, and it lived up to its billing.
The Aggies escaped South Bend with a last-second 41-40 win, and though quarterback Marcel Reed was the hero alongside tight end Nate Boerkircher for their fourth down touchdown connection that ultimately won the game with 13 ticks left on the clock, it was Craver who was the star of that game for the Aggies.
Mario Craver is a superstar for the Texas A&M Aggies
Forget the fact that he posted his third-straight game with over 100 receiving yards. 100-plus yards wasn’t enough for Craver, so he went for 200-plus.
The 5-foot-9, 165-pound speedster from Birmingham, Alabama, caught seven catches for 207 yards and a touchdown. That included this incredible play in the fourth quarter: