2006 Aggie Football Season Preview

TAMABINPO's 2006 Aggie Football Preview

The Future Is Now

"[College Football is] like a religion. It's like being a Catholic, or Methodist or Baptist or Presbyterian or Jewish. If you're an Alabama fan or a Florida fan or an LSU fan, you are true to that team always. You have an unshakable belief, a faith."
--Jackie Sherrill

Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you all to one of my favorite times of the year....the start of college football season. More specifically, the start of the Fightin' Texas Aggie football season.

I will start off this season preview as I have my previous season previews....with a little insight into my background as an Ag football fan. Most of you have heard me say (or read me say) that I didn't follow football at all until I stepped foot onto campus at A&M. The only two non-Westfield HS games (Go Mustangs!) that I had been to were Rice Owls games back when I was in middle school. The only two Aggie Football games I had seen on TV were the '99 texas game and the '99 Alamo Bowl. The '99 t.u. game is what sealed the deal in my collegiate decision process. Even though I've lived in Houston for my entire non-undergrad life I've never even been to an NFL game.

Despite my non-football background, every subsequent summer I get a stronger itch for Aggie football to start. To be quite honest, it has now surpassed the excitement level that builds when MLB or even Aggie baseball starts up in the spring.

I really loved going to football games my freshman year but it wasn't until after I started working for the athletic department as an attendance checker that I really started getting into it. It was different watching the games in '01 after I knew a chunk of the players.

Picking up NCAA Football 2002 for my PS2 helped accelerate everything....as did NCAA Football 2003, NCAA Football 2004, NCAA Football 2005, NCAA Football 2006....

Going into what will be my 7th football season as a student, I have missed only two home game since the start of the 2000 season and have road tripped to several away games. I missed the '04 OU game due to a friend's wedding and the '05 Texas State game thanks to Hurricane Rita.

Someone asked what Aggie football meant to me and this is what I had to tell them:

To me it's something that year in and year out I continue to become more passionate about.

I love going to Kyle Field with my friends (or family) and just going nuts. I love that we, as fans, can actually influence the results on the field with our enthusiasm.

I read Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St. John and he put it better than I could:

"On third down, as the State quarterback approaches the line, there is a sudden roar. It sounds like a massive waterfall, with the steady rumble of stomping feet on the low end and a singeing hiss of clapping hands on the high. My screams fill in the midrange. What am I saying? I have to stop to even notice: Comonbamaletsgodefensegobamagobamagodefense. Gibberish, in other words. And yet, who can tell, or cares? With the sudden spike in noise, the crowd seems to become aware of itself and of its power. It's exhilarating, and the exhilaration inspires us to scream even louder. A moment later, it happens again, as though the crowd is in a shouting match with itself. It's louder still. The decibel level ratchets upward--a graph of it would look like a staircase--McDougall's theory of intensification playing out in real time. Unnerved by the noise, a State lineman hops out of his stance--illegal motion. Our power is confirmed, and that's all it takes...The Bulldogs break the huddle and the roar begins anew, only still louder. Around me, fans are screaming and shaking their heads, mouths open, trying to muscle still more noise from the bottom of their throats, as though trying to shout rocks up a hill. I can feel the rumble through my heels. The State quarterback drops back and jogs right, under pressure. He throws the ball into his receiver's ankles, incomplete. It's our ball. We did it."

The crowd can become aware of it's self and to be a part of that is an awesome feeling (in the truest sense of the word). What an incredible rush, knowing that you're more than just a person in the stadium watching the game....you're actually contributing to the outcome on the field. The crowd is what makes the game so great. The greatest games I've been to at Kyle Field weren't even all wins....I remember those electric losses more than I remember most of our blowout wins.

That is why people are sports fans. I truly think that whatever it is that flows through your body during these moments of euphoria are like a drug and make you crave more....you need more and are willing to go through just about anything to get another fix. You live through all the bad and all the agony that comes with defeat to feel that feeling. And going through all that defeat and agony makes those great moments even sweeter.

Where else on earth can you completely release your feelings in such a primal way? I mean, after a big play I can simply howl at the top of my lungs for a good minute, just letting the joy spill out of my body.

That's what is so incredible about college sports. Think about how soccer fans in Europe go crazy....it's similar to collegiate athletics in that you are so completely committed to your team because you can't just pick and choose your team as the seasons go by....I'm an Aggie and no matter how much I like another college's sporting team there is nothing that they could do that could come close to the bond I have formed with my school.

It's that total release that you get that makes being a sports fan what it truly is. There simply aren't other outlets like that in our lives.

Aggie football gives me that.

I do need to warn you that while I have become obsessed with the college game I don't know a whole bunch about the Xs & Os of football, nor claim to, but I will give you my best analysis from one Aggie fan's stand point. In other words, I am not a professional scout or a team reporter but I, like thousands of other Aggies, live and die with Aggie football each and every Saturday.

Schedule

For the first time since I've been at school we don't have a single big name non-conference opponent on the schedule. We haven't had a weaker non-conference schedule since '99 (La-Tech, Tulsa, S.Miss) or '97 (Sam Houston, La-Lafayette, N.Texas). There is certainly an argument that can be made for this year's schedule being weaker than either of those two.

The best part of this schedule is how fan friendly the schedule is. We play seven games at Kyle Field and three games within a 3 hour drive of College Station (Army, Baylor, & texas). That means that I will be able to attend 10 of our 12 regular season games missing only the Kansas game and the Oklahoma State game.

2006 Fightin' Texas Aggie Schedule

Date Opponent        Time    TV
==================================
09/02 The Citadel    6:00pm   TBA
09/09 La-Lafayette   6:00pm   TBA
09/16 v. Army*       8:15pm  ESPN2
09/23 Louisiana Tech 6:00pm   TBA
09/30 texas tech     6:00pm   TBA
10/07 @Kansas         TBA     TBA
10/14 Missouri       1:00pm   TBA
10/21 @Ok State      6:00pm   TBA
10/28 @Baylor         TBA     TBA
11/04 Oklahoma       1:00pm   TBA
11/11 Nebraska       1:00pm   TBA
11/24 @texas        11:00am   ABC

*at Alamo Bowl in San Antonio

I wish Florida State was still on that schedule.

The weak non-conference schedule makes me nervous because we won't have a true concept of how good (or bad) we really are until we play texas tech in our 5th game of the season. We're going to feel very confident after our first four games and we, as fans, will start getting ahead of ourselves. It happened in '04 coming off of the Colorado win and it happened again in '05 coming off of the SMU win. Remember our guys should look good playing in those first four games. We should be pressuring the QB, and making big plays on offense. If we're not (ala. '05 Texas State) then we should realize there is some sort of problem. The real season starts on September 9th and I'm going to try to look at everything up to that point as preseason.

Also worth noting, we don't play a true road game until October 7th when we travel to Kansas.

I suppose I could look at it differently and say we have 4 games to get our defense adjusted to a new defensive coordinator and a new system and for our offense to get things rolling with a new starter at QB.

I still feel like I need to be cautious.

The other thing that worries me is that we don't have a single bye week until after week 11, just before the Lonestar Showdown. That is 11 games in 11 weeks which will really put pressure on our depth chart because guys won't have much time to heal up nicks and bruises.

We should be 4-0 going into the tech game. Thankfully, 3 of our 4 big games this year will be at Kyle Field as we host tech, Nebraska, and OU but travel to Austin. If they were away I would mark us down for 0-4 in that stretch but Kyle Field tends to have a way of leveling the playing field somewhat when we're underdogs.

Baylor has played us tough in the last two seasons but still, they are still 1-20 against us since '85. The key game of the season will once again be texas tech. If we come away from that game with a win then we will be 5-0 and should be favored at Kansas. If we win that tech game there is a chance of getting into November with a very nice record. Of course we always seem to lose a game we shouldn't and from the stretch of Kansas, Mizzou, OkSt, & Baylor I wouldn't be shocked if we drop one, especially with 3 of those games on the road (don't forget that we are 3-13 away from Kyle Field under Fran)

Away From Kyle Field:
2003: 0-5 (0-4 Big 12)
2004: 2-4 (2-2)
2005: 1-4 (1-3)
     3-13 with wins over KSU, ISU, OSU

Coach Fran will be under the microscope in virtually every game this year and cannot afford to lose any of those games that we will be favored in.

As for future schedules I don't know what to expect, ones as weak as this or ones like we've had in recent years with one marquee nonconference opponent on it. Coach Fran was quoted in the Eagle as saying:

Down the road, Franchione would like to play Notre Dame or possibly UCLA in the Rose Bowl. "Those games are good for recruiting," he said. "They're [also] good for the fans."

As far as I know, we still have Miami on schedule for '07 & '08 but Air Force and Michigan State have backed out from their series (I can't remember when Air Force was scheduled but I think Michigan State was in '09 & '10). I really don't mind playing patsies as long as we have one marquee non-conference game each year....and Army doesn't count as a marquee opponent.

Coach Fran

I love that jacket....if only we could get him a new belt

2006 is going to be HUUUUUGE for Coach Fran because Lord knows he is on the hot seat. I for one, and I know I'm part of a shrinking group, am giving Fran the benefit of the 2006 season before he loses me. I said a long time ago that I would give him until his first recruiting class gets through the system before I made my final decision and I'm sticking with my words.

Obviously, things haven't gone the way we hoped. There was the down right worse than horrible 4-8 2003, including 77-0. Fran lost a chunk of Ags after that game who, regardless of what happens next, will never stop holding that against him.

In 2004 we had a nice little 7-4 regular season against what would be one of the most difficult schedules in the nation. Three of those four losses were to BCS teams (Utah, texas, & OU). We got beat up in the Cotton Bowl (our biggest bowl game since the '99 Sugar Bowl) but fans were upbeat about future.

Last year we took a big step backwards going 5-6 and the fire turned up a notch on the seat Fran is sitting on. There were all sorts of rumors that there was a split amongst the players and some of our upperclassmen had basically quit on Fran. Whatever it was, we were bad. Really, our offense wasn't too bad especially considering the injuries it sustained to key guys. The defense, however, was right there in the category of "worst in school history".

This season I'm expecting at least 8 wins. That is what it is going to take for me and even then it's going to depend on how we looked (I'm tired of blowouts). If we lose to Baylor, or any of the first 4 games I might be out before the season is over. I don't know how I would feel if we lost to one of those five but beat texas or OU. That too would probably depend on how I felt we played. If we go 8-5 I'll take the same approach into next season raising the bar a little.

One difference I noticed from '04 to '05 was that in '04 team unity was stressed at almost every opportunity. Maybe it was stressed to the team in '05, I don't know, but if it was the media certainly didn't play it out like they did in '04. It seems like they're humming up the "team chemistry" motto for the '06 season.

The one final thing I wanted to mention in this section is that Fran made some coaching changes this off season. He fired defensive coordinator Carl Torbush, hired Gary Darnell to fill that role. I believe that it is this hiring that will decide Fran's future in Aggieland. Fran also brought in CB coach Van Malone, safeties coach Bill Clay, and WR coach Bob DeBesse. Pope moved from WR coach to RB coach to make room for DeBesse and fill the hole that previous RB coach Lee Fobbs left when he took the HC job at North Carolina A&T State University.

Offense

With Reggie McNeal getting hurt, the second half of last year's OU game ushered in the new era as Stephen McGee took the reigns joining Jorvorskie Lane, & Martellus Bennett becoming the new dangerous threesome to worry opponents. This year we get back some injured players and add an exciting new running back to the stable so I'm really looking forward to seeing how the offense looks.

TEAM STATISTICS                          TA
---------------------------------------------
SCORING.......................          352
 Points Per Game.............         32.0 (32)
RUSHING YARDAGE...............         2584
 Average Per Game............        234.9 (10)
 TDs Rushing.................           24
PASSING YARDAGE...............         2281
 Average Per Game............        207.4 (78)
 TDs Passing.................           19
TOTAL OFFENSE.................         4865
 Average Per Game............        442.3 (17)
TURNOVERS.....................           20  
 Fumbles/Lost................        25/10
 Interceptions...............           10 

SCORE BY QUARTERS     1st  2nd  3rd  4th  OT     Total
--------------------  ---  ---  ---  ---  ----      ---
Texas A&M...........   90   73   94   89    6  -   352

As much as people complained about last year's offense, we were really potent. We had the 2nd best total offense average in school history and the 7th most prolific scoring offense in school history. I don't think anyone can complain about that.

Top Aggie Offensive Seasons

       YPG    PPG
===================
2005:  442.3   32.0
-------------------
1997:  374.8   35.2
1993:  400.8   36.7
1991:  436.7   36.6
1990:  471.1   33.3
1986:  440.2   30.8
1950:  404.4   34.4

In fact, the offense under Fran has improved significantly in each of the three years he has been here.

Year   Total Offense    Scoring Offense
=======================================
2003    389.8 (48)         25.3 (70)
2004    428.4 (20)         28.4 (43)
2005    442.3 (17)         32.0 (32)

Even so, I don't think we ran the offense that was best fit to Reggie last year with the zone-read. I felt that Reggie was at his best when he dropped back to pass and ran when he was flushed out of the pocket (a.k.a. scrambling). I was really down on Fran as the season went on because it seemed as if he kept going further and further away from what I thought was our bread and butter.

He was asked the same thing and answered in one of his weekly "Friday With Fran" articles this off season.

....we are not an option offense. We are an offense that runs some option. Last year with most of our best receivers hurt, in order to move the football effectively later in the season, the option became our best method.

....

We look to have 60-40 to 50-50 in running and throwing – and it doesn’t matter which is 60, depending on what the opponent is giving us on defense – and we have made a commitment to the zone-read, which is a good off-tackle play vs. all defenses.

As much "coach speak" as Fran gives us, I actually buy into that answer. Remember that we had about a jillion of our wideouts down due to injury, including 3 of our 4 top pass catchers (L'Tydrick Riley, Chad Schroeder, & Earvin Taylor). We started running the ball a little more and kept with it as long as it was successful. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. In the process the legend of Jorvorskie Lane began.

Quarterbacks

Sporting the new jersey number

The biggest change in the offense from last year to this year is the starting quarterback.

Reggie left Aggieland with his name splattered across the record books but at the same time under a lot of criticism for the lack of success we had last year. I argued that most of the problems we had in the win column was a result of the defense. While I argued that, others argued that it was a lack of leadership that hurt us. I have no doubts that played a part but I think it was more the defense.

In McNeal's absence in the last 6 quarters of last year we got our first real taste of Stephen McGee. Regardless of his passing or running ability there are no doubts in my mind that exhibited a level of leadership I haven't seen on the field since I've been here. This leadership, his ability to run the option, and his recent number change (from #15 to #7) have led whisperings of the next Bucky Richardson.

McGee is really interesting because just about everyone came away from the texas game and the second half of the OU game feeling great about our future at QB. He has been in the program now for 3 springs, 3 summers, and will be heading into his 3rd fall as he enrolled in school before the spring of 2004 which netted him that extra spring and summer of practice.

In his first three appearances against opposing defenses he threw the ball very well completing 3-of-3 against SMU, 9-of-15 at Colorado, & 3-of-3 against Oklahoma State for a total of 200 yards and a completion percentage of a whopping 71.4% in those games. However, against Iowa State he was 0-of-3, at OU he was 0-of-6, and against texas he was 9-of-23 for a total of 83 yards and a completion percentage of only 28.1% in those three games. You have to admit, that is slightly concerning.

Earlier this summer when Jennifer was out of town I went back and watched each of the 175 snaps McGee took last year and charted the results of each of those. I had a detailed play-by-play excel document but when my computer crashed a couple of weekends ago I lost it. Thankfully, I had already uploaded the following chart and written a large portion of this section so it was preserved.

He sure loved throwing at Tellus.

I charted his incomplete passes and I'll run through them with you now....

• Colorado
• Tellus-At his feet
• Stutz-Too low and far out of his reach, grazes fingertips
• Thomas-Throwaway, Thomas was closest to ball
• Brown-High pass but Brown jumps and it bounces off his hands
• Franks-Thrown wildly and misses badly (almost picked off)
• STaylor-Dropped shovel pass
• Iowa State
• Franks-Thrown behind Franks
• Mobley-At his feet about a step behind him
• texas tech
• Mobley-At his feet
• Oklahoma
• Tellus
• Overthrown
• Wobbler over the middle
• Throwaway, Tellus closest to ball
• Throwaway, Tellus closest to ball
• Franks-Deep pass to goal line but overthrown
• Carter-Dropped
• texas
• Mobley
• Well overthrown
• Throwaway in Mobley's direction
• Dropped right through his fingertips
• Throwaway in Mobley's direction
• Interception-Under pressure just throws it right into the hands of t-sip
• Franks
• Thrown high but hits Franks's hands and is dropped as he comes down with it
• Deep pass overthrown by ~2 steps inside the 10
• Carter
• Deep pass overthrown by about a step at the goal line
• Tipped at LOS
• Tellus
• Overthrown by 2 or 3 steps
• Forced pass and deflected
• Tipped at LOS
• Throwaway in Tellus's direction
• Brown-Hit from behind as ball is thrown

The one thing that I am pleased to see from that list is he knows not to force things as 6 of his 29 INC passes were throwaways (21%). He's a smart kid and we know that turnovers are the key to winning ballgames (I'll redive into this issue later this week) so as long as he keeps throwing the ball away instead of forcing a bad pass I think we should be solid in the turnover game.

Now regardless of those mixed results we know he has the ability to throw the ball. His junior and senior years at Burnet HS he threw the ball better than I do than when no one is looking at the golf course. Burnet went 28-2 those two years with him at the helm.

    Att Comp %age Yards TD/INT
SO  176  93   53% 1,829  20/8
JR  276 155   56% 2,841  34/5
SR  313 196   63% 3,579  47/3

He finished his high school career with 8,256 yards passing and a 3A record 101 TD passes. While that is clearly not against DI opponents we know that he has the ability to throw the ball.

As we all saw in the OU and texas games, Stephen might not run a 4.3 like Reggie could but he runs the option very well. He picked up 235 yards on only 43 carries (for a whopping 5.5 ypc).

God help poor Stephen McGee if he doesn't quickly live up to the god status that has grown over the off-season in the minds of hungry fans. As hungry as some of our fans are it seems that if he gets picked twice in a ballgame he'll get dumped on just like Reggie. As fans we just need to keep in mind that he has one career start under his belt and that he isn't going to come out of the gate like a Heisman winner. We'll endure some growing pains but in the end I think this kid is going to finish his career with a lot of fans in his corner.

Senior Ty Branyon is our backup with RS-F Jamie McCoy and true freshman Jerrod Johnson coming after that.

Running Backs

Jorvorskie, C-Lew, & Michael Goodson (L to R)

We are going to run the snot out of the ball.

We finished 2005 with the 11th best rushing offense in the country and I don't see us spiraling away from that in '06.

Courtney Lewis had a rough year from a health standpoint but in his absence Jorvorskie Lane stepped in and then stepped all over our opponents. Add to that tandem the #4 running back recruit in the country, in Michael Goodson, and you get an idea of why I'm optimistic about our running game.

Here are our returning players who I expect to see get at least a few touches:

           Att Gain Loss  Net   Avg  TD Long Avg/G
==================================================
J.Lane     119  606   11  595   5.0   9   39  59.5
C.Lewis    109  735   12  723   6.6   7   73  80.3
S.McGee     43  300   65  235   5.5   2   49  29.4
B.Leone     19   73   18   55   2.9   1   16  18.3
C.Alexander  8   53    0   53   4.8   0   35   6.6
S.Taylor    18   83    1   82   4.6   0   14   4.6

I have read in several places that RS-F Keondra Smith played well in the spring and summer and should get some carries and obviously Michael Goodson will get some as well. It's going to be a crowded backfield but that's ok with me....it eases my mind what with C-Lew's health. Fran has said that we'll line up in more 2-back sets this year than last year as a result of our depth at running back.

I think it's really great that our top 2 backs averaged over 5 yards per carry. I took a look at C-Lew's last 34 carries of the year (his last 4 games) and he ran for an average of 10.74 yards per carry. That's crazy. Over those same 4 games Jorvorskie ran the ball 48 times for an average of 5.46 yards per carry. The amazing thing was that was against texas, OU, tech, & ISU. We have the perfect "thunder-and-lightning" tandum in our backfield.

Another interesting note is that on Jorvorskie's 9 TD runs he averaged only 2 yards/carry (five of them were 1 yard runs) which hurt his overall yards/carry because he simply couldn't run for more than 1 yard. If you took those 9 runs out of his totals his average jumps up 6% from 5.0 to 5.3.

Chris Alexander will be our starting fullback and is a guy I really like. He blocks well but can still handle the rock when he gets it.

And I have to stick this in here because, frankly, it was awesome....

You can see the whole clip on my new Ag Highlights page.

Courtney Lewis is quietly moving up some of our all-time rushing lists. Discovering this caught me somewhat off-guard but it is interesting. It would take a Heisman effort for him to take the top spots in most of these categories but it is very likely that C-Lew, if healthy, finishes in the top 5 of all three of these categories.

Career Rushing Yards        Career Rushes             Career TDs
====================     ==================      ===================
1. D.Lewis.... 5012      1. D.Lewis.... 909      1. D.Lewis...... 44
2. C.Dickey... 3703      2. C.Dickey... 697      2. R.Thomas..... 41
3. G.Hill..... 3262      3. G.Hill..... 631      3. G.Woodard.... 35
4. R.Thomas... 3014      4. G.Woodard.. 625      4. C.Dickey..... 34
5. G.Woodard.. 2911      5. R.Thomas... 604      5. G.Hill....... 33
6. B.Bean..... 2846      6. R.Vick..... 598      6. B.Richardson. 30
7. D.Hall..... 2818      7. J.Hector... 550      7. J.Hunt....... 30
8. J.Hector... 2587      8. D.Hall..... 522      8. L.McElroy.... 29
9. C.LEWIS.... 2489      9. B.Bean..... 482      9. C.LEWIS...... 28
                       10. C.LEWIS.... 470 

He ran for a career low 723 yards last year on 109 attempts with 7 TDs. If he duplicates those low numbers he would finish 4th in career rushing yards, 7th in career rushing attempts, and 3rd in career TDs. That is if he duplicates his worst season.

One final note....There is no "a" in Jorvorskie's first name

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Schroeder Makes A Circus Catch Against Baylor

Last year I boasted about how plentiful our stable of WRs was. I can only imagine how bad we would have been if we weren't as deep as we were. We lost three of our top four WRs to season ending injuries (Chad Schroeder, Earvin Taylor, Keith Dickerson & L'Tydric Riley) leaving Jason Carter and a very shaky DeQawn Mobley as our only experienced wideouts.

Well, we return everyone except Carter and Mobley including Kerry Franks, Pierre Brown, and Howard Morrow (and the other guys I mentioned above).

Riley and Taylor are our sure handed chain movers while Schroeder and Morrow are our big play guys. Schroeder started last season like nothing I've ever seen before scoring TDs on his first 5 touches (he finished the year with 6 TDs on 21 touches).

Morrow, in my opinion, is going to be a star. He was a true freshman last year and didn't get many balls thrown his way but he made two incredible plays that stand out in my mind. In the Texas State game he recorded his first career reception on an incredible 41 yard diving catch to put us inside the 10 yard line (vid). The second big play I remember was in the OU game just before halftime as we were marching down the field trying to bring the game within 7 points. He caught the ball, turned and ran for the first down but had to flip over the defender to move the chains (vid). He had six receptions on the year and two of them were spectacular enough for me to remember them. I'm feeling big things coming from #5.

It's also exciting to think that Riley, Schroeder, & Brown were all prep QBs. We know that Fran isn't afraid to use stuff like that to our advantage as we've seen Schroeder and Jason Carter (former QB turned WR) get into the action on trick plays. It's always something to keep an eye on in big games.

Moving on to the tight ends, we have Joey Thomas and Martellus Bennett. Tellus (who will wear #13 this season) started a little rough last year dropping a couple of passes really early on in the season but finished with a Freshman All-American season. When he got the ball you could see his athleticism and the potential he has and you just know he's going to get better as he continues to learn. The other aspect of Tellus's game is his blocking. He can really lay the wood.

Offensive Line

I don't know enough about the X's & O's to be able to speak about the Oline intelligently. I was concerned with them going into last season but we ran the ball well last year and return 4 of our 5 starters. Fran has said Yemi Babalola, Corey Clark, Kirk Elder and Cody Wallace will be starting and Grant Dickey, Chris Yoder, & Travis Schneider are in the mix for the other slot.

TAMABINPO's 2005 Aggie Football Preview Part II

We're Back with Part II....

Special Teams

So. Justin Brantly

I'll start with my boy, Justin Brantly. Justin was a true freshman last season and set the school freshman punting record averaging 43.2 ypp and was named a Freshman All-American. It was the 9th best season in school history. I've got no concerns with punting. Justin did change his number from #44 to #16 this season.

The kicking game isn't quite as set in stone. We return Layne Neumann & Richie Bean and have incoming freshman Matt Szymanski all fighting for a spot. Szymanski graduated a year early from HS so he skipped his entire senior season. You can read all about his accolades from the post I put together a couple of weeks ago.

Bean has yet to kick a FG for us but here are Neumann's previous numbers:

      FGM-FGA  Pct 01-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-99 Lg Blk
-------------------------------------------------------
2004    1-1  100.0  0-0   0-0   0-0   1-1   0-0  46   0
2005    0-2    0.0  0-0   0-0   0-0   0-1   0-1   0   0

Essentially, Layne has been used in situations where Todd Pegram was out of range. He is also 1-for-1 on PATs.

Kickoffs have been another issue from recent years, although contrary to internet fodder, Bean was actually OK last year.

Kickoffs
             No.  TB  OB           
Bean    2005  41   19   2
Neumann 2004  52   13   2
       2005  29    9   0

I don't know where Szymanski fits into the equation but Fran has said that he will play as a freshman.

Our return game has been quite poor over the last few years.

                    RET YDS    AVG (rnk)
========================================
Punt Returning '05.. 15 136   9.07  (60)
              '04.. 21 135   6.43  (97)
              '03.. 34 195   5.70 (110)

Kick Returning '05.. 32 561  17.53 (109)
              '04.. 31 486  15.68 (116)
              '03.. 41 980  23.90  (10)

Our leading punt returner from last year was Jordan Chambless with 8. He has given up football to concentrate on baseball. Chad Schroeder and Marquis Carpenter each returned 2 for a combined total of -2 yards. Schroeder is slated to be back there again along with Jordan Peterson. I wonder how many BCS conference schools have two white guys as their punt return squad?

We're in a similar boat with kick-returns as our leader from last year, Jason Carter, has moved onto the NFL. Kerry Franks had 5 with an average of 16.4 ypr and C-Lew had 5 with an average of 20.4. No one else had more than one. I've read that Pierre Brown and Kerry Franks are looking like our two guys but Goodson and Arkeith Brown are in the mix as well.

A final note regarding special teams is that our deep snapper from a year ago, Boone Stutz, has also moved on. We signed a HSer late named Corey Gibas and have two squads men on our roster (Chris Smith is one of them). That'll be something we need to keep an eye on because it could prove crucial in big situations.

Defense

Let's start by taking a look at the positive. It can't get any worse.

The problem with that is I'm not sure how many fans can withstand another defensive season like the one we had last year. Especially when you only have to look back 2 more years to find one that was equally bad. The scariest part of last year was that we returned 8 of our 11 starters from the year before.

This season we return another big chunk of players as we move into a new defensive formation (our third in the last 5 years). Coach Fran brought in Gary Darnell to run a 4-2-5 package as opposed to the 4-3 which is what we typically ran during the Torbush era. From everything I've read we made the change because our personnel fits this scheme better and it is better in defending one-back offenses, which is now more common in the spread out Big 12.

2005 TEAM STATISTICS                    OPP
-------------------------------------------
SCORING.......................          343
 Points Per Game.............         31.2               Avg  (Rnk)
RUSHING YARDAGE...............         1531       ==================
 Average Per Game............        139.2       Tot  D 443.8 (107)
 TDs Rushing.................           19       Pass D 304.6 (117)
PASSING YARDAGE...............         3351       Rush D 139.2  (43)
 Average Per Game............        304.6       Scor D  31.2  (94)
 TDs Passing.................           21
TOTAL OFFENSE.................         4882
 Average Per Game............        443.8      
TURNOVERS.....................           26  
 Fumbles/Rec.................        27/14
 Interceptions...............           12 

SCORE BY QUARTERS     1st  2nd  3rd  4th  OT     Total
--------------------  ---  ---  ---  ---  ---      ---
Opponents...........   93   84   70   93   3       343

The biggest killer we had was third down conversions, and really this pertains to both sides of the ball for us.

3rd Down Conversions
============================================
2003 Off  13/66 = .197     Def  37/83 = .446
2004 Off  15/62 = .242     Def  26/59 = .441
2005 Off  28/71 = .394     Def  33/68 = .485
Avg Off 56/199 = .281     Def 96/210 = .457

Defensive Line

This is where it all starts. If we can't get pressure on the QB with our line then our DBs are left hanging out to dry.....see last year's results. We're returning 3 of our 4 DLmen with DT Johnny Jolly graduating and moving onto the NFL (Green Bay). DT Red Bryant and DE Jason Jack got most of the publicity going into last season and when healthy they played fairly well.

The guy I'm most excited about is DE Chris Harrington. Behind only Jolly, Harrington finished second in TFL and sacks (in what was his sophomore year).

I was also really impressed with DE Michael Bennett (Tellus's brother). He finished behind only Jolly and Harrington in TFL and sacks last year as a RS-F. I wouldn't be surprised to see him pushing for a lot more playing time at the expense of someone. I've read that Jason Jack has worked out at DT so if Bryce Reed isn't on his game I could see Jack moving over there and Bennett taking over for Jack.

I should re-mention that Will Morrissey is not on the roster this season for personal reasons. He was the #3 DT recruit in the country in '04.

Linebackers

This is one place that the 4-2-5 makes a big change because we play with one less LBer on the field.
Ag LB Leader, Justin Warren

Justin Warren is the easy pick for one of the spots. He led the team with 95 tackles last season even missing some time with an injury. On top of all that, he looks like a LBer should. Warren was one of the few bright spots from the miserable 2003 season because we could see the potential he had when he was starting as a true freshman. As a senior now, he is on all the preseason award watch lists and preseason All-Conference teams.

According to the depth chart he will be joined by JUCO transfer Mark Dodge. Dodge, for those of you living under a rock, is one of the more special stories of the season. He served in the U.S. Army for four years out of high school before picking up football again. He also served in the official ceremonial unit and escort to the President and was in the Pentagon on 9/11 during the terrorist attacks. Of all the schools for Dodge to come to, I don't think there is a single one that will appreciate and respect what he has already done in his life more than Texas A&M. I can already tell you that regardless of his play, he will leave Aggieland as a favorite player of many. If he plays well, he will leave Aggieland as the favorite player of all.

Just behind Dodge on the depth chart is Misi Tupe, another JUCO transfer and RS-F Matt Featherston. I envision Tupe contributing quite a bit this year and Featherston contributing a lot in the next couple of years.

Defensive Backs

We're going to start to see some more of our strong DB recruiting class from '05 this season.

Sophomore Danny Gorrer returns and according to the current depth chart will be accompanied by RS-F Jordan Peterson at CB. JR Marquis Carpenter, it appears, has been bumped down to the #3 guy on the depth chart. Arkeith Brown is also listed on the 2-deep.

Peterson has been getting rave reviews from teammates as well as some media sources. He can run and is out to prove all the stereotypes of a Caucasian CB wrong.

For the first time after what seems like a decade, we will not see Jaxson Appel at safety. My boy, Devin Gregg, will take over for Jaxson and start at free safety while Melvin Bullitt returns at strong safety. The backups include Alton Dixon, Stephen Hodge, and JUCO transfer Johnathan Batson.

I think that Devin Gregg is going to be a superstar. He played quite well as a true freshman last season after getting his RS pulled following injuries to safeties Jordan Chambless & Japhus Brown.

Speaking of Chambless, I mentioned it earlier but it's worth repeating....he has given up football to focus on baseball. Personally, I'm totally cool with that. However, with this announcement I had to update my "Favorite Aggie Football Players-Current" from my bio. Obviously Justin Brantly remains but I'm going to replace Chambless with Jorvorskie and add Devin Gregg and Howard Morrow. Just wanted to keep you all on the low down (down low....no doubt).

Now for the much talked about WHIP. Since we moved to the 4-2-5 we now have an extra DB on the field at the position of WHIP. The WHIP is essentially a weak side safety who is opposite the strong safety. I initially though that it was somewhat of a hybrid LBer/Safety but Bill Clay answered that question in one of the weekly Friday With Frans.

“The whip in our system is a safety. In some coverages, he plays down low like a linebacker. In some, he plays down low like a Nickel back. In some, he plays high like a safety.

“But he’s a safety. In substituting for the Nickel, it is based on coverage ability. You send in your third-best cover guy. He might be a corner, a safety, or even a linebacker, depending on what you’re trying to defend.”

The depth chart has Japhus Brown in the WHIP role with Chevar Brown and Brock Newton both backing him up. I'm hoping that Japhus has a great season similar to his freshman campaign and less like his injury plagued sophomore year.

Changes to Kyle Field

I know, I know. It's a travashamockery. But it happens so get over it.

Most noticeable will be our new jumbo-jumbo-tron. Technically, it's not a JumboTron (which I believe is made by Sony) but you get the idea (ours is made by Mitsubishi). At 3,954 square feet (~54' x 75') the screen is seven times larger than the old one and the second largest in collegiate sports. It is being called the 12th Man TV and you can read more about it here. I must say that I am kinda glad about this because the old screen was too small to see anything important (like the ball).

We have also moved the famous "Welcome to Aggieland" and "Home of the 12th Man" lettering on the student side as well as all of the letters from the former student side. "Welcome to Aggieland" has been moved to The Zone and the "Home of the 12th Man" has been moved up a section and, I believe, painted white. They moved the letting from the former student side outside the stadium in the north-west corner.

The reason for the move was to allow room for a ribbon board to wrap around the field. It is the largest ribbon board in collegiate sports and the 2nd largest in the US. It will host out of town scores as well as game stats from our game, which is something I've kinda wanted since I went to the Nebraska game in '03.

I'm really not all that upset, like many are, about them moving the lettering around. Frankly, it hasn't been in those spots for all that long as it was donated by the Class of '88.

You can see some photos of what to expect here.

Rule Changes

I noticed in the most recent Friday with Fran that there were going to be some rule changes this year, most noticeably with the instant replay and the clock:

One situation we won’t practice and we’ll work hard to avoid needing is kicking off and needing points with four seconds left in the game. With the one new rule that you fans will notice most, starting the clock when the ball is kicked and immediately when it is placed in play on changeovers, both hang time and an on-side kick in play would kill the clock. I’m not in favor of this rule because it doesn’t seem like it’s really going to cut that much significantly off of the game time.

The new rule I do like is that I will have one challenge, as long as we have a timeout left, to get a review on instant replay, and not lose the timeout if the call is reversed. That’s a positive way to improve the use of replay.

Later This Week

• Most Important Things (updated)
• Citadel Preview

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