Flashback Thursday

Written July 29, 2010

So, I was sitting in my backyard, drinking some maroon kool-aid, when I was
overcome with the strong belief that this is going to be a very good year to
be an Aggie. It would be correct to point out that I get this feeling every
year about this time. I would counter that I've been right most of the
time. It's always good to be an Aggie. :)

But as it relates to football specifically, I'd like to reaffirm my position
that things are headed in the right direction. We are a trendy pick to be
the surprise team in the Big 12. The media is actually buying into what
we're selling. That hasn't happened very often in the last ten years. Here
are a few tidbits to ponder as the off-season FINALLY starts to wind down
(thank God Almighty).

1. Great teams are led by great quarterbacks. And we have a darn good one
in Jerrod Johnson. Check out this page;
http://football.aggieathletics.com/ There
are interviews and highlight videos of Jerrod. He's one hell of a QB and a
high character young man on top of it. If you aren't impressed by him, your
standards are too high and your observatinal skills questionable.

2. Texas A&M had the #5 Offense in the country last year and is returning
all of its skill position players. It is not unwarranted bravado to say
that each of our skill position starters on offense is good enough to start
for ANY team in the country. Points will not be a problem in 2010. There
are five legitimate, *exciting, game-changing* players to watch on offense.
Jerrod Johnson (ESPN's #1 player in the Big 12, QB), Christine Michael
(violent runner, awesome to watch, RB), Cyrus Gray (can blow through a hole
like Montezuma's Revenge, RB), Jeff Fuller (ESPN's #20 player in the Big 12,
WR), Uzoma Nwachukwa (fast, jumps high, great hands, awesome, WR). Plus,
I'm hearing that as exciting as these receivers were last year, they may
have to fight to keep their starting jobs from Ryan Swope and incoming fish,
Nate Askew.

3. Texas A&M's defense is sporting a returning first-team All American for
the first time in ages. Von Miller is also a Playboy pre-season all
American this year, led the nation in sacks last year (17), and will be
given every chance to repeat as sack champ in 2010 (Check this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu7wh1VNnEo). That's not to say that there
aren't questions on defense. There clearly are. But I think we'll see a
significant improvement. The DB's are solid. The LB's are overall pretty
solid, plus a couple of game changing studs. The line is the question.
There were some flashes of real talent last year, but not enough. We'll
have to see how they perform. We won't be deep on the line, but we could be
decent enough to be ok. It's the the weak point on the defense.

4. Texas A&M's new defensive coordinator, Tim Deruyter, ran dominant
defenses at Air Force. That's right, I said Air Force. They obliterated
the Houston's top 5 offense last year in the Armed Forces Bowl. My point is
that he must know how to put a defense together using inferior talent. What
might he be able to do with middle-of-the-road talent? I expect good
things. A top 50 defense will be enough to make us scary good. Top 30 and
we could win 10.

Other things:
We finished in the top ten (#6) for the Learfield Director's Cup, given to
the school with the overall best athletic department. We beat out the
Obama-lovers to the West (#13). You can express whatever frustration you
want for our lack of success in football, but it's hard to deny that we're
better in every other sport than we were 10 years ago. And we're poised for
another good run in 2010 - 2011. We won back to back national championships
in Men's and Women's Track & Field. That's a legitimate, albeit
unprofitable, sport.

All of that said, I'm just feeling good about being an Aggie. It's time to
get excited about football. Here's the schedule.

9/4 Stephen F. Austin
9/11 La. Tech
9/18 Florida International
10/2 @ Oklahoma State
10/9 Arkansas (in Arlington)
10/16 Missouri
10/23 @ Kansas
10/30 Texas Tech
11/6 Oklahoma
11/13 @ Baylor
11/20 Nebraska
11/25 @ t.u.

Say what you will, but I could see us being 8 - 0 when OU comes to town.
Check out this video to get a little pumped up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9CvB4mbJys


Gig 'em and Beat the Hell Outta SFA!
-Chuck '96