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September 29, 2009

Aggies Lead
By: Travis Normand

The Aggies have had a strong start to their season and are currently 3-0 and lead the nation in total offense (yards-per-game).  
 
CLICK HERE FOR TOTAL OFFENSE
CLICK HERE FOR NCAA STATS
 
However, the first “real” test for the Aggies comes this Saturday when A&M heads to Arlington, TX to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Dallas Cowboy’s new stadium.  I know that Arkansas didn’t look great against Alabama this past week, but don’t let that fool you.  The Hogs are a highly-explosive team on offense and will probably give the A&M pass-defense trouble.
 
This is especially true now that JUCO transfer Coryell Judie has undergone season-ending shoulder surgery.  Judie is planning on getting a medical red-shirt and will still have two years to play.
 
Although it didn’t seem to slow down the Aggie offense against UAB, WR Jeff Fuller will not play against Arkansas due to a cracked fibula he sustained during the win over Utah State.  
 
The game against Arkansas will be on ESPN2 and has all the makings of a shoot-out!
 

September 25, 2009

Texas A&M Recap
BY: Jason Nafziger

The 2-0 start includes nice wins over New Mexico and Utah State. Stats so far: Texas A&M ranks 18th with 5.45 yards per rush attempt and 31st with 8.1 yards per passing attempt. Overall, they have averaged 39.5 points and 589.5 yards on offense per game. Defensively, they are 31st with 2.97 yards allowed per rush attempt and 52nd with 6.2 yards allowed per pass attempt. Overall, they have allowed 18 points and 376 yards per game. Coming up: The Aggies have three winnable games coming up in UAB, Arkansas and Oklahoma State, but it won't be easy. Two of those would still be good.

Jason Nafziger writes about Pro and College Football at
http://onfootball.wordpress.com

September 21, 2009

"Catching Up!"
By: Travis Normand

The Aggies move to 2-0 with their win over Utah State (38-30) on Saturday Sept. 19. The bad news is that Jeff Fuller (WR) was injured and is probably going to be out for a couple of weeks. No official time-table for Fuller's return has been released as of yet, so hopefully "a couple of weeks" is the worst case scenario. Fuller was the main receiver heading into the season.

However, true freshman WR Uzoma Nwachukwu scored 4 TDs in 4 touches in the win over Utah State. Uzoma's four-touchdowns (three receiving, one rushing) is a school record for TDs in a game by a freshman, while his three TD receptions ties the single-game record at A&M. When it was over, Nwachukwu had 140 all-purpose yards (101 receiving, 39 rushing).

The A&M offense racked up 573 total yards of offense. Junior QB Jerrod Johnson, was 21-of-41 for 322 yards and four touchdowns through the air. However, Johnson did not appear as sharp as he did against New Mexico in the season opener. On the ground, Johnson rushed for 78 yards.

The Aggies gained 251 rushing yards and continue to improve their running game. Freshmen RB Christine Michael rushed for 94 yards, Cyrus Gray had 49 yards rushing, and Nwachukwu's had one run for 39 yards and a score.

RT Lee Grimes was also injured in the 2nd quarter and did not return.

However, A&M struggled defensively and gave up 521 yards. Most of these yards were given up in the 4th Quarter, as Utah State gained 210 yards in the final period alone. On the bright side, Von Miller had another great game and picked up three-sacks on the evening, bringing his total to six sacks in two games. With the score at 38-30, Utah State began their final drive with 25 seconds on the clock. Von Miller sacked the Utah State QB with :03 seconds remaining in the game, and caused him to fumble the ball. The Aggie defense recovered the fumbled and sealed the victory.

Texas A&M was sloppy and had 16 penalties for 147 yards, which allowed Utah State to hang-around until the very end. The Aggies are improving from where they have been and such improvement can be seen on the field, however, the Aggies are still learning how to finish-off another team and put the game away.

August 26, 2009

8-26-2009 More updates from Fall Camp!
By: Travis Normand

Lucas Patterson has been moved back to the D-Line. The DL needs more help right now than the OL does, and there are a couple of incoming freshmen who can hopefully pull their weight on the OL. Right now, there will probably be a lot of movement of personnel on both the DL and OL, as the Aggies are trying to use what they have to make the best two lines possible.

Eddie Brown and Tony Jerod-Eddie, as well as Patterson, will make up the primary rotation for the DL interior. The hope, I think, is that with three very capable guys at DT, the Aggies will be able to create sufficient"damage" up front and help their pass-rush from DE Von Miller.

Von Miller is one of those A&M players that every Big 12 offense will be watching when they are on the field. He has the ability (especially with the help at DT) to get to the QB every time the ball is snapped.

Coryell Judie is at A&M and has been cleared to practice! This is great news for the A&M secondary. It will probably take Judie a few weeks to get up-to-speed before he is completely ready. However, by the time the Aggies start their Big 12 schedule, he should be ready to go.

Finally, Jerrod Johnson was named the starting QB after this past weekend's practice/scrimmage. This is not a huge surprise, as I stated earlier, Sherman said that Ryan Tannehill would have to deliver a "knock-out punch" in order to steal the job. However, Tannehill did a great job in the competition and has really shown his ability to play the QB position, and to play it well. The question now, is how much time will he see at WR!? The Aggies can't risk having their back-up QB injured at the WR position, but they also can't afford to lose his receiving production.

August 22, 2009

Update 8-22-09
By: Travis Normand

Coryell Judie will apparently be on Campus as of Saturday Aug. 22nd and will hopefully be cleared to start practicing right away (all indications point to him being cleared without any problems). Judie will be expected to make a quick transition, as he is expected to become a starting CB early in the season (if not right away).

There should also be a QB update as early as today, as to whether or not Ryan Tannehill was able to snag the starting job away from Jerrod Johnson. Jerrod is expected to remain the starter as Coach Sherman told local media that Tannehill would have to deliver a "knock-out punch" in the competition in order to take the job away. However, assuming Tannehill doesn't get the starting job, the next question will be whether he remains the back-up QB or if he will be moved to WR.

My guess is that right now Tannehill will be named the back-up QB, assuming some of the incoming freshmen WRs are able to step-up and fill the needs at the WR position. In my last update I mentioned that there were two new WRs that were "turning heads," and I am guessing that their performance will be a huge factor into the equation of where Tannehill ends up.

August 19, 2009

Aug. 19, 2009 - Fall Camp Update
By: Travis Normand

Walk-On Burl Jordan has been added to the 105-man roster for Fall Camp as Chris Henderson (incoming freshman) appears to be going the JUCO route. Fortunately, the DT is not a huge area of need for A&M this fall.

The Aggies are still waiting to find out exactly when Coryell Judie will arrive on campus. It would have been great if Coryell had been able to arrive in time for fall camp, especially since he is expected to start at CB immediately. However, adding his talent to the field will only help A&M in 2009!

Lucas Patterson has been moved from the DL to the OL. The OL is a better fit for Patterson, and this will put Patterson's talents to better use.

A&M needs someone to step up at WR this fall. Kenric McNeal and Ryan Swope (two incoming freshmen) have apparently been turning heads and are probably the most likely true freshman to play WR this fall.

Posted August 7, 2009

Monitoring the Progress:
(Aug. 6, 2009)
By: Travis Normand

After a long off-season, the second-year of Coach Sherman is less than a month away. Here is a quick look at some of the important issues heading into fall camp.
The fullback position hasn’t been completely removed from the offense, but you will start to see more one-back and empty sets this season.

At QB, Jerrod Johnson is the man to beat but Coach Sherman has promised Ryan Tannehill an opportunity to compete for the starting job. The big question is, assuming Tannehill doesn’t win the starting QB job, will he be moved to WR?

Tannehill is an amazing athlete and led the team in receiving in 2008 with 55 catches for 844 yards and 5 Touchdowns. However, right now the Aggies don’t have a “solid” third QB that could back-up Johnson if Tannehill is playing WR. In other words, Coach Sherman is hesitant to move Tannehill to WR, and would probably rather leave him as the back-up QB.

Last week, Sherman alluded to possibly leaving Tannehill at QB due to the fact that Tannehill got pretty banged-up last year at WR, and that allowing him to move to WR would put the QB position at risk (should something happen to Johnson).

Another big question is punt returner. Cyrus Gray is more than capable of doing the job, but he is also the Aggies leading rusher returning at RB.

The Aggies are also in need of some immediate help at CB. Right now, the Aggies are still waiting to hear if Juco signee Coryell Judie will be ready to join the team in August, as he is expected to be a starter this season and will fill a major area of need. Judie has one or two more classes to finish up before he can join the team and as of right now, all indicators point to him being good-to-go before the end of August. This will be closely watched over the next few weeks as Judie is a player who has the ability to make a huge difference in 2009 for the Aggies. A&M ranked 95th Nationally in Pass-Defense in 2008 giving up 242.67 yards per game, and was ranked 108th in Pass-Efficiency Defense. The need for a quality secondary almost goes without saying in a conference like the Big 12; where the likes of Texas Tech, Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, etc. are ready to attack you through the air.

Travis Normand