Not A Single Aggie Nominated To Media Preseason All-Big 12 Football Team

The 2009 Media Preseason All-Big 12 Football Team was announced Friday, and not a single Aggie was voted onto the team. I wish I could take their predicted all-conference team seriously, but the inclusion of several players gives me pause. The most glaring mistake is the inclusion of Brandon Carter of Texas Tech on the offensive line. Do you know who Brandon Carter is? If you were paying any attention to college football at all last season, you know who he is; he was the clown in the make-up wearing a Texas Tech uniform last season. (He was also known for unintentionally mooning a national television audience during the Oklahoma game last season; see video after the jump.) Television cameras loved to focus on him whenever Tech was playing, because he was definitely photogenic. The problem is, this offensive guard who used facepaint and various mohawk hairdos to attract attention to a normally faceless position (and to his credit, succeeded in that endeavor) is not an exceptional player, certainly not one who deserves all-conference recognition. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Carter is lacking as very lacking as a guard; at 6'7, 354 lbs, Carter has prototypical tackle size, but lacks skill and ability, so they moved him inside to offensive guard, where he is just mediocre. The media loves him because of his Dennis Rodmanesque attempts to get their attention, but they are forgetting one important fact: Rodman actually had some talent, and could play his position exceptionally well. Carter is attention-seeking behavior and facepaint masking an ordinary talent.

The next player nomination I question is that of Sergio Kindle on the defensive line. Kindle was a strongside LB last season who is going to be moved into more of a OLB/DE hybrid position this season, which really means he'll be a DE. While I'm sure putting him on the line will give texas more speed on the edge of their defense, I don't see how this automatically makes him an all-conference selection. Last season, texas had Brian Orakpo and Henry Melton on the edges to occupy blockers, as well as Roy Miller and Aaron Lewis inside; offensive linemen who wanted to block Kindle already had their hands full with Orakpo and Miller, so he was free to roam and make plays. Even if they lined up Kindle on the line next to Melton or opposite Orakpo (which they did often, witness OU highlights here), you are still looking at a situation of people running away from Orakpo and running into Kindle. Kindle won't have that kind of protection this season, and with texas breaking in a new defensive tackle rotation, you can be sure Kindle will get the full attention of opposing linemen now that he is down on the line with his hand on the ground. Kindle looks to be starting at the weakside DE position this season, so he will be facing the opposition's LT on the vast majority of his plays. We'll see how he does getting off blocks against the opposition's best. I think Will Muschamp is a stellar defensive coordinator, and I think he is going to get as much out of Kindle as he possibly can this season, but I think Kindle's stats will still see a drop-off from last season.

The other player nominations that don't make sense to me is the defensive backfield. I understand the nomination of Dominique Franks for one cornerback spot, but the other three nominations (Thomas, Lake, and Stuckey) are all safeties. If the media is going to put together an all-conference team with more than two safeties, how the hell can they exclude Trent Hunter? Earl Thomas would be running second-string if he played at A&M, but the media has predicted he will be an all-conference player. Perrish Cox  is good enough to be nominated to the team as a KR, but is so unimpressive as a CB, the media would rather include a third safety? I don't understand that line of thinking.

I also think putting Adam Ulatoski on the team as an OL when you already have a stud at LT in Russell Okung is redundant, but I don't confess to understand the media's logic when picking the offensive line. I think they pick the linemen who receive the most hype (Ulatoski) or make for the best story (Carter) instead of actually evaluating how they play.

Brandon Carter and Adam Ulatoski on the offensive line, Sergio Kindle on the DL, and three safeties in the defensive backfield make it impossible for me to take this list seriously. Hopefully, after the season is over, and the coach's all-conference team is announced, A&M will have performed well enought o have several players recognized on the all-conference team that matters.