It Has Been A While, But There Have Been Some Great Ones

You know, unlike many texas fans, I actually like it when A&M is good.  I think it adds to the rivalry, makes the victory sweeter, and is just good for football in general.  I was thinking the other day about great linebackers and, to be perfectly honest, how sad it is that A&M hasn’t produced linebackers like they used to.  This is by no means a knock against A&M, but more of a what the hell happened.  I’m an old man at 28 years of age so I can remember back to when, and yes this is the honest to God truth, people used call A&M "Linebacker U" along with Penn State.  There was a time when Aggie Football was all about defense (Wrecking Crew!!!) and great linebackers.   Somewhere along the line, they fell from their splendor.  Its easy to point fingers at fran, which may very well be why it happened, but why keep blaming? Lets just look at what used to be.   A lot of Aggie fans like to say Reggie McNeal was the biggest waste of talent they had.  Yes, he was great.  Yes, he had the talent to be one of the best in the nation. And yes, fran wasted his talents.  That’s an easy one to spot.  My personal disappointment was justin warren.  This kid had it all coming out of high school.  When he committed to Aggieland, I was extremely upset.   He, along with TaTa Thompson, was a very scary thought for texas fans.  There was a big article in the dallas morning news at the time about the resurgence of talent at the linebacker position at A&M and how the future was bright.  Well, we all know what happened: nothing.  I hate waste.  To me, that was just pure waste of talent.  Well, if warren was the next great linebacker at A&M, I thought to myself, who was the last great one?  Its not an easy one to answer.  “great” is such a subjective term.  For me, however, it was brian gamble.  Was he overly dazzling with his play? No. Was he the most athletic? No.  Was he a first round draft pick? No.  Was he a hell of a college linebacker?  Yes.  He was the commander of the defense his years in Aggieland.  He was solid game after game.  He always produced.  He gets my vote for the last great Aggie linebacker.  Who would you choose?