I have been reading all the articles coming out of the Big 12 Media Days that predict doom and gloom for the Ags. While I understand that the media always bases this season off of what happened on the previous season, it is somewhat humorous to read of the pessimistic outlook for A&M. While I recognize that we have some tremendous challenges facing us, I see reason for optimism and not pessimism. That is probably why I am a fan. I felt compelled to compile a list of ten things that we need to happen this season in order for the Ags to improve on their record from last year and qualify for a bowl.

10. Rod Davis needs to step up. After redshirting last year, Davis looked very poor in the first half of the spring game but did step it up in the second half. He may be one of those players who only turns it on, on gameday. He needs to live up to his recruiting hype and provide quality depth on the DL if we are going to have any kind of ability to stop the run this year.

9. No sophomore slumps. We saw a bunch of true freshmen step into important roles on the year last season and excell. We need those players to continue to progress as they get more experience and develop into team leaders. This is especially important on defense where at some positions (DT) the sophomores are the most experienced at the position.

8. Maintain the good chemistry. Much has been made about last years upperclassmen not buying into what the coaches were preaching. One of the advantages of having the youngest team in America, is that the younger guys are more willing to buy into a program they are going to be a part of for the next 4-5 years. The word coming out of Aggieland is that this team has developed very good chemistry. We need to maintain that chemistry because during the season, there is going to be adversity during some games. The players on the field are going to have to fight for one another if they are going to get through the adversity and see success.

7. Lucas Patterson needs to be the answer at LT. There may not be a more important position for A&M this season than LT. Jerrod Johnson spent all of last season running for his life. It is amazing that he put up the numbers he did considering how poorly out OL played. We need Patterson to develop into a good LT so we can keep Shumard at LG and turn a bad OL into a possibly decent one.

6. Jeff Fuller needs to become a dominant WR. Fuller showed during the offseason why he was the best football player on the team. Now he needs to show the rest of America why he is a future first round draft pick. We need Fuller to draw double coverage to open up the rest of the offense.

5. Bradley Stephens needs to hold onto the ball. Cyrus Gray is going to be the starting RB against New Mexico. Christine Michael may end up being a star in the making. However, you need three good RBs in college football today because invariably you have injuries at the position. No one has ever quationed Stephen's ability, he just needs to hold onto the ball so he can see more playing time. His inability to do so last year during practice was why he rode the bench.

4. A freshman WR has to step up. We really need one of the freshmen WRs to step up and give us someone with gamebreaking speed in the rotation. Fuller, Tannehill, and McCoy make for a fine rotation but are not going to break 4.5 in the 40. We need Easy Nwachukwu or Ryan Swope to step in and be the speed guy right away.

3. Freshmen have to play like upperclassmen. The old football axiom is that you will lose one game for every freshman that you have in the starting lineup. Considering that 15 freshmen will likely see extensive playing time this year, that cannot be the case. We need freshmen like Dustin Harris, Spencer Nealy, Ryan Swope, and Christian Michael to play like Trent Hunter did last year. We need better athletes on the field making plays, and the freshmen are going to have to provide it.

2. Beat someone we are not expected to. We need to win at least one game no one gives us a chance in. Right now my best guess would be possible wins at Tech, home vs. OSU, home vs. tu, or Arkansas at Jerryworld. We need to win a game that no one expects us to win in order to arrive at the magical number of 6 to qualify for a bowl.

1. Stay healthy. We simply cannot afford to have injuries like we did last year. We do not have enough depth especially at positions like the OL. We are going to have to have some luck with the injury bug if we are going to succeed on the field this year.