Chuck Carlton did a story on Jerrod Johnson's continued maturation at quarterback, and how he is growing as a leader. Carlton mentions two times where Johnson has shown leadership:

Johnson has already shown leadership skills beyond waking his teammates for early-morning passing drills.

Late in the Aggies' spring practice, Johnson's grandmother, Edna Johnson, died in the Houston area. Coach Mike Sherman gave Johnson permission to miss the annual Maroon and White scrimmage, which was the same day as the funeral.

Instead, Johnson paid his respects and returned to play the same day.

"It was tough for me, tough for my family," Johnson said. "I wanted to be back with the guys. I think I owed it to them. They put in a lot of time for me. I think it's only right that I was there for them.

While I don't want to rip Calrton for writing what is really a fine article, I think he isn't looking deep enough here. In Carlton's preview of Texas A&M, he briefly makes one mention of problems with team dissension last season

 Mike Sherman has already addressed locker room issues that divided last year's team. This year's group seems to have bought in.

Coach Sherman talks a lot about players being "in the boat" and "buying in" to their program, and he is correct in that we need total buy-in from the players in order to be successful. However, that isn't the whole story. Trent Hunter has mentioned before that we had some selfish players on last year's team, players who were more interested in their own stats and their own glory than they were in winning games. A big part of leadership is quashing such "me-first" attitudes. Another big part of leadership is holding teammates accountable, which is also a big part of team chemistry.

Team chemistry is often the most important (but overlooked) part of a winning team. If you have good team chemistry, everyone is willing to do their job to make sure the team wins. If you have good leadership, you have people who are able to hold everyone else accountable when they fail to do their job. Often, the team leaders are your best players, but they also have to be people who are willing to be vocal. Whenever I see a star player say, "I lead by example", I know that player isn't a leader. A leader has to be willing to speak up and hold his teammates accountable when they are holding up their end of the bargain. Often, a team leader is the leader in other places besides on the field, because he has earned his teammates' respect off the field. If you have busted your butt all offseason long in the weight room and in conditioning workouts, you have the right to call out your teammates when they are slacking. If you give it all in practice and in games, you have a right to call out a teammate who is taking plays off. If you are a leader, you're willing to be the person to call that player out.

In 1998, A&M had a team that averaged right at 150 yds per game rushing and 150 yds per game passing, but they won 11 games. They won the Big 12 Championship with a team that scored just enough to win, and then shjut down the opposition with special teams and defense. They were able to win so many games simply because they had great team chemistry and great leadership. The players trusted each other to do their jobs and to do what it took to win games. That team had players like Randy McCown, Dat Nguyen, and Dan Campbell, players who weren't afraid to call out others if they got out of line, and needed to be pushed back to the straight and narrow.

In the 2009 season, we will need players like Trent Hunter, Jerrod Johnson, Jeff Fuller, and Ryan Tannehill to take ownership of this team, and to take on the leadership mantle for this team. While Hunter and Fuller are young (both are true sophomores), they have the talent and production on the field to demand their teammates' respect; they also both have worked hard in the offseason, and as younger members of the team, have a bigger stake in the future of the program beyond this season. It will be up to Johnson and Tannehill to help lead the offense, because as the starting QB and a starting WR/backup QB, both are playing positions that will be looked to for leadership, and both have produced as a level which gives them authority to push their teammates to rise up and match their production.

We have the talent on this team to improve on last season, have a winning season, and go to a bowl game. We just need to see if our team leadership will step up, and if we can develop the chemistry necessary for a winning team. Our first game is September 5, but we'll know what we really have as a team and as a program after we face some adversity this year.