2010 Dallas A&M Club Coach's Night

Just some notes from the Coach's Night:

• Jackie Sherrill and Greg Hill did a live auction, with Greg Hill as the auctioneer. I will hire Greg Hill if I ever need to sell something, and want to make the most amount of money with the least amount of effort. He had the audience in stitches. He auctioned off an autographed helmet (it went for $1200), and a caricature drawing of Coaches Stallings, Sherrill, Bryant, Slocum, and Sherman (it went for $1300). "I know all of you Aggies out there, I've been to your houses. I've seen the maroon A&M room you have, with the carpet no one is allowed to walk on unless they are an Aggie, like it is the grass surrounding the MSC. I know you want this collectors edition drawing for that room." "I want all of you to notice who is NOT included in this picture, because he wasn't good enough to be in here." Hill is very effective at working the room, which is why they let him do these auctions. He and Sherrill together make quite the pair. Sherrill: "I would have loved to have had you on my team. I wouldn't have had you carrying the ball 32 times a game, no sir. I'd have given it to you 40-50 times a game." Hill: "That's why I love you, Coach." Sherrill: "You'd have been great on my team. I'd have moved you to linebacker, though." Watching the two of them go back and forth was worth the price of admission.
• Shariq "The Shark" Yosufzai '74, the chairman of the board of directors for the Association of Former Students spoke. A&M currently has 525,000 former students, and we have one of the most active alumni associations in the nation. IIRC, he said 225,000 of those former students have graduated since 1980, so the Association is growing at an explosive rate.
  
• Assistant athletic director and recruiting coordinator Tim Cassidy spoke. Cassidy said we haven't arrived yet as far as where we want to be with team speed, but we're getting there. Cassidy also plugged the Arkansas game in Arlington, saying we need to fill the stands with Aggies, because it helps our recruiting in the Metroplex.

• Cassidy showed a video review of what the football program has been doing this offseason. It included some introductions and short interviews with some of the new assistant coaches. Nick Toth, the OLB coach, really, really impressed me. He talked about the physicality you need to bring to the OLB position; he's one of those guys who draws you in, makes you want to pull on the pads and go play for him.
  
• Dat Nguyen had the quote of the night in the video. Talking about the importance of defense, he repeated something Bill Parcells had told him: "You never put your mortgage on the offense." 
• I really liked what I saw of Terrell Williams, our new defensive line coach. He said he had a good situation at Purdue, and there are only a few jobs in the nation you leave a situation like that for, but A&M is one of them. I always felt our DL underachieved under Buddy Wyatt, and am hoping Williams can get them to play to their potential.
• 12th Man Foundation showed a video, Bring'em To Aggieland. Go ahead and watch all of the individual videos, they are worth the time. When Derrick Roland appeared on the video, he got a big ovation from the crowd. 
• Coach Sherman spoke last. He addressed the Troy Walters hiring, said he wanted to give Walters a scholarship out of high school, but Cassidy said he wasn't any good. Guy won the Biletnikof at Stanford, had a long NFL career, earned a Masters degree from Stanford, but he wasn't any good. Tim also said we shouldn't give a scholarship to Drew Brees. "Just thought y'all should know that."
• Coach Sherman said the overall team speed has improved. He said when he arrived, the combined team speed overall was probably an average of 4.85. He said it is now at 4.65 or below.
  
• Team speed is a big emphasis on defense. Said we've moved Charlie Thomas, who played DB and RB in HS, to OLB, where he is Sean Porter's backup, because we like his speed and athleticism.
• Sherman sad he is excited about Jonathan Mathis at DE, and seeing what Garrick Williams will do at ILB. He confirmed that we have moved RS-Fr OL Rhonate Scales to NG to tryout there to see if we can get him on the field. What he didn't mention is that with Scales and Barrera now providing depth on defense, we're very comfortable with the depth on our offensive line.
  
• Talked about how the DEs we're bringing in now are longer and leaner, we're bringing in taller guys who can work in the pass rush. Said Ivan Robinson came in at 245 lbs, and with the meal plan and S&C program, is now 270 lbs of muscle. Said some of these freshmen are eating three meals a day for the first time in their lives, and it is showing with their rapid development.
  
• Sherman said he expects the defense to improve 35% from last season.
• He talked about how we have four OLBs we are comfortable with (Von Miller, Jonathan Stewart, Sean Porter, Charlie Thomas), that the big key to making the defense work will be the ILBs. He likes what he is seeing from Michael Hodges and Kyle Mangan.
  
• Sherman is very high on our secondary, said they are the strength of the defense.
  
• Said the big key with bringing in freshmen and letting them compete immediately for playing time was the other players accepting them and helping them along as they learned how to play in a college program and how to compete. Sherman said it showed the character of our players, because many times they were helping a freshman who was going to compete for their playing position, but there wasn't any hazing or anything like that. Sherman said you know when you have competition for every single starting position, you are in a good situation, and we're getting there. There are many positions, like WR and OLB, where we have that depth and everyone is competing for a starting job. He said the first year he was here, that wasn't the case.
  
• Someone asked about Ryan Tannehill, and Sherman said he is hoping one of the freshman will take his backup QB position away from him so he can concentrate on playing WR. He said Tannehill doesn't practice at WR during the week, but knows where to go on routes because he plays QB, so he just goes out on Saturdays and makes plays at the WR position when needed (I think this means Tannehill is even more awesome than we thought, if that is possible).
• Said Cyrus Gray has improved in his running style (think he is saying he is running with more power now), said it is a real treat to watch Cyrus and Christine Michael work together. He said Cyrus may be the most unselfish player he has ever coached, that Gray welcomed Michael onto the team and helped him adjust to college. He said it is fun watching the two of them on gameday, because when one is on the field, the other is on the sideline cheering for him and coaching from the sideline.
  
• Said our defensive pressure package should be good this year.
• Said from practice one to practice fifteen, the defensive lineman who showed the most improvement was Lucas Patterson. I'm still not a fan of Patterson, but maybe he'll make me a believer this season.
• Addressed the realignment issues, said we all need to be unified together and support the program, wherever we are. Stressed that the administration made the deal they felt was best for A&M. 
• Sherman said every single senior on the squad last year has graduated, with the exception of Jamie McCoy, who needs three credit hours to graduate.
• My only disappointment was that they didn't have a basketball signed by the 2009-10 men's basketball team in the silent auction. I know a lot of people who would have bid on that ball.
  
• Think that is it, if you have any questions, ask'em.