Following their 62-51 win over Kansas on Saturday, the Aggie women's basketball team has now won three games in a row. More importantly, the players seem to have developed the chemistry on the court that has been missing so far this season. The defense has forced a minimum of 20 turnovers their last two games, and at least 18 per game during this win streak. so they are starting to pick up their intensity.

Most exciting for the team is the emergence of Kelsey Bone on offense, who has scored in double figures in two of the last three games, including 26 points in their win over Kansas. With Tyra White, Sydney Carter, and Adaora Elonu on the floor, we have plenty of offensive threats on the floor, but Bone is becoming the offensive force we knew she is capable of being. With Bone being a force in the middle, it opens everything up outside for Carter and White, and allows Elonu room to function in the paint.

Last season, after a loss to Kansas State on March 2, the team realized they had to perform better, came together, and began the run that led to our national championship, suffering only one loss the rest of the season, to Baylor in the conference tournament championship game. I am hopeful we're seeing a similar experience here, where the team is now just beginning to click.

With games coming up against Kansas State on Wednesday and Baylor on Saturday, we're going to find out if we've taken that necessary step to begin turning this season into something special.

In 2010, Von Miller won the Butkus Award, and was named the best linebacker in all of college football. In 2011, after a season in which he tallied 64 tackles, 11 1/2 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles despite missing one game because of an injury, Miller has been named the Associated Press NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Miller beat out defensive end Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers, who received 11 votes to Miller's 39 from the 50 media members who did the voting. I believe the competition between Miller and Smith (who played for Missouri in college) for the award this year is the first time former Big 12 players have finished first and second in the voting for the Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

I have been poring through A&M's media guide for NFL information, and I think Von is the first A&M player to be named Rookie of the Year, so he can add that to his other list of firsts for A&M.

Coach Sumlin completed his staff this week with the hiring of Air Force defensive coordinator/associate head coach Matt Wallerstedt as the new linebacker coach. Wallerstedt replaced Nick Toth, our OLB coach who moved to Fresno State to join Tim DeRuyter's staff as their new defensive coordinator, and Dat Nguyen, our inside linebacker coach last season. Wallerstedt comes to A&M after stints at Air Force, Akron, Kansas State, and Wyoming. Wallerstedt is a veteran, with over 20 years of coaching experience.Wallerstedt continued the 3-4 defense after DeRuyter left Air Force, and has linebakcers leading his defense in tackles the past two seasons. Air Force finished #37 in total defense in 2010, but fell off to #65 last season.

Wallerstedt is an interesting hire, because he is older than most of our staff, and is a departure from Coach Sumlin's approach of hiring younger, up-and-coming assistants. Wallerstedt also doesn't appear to have any direct connections to Texas, although he was the recruiting coordinator for Kansas State in 2006, so he has recruited players from here. Wallerstedt worked in a 4-3 scheme at Kansas State, so he could be able to help with the transition from the 3-4 we've been running to a multiple approach using both the 3-4 and the 4-3 Under scheme. Being able to pluck a defensive coordinator from another D-IA school to be a position coach in your program is always a nice position to be in, and Wallerstedt is a solid hire. He completes Coach Sumlin's staff at nine assistant coaches.

Given our struggle the past two years to land defensive linemen to man the interior, I thought I'd go ahead and take a look at the defensive tackle recruiting in the Southeastern Conference. I went back and looked at the recruiting class just signed by all the SEC schools, and included the signing classes listed on Rivals from the preceding three years, to determine how many defensive tackles schools were taking each year. I realize some players move to different positions, and Rivals isn't the best gauge for where a player projects in college, but this would be a decent resource to use for my purposes. Given that the SEC is a conference dominated by defense, particularly defensive line play, I thought I'd see teams bringing in three to four defensive tackles every year to build depth, and letting attrition take care of the numbers. The results I found surprised me.

Alabama seems to be the only school that is consistently loading up on interior defensive linemen every year. If you had asked me before today which school in the SEC I thought recruiting the most defensive tackles annually, I would have picked LSU, just givent he success they've had producing quality defensive tackles annually.Imagine my shock to see that they took the second-least amount of defensive tackle recruits in the conference, behind Vanderbilt, over the last four classes. Granted, LSU's starting defensive tackles this season were Michael Brockers and Bennie Logan, who both were signed as defensive ends in the 2009 class, so the numbers can be a little misleading. Arkansas didn't sign any defensive tackles in 2012, but did sign seven defensive ends, so some of them will move inside and play tackle. Alabama would actually seem to be the school that could afford to focus on defensive tackles the least, because their base is a 3-4, but I guess Saban believes you can never have too much depth on the lines. You can't argue too much with his results.

The big takeaway from this research? We may have been worrying about our defensive tackle recruiting a little too much, and I include myself in that group. As long as we take four to five defensive linemen every year (we have five DEs and one DT signed in the class of 2012), we should be fine in developing depth on our defensive line. If we bring in the right numbers every year, the S&C staff and coaches should be able to develop enough players for us to have a formidable defensive front on any annual basis. From that perspective, what looks like an area of weakness in our 2012 class (interior defensive linemen) may actually be a strength. We have the players we need there, now we just need to get them on campus and develop them.

After LeMarc Strahan, A&M's only defensive tackle recruit in 2011, was unable to qualify academically, and Logan David, A&M's NG recruit in the 2012 class, was unable to meet SEC standards for core classwork, it looked like the Aggies would be without a true defensive tackle recruit in the 2012 class. Coach Sumlin & Co. delivered, though, flipping Missouri commit Edmund Ray over to the good guys. Ray, a 6'5 290 lb run-stuffer, chose A&M over offer from Missouri, Kansas State, and Illinois.

Ray plays with good leverage, fights off blocks well, and can project as both a one-gap and two-gap player. Ray projects as a G in the 3-4 and a 1-tech NT in the 4-3 Under. Ray does an excellent job filling the A-gap, and is relentless in pursuit. One of the key needs in this class was someone who could come in immediately and play behind Ben Compton and Kirby Ennis at NG/NT, and Ray appears to be just that player.

In a big area of need, Coach Sumlin came through, and landed us a player who should be able to help us for the next four years. After only signing one defensive tackle in the last two classes, though, this will be a huge area of need for A&M in 2013. Right now, though, I'm just happy we managed to bring in another player who can man the middle for us.

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I'm going to be at a funeral this morning, so I won't be around to give updates, but I'll be checking in later this afternoon. Per Rivals, the Aggies currently have 20 players committed, so here is to hoping we sign all of them, and maybe add a player or two in late signings.

The big drama of the day will be watching where Bralon Addison signs, and if we manage to retain all of our commitments. The athletic department is featuring signing day live on 12thManTV. Have at it, this is your signing day open thread.

The Aggies officially added another commitment yesterday, as Carthage ATH Edward Pope (6'3, 170, 4.48) switched his commitment from TCU to A&M. Pope can play either wide receiver or defensive back for the Aggies, and projects well at either position. His versatility, size, and speed make him a very big get for Coach Sumlin & Staff.

As a defensive back, Pope is the total package. He breaks on the ball well, he is physical against the running game, and he actually catches the ball in the air and completes the turnover on interceptions, something our defensive backs struggled with this past season. Pope also plays some special teams, and has the ability to block kicks.

As a wide receiver, Pope has nice speed. He uses his size effectively, and has the athleticism to high-point balls. His vertical leap has been measured at 38 inches. He tracks the ball well in the air, and has soft hands. He has a nice wiggle to him when he runs, and is dangerous after the catch. He needs to work some on his route-running, but he can fix that in college. Overall, he is a very nice two-way star, and we can use him on either side of the ball. He is a terrific pick-up at a need position.

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Kevin Sumlin & Co. added another defensive line commit to the 2012 recruiting class, as Euless Trinity DE Polo Manukainiu committed to A&M on Sunday night, announcing his choice on Fox News. Manukainiu is 6'6, 256 lbs, and projects as a strongside DE in the 3-4 and in the 4-3, assuming he will add ten pounds. If he continues to grow, he could even move inside to play a 3-tech defensive tackle.

Manukainiu played SDE in Trinity's 3-4 defense, and performed well. He is relentless in pursuit, and plays with great leverage. He uses his hands well to get off blocks, and is active, often able to overpower opposing linemen with a bull rush. If he comes in this Summer, he is someone who can help us by getting into the DL rotation next year. Mankainiu is one of five DE commits in the class of 2012 so far, so we're building quite a bit of depth at that position.

Manukainiu chose A&M over offers from Arkansas, Utah, Miami, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and many others. He is another nice pickup for Coach Sumlin and staff.

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