A&M athletic director Bill Byrne decided yesterday that instead of letting everyone wonder if he IS truly a fool, he'd go ahead and announce the football schedule changes he has made, and remove all doubt. As we were informed yesterday, the Aggies will no longer be opening their 2012 season with a home game against McNeese State on September 1. Instead Dollar Bill, in a fit of brilliance, decided we should go on the road and open our season at a 'neutral' site in Shreveport, Lousiana against Louisiana Tech. With a new coaching staff implementing a new offense and defense, I don't see any reason why we would want to open our season in the friendly confines of our home stadium in front of a partisan crowd against a D-IAA school where we will have a decided talent advantage. No, it makes much more sense to take our team on the road and open the season on a Thursday night against a team that went to a bowl game last year, won their conference championship, and returns 16 starters. It isn't like a glorified scrimmage against a I-AA program would help our players adjust to a new system on both sides of the ball and get comfortable with the new coaching staff in a live game situation. No, it makes much more sense to make things difficult for ourselves, and open the season on the road, and make sure our home opener is also our SEC opener against Florida.

We're also scheduling South Carolina State on September 22, filling one of the open dates on our schedule. $Bill cites the desire to avoid having two games against I-AA opponents as his rationale for dropping the McNeese game and replacing it with Louisiana Tech while adding the SCSU game. His inexplicable decision to give up a home game for a game at a site that is neutral in name only (Louisiana Tech has played at Independence Stadium in Shreveport 71 times, and considers it their home away from home) is indefensible. We now currently only have four home games on our schedule (Florida, SCSU, LSU, and Missouri). $Bill says we will have a home game against an opponent to be announced on November 17 at Kyle, which will give us five home games. If $Bill somehow avoids screwing up the arrangements with Arkansas (do you really have any faith in him to get this right?), we could end up with only six home games at Kyle Field in 2012, with four of them being conference games. If Byrne does screw it up, as I fear he will, we will have five home games and seven road games in 2012. Why the hell would you want to shell out money for season tickets in that situation?

Continue reading this post »

I've been waiting all season to see the type of dominant effort on both sides of the court that reflects a championship-caliber team appear on the court for the A&M women's team. Last night, we finally saw that type of an effort, as the Aggies crushed Kansas State, 67-36. The Aggies used a dominant inside game and their trademark defense to tear apart Kansas State in the paint, and break their will on the opposite end of the floor.

Karla Gilbert and Kelsey Bone each scored 14 points as Coach Gary Blair rotated them in the post all night. Bone and Gilbert were a big part of A&M's dominance in the paint, as they outscored KSU 44-6 inside. The Aggies' defense was ferocious, forcing 23 turnovers, which they converted into 29 points. The Aggies held the distaff Wildcats to 19 points in the first half, and really put the clamps on in the second half, only giving up 17 points. They held the Wildcats to 26% shooting from the floor in the first half, then 20% in the second half. Meanwhle, the Aggies were able to execute their offense with precision, shooting at a scorching 52% for the night.

When our defense is playing well, it is like sharks sensing blood in the water, and the feeding frenzy begins. Last night, for the first time all season, the sharks were eating well. The Aggies move to 17-5 on the season, 8-3 in the Big 12, and second place in the conference standings. The Aggies play undefeated Baylor in Waco on Saturday. After their performance last night, it looks like the Ags are beginning to play well at exactly the right time.

As A&M enters the SEC, they return all of their starting offensive linemen from last season, with bookend tackles Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews, guards Jarvis Harrison and Cedric Ogbuehi, and center Patrick Lewis all coming back. Key reserves Rhontae Scales and Shep Klinke also return. We redshirted Joseph Cheek last season, and 2011 signees Ben Compton and Shayvion Hatten were both moved to the defensive line, so we're returning one player from the 2011 class to help us on the OL. We signed three OL in the 2012 class in Germain Ifedi, Mike Matthews, and Kimo Tipoti. I think we'll try to redshirt Ifedi and Tipoti, and Matthews may see time as a backup to Patrick Lewis this season, so he will be ready to take over as starter in 2013. We will return both of our tackles and our guards in 2013, needing to replace only Lewis at center, so we appear to be set early on at offensive line. We will have redshirt freshmen in Tipoti and Ifedi, redshirt sophomore Joseph Cheek, redshirt juniors Garret Gramling and Shep Klinke, and a fifth year senior in Rhontae Scales on our depth chart. I'd like to take four offensive linemen every year to make sure we have plenty of depth to account for attrition, but I'd prefer it if we take five or six linemen in the 2013 class.

Ideally,you have eight available offensive linemen you expect to play every game, your starting offensive linemen, a swing guard, a swing tackle, and a backup center. We need to bring in two tackles to spend a year as redshirt backups in 2012. I expect Cheek to work as a swing tackle this season as a backup to Matthews and Joeckel, and eventually start at one of the tackle spots in 2014. We need to bring in at least two tackles so we have another starter across from Cheek, and a swing backup. I'd like us to take at least three tackle prospects in this class, so we have a prospective starter, and two possible backups for 2014. Germain Ifedi could possibly be that starter in 2014, but I want to make sure we have the numbers for depth behind him and Cheek.

Looking back at the 2009-2011 recruiting classes for Houston, B.J. Anderson signed classes of 5, 4, and 4 offensive linemen. After Hatten and Compton's move to defense, however, we essentially only had one offensive lineman signed in 2010, which will be the backbone of the 2014 offensive line. We need to make up for that shortfall by bringing in five to six offensive linemen in this next recruiting class, and shore up our depth chart. I'd like to see us take three tackles, two guards, and a center prospect in the 2013 recruiting class. I realize this will take Coach Anderson out of his normal rotation, but we need to replenish the depth chart. You can never have too many linemen in the SEC.

I thought some of you might be interested to hear a little bit about Wally Moon and his new book, "Moon Shots: Reflections on a Baseball Life". Moon is a graduate of Texas A&M, Class of '51, and played both for the St. Louis Cardinals and the LA Dodgers. Wally Moon is the famed name behind the popular baseball phrase "Moon Shots," coined by announcer Vin Scully referring to a long, high home run that Wally was known for hitting first in the LA Coliseum.

Earning the title of Rookie of the Year and winning several World Series, Moon has written a book to share his reflections on a truly remarkable life and career both on and off the field.

For more information please visit: WallyMoon.com

Additionally, please feel free to contact me with potential interview questions, photos, and any additional information you might need.

Have a good day and thanks for your time.

Mallory@WallyMoon.com

I've written extensively here about what I see our offensive scheme being in 2012, our first year in the Southeastern Conference. Going forward, I am looking for a way to see what the future of our offense will be, a predictor of where our scheme is headed. In 2012, I fully expect us to use 10 personnel somewhere around 75-80% of the time our offense is on the field. We have players in Hutson Prioleau, Nehemiah Hicks, and Michael LaMothe that will allow us to utilize 11 personnel, and even line up in 21 and 22 personnel in short yardage and run-the-clock situations, but I expect our wide receivers to get the majority of the work load in 2012. The question is whether we will continue with our focus on the passing game in our offense, or become a less pass-heavy offense and a move to a more balanced attack in the future. One of the predictors of moving to a more balanced, pro-set based attack that primarily uses 21 personnel is recruiting at the tight end and fullback positions. Researching fullback recruiting is problematic for two reasons: 1) Rivals doesn't list fullbacks as a position in their recruiting database, so searching for that specific position is impossible, and 2) Projecting running backs to fullbacks from high school to college is difficult. Often, a high school recruit who projects as a fullback is simply a larger-than-average running back who doesn't have the speed you'd want out of a feature back, but runs with power and shows potential as a blocker. So predicting our offensive future based on fullback recruiting is out. We are then left with looking at tight end recruiting.

For the 2013 class so far, per the Rivals database, A&M has offered three tight end prospects, all of them from Louisiana. As it stands today, Standish Dobard (6'5, 235 lbs), DeSean Smith (6'4, 222 lbs), and Deondre Skinner (6'3, 212 lbs) all have reportedly received offers. Skinner was being recruiting by Jim Turner, and was offered under Sherman's staff, so that information obviously is not up to date. Skinner is supposed to be one of the top tight end prospects in the nation, though, so continued pursuit of him would indicate our future intentions on offense. A&M already has a commitment from possibly the top recruit in the State of Texas in 2013 in WR Derrick Griffin. At 6'6, 215 lbs, Griffin has room to grow, and projects as a very big slot receiver who will move to tight end. Based on our recruiting already at this position, it looks like the plan is to move to a more pro-style offense in the future.

Even if we continue to run an offense that is pass-heavy, and do not attempt to become a 50/50 pass-run team, I like these recruits. Whe you have a player that is 6'4-6'6 and 230-250 pounds split out, it is a coverage nightmare for the defense. That player is too big for defensive backs to cover, and too quick for linebackers to effectively cover. Such players also allow you to exploit the middle of the field, something which we got away from during the 2011 season. I still think our best chance to be immediately competitive in the SEC is to run a pass-heavy offense to stress defenses built to stop the run, but future recruiting looks like we will move to a more balanced offensive approach eventually, similar to what Coach Sumlin ran at Oklahoma as offensive coordinator.

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.