By BRENT ZWERNEMAN, COLLEGE STATION BUREAU Courtesy of the Houston Chronicle
Updated 11:53 p.m., Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Texas A&M defensive back Steven Campbell (2) tries to return
an interception for a touch dow in the first quarter of a NCAA football
game against Southern Methodist, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011, in Kyle Field in
College Station.
Photo: Houston Chronicle, Nick De La Torre / © 2011 Houston Chronicle |
COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M strong safety Steven Campbell, the counsel of position coach Chuck McMillian echoing in his ears, broke hard on a pass near the sideline during the Aggies' first series of the season.
"I was in the middle of the field and just reading the quarterback's eyes," Campbell said of the moment that jump-started the Aggies' 46-14 whipping of SMU on Sept. 4. "Coach Mac always says if you break on the ball, good things will happen. That was a prime example. If I hadn't have broken on that ball, it would have been just another play."
Campbell's hustle was only a part of what amounted to a perfect defensive play for A&M - the type of collaborative effort the ninth-ranked Aggies, who play host to Idaho on Saturday night, will need to make their dream of a Big 12 title perhaps become reality.
"That was a great example of fanatical effort, not just by Campbell but by our team," said coach Mike Sherman, reiterating a term coordinator Tim DeRuyter consistently preaches. "The rush, the blocks after the interception - that was just a prime example."
The third-and-7 play started with a solid four-man rush, prompting SMU quarterback Kyle Padron to hurry a throw intended for Darius Johnson. That's when A&M cornerback Terrence Frederick of Katy entered the picture.
"One of T-Fred's strengths is man coverage, although we don't typically play a ton of it," DeRuyter said.
Frederick looked like a maroon blanket on Johnson - minus contact - and at the last second turned and deflected the pass.
"I should have caught it," Frederick said, smiling. "But I've had trouble with my hands the past two years."
Offense benefits
A hustling Campbell, however, had positioned himself perfectly for the deflection. The Jersey Village product gathered in the interception and returned it 51 yards to the SMU 6-yard line, setting up A&M's first touchdown of the season.
"I was trying to score," Campbell said, shaking his head. "I was disappointed that I didn't."
Added defensive end Tony Jerod-Eddie, whose sack on the play before had set up SMU's pass on third-and-long: "We would have liked T-Fred to have caught the ball. But it was a great job by Steven to break on the pass and then become a playmaker when he got it in his hands."
In another example of DeRuyter's goal of fanatical effort, Frederick recovered from his disappointment to hustle down the field and position himself for a final block, had Campbell gone right instead of left in a last shot at the end zone.
"I had it," Frederick said, still smiling, "but Steven decided to do his own thing."
Some flaws revealed
A&M's first two possessions against SMU resulted in interceptions - the second by free safety Trent Hunter of Katy - but as the Aggies showed for much of the rest of the first half, they still have plenty of work to do defensively if they want to win their first league title since 1998.
Especially at inside linebacker, the team's biggest question springing into its second game, and with No. 8 Oklahoma State looming the following weekend.
"It's a position in flux right now," DeRuyter said of the Aggies' inability to stop the run early against SMU. "Garrick Williams is a returning starter and we expect him to play better than he did. But he'll start (against Idaho), and at the other position we've got an open competition. We'll probably play four linebackers at those positions, and see where we are."
DeRuyter was pleased, however, with his defensive backs, and especially the hustle of Campbell, a swift junior who fought a nagging foot injury as an underclassman - and served as the catalyst of A&M's perfect defensive play.
"He's a guy who can do those kinds of things for us," DeRuyter said. "When he plays with confidence, he can really do some special things."
Basketball
Coach Billy Kennedy's first Texas A&M recruiting class has a strong hometown feel - and that should please Aggies everywhere. A&M Consolidated's Alex Caruso, one of the state's top-rated guards, on Wednesday verbally committed to play for A&M. He joins Bryan's J-Mychal Reese, another top-rated guard, as part of Kennedy's 2012 class. Caruso is the son of Mike Caruso, a one-time Creighton standout and longtime associate athletic director for game operations at A&M. Reese is 63rd on Rivals.com's national top 150 list, while Caruso checks in at 67th.
Football
Freshman backup RB Mister Jones of Littleton, Colo., is no longer on the team, coach Mike Sherman said Wednesday.
"(He) came to me and expressed a desire to withdraw from school due to personal reasons," Sherman said.
Meanwhile senior running back Cyrus Gray enters Saturday night's game vs. Idaho as A&M's new career all-purpose yards leader. Gray has 5,159 all-purpose yards, with his 136 total yards against SMU pushing him ahead of Darren Lewis 5,138 yards from 1987-90. Gray has eight consecutive 100-yard rushing games, two shy of the school-record 10 straight by Lewis in 1988.
brent.zwerneman@chron.com
"I was in the middle of the field and just reading the quarterback's eyes," Campbell said of the moment that jump-started the Aggies' 46-14 whipping of SMU on Sept. 4. "Coach Mac always says if you break on the ball, good things will happen. That was a prime example. If I hadn't have broken on that ball, it would have been just another play."
Campbell's hustle was only a part of what amounted to a perfect defensive play for A&M - the type of collaborative effort the ninth-ranked Aggies, who play host to Idaho on Saturday night, will need to make their dream of a Big 12 title perhaps become reality.
"That was a great example of fanatical effort, not just by Campbell but by our team," said coach Mike Sherman, reiterating a term coordinator Tim DeRuyter consistently preaches. "The rush, the blocks after the interception - that was just a prime example."
The third-and-7 play started with a solid four-man rush, prompting SMU quarterback Kyle Padron to hurry a throw intended for Darius Johnson. That's when A&M cornerback Terrence Frederick of Katy entered the picture.
"One of T-Fred's strengths is man coverage, although we don't typically play a ton of it," DeRuyter said.
Frederick looked like a maroon blanket on Johnson - minus contact - and at the last second turned and deflected the pass.
"I should have caught it," Frederick said, smiling. "But I've had trouble with my hands the past two years."
Offense benefits
A hustling Campbell, however, had positioned himself perfectly for the deflection. The Jersey Village product gathered in the interception and returned it 51 yards to the SMU 6-yard line, setting up A&M's first touchdown of the season.
"I was trying to score," Campbell said, shaking his head. "I was disappointed that I didn't."
Added defensive end Tony Jerod-Eddie, whose sack on the play before had set up SMU's pass on third-and-long: "We would have liked T-Fred to have caught the ball. But it was a great job by Steven to break on the pass and then become a playmaker when he got it in his hands."
In another example of DeRuyter's goal of fanatical effort, Frederick recovered from his disappointment to hustle down the field and position himself for a final block, had Campbell gone right instead of left in a last shot at the end zone.
"I had it," Frederick said, still smiling, "but Steven decided to do his own thing."
Some flaws revealed
A&M's first two possessions against SMU resulted in interceptions - the second by free safety Trent Hunter of Katy - but as the Aggies showed for much of the rest of the first half, they still have plenty of work to do defensively if they want to win their first league title since 1998.
Especially at inside linebacker, the team's biggest question springing into its second game, and with No. 8 Oklahoma State looming the following weekend.
"It's a position in flux right now," DeRuyter said of the Aggies' inability to stop the run early against SMU. "Garrick Williams is a returning starter and we expect him to play better than he did. But he'll start (against Idaho), and at the other position we've got an open competition. We'll probably play four linebackers at those positions, and see where we are."
DeRuyter was pleased, however, with his defensive backs, and especially the hustle of Campbell, a swift junior who fought a nagging foot injury as an underclassman - and served as the catalyst of A&M's perfect defensive play.
"He's a guy who can do those kinds of things for us," DeRuyter said. "When he plays with confidence, he can really do some special things."
Basketball
Coach Billy Kennedy's first Texas A&M recruiting class has a strong hometown feel - and that should please Aggies everywhere. A&M Consolidated's Alex Caruso, one of the state's top-rated guards, on Wednesday verbally committed to play for A&M. He joins Bryan's J-Mychal Reese, another top-rated guard, as part of Kennedy's 2012 class. Caruso is the son of Mike Caruso, a one-time Creighton standout and longtime associate athletic director for game operations at A&M. Reese is 63rd on Rivals.com's national top 150 list, while Caruso checks in at 67th.
Football
Freshman backup RB Mister Jones of Littleton, Colo., is no longer on the team, coach Mike Sherman said Wednesday.
"(He) came to me and expressed a desire to withdraw from school due to personal reasons," Sherman said.
Meanwhile senior running back Cyrus Gray enters Saturday night's game vs. Idaho as A&M's new career all-purpose yards leader. Gray has 5,159 all-purpose yards, with his 136 total yards against SMU pushing him ahead of Darren Lewis 5,138 yards from 1987-90. Gray has eight consecutive 100-yard rushing games, two shy of the school-record 10 straight by Lewis in 1988.
brent.zwerneman@chron.com
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