Thursday Thoughts - Roster Reflections

Courtesy of I Am the 12th Man

by Beergut on Aug 25, 2011 4:22 AM CDT in Texas Aggies Football

• If I had to guess right now, I think our starting OL will be Patrick Lewis at Center, Brian Thomas at RG, Evan Eike at LG, Luke Joeckel at LT, and Jake Matthews at RT. Jarvis Harrison and Shep Klinke might be our swing players, the first two guys off the bench to give the starters a breather. It is hard to say who the second-string is at OL with the limited video we get online.
• Jameill Showers looks like a terrific practice player who has yet to translate his play to games. This means he may well win the backup spot to Ryan Tannehill, but I expect Matt Joeckel to push him for the spot. Joeckel looks mediocre to bad in practice footage I've watched, but he simply gets it done on gameday.
• Everyone talks about replacing Michael Hodges and Von Miller, but the spot I'm keeping an eye on is strongside DE. While I criticized him often for his play throughout his career, Lucas Patterson was a steady presence at SDE last season, even becoming a playmaker from that position. His stellar play often resulted in Sean Porter being single-blocked or coming clean because the offense would dedicate a TE to help on Patterson. If we can get steady play from Jonathan Mathis and Eddie Brown at NG, I'd like to see us try Kirby Ennis at SDE.
• With Damontre Moore, Caleb Russell, Brandon Alexander, and Tyrell Taylor all working at Joker, we have an embarrassment of riches at that position. We should have plenty of depth to keep the pressure on off the weakside at all times.
• One play which I do not ever remember us utilizing last season, even before we switched QBs, was the speed option. I don't know if Coach Sherman was protected Jerrod early and Ryan late, but we never ran that play, and we ran it at least one or twice a game every game in 2009. I'd love to see us bring it back, especially since we have two backs in Cyrus Gray and Christine Michael who can make it a home-run play.
• I still want us to bring back the Wildcat series we had in 2009. Cyrus Gray, Christine Michael, Ryan Tannehill, we have the players to make it work.
• On the realignment front, I find it interesting that the same texas fans who are accusing A&M of "running away" to the SEC are also the most ardent about not ever playing us in any sport ever again after we leave the Big 12. While the threat to never play us again smacks of taking your ball and going home because you're upset you didn't get your way, I think if they refuse to schedule us in any sport, it will be pretty obvious just exactly who is afraid of competition. If texas actually plans on making good on this threat, I think texas' biggest boosters of A&M going to the SEC have to be Gail Goestenkors and Chris Petrucelli.
• Off-topic, I was saddened to hear about Pat Summitt's announcement that she has early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Coach Summitt is one of the reasons I watch women's basketball, because she coaches an aggressive style on defense that make games fun to watch. I am glad she intends to continue to coach as long as possible, and is bringing national attention to this disease.