A&M Football Recruits Sticking with Newest Coach

Courtesy of aggiesports.com      

Published Wednesday, December 21, 2011 12:16 AM

By DAVID HARRIS
david.harris@theeagle.com

Two words have helped to bond and shape an entire recruiting class.
"Ag swagg" started as a joke amongst members of the Texas A&M football team's 2012 class of recruits. But in the months since it started, it has evolved into a movement, and with the termination of former head coach Mike Sherman coupled with the hiring of Kevin Sumlin, it has helped to keep A&M's 22 commits together.
The leader of the movement, Klein Forest quarterback Matt Davis, was the first commit to receive an in-home visit from Sumlin. And from his discussion with the former Houston headman, Davis came to the conclusion that he's the right guy for the job.
"He's a winner," Davis said. "I love that. That's what he wants to do is he wants to win. Forget what anybody else wants, he wants to win. That's it."
Davis made it official Sunday when he signed his letter of intent. He will enroll in January, participating in spring drills and competing for the starting quarterback job with the departure of Ryan Tannehill.
"I asked him if I would have the opportunity to play as a true freshman," Davis said. "And he said the job would be wide open. He said everybody is starting on the same page with a new coaching staff, so it's going to be a competition, and competition makes everybody better. He said I was a semester guy, so coming in is going to help me out."
Davis is one of 12 four-star players in the A&M class recruited by Sherman. The A&M class ranks fifth nationally, according to 247Sports. Sumlin's first task upon accepting the position became to keep the highly-touted class intact.
The highest ranked player in the class, Spring Dekaney running back Trey Williams, is the first five-star recruit to pledge his allegiance to A&M since Christine Michael. Williams, who won the offensive MVP after Dekaney's state championship Saturday, will take some official visits to Oklahoma State, Oregon, TCU and Texas Tech but remains committed to Sumlin.
"Right now, I'm committed to Texas A&M," he said. "That's my team."
Fort Bend Hightower quarterback Bralon Addison put up eye-popping numbers while leading the Hurricanes to the state championship game, though he is projected as a wide receiver at A&M. Once Sumlin's name was announced, his commitment became essentially etched in stone.
"The guy I wanted to get the job got hired," he said.
Offensive lineman Mike Matthews is the last in the lineage of Matthews brothers to commit to A&M. Kevin Matthews played center under former coaches Dennis Franchione and Sherman. Jake is a sophomore right tackle, and Mike is expected to play center at A&M. Sumlin visited the prospect shortly after accepting the job.
"He sounded like a great guy," Mike Matthews said of Sumlin. "I heard great things about him before he came over. I heard he's really a player's coach and that all of his players love him. After talking to him I definitely agree. I think he's a really cool guy and a guy that I would enjoy playing under."
Sumlin also is known for winning, leading Houston to a 36-15 record over his stint with the Cougars.
"He wins," Davis said. "That is it. He said that I was a lot like him. We don't like to lose. If anything is happening that's causing you to lose, you have to change it. That's exactly how I feel. I want to win."

Gigem247 contributed to this report.                

Sumlin faces big challenge at Texas A&M

Posted Monday, Dec. 12, 2011

Courtesy of The Fort Worth Star Telegram

By JIMMY BURCH

jburch@star-telegram.com

COLLEGE STATION -- Kevin Sumlin can win a press conference. Texas A&M's new football coach showed that Monday, flashing some of the charm and charisma that has made him a successful recruiter.

"I'm not coming here to lose," a smiling Sumlin assured A&M fans and administrators during a half-hour session with media members.

In four seasons at Houston, Sumlin finished with more than twice as many wins (35) as losses (17).

But can he beat a Top 25 team from the Southeastern Conference? Can he put together a defense capable of winning a game when his spread offense is struggling to collect first downs, let alone touchdowns, in Baton Rouge or Tuscaloosa? Is he really an upgrade over predecessor Mike Sherman, another offensive guru whose team scored plenty of points but posted a 6-6 record in a season that began with a Top 10 ranking and BCS bowl expectations?

The answer to all three questions is the same: We'll see.

No one truly knows because Sumlin, as coach of a Conference USA school, was not asked to tackle the type of weekly challenge he'll face in the SEC. Nor has A&M, which will be SEC-bound in July.

By the time the 2012 season starts, A&M will be playing in a conference that is home to the past six BCS national champions. It will play in the West Division, home to both participants in this year's BCS title game: No. 1 LSU (13-0) and No. 2 Alabama (11-1).

"It's a big step for us and it's a big step for him," said John David Crow, the Aggies' 1957 Heisman Trophy winner and former athletic director. "I think he'll be all right. I really do."

Are you sure?

"The only thing I'd say is, 'We'll see soon,'" said Crow, who admitted he was approached during the coaching search by "some people that ... wanted someone else."

That doesn't mean Sumlin is the wrong guy to be taking the helm in Aggieland.

He has more of a proven track record as an FBS coach than Oklahoma's Bob Stoops had when Stoops took over the Sooners' program in 1999. And that move has worked out nicely for OU, where Sumlin spent the 2003-07 seasons as an assistant on Stoops' staff before taking over the Houston program.

But there is no getting around this fact: Sumlin's past two teams at Houston faced exactly one Top 25 opponent. And the Cougars lost in decisive fashion to No. 24 Southern Mississippi, 49-28 in this year's C-USA championship game.

The Dec. 3 loss spoiled the Cougars' 12-0 start and caused Monday's coronation in College Station to be delayed long enough for A&M athletic director Bill Byrne to kick the tires on at least two other candidates (Georgia's Mark Richt and Boise State's Chris Petersen) who opted to stay in their current posts.

Rest assured, Sumlin -- who is 1-0 in career matchups against Top 10 opponents (Houston beat then-No. 5 Oklahoma State 45-35 in 2009) -- will have ample opportunities to prove his mettle against ranked opponents in the SEC. And he embraces the challenge.

"At any championship level ... you have to win close games," said Sumlin, who will be taking over a team that lost five games by a touchdown or less in 2011, including two in overtime. "How do you do that? It's practicing in those situations. It's decisions you have to make with feel, and I have experience in that. I think the ability to get over the hump there is going to be the first thing [to address]. That type of culture, you recruit that."

Byrne said Monday that Sumlin has agreed to a five-year contract, with a base salary of $2 million per year.

Sumlin, a former A&M assistant under R.C. Slocum (2001-02), will not coach Houston or A&M in either team's bowl game. Instead, he will focus on protecting his 23 inherited commitments -- and adding new ones -- in a recruiting class ranked No. 6 nationally by Rivals.com.

Sumlin said he plans to adapt his coaching style to the more defensive-minded SEC and recruit players "to that philosophy."

"We're going to be diverse in what we do," Sumlin said. "We're going to do what's necessary to win."

All of that sounds good in theory. But Sumlin will have no more games against Tulane, Rice, Memphis or UAB on future schedules. He'll trade those for matchups against Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Arkansas.

A&M linebacker Sean Porter, who broke a verbal commitment to Sumlin's Houston team to sign with A&M, believes his new coach is equal to the challenge.

"He believed in me and he got there before all the big schools," Porter said, reflecting on his recruiting history with Sumlin.

"It's a small world. I guess we had to meet up somewhere down the line. He's all about winning, and it sounds to me like he knows how to win those close games we couldn't figure out how to win this year. That excites me a lot, to learn from him and learn his ways."

If Sumlin's ways can translate to the SEC, A&M just made a heck of a hire. If not, expect the A&M coaching carousel to spin again in another four years, as the Aggies seek to find stability in a football program that won its last conference title in 1998.

Jimmy Burch, 817-390-7760

Twitter: @Jimmy_Burch

Sumlin era begins for Texas A&M football

Courtesy of the Houston Chronicle

By BRENT ZWERNEMAN, COLLEGE STATION BUREAU

Published 11:30 p.m., Monday, December 12, 2011

DAVE McDERMAND: ASSOCIATED PRESS MAROON MOMENT: Newly appointed Texas A&M football coach Kevin Sumlin, right, is outfitted in his team's colors Monday. Photo: Dave McDermand / Bryan-College Station Eagle

 COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M sophomore linebackerDamontre Moore, fierce on the field but a gentle giant in dress shoes, strolled into Monday's introductory press conference for Kevin Sumlin as curious as anyone in a packed Hagner Auditorium. By the end of what amounted to more of a spirited welcome back from well-wishers than a media Q&A, Moore could be counted among the believers in the Aggies' dynamic new leader.

"I'm willing to go with whatever he says," a smiling Moore said.

One down, about half a million Aggies to go. Sumlin, officially hired Saturday from the University of Houston, knows A&M football has hovered around .500 over the past decade under three different coaches - and that was in the Big 12. The Aggies are set to enter the rugged Southeastern Conference next season, and even the most ardent supporters realize there are plenty of questions to answer in the coming seasons for the SEC's Lone Star addition.

"He's a very, very good hire," said A&M's lone Heisman Trophy winner, John David Crow, who attended the Sumlin introduction. "We'll have to find out if he's the right guy or not going into the SEC.

"It's a big step for us, and it's a big step for him."

Neither A&M nor Sumlin has any experience in the SEC. But it's a step Sumlin is eager to take.

"This is a transitional time," he said. "We're excited about going into the SEC and playing football.

"I'm not coming here to lose; I'll put it that way."

A&M athletic director Bill Byrne said Sumlin will earn $2 million annually over five years. His predecessor, Mike Sherman, was hired four years ago for $1.8 million annually over seven years. School president R. Bowen Loftin fired Sherman on Dec. 1 following a 25-25 record over four seasons (including a 6-6 regular season this year).

No stranger to program

Sumlin, 47, served as R.C. Slocum's offensive coordinator over the last three-fourths of the 2002 season, before Slocum was fired following a 6-6 finish. Slocum's successor, Dennis Franchione, was 32-29 over five seasons before he was fired after the 2007 regular season.

Behind freshman quarterback Reggie McNeal, Sumlin did wonders in a short time with Slocum's offense in 2002 and nearly saved Slocum's job. Sumlin then moved on to Oklahoma, where he worked his way up to co-offensive coordinator under Bob Stoops. Sumlin, pushed by some Aggies for the A&M gig prior to the hiring of Sherman, turned in a 35-17 mark at UH in his first tenure as a head coach.

"One of the things I always look for when meeting coaches is 'fit,' " Byrne said. "I'm concerned about whether they fit the university and its values and culture.

"We talked for about 21/2 hours, and time just flew by. I knew we had someone who not only understood the values of A&M but embraced them."

Won't coach bowl

The Aggies will play Northwestern on New Year's Eve in the Meineke Car Care Bowl at Reliant Stadium under defensive coordinator/interim coach Tim DeRuyter. Sumlin said it's too early to determine who might be retained from A&M's current staff and that it's important for the players to have "continuity" going into the bowl.

Sumlin added that he intends to "hit the ground running" on the recruiting front and keep Sherman's touted 2012 class, ranked sixth nationally by Rivals.com, intact. Like Moore, linebacker Jonathan Stewart had a favorable first impression of his new coach - and said Sumlin's confidence about heading into the SEC stood out.

"You can tell he knows what he wants to do with this program," Stewart said. "He wants to take us to the next level and make us a premier program in the SEC West."

Make that two down, about half a million Aggies to go.

brent.zwerneman@chron.com twitter.com/brentzwerneman

Texas A&M kicker Randy Bullock emerges as emotional winner of Groza Award in season he dedicated to his late father

Courtesy of Fort Worth Star Telegram

Texas A&M kicker Randy Bullock’s senior season ended with his emotional acceptance of the Lou Groza Award during tonight’s College Football Awards Show on ESPN.

In August, Bullock dedicated this season to the memory of his late father, Richard, who died in 2003 of a heart attack. Randy Bullock was a freshman in high school at the time.
Bullock said he selected this season to dedicate to his father, who taught him how to kick a football, because he knew it could be his last to play organized football. Then, he went out and led the nation in field goals (25), conncecting on 86.2 percent of his attempts (25-of-29). Heading into tonight’s ceremony, Bullock said being a Groza recipient “would mean the world to me and to my family because that was my motivation be successful.”
When his name was called as the winner, Bullock closed his eyes briefly and his voice cracked when he elaborated about what it meant to be honored as college football’s top kicker in the season he dedicated to his father’s memory.
“It was very special,” Bullock said. “It means that much to me and to my family. We were in this together. I definitely felt his presence throughout out the whole season, especially tonight once my name was called.”
Bullock said his dad was not a kicker but “went with me to the field all the time and kept me working.”
Now, Randy Bullock has been recognized as college football’s top kicker. And he honored his late father in the process.
“That means so much to me, I can’t really put it into words,” Bullock said. “He was with me every step of the way and I know he’s smiling down on me now.”

_ Jimmy Burch

Read more: http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/colleges/2011/12/texas-am-kicker-randy-bullock-emerges-as-emotional-winner-of-groza-award-in-season-he-dedicated-to-h.html#ixzz1g4OQYM9j

Aggies to play Northwestern in Houston

Official from the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas announcing the matchup between Texas A&M and Northwestern.

FS Houston Staff Reports

December 4, 2011

Texas A&M and Northwestern have accepted bids to play in the 2011 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, the bowl organizing committee announced today. The Aggies will represent the Big 12 and the Wildcats will represent the Big Ten.

“This is a tremendous matchup for the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas,” said Heather Houston, executive director of the bowl. “Texas A&M has a huge and extremely loyal alumni base in the Houston area, and we’re excited to host them in their final game as members of the Big 12. Northwestern has a dynamic, exciting offense and one of the brightest young coaches in the country. We look forward to hosting both teams and their dedicated fans throughout bowl week.”

The 2011 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas will kick off Saturday, Dec. 31, at 11 a.m.

Texas A&M features one of the nation’s most high-powered offenses and a high-pressure defense. Senior quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who played wide receiver his first two-plus seasons in College Station, is the only player in NCAA history to record more than 4,000 yards passing and 1,500 yards receiving as well as the only player to record a 400-yard passing game and a 200-yard receiving game. He has a number of options to throw to, led by junior receiver Ryan Swope, who set school single-season records for receptions and receiving yards this year. Defensively, the Aggies lead the nation with 43 sacks and are 15th in the country against the run.

Northwestern is bowl eligible for the school-record fifth consecutive season under head coach Pat Fitzgerald. The Wildcats are led on the field by senior quarterback Dan Persa, who is NU’s career leader in pass efficiency and is fifth in school history with 34 career touchdown passes. Persa’s favorite target is senior wide receiver Jeremy Ebert, who has posted two of the top five receiving seasons in school history. The Wildcats possessed the second-best offense in the Big Ten and the conference’s best passing attack. Senior defensive lineman Vince Brown ranks fourth in school history with 19 career sacks, including 3.0 this season, and freshman linebacker Ibraheim Campbell leads the team in tackles with 81 stops.

The bowl has been affiliated with the Big 12 since its inception in 2006.  This year marks the second year in which the bowl has been affiliated with the Big Ten. In 2010, Illinois beat Baylor 38-14 on Dec. 29 at Reliant Stadium behind 184 rushing yards from running back Mikel Leshoure, who was named the bowl’s Most Valuable Player. The crowd of 68,211 was the second-largest in the bowl’s history.

Despite firing of Sherman, Texas A&M's recruiting class remains intact-for now

Brian McLaughlinSporting News

Future Texas A&M quarterback Matt Davis had about 24 hours to absorb the news of coach Mike Sherman’s firing, and he had time to talk to most—if not all—of the Aggies’ recruits. Everything’s stable, for now.

With a few hours to calm down, the recruits appear to all be intact, but one can be sure that opposing coaching staffs are perching like buzzards, just waiting for their window of time to swoop in and tear away at what is a very strong Texas A&M recruiting class. It is arguably one of the top three or four classes in the nation right now, with only two months remaining before national signing day.

Matt Davis remains committed to Texas A&M. (Sporting News)

Davis talked to Sherman late Thursday evening after the news broke of the coach’s firing.

“He just told me that sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way,” Davis told Sporting News on Friday. “He said it didn’t bounce our way this year and these are the repercussions of it.”

Davis said the class is still intact. Future classmates and friends like running back Trey Williams and wide receiver Bralon Addison are still on board—two of the top players in a strong class of 23. It’s a class that rivals Texas’ talented class, a rare occurrence in recent years.

“We’re not sure where to go from here, but for right now I was just making sure with everybody’s name here … I was just checking off everybody I talked to in the class, and the main thing I was saying is before we make any quick decisions, just wait and see for a little bit,” Davis said. “I told them I’m staying with A&M, but before y’all make any decisions, y’all need to wait and see what we’re bringing in next. Don’t say you can’t wait, because that’s bull. Nobody needs to make a decision this fast. So everybody seems to be on board. We’re waiting to see what will be the case.”

Davis has felt that “buzzard” effect himself. Within 45 minutes of the firing news, a member of the Texas Tech staff was on the phone with him saying “we want you”. It is a coach he has known for years from when his brother was playing at Sam Houston State. Contact from Auburn and LSU has also come in the last 24 hours.

The Sporting News Top 125 quarterback plans to be an early enrollee at Texas A&M, so he has decided to forego playing in any of the national all-star games in January. He plans to focus on competing for the starting position in the spring—a position battle that likely will be a wide-open affair.

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Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/feed/2011-05/cfb-recruiting-2012/story/despite-firing-of-sherman-texas-am-recruiting-class-remains-intact#ixzz1fgmx8QRt

Embarrassing A&M

Jared Baxter: Administration’s actions lack Sherman’s character, integrity

By Jared Baxter

Published: Sunday, December 4, 2011 Courtesy of The Battalion

Updated: Monday, December 5, 2011 02:12

Dustin O’Donnell — special to THE BATTALION

Following his termination, former A&M coach Mike Sherman didn't have to welcome the students who surrounded his house in support. He didn't have to tell high-profile recruits that A&M should still be their school of choice. He didn't have to stand in front of reporters and express gratitude for anyone.

But he did, and that speaks more of his character than any of the individuals who decided Sherman's time in Aggieland was finished. You won't see Loftin explaining why he fired him. You won't see regent James Wilson — the supposed ringleader of athletic decisions — making any public addresses on the matter.

It's all written statements and controlled messages meant to glaze over the situation. They would rather wait until A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne has a maroon jacket ready to hand the next coach than face their mistakes.

The administration lied about its commitment to integrity. It lied about giving Sherman a contract extension, cheated him and his players out of the years they thought lay ahead in College Station.

Disappointing 25-25 record or not, consider this: If A&M beats Texas, does Sherman still have a job?

Yes, he does. He's still our head football coach. University President R. Bowen Loftin finally picks up his pen and signs the contract extension he conveniently failed to when given the chance in October. Then it's off to the SEC, with Sherman ushering in one of A&M's most talented recruiting classes in school history.

But nope, here we are — in shambles.  In just four months time, this University went from BCS bowl expectations to condemning the coach that led us into believing we could accomplish as such in the first place. All of which are knee-jerk reactions to the addiction of winning football games.

So, Loftin and the regents did what any group of high-powered, demanding Aggies have typically done: they fired the head coach — the easy way out.

And where did this decision get us exactly? It led to the media learning of an honorable coach's firing before him and his own family. It embarrassed Byrne, the man who backed Sherman from the beginning and whose own job is rumored as being in jeopardy after leaking the administration's verdict.

And worst of all, it has left in question whether any official at A&M involved in this situation knows what they're doing anymore. Why was Loftin, a 62-year-old physicist, driving the movement to fire a football coach? Why are regents — individuals who probably couldn't tell one defensive coverage scheme from another — spending their time making Athletic Department decisions based on Aggie football pride?

"We live in a society today that is motivated by anonymous people who write baseless texts and twitters and it gets thing stirred up," Sherman said. "There's no accountability to that type of society, and the immediacy they request. It's important that people make decisions based on facts and what's real."

What's real is that before Sherman arrived, A&M's football program was a national joke, where upsetting Texas was the achievement of a lifetime and losing by 60 to Oklahoma rolled off the shoulders of fans. And what's factual is that A&M was by no means on the path toward constructing some of the finest athletic facilities in the nation before Sherman's vision was set in place.

Those dreaded second half collapses of 2011 will seem meaningless by the time A&M faces SEC foes with almost an entirely different set of core players. The Aggies did not need to take another step back as it headed into college football's most powerful conference, but it's done exactly that.

What this administration has shown is that coaches and players are not people first; they are dollar signs — the means to which this University expands its visibility and brand. The culture of football takes priority, placed on a pedestal above all other campus issues.

I thank Sherman for trying to accomplish the opposite with his players.

"You're constantly trying to get them to walk on solid ground and not the ground people put them on," Sherman said. "I told them last night, ‘If you're only a football player and I'm only a football coach, that's a sad testimony.'"

Maybe Sherman's effectiveness to improve his team and win games had run dry. Maybe this step back — despite all the mishaps along way — leads to a coach who can bring A&M to greater success. But for now, we're short a program leader heading into uncharted SEC territory. Not to mention the Top 10 recruiting class that's far from locked in.

Our standards are higher than this. They have to be — we're Aggies.

Jared Baxter is a senior media studies major and managing editor of The Battalion.