A&M starts spring football drills

Published Saturday, March 31, 2012 12:19 AM

Courtesy of Aggiesports.com

By ROBERT CESSNA
robert.cessna@theeagle.com

The Texas A&M football season that will kick off what's been dubbed a "100-year decision" as the Aggies head to the Southeastern Conference gets under way with spring drills Saturday that will fall in line with the theme of changes.

Kevin Sumlin is in as head coach, replacing Mike Sherman, who was fired after four seasons. Sumlin led the nation in total offense and passing two of the last three seasons at the University of Houston. Sumlin has embraced the opportunity for his wide-open attack going against the defensive-minded SEC, especially the Western Division. The Aggies will annually battle Alabama, Auburn and LSU, which have helped the SEC win the last six national championships, along with Florida, which will be at Kyle Field on Sept. 8 when the Aggies play their first SEC game.

In preparing for the rigors of the SEC, Sumlin delayed the start of spring training to allow his director of football sports performance, Larry Jackson, to spend eight weeks getting the players in the best possible shap, hoping to avoid a repeat of last year, when A&M lost second-half leads in five of six games, including 17- and 18-point deficits to Oklahoma State and Arkansas, respectively.

"The bigger and stronger that you are, the more confident you are, and you make pretty good decisions when you are not tired," Sumlin said.

Jackson came with Sumlin from Houston along with Clarence McKinney, running backs coach/recruiting coordinator; B.J. Anderson, offensive line coach; and Kliff Kingsbury, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. That will make the transition smoother, but A&M had good offensive numbers last season, averaging 490.2 yards per game which was seventh in the country, just over a hundred yards behind UH.

The big challenge for Sumlin is on defense where he's hired Mark Snyder as coordinator. Snyder is changing A&M's base alignment from a 3-4 to a 4-3. A&M led the nation in sacks last season with 51, but tied for 106th in turnover margin.

Aggie fans won't get to see all the new coaches and the new schemes until April 14, one of three scrimmages that will be open to the public. Sumlin is closing practices.

"It's a chance for us to really hone in what we want to do," Sumlin said.

Here are five areas the Aggies need major improvement in during A&M's spring drills.

1. Mental toughness: Head coach Kevin Sumlin noticed during the Meineke Car Care Bowl that after Northwestern cut A&M's 23-point lead to 30-22 in the fourth quarter there was an "oh, here we go again" feeling. He's right. It's been there for about a decade, really starting in 2002 -- his last year as an assistant here -- when A&M could beat top-ranked Oklahoma one week, then the next week lose to a Missouri team that was 1-5 in the Big 12. Sumlin, though, has seen the swagger when A&M went 90-32-1 from 1992-2001. He's also been part of Oklahoma's swagger (54-13 from 2003-07). Now he needs to bring that swagger to Aggieland to put behind a decade of underachieving (64-60).

2. Physical toughness: Forget the head coach. A&M needs to hire the country's best strength and conditioning coach. Former A&M head coach Mike Sherman got former strength and conditioning coach Dave Kennedy a $90,000 raise last year to $250,000 because he didn't want to lose him. Sumlin's in and Kennedy's out, though he's still owed money, and Sumlin pushes drills back to give his guy, Larry Jackson, time to get the players in shape for the country's most physical conference. This is nothing new. Dennis Franchione brought in two strength coaches, first Ben Pollard and then Rod Cole. It won't take long next season to see if Jackson is the best of the group.

3. Mark Snyder front and center: Everyone is talking about Sumlin's high-powered offense and who will be the next Case Keenum, but Aggies appreciate and demand good defense. The fan base seemed split on losing former defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, who was hired as head coach at Fresno State. He was loved in 2010 as A&M went 9-4 and was 55th in total defense (364.3 ypg), a 50-spot improvement. But last year the Aggies slipped to 59th (378.2 ypg) and no one was saying Wrecking Crew. Snyder will have his hands full in getting A&M ready to compete in a league that had half the teams in the Top 10 last year in total defense -- No. 1 Alabama (183.6 ypg), No. 2 LSU (261.5 ypg), No. 3 South Carolina (275.0 ypg), No. 5 Georgia (277.2 ypg) and No. 8 Florida (299.4 ypg).

4. Find a starting quarterback: Sumlin said he probably won't make a decision on Ryan Tannehill's replacement until the fall, which is a good move. Competition sure helped Tannehill. It will be interesting to see how Sumlin handles a four-way battle. He said that's one reason he closed practice, allowing the players and coaches to focus.Eagle readers are giving Johnny Manziel the starting nod over Jameill Showers by about 100 votes. You can vote at Aggiesports.com. Some say this is the most pressing issue of the spring, but with a veteran offensive line and several good receivers, along with the expertise of Sumlin's offense, you just expect A&M to have a QB who throws for 5,000 yards.

5: The go-to receiver would be?: When you throw for 6,301 yards as Houston did last year, there's a slew of receivers with gaudy numbers -- three receivers had at least 87 catches, but Patrick Edwards, from Hearne, was clearly the go-to guy with 1,752 yards and 20 touchdowns. A&M thought it had a go-to guy last year in Jeff Fuller, but he was nagged by injuries and had a disappointing season. A&M's Ryan Swope (89 catches-1,207 yards, 11 TDs) had good numbers last year, but is he ready to elevate his game? And is he ready to take a beating from those physical SEC defenders?

A&M FOOTBALL

Spring schedule (all practices closed except for three scrimmages): March 31, April 2, 3, 5, 9, 11, 13, 14 (11 a.m. scrimmage), 16, 18, 20 (8 p.m. scrimmage), 23, 25, 26, 28 (1 p.m. Maroon & White Game).

Returning offensive starters: LT Luke Joeckel, 6-6, 310, jr. (26 career starts); LG Brian Thomas, 6-3, 315, sr. (25 career starts); C Patrick Lewis, 6-2, 306, sr. (35 career starts); RG Cedric Ogbuehi, 6-5, 292, soph. (5 career starts); RT Jake Matthews, 6-5, 305, jr. (20 career starts); TE Nehemiah Hicks, 6-4, 249, jr. (12 catches-106 yards); WR Uzoma Nwachukwu, 6-0, 194, sr. (50 catches-639 yards, 2 TDs); WR Ryan Swope, 6-0, 206, sr. (89 catches-1,207 yards, 11 TDs); RB Christine Michael, 5-11, 213, sr. (149 carries-899 yards,6.0 avg., 8 TDs)

Returning defensive starters: E Spencer Nealy, 6-5, 277, sr. (45 tackles, 8 TFL); E Damontre Moore, 6-4, 245, jr. (72 tackles, 17.5 TFL); LB Steven Jenkins, 6-2, 220, sr. (61 tackles); LB Jonathan Stewart, 6-4, 237, sr. (98 tackles); LB Sean Porter, 6-2, 230, sr. (79 tackles, 17 TFL)

Specialists returning: P Ryan Epperson, 6-2, 191, sr. (41.2 avg. on 52); Dustin Harris, 6-0, 175, sr. (18 PR-335 yards, 18.6 avg., TD and 16 KOR-374 yards, 23.4)