TAMABINPO's 2008 Aggie Football Preview


I'm ready for the season to start.

WHOOP! It's time for some Fightin' Texas Aggie Football!

Exactly two weeks before our first game I had another Aggie football dream. We were kicking off to Arkansas State to start the season and we pulled the onside kick. Jordan Peterson picked it up mid-stride and advanced it down to Arkansas State's 40 yard line. That was all I could remember. Weird, huh?

I'm currently re-reading one of my favorite books, Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St.John, which I think is such a great book because he does an excellent job explaining what it is going through the minds of over-the-top fans....because he's one of us. It got me to thinking about my maturation from a "baseball nut who casually watched other sports and went to the football games my freshman year" to psycho fan.

Break out the Wayne's World time travel music....


The high school gang ready for our first game at Kyle Field

The fall of my freshman year was pretty miserable overall. I was struggling through a bunch of weed-out classes in the college of engineering, my best friends from high school were living on-campus and meeting a lot more new people while I was off-campus (by no means a fault of their own), I was trying to get used to being away from home, and my high school girlfriend broke my heart. As the season went on those Saturday games got me through the week. I even went to a game or two by myself. Those Saturdays were like therapy for me somehow.

I've always been a big sports fan but I certainly wasn't a football fanatic. I didn't get into sports until the 3rd grade and from there I became a baseball nut. Other than watching my friends play in high school I had been to a total of two football games, both at Rice, during my middle school years and that was it for the gridiron.

The first football game of my freshman year was at Notre Dame. My best friend's fish camp counselor invited me to tag along in his van up to South Bend to go to the game with them. I declined and went home for the weekend to see my folks. It remains the only regret I have from my time at A&M. As much as I hate that I didn't go, it serves as a marker representing where my fandom level was when I started school, kind of like the height chart hanging on the inside of a kids closet door with magic marker dashes and dates.

Aggie football got me through my first semester of school and things got much, much, much better in my second semester as I met my wife. Every now-and-then I like to joke with her that Aggie football has been there for me longer....and every now-and-then I realize I'm not as smart as I sometimes think I am.

My freshman year I knew the big name players and that was about it....basically the guys whose names kept getting called over the loudspeakers. Names like Ja'Mar Toombs, Richard Whitaker, Mark Farris, Bethel Johnson, Robert Ferguson, Jason Glenn, Brian Gamble, etc.

Then during the summer between my freshman and sophomore year I started working for the athletic department as a class checker and I got to know some of the other players as well as most of incoming freshmen (who were required to be on our check lists). That fall it was a heck of a lot more fun to watch because I actually knew some of the guys playing and I recognized a lot of the other's names.

The spring following my second football season a bizarre situation with pot-luck roommates landed me a new roommate by the name of Roylin Bradley. I had to look him up on the A&M football website and even after that it took me three weeks to realize he was guy wearing #40 on the schedule poster that was hanging on my wall. He is still ranked 6th on the A&M All-Time Sack list.

I got to meet several other players through him, but the next level of my fandom really came through NCAA Football which I first bought when NCAA 2002 came out. That was a big jump in fandom for me because it really helped me learn about the game of football, of which I had no previous experience with.

I think that sometime between my senior year and my fifth year was when it really escalated to a level that caused a good portion of my immediate family to start getting concerned.

I've always been a huge, huge baseball fan (goodness, look at my room growing up) but at this point in my life if you had to pin me down I'd forfeit major league baseball for a year if I was forced to pick between it and Aggie football.

A few years ago I wrote the following in one of my previews and it still holds true enough that I'm going to include it yet again.

To me it's something that year in and year out I continue to become more passionate about.

I love going to Kyle Field with my friends (or family) and just going nuts. I love that we, as fans, can actually influence the results on the field with our enthusiasm.

I read Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St. John and he put it better than I could:

"On third down, as the State quarterback approaches the line, there is a sudden roar. It sounds like a massive waterfall, with the steady rumble of stomping feet on the low end and a singeing hiss of clapping hands on the high. My screams fill in the midrange. What am I saying? I have to stop to even notice: Comonbamaletsgodefensegobamagobamagodefense. Gibberish, in other words. And yet, who can tell, or cares? With the sudden spike in noise, the crowd seems to become aware of itself and of its power. It's exhilarating, and the exhilaration inspires us to scream even louder. A moment later, it happens again, as though the crowd is in a shouting match with itself. It's louder still. The decibel level ratchets upward--a graph of it would look like a staircase--McDougall's theory of intensification playing out in real time. Unnerved by the noise, a State lineman hops out of his stance--illegal motion. Our power is confirmed, and that's all it takes...The Bulldogs break the huddle and the roar begins anew, only still louder. Around me, fans are screaming and shaking their heads, mouths open, trying to muscle still more noise from the bottom of their throats, as though trying to shout rocks up a hill. I can feel the rumble through my heels. The State quarterback drops back and jogs right, under pressure. He throws the ball into his receiver's ankles, incomplete. It's our ball. We did it."
The crowd can become aware of it's self and to be a part of that is an awesome feeling (in the truest sense of the word). What an incredible rush, knowing that you're more than just a person in the stadium watching the game....you're actually contributing to the outcome on the field. The crowd is what makes the game so great. The greatest games I've been to at Kyle Field weren't even all wins....I remember those electric losses more than I remember most of our blowout wins.

That is why people are sports fans. I truly think that whatever it is that flows through your body during these moments of euphoria are like a drug and make you crave more....you need more and are willing to go through just about anything to get another fix. You live through all the bad and all the agony that comes with defeat to feel that feeling. And going through all that defeat and agony makes those great moments even sweeter.

Where else on earth can you completely release your feelings in such a primal way? I mean, after a big play I can simply howl at the top of my lungs for a good minute, just letting the joy spill out of my body.

That's what is so incredible about college sports. Think about how soccer fans in Europe go crazy....it's similar to collegiate athletics in that you are so completely committed to your team because you can't just pick and choose your team as the seasons go by....I'm an Aggie and no matter how much I like another college's sporting team there is nothing that they could do that could come close to the bond I have formed with my school.

It's that total release that you get that makes being a sports fan what it truly is. There simply aren't other outlets like that in our lives.

Aggie football gives me that.

I don't know very much about the X's & O's of the game but I love it all the same. I think Jennifer finally "got it" a few years back when I told her that if I had to list the 20 most important days of the year to me, that about half of them would be used for Aggie football. The rest would be birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays.

Schedule

This season's schedule works out well for a new head coach. In odd numbered years we have a horrifically difficult conference road schedule (playing at tech, OU, and usually the top Big 12 North team). This season we get all of our big games at home, minus the texas game. We're also in a "Bizzaro World" where Kansas and Mizzouri are pre-season Top 15 teams....and even though I'm not sold on them at their high preseason rankings, we miss both of them as our Big 12 North opponents rotated for this year. 

        2008 Fightin' Texas Aggie Schedule

         Date Opponent        Time    TV
        ==================================
        08/30 Arkansas State 6:00pm    -  
        09/06 @New Mexico    4:00pm   Vs. 
        09/20 Miami (FL)     6:00pm    -  
        09/27 Army           6:00pm    -  
        10/04 @Oklahoma State TBA      -  
        10/11 Kansas State   1:00pm    -  
        10/18 texas tech     1:00pm    -  
        10/25 @Iowa State     TBA      -  
        11/01 Colorado       1:00pm    -  
        11/08 Oklahoma       1:00pm    -  
        11/15 @Baylor         TBA      -  
        11/27 @texas         7:00pm  ESPN 

Click HERE for a ravishingly handsome schedule wallpaper

Obviously, we're going to have more televised games than that but at this point in time we don't know what networks are going to pick them up. As those networks make their decisions I expect a majority of those game times, particularly the Big 12 games, to shift so it fits the network's schedule.

I'll run through our non-conference opponents quickly....

Arkansas State is the opening game for Coach Sherman, just as they were for the beginning of Coach Fran's reign. In '03 we beat'em by two touchdowns and I don't have to remind you how bad we were in '03. They were 5-7 last season including an 0-6 record on the road.

Playing a game at New Mexico is somewhat weird. Typically, we won't travel to smaller schools to play road games but this game was set up, prior to the coaching change, as some sort of thank you to New Mexico from Coach Fran, whose Division I head coaching career started in Albuquerque. UNM hosts TCU in their season opener (5pm Versus network) on the opening Saturday of the season so that will give us a good idea of what to expect. On paper we should beat UNM but it is a classic trap game....new head coach, new offense, new defense, first road game, underdog's biggest game of the year, we're looking ahead to Miami....

....Miami is going to be fun. I've been waiting for this game since it showed up on our schedule years ago. I was really disappointed when Florida State backed out in '05 but we were able to keep Miami on the schedule. This is the biggest non-conference game at Kyle Field since Notre Dame came in '01 (just ahead of Virginia Tech in '02). On top of it being awesome just because we're getting a huge name OoC game, we now have a big chip on our shoulder after they pretty much had their way with us last season at the Orange Bowl. Miami is going to be coming to Kyle Field for their second road game of the season with a freshman starting QB (a redshirt freshman is battling it out with a true freshman for the starting nod....either way it's going to be a freshman). They play at Florida on September 6th (7pm on ESPN) and, like us, have an off week prior to our matchup.

Miami is coming to Kyle Field and it's going to be a heckuva game.

In my mind, Army is somewhat of a novelty game. They're not a particularly good team (3-9 record in each of their last two seasons) but they have a tremendous history and we have strong ties with them in regards to our own military background. We should be able to have a pretty good idea of what we're going to see from the Black Knights because their first three games will be televised live on ESPN Classic (8/29 7pm, 9/6 1pm, 9/20 TBA).

I think that in our non-conference schedule, realistically, we'll end up with a 3-1 record. I'd be thrilled (and it wouldn't completely shock me) if we were 4-0 but, realistically, it would be too perfect if we didn't have a slip up either at New Mexico or against Miami. In Big 12 play I think that everything is completely up in the air. We should win the KSU, ISU, CU, & Baylor games. We're probably going to go 1-3 against tech, OU, and texas (which is what we've done in 3 of the last 4 years). That leaves the Oklahoma State game as the deciding factor on whether or not we have a winning record in Big 12 play and I think that game is a toss-up.

So...

7-5 or 8-4 is where I think we'll end up at the end of the regular season. Hopefully, I'm completely wrong and we end up shocking the world.

Coach Sherman

Coach Sherman hasn't coached a real game yet but he is doing very well in the minds of most Aggies already.

"From the inside looking out, you can't explain it. From the outside looking in, you can't understand it."

Sherman gets "it". He understands Texas A&M, he understands the alumni, he understands the student body. He knows what we want and our goals are aligned.

That's just one part of what the alumni base wants. We also want to win.

Coach Jackie Sherrill (who also got "it" and won) said, simply, when asked about what Sherman needs to do to be get us back to dominance, "Recruit the right players".

Coach Sherman has been hard at work trying to do that. He landed the two biggest recruits in our 2008 recruiting class in Jeff Fuller & Cyrus Gray and has been busting his hump on the 2009 class. We have already secured 25 commits, including a full cupboard of offensive linemen, defensive backs and one of the strongest WR corps from top to bottom we've seen at A&M, maybe ever.

Part of the reason we're contending for these top notch recruits is the staff that Sherman put together. We have a tremendous amount of NFL experience, which is something that has impressed recruits, as well as our current athletes.

For those of you wondering what has become of our previous head coach, he has taken a job with ESPN to do the commentary for 16 games this season. He sold his house in Miramont and is rumored to have bought a new one in Marble Falls, just north-west of Austin.

Offense

The option is gone. Harumph! Harumph! Harumph!

Over the off-season, particularly since the baseball season ended, I watched a lot of highlight films from years past. As I watched our clips from last season I was struck by realization that they're made up, almost exclusively, of: Goodson runs, Goodson catch and runs, of McGee runs, and of J-Train runs. That kind of saddened me. The defense, for the most part, was bad to quite bad, and we had no offense outside of those three players. Well, we had Martellus, but it's fairly well documented that he didn't get near the number of touches that he should have. Anyways, for some reason that realization really bothered me.

Last season our leading rusher was our QB, while our RB led the team in receiving TDs and is our leading returning receiver in yardage. Something is fundamentally wrong with that.

I think it is really interesting that instead of following the trend of moving towards a spread offense, we went from a zone-read spread and went back to a pro-style offense.

What that means exactly is kind of fuzzy to me....mostly because I'm not an Xs & Os guy. You hear "pro-style", "I-formation", "west coast offense", etc. a lot and they're used overlappingly to describe the same thing.

Regardless of the technical terminology we're going to line up with a QB, a fullback, and a running back behind the center. We're going to have 5 offensive linemen and some combination of TEs and WRs that equal 3. Shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached....we'll have an offense.

So the new offense is going to be a pro-style offense, but not necessarily a true west coast offense. The basic philosophies of the west coast offense will be there but it is a much more condensed version of it. This isn't going to be the '89 49ers out there.

Quarterbacks

The leader of this new offense is going to be Stephen McGee, who beat out Jerrod Johnson during the fall camp for the starting nod. It wasn't such a shocker for me because, and I've said this before, I can't imagine a brand new head coach sending someone other than the face of the program out to take the first snap of the season. The result would split the fan base and then it would polarize them either against or for Sherman right off the bat. The honeymoon would already be over.

That said, McGee is still a big mystery for me. He threw the tar out of the ball in high school and then when he got here he was turned into a battering ram. I love the guy but I have not been wowed by his passing through his two years as our starter. When we did throw it seemed like the ball was never quite where it should have been where our receivers had to stop their routes to make the catch. Then you get a game like last season's texas game where we come out with a new game plan and he throws the ball around like Tom Brady, setting a career high (and the 5th most prolific passing game in school history) with 362 yards through the air. Was it the system? Was it because he was beat up all the time? I flat out don't know.

The above chart shows every single completion we had that went for 20 yards or further. As you can see, in 13 games, we had 26 completions over 20 yards. Nine of those 26 were completed to one of our backs, which means the yardage was a result of the yards after catch. Mike Goodson had the most receptions over 30 yards. That is not good for a passing game. Most of that was a result of play calling but some of it was a result of not seeing the open receiver or not being able to get through all the reads.

Offensive Line

I've voiced my concerns with the offensive line on several occasions. We have very little depth with any experience, let alone a significant amount of experience. The other day I was wondering when the last time we such uncertainty at the offensive line and 2003 came to mind. I was curious how much experience we brought back that year and how it compares to our current OL situation.

In 2003 we had eight players who appeared in more than 1 game. Only three of them had made a career start prior to '03. This season we have a total of 19 players listed on the roster at the position, although five are true freshman of which at least 3 should red-shirt. Of those 19 players only 6 have every played a snap and only two have made a start. 

               Prior                                Prior
2003 OL         Exp   2003         2008 OL           Exp
==========================         ======================
A.De La Garza. 11/0  12/12         R.Frost......... 11/0
G.Hangartner.. 13/11 12/12         L.Grimes........  8/0
Q.Holman......  5/0   4/0          K.Matthews......  9/0
J.Kirk........ 18/0  12/11         T.Schneider..... 26/16
A.Kotzur......  0/0  12/12         M.Shumard....... 17/5
J.Milkavich...  0/0   7/1          V.Williams......  5/0
A.Reuber...... 22/9  12/12         
D.Steamer.....  5/0   9/0         

(G/GS)

What does this mean for us? It means that we're just as inexperienced as we were in 2003. I don't expect things to go much differently than they did in 2003 but only because I have absolutely no way of being able to gauge if our inexperienced bunch is more or less talented than our inexperienced bunch was back then. I just think that experience on the offensive line is extremely important....and that is why I'm such a pessimist in regards to the position.

Take a look back at last year's Alamo Bowl as a slight indication of what to expect because we were without Yemi and Kirk Elder in that game.

Running backs

From a sour note to a note as sweet as a glass of Chicken Express tea....the running backs.


(click to enlarge)

I love that picture (even before I edited the background slightly). Goodson is reversing field and as Chris Berman would say, "Whooop", no one in orange is going to catch him.

Our running back stable is incredibly deep. Michael Goodson is going to be All-Big 12 but guys like RS-F Bradley Stephens (now wearing #20) and true freshman Cyrus Gray are going to make a big impact as well. That doesn't even include Jorvorskie Lane, the school's All-Time TD leader, who moved to fullback. Keondra Smith will get in some action as the year goes on, but right now appears to be the odd man out. Cornell Tarrent was also in the odd man out category but it appears he will be moving on to greener pastures as his name is no longer on the roster.

Over the last two seasons we're averaging right at 70 offensive snaps per game. Last year we ran the ball 61% of the time and threw it 39% of the time. That is going to change this season, I'm guessing we'll be right in the neighborhood of 50-50 this season. That means around 35 passing attempts per game and 35 runs per game.

Splitting 35 rushing attempts between Goodson, Gray, Stephens, & Lane isn't going to be easy....but we shouldn't expect McGee to be running the ball 10 times per game this year. At fullback Lane's carries will also drop a good deal but he should make some of that back through the passing game. I'm envisioning Goodson getting 20 carries, Gray and Stephens splitting 10-12 carries, and Lane having 3-5 carries. I'll be interested to see how accurate that guess turns out to be.

I think that Jorvorskie is the most intriguing of the group. He has been nothing but great for us over the last 3 seasons but Coach Sherman moved him to fullback and asked him to lose weight. It doesn't appear that Jorvorskie met the goal of getting down to 265 lbs and I don't think he is in terrific standing with the coaching staff and my father-in-law made a good point as we talked about him over the weekend that Sherman doesn't owe him anything and his staff isn't going to put up with anything.

I love J-Train and I've always felt that, regardless of his weight, he has been a huge contributor for us. He has always been a complete beast when we've needed him the most. I've had a running compilation of how successful J-Train has been throughout his career in 3rd down, 4th down, and 2-pt conversion situations, which is pretty impressive....for the last two seasons he has converted 51-of-54 short yardage attempts on 3rd & 4th down (including 2pt conversions).

I think that he is going to be a big part of the puzzle for us....behind him at fullback we're looking at either a true freshman or Nick LaMantia, The 12th Man (which means he's a walk-on).

Wide Recievers

With this new shift in offensive philosophy the wide receivers have become much more important. That became an immediate problem because we were pretty thin at the position, and who could blame a high school wide receiver for not wanting to come to A&M and turning into a glorified lineman.

Howard Morrow is our most talented (and highest ranked recruit) at the position, and is a guy that I love.

The new offense gives Howard Morrow his chance to shine. I've been banging the drum for several years to get the ball into his hands more often and I thought that he was going to turn into our #1 guy last fall (which in the old offense meant one or two passes thrown his way) but he hurt his wrist before the season started and took a redshirt season. That turned out to be a good thing as it saved a year of eligibility that would have been otherwise wasted in our overly run-heavy 2007 offense. I'm a huge Morrow fan, but again, we've yet to see him perform (due to injury or play calling).

For whatever reason I keep reading and hearing comments about Morrow making lots of drops in previous seasons, which is not the case at all. In 2006 he had the ball thrown to him 11 times: 7 were catches, 3 were uncatchable, 1 was dropped.


True freshman Jeffery Fuller

In addition to Morrow, Sherman snagged Jeff Fuller late in the recruiting process. Fuller's father (also Jeff) played for A&M as a safety lettering from 1980-1983 and going on to a career with the San Francisco 49ers. The coaching staff named the opening game starters and Jeff will start as a true freshman along with some Howard Morrow. Also in the mix will be Pierre Brown, and probably QBs Jerrod Johnson and Ryan Tannehill (who has been spectacular in late fall camp practices lining up as a wideout). Both Chevar Bryson and Kenny Smith moved back to WR from the defensive side of the ball and should see some action along with Terrence McCoy, and EJ Shankle (now wearing #2). Roger Holland, who made one of the best catches I've ever seen last season against Kansas, is going to take a redshirt this season after suffering a concussion.

The TE position is going to be filled by Jamie McCoy (Terrence's older brother), who has moved around like a hackey-sack throughout his career at A&M. He is a pass-catcher more so than a run blocker and will be a big time target for McGee. Billy Chavis (who moved to TE for this season) and possibly KJ Williams (another true freshman) will also see some significant time at the position. This position is important in Sherman's offense but I don't have a feel for how successful we'll be at it because of the inexperience....McCoy is a senior but has never played the position before.

Defense

I was reading the big feature article in the Sports Illustrated CFB Preview issue on the spread and it kind of brought to light some of the reasons our defense has been as bad as it's been.

Last season the Big 12 was incredible offensively. Six Big 12 teams were in the top 20 in total offense....including four of the top 10. Five teams were in the top 15 in scoring offense. We played 5 of those 6 teams which means that 5 of our 13 games were against incredible offenses (our 5 were all in top 15). 40% of our season was against the top 13% of the offenses in the nation.

Now let me specify that I'm not saying I'm pleased with how our defense performed or that we're going to be better defensively simply because of that, it just means that in the Big 12 we see the toughest offenses. It's like the SEC where the defenses have been so dominating that the offenses can't put up big numbers....but flipped.

I do think that the days of the Wrecking Crew dominating defenses is coming to an end, not just for us but the rest of the nation. The spread offense is becoming an equalizer and is moving into the SEC and the Big 10. In the last 3-4 years we've still see teams with dominating powerful defenses but for the most part those teams have been in conferences that have shifted to the spread offense more slowly (Big 10 & SEC). There will always be shut down defenses but it's going to be a different style of defense. The days of the big power packing linebackers is over. Speed is the ultimate defensive tool so the guys you used to see playing safety are playing LBer and the guys you used to see playing LBer are DEs and the guys you used to see playing DEs are interior linemen.

In our six losses we were outscored 107-23 in the first quarter, which made me think, "Wow, I wonder how many more games would we have won if we had just held the score 0-0 through the 4th quarter?" I went through all our box scores and discovered that the answer wasn't all that exciting. We wouldn't have won any of those games because we were outscored in the other three quarters in every each of those games.

Defensive Line


Michael Bennett

I'm going to take a little bit from my Cupboard post a couple of weeks ago....Mike Bennett is going to be an All-Big 12 DE and Lucas Patterson and Kellen Heard are going to continue to develop into solid interior defensive linemen. The experience shown on the DL is slightly deceiving because of how much we relied on a rotation last season. The guys don't necessarily have a lot of starts but, for the most part, they did see a lot of action.

We're going to start Cyril Obiozor and Bennett at DE with Heard and Patterson on the inside. Paul Freeney and Amos Gbunblee will back up the ends and true freshmen Tony Eddie, Eddie Brown, and JUCO transfer from last season David Tufuga will back up at defensive tackle.

Just a note....Mike Bennett is going to be a beast this season.

Linebackers

Joe Kines's defensive system is designed to have the linebackers make the plays. We don't have big, physically imposing LBers nor do we have an experienced LBer corps. What we do have are some fast, athletic guys. Listening to Mike Bennett during one of the Beluicci Hours over the summer he said that last year, in terms of speed, we had Toyotas and that this year we had Ferraris.

Does that mean that we're going to have visions of the Blitz Bros.? I doubt it.

We have some very talented players but they are grossly inexperienced. Von Miller and Garrick Williams have made the move to LBer and will join Matt Featherston and Anthony Lewis. JUCO transfer/walk-on Johnathan Haynes has also made his name known over the last couple of weeks. Of those five guys, three will start....which three, I'm not certain. Going into fall camp it was Miller/Featherston/Williams.

Regardless of who starts, the group of five has started a combined total of 3 games at the position.

Defensive Backs


Senior Danny Gorrer

This is our most experienced group of defensive players.

At cornerback we're going to see Danny Gorrer, Arkieth Brown, and Jordan Pugh (who moved from safety). Gorrer is coming off of knee surgery that ended his season short last year but if he is healthy he will be one of the top CBs in the conference.

At safety we have some competition at strong safety with Alton Dixon making a strong push to take the starting spot from Devon Gregg (West-FIELD!). The two will split time there. Jordan Peterson has moved to free safety and is now wearing #5, putting his name on the list of guys I follow.

One of the big keys to how well our defensive backs play is how well our defensive line gets pressure on the opposing quarterback. The longer the QB has the ball in his hands the more difficult it becomes for a defender to cover a receiver.

Special Teams

The third, and typically most overlooked, unit of a football squad....special teams.

I'm a big special teams fan because I've come to realize how easily poor special team's play can wreck havoc on a team's chances to win on any given Saturday.

I'm going to start with my boy, Justin Brantly. Justin is going to be named All-Big 12 and will make a run at All-American status as well as the Ray Guy Award. How he isn't on the pre-season watch list is beyond me.

Justin is currently second in the A&M All-Time Punting average record book behind only Shane Lechler (who just so happens to be one of the best punters in NFL history). It's not even like Justin is all that far behind Lechler. The two are separated by 0.8 yards per punt. If you look at single season punting averages, Justin sits in 3rd ('06) & 4th ('07) behind only Lechler's '97 & '99 seasons.

Bottom line....he's really good at what he does.

Our punt return crew looks to be Jordan Peterson (last season averaged 7.7 ypr on 14 attempts) & Jordan Pugh while our kick-off return tandem will be Pierre Brown (21.5 ypr on 16 attempts in '07 and 24.8 on 8 in '06) along with Cyrus Gray.

Our place-kicker has yet to be decided between senior Richie Bean and true freshman Randy Bullock. Neither has ever attempted a FG or an extra point at the college level.

Up Next....

I'm not sure. I'm going to try and get an Arkansas State preview typed up but it's not done yet and I don't know what is going on tomorrow. I have been transfered at work to a new area of town so tomorrow is my first full day out there and I don't know if I'll be able to leave work at a normal time or if I'll need to work late. Jennifer and I are going up to College Station to see the great Bill Cosby who is performing at First Yell (8pm) and then we're coming back home. It kind of depends.

If I don't get it done....B.T.H.O. Arkansas State! WHOOP!

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