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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 1969)
Pag-e 4 College Station, Texas Wednesday, August 6, THE BATTALION Lots Of Talent, Shy Experience The backfield will be long on talent but short on experience when the Texas Aggies take the gridiron Sept. 20 in their 1969 opener with LSU. Larry Stegent, a senior All- America candidate, is the anchor man for the Aggie backfield. He already owns two letters at the tailback slot. The 6-1, 195- pounder is one of the most re spected broken field runners in the Southwest. Blessed with gift ed hands, he also keys the passing game and has caught 59 passes in two seasons. was the leading ground gainer in the spring game and runs with both authority and finesse. He will be backed up by sophomores Doug Robbins and Doug Neill. Stegent will receive adequate backup help from sophs Steve Burks and Gary Armbrister. The wingback slot will also be in good hands with senior Barney Harris, who was second to Jerry Levias last season in SWC pass receiving. He latched onto 49 for 745 yards in ten contests and had the best single game of any re ceiver with 13 catches in the SMU game. Harris will be backed by sophomore Billy Joe Polasek and letterman Bill Seely. ing arm. Any good football team goes as far as their quarterback carries them and seemingly all Sheffield needs is baptism under fire. He has all of the tools to become a fine quarterback and Stallings has confidence that he can move the team. When talk about Aggie foot ball for the past few years is started it always leads to their weakness, the offensive line. This year will mark a young, inexperi enced line but bigger and quicker and deeper than any time in Stal lings’ regime. The fullback will be Marc Black, a red-shirt sophomore from New Mexico Military Institute where he was a high school All- America. The 6-2, 207 pounder The quarterback slot seems to be the unknown factor in the Aggie attack. Gone is Edd Har gett, passer supreme, but back is junior letterman Jimmy Shef field, a fine running signal caller. As demonstrated in the spring game, he also has a good throw- It is anchored by center Jack Kovar, tight end convert Ross Brupbacher, split end Jimmy Adams, and weak tackle Carl Gough. The latter two missed spring drills and will be hard- pressed to regain their positions. At the end of the spring drills, KOVAR SOOY STINSON Stop and Consider Our Book Policy Before You Buy We Will Buy Back All Books We Sell When Edition Is Still Current. When You Buy From Us - We’ll Buy From You. USED BOOKS ARE A REAL SAVINQ But They Never Last Long. BUY EARLY and SAVE MONEY. If You Know Your Course WE KNOW YOUR BOOKS. All texts on official university booklist. You Can’t Lose When We Guarantee Full Cash Re funds For 2 Weeks. This Eliminates Errors and Allows For Course Changes. LOUPOT MADE BY TRADES WHERE TRADES ARE MADE the starters were senior Tom Sooy at split end; junior Allen Hanson at weak tackle; junior Jim Parker at weak guard; Kovar, center; sophomore Robin Davis, strong guard; sophomore Andy Philley, strong tackle; senior Brupbacher, strong end. Jimmy Adams, Phil Adams, Joey Herr, and David Odom will battle Sooy for the split end job. Gough, Randy Maddox, Ted Smith and Jim Bates offer Hanson stiff competition. Leonard Foery, Rus ty Stallings, and Rae Albertini will fight for Parker’s job. Mike Stinson, Benny DeWitt, and Mike Park back up Kovar. Mike Fields, Tommy Filers, and Tommy Deaton will challenge Davis. Joe Shaw, John Cunning ham and Charles Crain are com petitors behind Philley. Roy Kirk patrick, Billy Bob Barnett, and Mitch Robertson are behind Brup bacher. In most cases, the quality will not fall off when a change is made in the offensive line. The kicking situation seems to be solved after a short indecisive period before the spring game. The punter will be either Mitch Robertson, a redshirt sophomore end, or Sheffield. Both punted for a 39-yard average in the spring contest. The placement kicking will be handled by Mike Bellar, a trans fer from Eastern New Mexico at Portales. He was not eligible for spring practice but will be an eligible soph in the fall. He is a strong-legged youngster whose field goal range extends to the 50-60 yard category. The defensive unit for the Ag gies will also be freely sprinkled with sophomores but does have some experienced hands at key positions. Middle guard Lynn Odom, ends Jim Piper and Mike DeNiro and linebacker Buster Adami all return to bolster the trenches but the other positions, especially the defensive second ary, are up for grabs. Linebackers Mike Caswell, a senior, and Andy Tewell, a red- shirt sophomore, did well in the spring but they, and Adami, were pressed by three candidates off last year’s undefeated freshman squad — Mike Lord, Clifford Thomas, and Steve Luebbehusen. MEAN MIKE Mike DeNiro, junior defensive end, returns to bolster the defensive trenches. In 1968 he was consensus All-SWC and defensive sophomore-of-the-year. And a host of other sophomores- to-be competed strongly for line spots. They included Van Odom, Wayne Wheat, James Dubcak, Clifton Thomas, Barb Hinnant, and Tom Evans plus squadmen Lenard Millsap and Ronald Cole. In the defensive secondary, only one experienced hand returns, safety Dave Elmendorf, and he saw limited service there last year as a sophomore, having played five positions during the season. Letterman Lynn Fister and redshirt sophomore Lee Hitt were in the race during the spring ADAMI SEELY STALLINGS but letterman Jack Whitmore missed most of the action because of a knee injury. Sophomores could man all of the slots except safety where El mendorf is set as a starter. Fore most of the newcomers was Edwin Ebrom, who could develop into a real good halfback. The battle then rages among such sophs as Corky Sheffield, David Hoot, Chris Johnson, Mike Bunger, Pat Willis, Bland Smith, and John Gardner. With inexperience to plague them at nearly all positions, the Aggies will not be picked very high in the preseason predictions, but if these sophomores develop rapidly they could be the surprise team in the conference. PASS RECEIVERS SUPREME Barney Harris (left) and Jimmy Adams are both seniors Harris 6-2, 192, is from San Antonio MacArthur and Adams and bring a wealth of talent to the Aggies receiving corps, is a 6-2, 185-pounder from Houston Waltrip. FLOWERS• HALLMARK CARDS-GIFTS “for all occasions” — we have the widest selection available’ a/ ^y^aaieicind ‘Slower Of Cdift ddhoppe & & 209 University Drive — North Gate Shopping Center * / / member FTD-TeleFlora for out of town orders THI