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BACK - TO - SCHOOL
I
EDITION
The Battalion
%•!
SECTION THREE
College Station, Texas Tuesday, September 1, 1970
Sophs hold key to Aggie hopes
The 1970 Texas Aggie football
squad opened workouts Aug. 20
for what is destined to be one
of the toughest seasons in the
school’s history.
The Aggies, who turned out
98 strong to greet Coach Gene
Stallings and his 10-man staff,
put on the pads for contact work
for the first time last Monday.
They had their first scrimmage
Wednesday as they prepare for
their season-opening date with
Wichita State University at Kyle
Field Sept. 12 on the newly in
stalled Astroturf.
The Aggies will be young again
this fall, with only five seniors
appearing on the roster.
For the first time this fall,
Football opens
busy sports year
With the start of the football season less than two weeks away,
another sports year is about to begin.
The outlook is bright in most sports, with Texas A&M expected
to field a contender in every major sport except tennis, swimming and
football, although they could suprise in those sports.
A look back at last year shows the Aggies with a fifth-place finish
in football, a similar place in tennis and a fourth-place show in
swimming.
The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Arkansas
are heavily favored again in the football race, but the young Aggie team
could play a spoiler role if its younger players develop a little quicker
than usual.
Rice and Southern Methodist University are just about the only
favorites in tennis and swimming, having about started a monopoly in
those sports. The Owls are the tennis leaders and the Mustangs the swim
champ.
In basketball, baseball, track and field and golf, the Aggies are
expecting another banner year. Last year saw the Aggies grab a first and
three seconds. In most of the cases, each of the teams should be
stronger in 1970, with the exception of golf where they lost their two
top swingers from last year. It’s hard to say at this early date whether
they will be able to pick up the slack.
Only a handful of seniors graduated in the other major sports,
with the only regular lost to the basketball program being Mike
Heitmann.
Baseball only lost four seniors and returns nine of its pitchers
from last year. The track team loses only a top weight man and a
sprinter from its collection of stars that brought the Aggies their first
SWC track title since 1953.
Anyway, 1970 should be a good year for the athletic teams at
A&M and it gets started with the Aggie gridders versus Wichita State
Sept. 12 on Kyle Field.
Coach Stallings will have avail
able both units of the 1968 and
1969 recruiting seasons.
A Southwest Conference cham
pionship for the Aggies in 1967
bouyed the talent parade a little
more in the direction of the Ma
roon those two years.
That group, now juniors and
sophomores on the Aggie varsity,
helped Fish Coach Jim Keller
inaugurate his coaching days as
head man of the Aggie Fish with
5-0 and 4-1 seasons.
A lot of the sophomores who
will be getting their first look
at varsity competition on the col
lege level will be counted on
heavily this fall. Eight of them
are listed number one on the Ag
gies depth chart after spring
training drills.
Thirteen juniors are currently
number one on the charts, with
the only senior being safety Dave
Elmendorf.
The Aggies incurred a blow at
the opening of fall workouts as
their number one right halfback,
Clifford Thomas, suffered a
shoulder separation last Monday.
The injury required surgery and
Thomas will be sidelined about
two months.
While we’re discussing the in
jury list, linebacker Dennis Car-
ruth, one of the Aggie sopho
mores, suffered a shoulder dis
location in Wednesday’s scrim
mage and will be out about two
or three weeks.
Sophomore Lex James won the
number one quarterback spot
during the spring and looked im
pressive in the first scrimmage,
running for 70 yards and pass
ing for 72 more on six of eight
attempts.
The Houston Sam Houston
sophomore is being crowded by
Junior Joe Mac King from Min-
eola, who is currently running
second.
Junior squadman Kyle Gary
and sophomore Ricky Spencer
give added depth at quarterback.
A former quarterback is mak
ing his presence felt at another
position this fall, as the Aggies’
number one quarterback for most
of last season, Rocky Self, has
been running at right halfback.
Self was practically unstop
pable in Wednesday’s scrimmage
in which he gained 172 yards on
15 carries and scored on runs of
five, 23 and 60 yards.
Another prospective change
could be the moving of Elmen
dorf to a running back spot. El
mendorf and Self both missed
spring practice due to their par
ticipation in baseball.
Sophomore Brad Dusek from
Temple also had an impressive
spring and wound up as the num
ber one halfback, on the left side.
Junior Steve Burks who averaged
5.6 yards a carry while seeing
limited duty last fall will pres
sure Dusek for his position.
See Sophomores Hold Key, Page 4
Finesse and Pursuit—Offensive finesse and defensive pur
suit are at their best as quarterback Joe Mac King (12)
runs the option with an unidentified defender in pursuit.
King has the option of either keeping the ball or pitching
to a running back as he is hit. The action took place during
a scrimmage on the newly installed AstroTurf last week
on Kyle Field as the Aggies opened training for the 1970
season. (Photo by Steve Bryant)
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