Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1971)
n 1/ * * ' Bade to School Edition t i ltd'll • t. \ . \\ Section Two OoUege Station, TezaaTueoday, August 31, 1071 Ags loaded with k>eople -— now to put it together football Tfejron Amcml 11, m tbo Tmm Agglm rot U- gotWr to togta p«op>»atloa for tbo 1*71 Mtooa vtoeh opm* Bmp- tombor 11, am KjrW fWld ogoinat Wiekito State After ■»■»<*— tbo first half wyoh oa conditioning drills, Stall- tegs took his chargas through two-s-day workouts la pads for a wuok Mors tho start of fall clssoss Tho Aggteo bars 4k Uttermoa hark from test Tsar's teaai sad art trying to saap out of a qino gaato losing string that put th« squad ia tho Southwost Confor- ones collar a yosr ago. . Stallings says that tho oxpori- onco tho Ags bar* back is tho biggoat plus ia thoir favor "I think it is a big plus for us that w« havo at loast ono axpari- oacod roturnoo at ovary position excopt fiuo safety and at tamo pteeoo wo havo two votarans. Wo also havo good soniovs." Tho Aggtes havo 25 seniors to bs ox set as compared to four test season. Fyso safety te tho only position AAM doesn’t return a as All-Amsrirss Dave iafsetious hsparttte, to rssumo his battle for tho quarterbacking <te l Trying to teuak the Is stag tins with senior Joe Mac King skein is tho biggest prshlsw on from Minoote and a trio of soph- tho Aggies agunds this fall and osnore* Stallings has mad# a few chang- Tho tender among tho sopho- os that ho hopes win instill bow morse is Mark Grsaa from Odoa- flrs ia the atmoaphors. sa, an imprsaaivs athlete, who Ho has rhatoted hte bates atti- was namad to the All-Southwest tads toward tha offense. Conference freshman team as a "If you has« a bask attack safety last year, and has boon sad are pood go straight et poo- Broyles picks 1. Texas-Austin * t. Arkansas 2. Texas Tech 4. Texas AAM ». TCU 4. Rice ^ 7. 8MU 5. Baylor . — pie and not have to fool thorn. 1 think wo can do it this year whore in past yoars wo couldn’t bees use I think wo are overall stronger than test year," bo said. Junior Lex James from Hous ton Sara Houston is back after miming spring training duo to A mentioned as a possible running back or defensive back just as s means of getting his talent in the v lineup.* Stallings says he first plans to try Grmn as s quarter back. vT- Tim Trimmier from San An- vjomo Loo and Mike Rigsby from Houston Spring Woods did most . of the quarterbacking for the Fish a year ago will also be in ' the race. Trimmier reported ia * outstanding shape, the coach said. Another change ia the coaches strategy will be that he will give more of the job to his quarter back for calling the plays. . “I personally like to have a quarterback who can call his game,’' Stallings said, but added, “last year we felt it might be better to call moat of the plays a* m i Lex Ji Homer May Mike Lord and take the pressure off Lax so we did most of the calUng.” Stallings said he talked to James just before workouts started and told him that ho would ho doing more of the play calling this season. The coach added that it Is very possible that he could have been crossing up blames by helping him so. much last year. Most impressive among the • runningbseks in the spring was sophomore Bobby Merren from Nederland, who moved in as the number two tailback behind sen ior Steve Burks, after gaining only 28 yards on the Fish squad due to a leg injury. Burks, a Dumas product rushed for 413 yprds and scored five touchdowns lot season. Four lettermen will head the battle for fullback with the team’s leading rusher, senior Doug Neill and junior Brad Du- sek heading the group. Neill rushed for 425 yards last ysar and Dusek 257, third best on the sqqsd. Mare Black, senior who missed spring training while tak ing time to excel in the javelin With the Aggie track squad, and Doug Robbins, who saw limited action last year, will also be in the fight. Clifford Thomas, who missed last season due to s shoulder sep aration suffered in the first workout of the fall, after win ning a starting halfback post from his spring efforts will be used either way Stallings says. Thomas worked in the defensive secondary during the spring but StelHnff" >■ talking of giving him another shot at the offensive unit Sophomore Pst Herring, lead ing rusher on the Fish team last year is still questionable. A grad uate of Beaumont South Park high school, Herring suffered s broken leg during the spring workouts and is still recuperating from the injury. ’ During the spring, tha Aggtes biggest problem wns to find the right combination hi the offen- shra Has, the coach soya. Through a massive program of switching and trying different players at different positions, he earn# up with what ho fates is a solution to the lyobism. Only one of test year's starters held down hie position after spring training had ended, senior Leonard Foray, who was named to several SWC All-Star teams test year, was still at right guard. Behind Foray is junior Mika Park, who played center a year Afo. Coach Stallings’ shifts ia the offensive lias has Ralph Sacra, who was shifted to offense in mid season last year, at right tackle with Robert Gerasimowics and junior college transfer Skip Ksahn at center. Kenha eras the number one center for a time but was injured in spring practice and Gerasimowics finished the spring as tha leader. Todd Christopher, who started last season as a promising soph omore defensive end and moved to linebacker when the potetioa became saturated with injuries now is the number one left guard, opposite Foray. Four lettermen are working at left tackle with Buster Calloway leading at the time. Ted Smith, who played center last ysar and Clifton Thomas are close behind.. Senior lettonnan Andy Philtey ' and junior letterman Butch Kamps both were injured ia the spring but will vie for Sacra’s right tackle position. Joey Herr and Hugh McElrey, . two seniors who wars the team* leading wide receive re last year with 21 receptions apiece, will be the ‘rrrtfng candidates for the wmgback potetioa although the loading freshman paaa catcher Bobby Hughes from Houston Sam Houston and Billy Joe Po- laaek, who miaeed last season with an injury, are rated as con tenders. "He can play for anybody,’’ is what Stallings says of tight and Homer May from Lubbock. The 5-2, 225 junior led the Aggtes with 25 catches and is rated as the pre-season pick for All-SWC tight end by Texas Football (See Leaded, page 2) Another toughie for Ags With five of the top 10 teams in the country on the Texas Aggies schedule lest season it’s doubtful you will ever find any thing tougher, but the 1971 Ag gie opponents aren’t exactly pushovers with at least five of the teams bonified top 20 units — including the two teams that were voted by the wire services as national champions, Nebras ka and the University of Texas at Austin. w The Aggies open the season st home with the Wichita State Shockers Sept. 11 st 7:30 p.m. WSU still is rebuilding from the tragic air crash which killed a large number of Shocker players as well as their coach. Wiehitp will return mors lettermen, 49, than the Aggies since their freshman were made eligible for the remainder of the season after the air crash. Defensive epd John Hoheisel, tackle Dave Lewie, running back Randy Jack- son and Bob Renner wer surviv ors of the crash and return to lead the Shockers. The next two weeks resemble ’ the schedule of a year ago which had the LSU Tigers at Baton Rouge and then Ohio State in Columbua. This year the Tigers .will be out for revenge and are still smarting from a 20-18 vic tory the Aggies dealt in the fin al seconds last year. The lose' for the Bengals was the only one they had all season until they were beaten 3-0 by Notre Dame. Nebraska returns 38 lettermen from an 11-0-1 team and could be the best team in the country despite some major losses. * The Aggies then return home for their final nonconference game as they host the University of Cincinnati in the first meeting ever between the two schools. The Bearcats are coming off a 7-4 season record and last year, led by senior quarterback Albert Johnsoa, averaged 274 yards a game r u s h i a g —’ which was ranked eighth nationally — and also ranked seventh nationally in scoring defease, allowing only 9.8 points per game. Poised by a preseason boast that his Red Raiders ware going to win the Southwest Conference championship, Coach Jim Car le n’* Texas Tech takes on the Aggies in Lubbock this fall. The Red Raiders posted an 8-4 rec ord last year including a 17-9 loas to Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl. Quarterback Charlie Napper return* to give the Raiders an experienced control to guide their well balanced attack that includes All-SWC fullback .Doug Mc- Cutehen. The Aggies invade Fort Worth to try to snap a two-game losing streak to the TCU Frogs that included a humiliating 31-15 de- (Scc Another Toughie, page 1) • t V IE FOOTBALL CALENDARS ' t FOR EACH STUDENT ACCOUNT OPENED THIS WEEK .'-s > SUPPLY UMITED I' ’ I P 1 •V. .♦ » Open Your Checking Account Today i.v l V • tl i, ■4 v - Ill llll (ill Vtti iv, ri t • “On the COLLEGE StATION, TEXAS 77040 4 ♦ ' 5 AAM” Member F.DXC. * t # •