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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 1983)
H — Nov. 28 n basketball to Uls soccer - N ov ,j| nester: ba , 1 ! sin Sles-ja, ,wlin g-Jan,2< ow — Jan. 30 li softball -Jan, n softball tour®. ckey-Feb.6 'ib — Feb. 6 g — Feb. 13 loubles — Feb. inissingles-Fel 11 triples - Feb. on doubles- II doubles-Feb >e water polo- :)lo — Feb. 2? iy Celebration -hour softball t rch 5 rs — MarchS 1 doubles-ft The Battalion Sports Monday, August 29, 1983/The Battalion/Page 13 ■■■■■■■■■ John wagner l — March id field — Marti diles — March i singles and doii >6 — April 2 ace — April 17 ned ctionon twoMPI and two Anti Sherrill counting on freshmen class CU’S JIM WACKER — who’s becoming quite adept at sur- ising people — pulled another shocker out of his bag of tricks iday. 1 he first-year head coach told reporters on the South- est Conference media tour that his team wants to win, and :y want to start now. “1 don’t believe in rebuilding,” said Wacker, who may find mself convinced of that necessity come November. Turning a Steam in 1982 into a contender is a job not even the overen- usiastic Wacker, owner of two straight NCAA Division II lampionships at Southwest Texas State, can pull off. Former ICU coach F.A. Dry’s insistance on recruiting junior liege transfers left Wacker with a sophomore class of 11 — not actly the kind of depth necessary to win in the SWC. On the other hand, Texas A&M’s Jackie Sherrill is a firm lieverin rebuilding — or just building — from the Astroturf Sherrill has made it clear he is developing an athletic piog- m, not a football team. The idea is that the system is more ines hasbegunb iportant than a one-shot chance at the Cotton Bowl. If the mtside the Mena ogram is good, the wins will come eventually. ■liter has aliMl 1 he Universin BUT NOT EVEN Sherrill can escape the inevitable. And ig the const™ :’s about to challenge one of the many unwritten laws of I area banksarejt liege football — freshmen shouldn’t play, g the machines. When the ink finally dried on Signing Day ’83, Sherrill and cBauk A&M,Uni sstaff had rounded up a recruiting class that many called one ge Station and! the best in the nation. But it was not until they hit the field I rust, of Bryan Ait Sherrill realized just how good his freshmen can be. s of thetwoMP,l| A lack of depth at running back and in the defensive secon- ry is giving many of A&M’s “rookies” the chance to strut their iff immediately. The effort they’ve shown has not been sted. “The freshman class we brought in is as good as we thought be— maybe even better,” says Sherrill. “We could redshirt all these players, but I’m not gonna dshirt a freshman who can come in and help our football tm.” University Nan College Station National Ban' jointly own the equipment shoi and the mac r use, by Susan Medina,t| er for Republic! l and to make bi Bank A&M re| insactions a n UNFORTUNATELY FOR THE Aggies, Sherrill can’tred- Jirtall his freshmen. T here are too many holes to fill, and not fits will be 211 ough people to fill them. Of the 26 freshmen who reported in tachines. The) e ball, only eight are certain to be redshirted, and another arc! holder tot ree are still in question. That leaves 15 freshmen on the leposit tothedi tsity. Rest assured they’ll all see playing time. See FRESHMEN page 16 Huge offensive line hopes to lead Texas A&M to more wins in ’83 by John P. Lopez Sports Editor There’s been a huge shadow hovering over Texas A&M’s Kyle Field this preseason. No, Hurricane Alicia hasn’t decided to stop in College Sta tion. And, no, the Goodyear blimp hasn’t been practicing its flights while the Aggie football team practices. Both Alicia and the blimp could surely cast a pretty hefty shadow, but the shadow hang ing over Aggie practices is much bigger. What is this phenomena? No phenomena, just the Aggies lining up for a scrim mage. You see, when Jackie Sherrill first took over the reins as head coach of Texas A&M in 1982, he inherited a lot of talented and well-conditioned athletes. He was satisfied with the talent he had on his team. That is, he was satisfied until he looked at the offensive line. Then he must have thought he encountered his first Aggie joke. No joke. The Texas A&M offensive linemen were weak, puny and sometimes inept for major col lege play. It’s not that they we ren’t good athletes, theyjust we ren’t the kind of linemen Sher rill wanted. “We were really weak,” Tack le Tommy Robison says. “Every body we went up against was stronger than us.” So Sherrill hired offensive line coach Golden Pat Ruel and Texas A&M embarked on an all out effort to strengthen and beef up the Aggie front wall. Mission accomplished. The Aggie line this year will consist of tackles Nate Stead man, 6-3, 265 pounds and Robi son, 6-4, 285 pounds, guards Ken Reeves, 6-5, 270 pounds and Greg Porter, 6-3, 265 pounds and center Matt Darwin, 6-4, 270 pounds. From tackle to tackle, the Aggies average 271 pounds. As a comparison, the average weight of the Houston Oilers of the NFL is 262 pounds. Sherrill calls the Aggie line “The Pack” because ol the way the lineman vigorously work together on and off the field. And recently, he said the Texas A&M offensive line was “the best I’ve ever coached.” ‘We needed the size and strength just to keep up with guys like Michael Carter. And now that we have it, we all feel a lot better with each other and have confidence in ourselves. ’ — Texas A &M cen ter Ma tt Dar win on the Aggie offensive line. Those are pretty big words considering Sherrill coached one of the best offensive lines ever in 1981 when he was at Pitt sburgh. But Ruel said the pack’s dedi cation will certainly prove that the Aggie line will not only be big, but good. Maybe even great? “That’s hard to say,” Ruel said. “We have to see how they perform. But I will say that they’ve been getting better and better everyday. “They’re just a really close knit group of guys. They work very hard and I feel like this line has the. potential to take the offense a long way.” Perhaps one reason the Aggie offensive line has put in so many extra hours in the weight room and at the dining table is be cause, for the most part, the line men have quiet, reserved social lives. They have hair well above their collars and pretty much look like the boys next door. “Matt (Darwin) and me are the quiet ones,” Steadman said. “We like putting in the hours because it pays off in the end and coach Ruel makes it fun. I think we’re all just average, run of the mill guys.” Average guys that say they’re ready to take on any defensive line that gets in their way. “We needed the size and strength just to keep up with guys like Michael Carter (SMU lineman),” Darwin said. “And now that we have it, we all feel a lot better with each other and have confidence in ourselves. “I don’t know how good we’re going to be, but we all think we’re going to be a lot better than before.” The offensive line will have a chance to prove itself Saturday /T K SOMETHING ELSE ^ HAIR SALON PERM SPECIAL Regularly $ 40-$45 Now $ 30- $ 35 MEN—WOMEN—CHILDREN Offer good thru Sept. 3, 1983 M-F 8:00-7:00 Sat. 8-3:00 693-9877 404 E. University mUr Color Consultation — Cosmetic NUkcwcr fiijufy Aiialc^is TOardtvbc Planning A.WH to coordinate uour loardrobc and your mabup in colors that compliment uouj fak (rood... Feel IWitiflil... Everyday!! J Janice Corner 6<%'5(86 Color Analyst TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE ice at ie bait ese l bent niacin cards i oft! ases • d es ^ s gk Chair *19 95 j barn shedFurniWe 79-6573 B Texas Bryan AG College Majors and Interested Professional Career Planning in Agriculture day I Students Wednesday, September 14, 1983 PCPA Day allows all students to visit with company representatives in their booths about job opportunities, employment requirements, and course selection toward obtaining employment. Wednesday, Sept. 14th 9-11:30 and 1:30 to 5:00 — Second floor MSC Tickets for the evening barbeque at the Brazos Center will be on sale in MSC Hallway, September 5-12. Senior and internship interviews with companies on September 15 and 16. Sign up starts August 29 in the Career Placement Center. Companies interested in discussing your future in Agriculture: na]ma Agricultural Workers Mutual Auto Insurance Co. Agri-Industries Agrow Credit Corporation •Allied Feeds, Inc. Alpha Gamma Rho American Brahman Breeders Assoc. American Cyanamid Bank of America Beefmaster Breeders Universal Brookhaven Country Club Cargill Nutrena Feed Division Chemlawn Corporation Ciba-Geigy Dairymen, Inc. Dow Chemical USA Elanco Products Company EXCEL Corporation Farm Credit Banks of Texas Foodmaker, Inc. Funk Seeds International Granada Corporation H. E. Butt Grocery Company Holly Farms Poultry of Texas, Inc. IBP, Inc. Loomix, Inc. Luby’s Cafeterias, Inc. Monsanto Company Moorman Manufacturing Company MSD-AGVET, Division of Merck & Co. National Farm Life Insurance Company North Haven Gardens Northrup King Co. Orkin Exterminating Co., Inc. Pfizer Inc. Ralston Purina Company Servi-Tech, Inc. Sillon Brangus Ranch Standard Meat Company Texas Agricultural Extension Service Texas and International Brangus Breeders Association Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Texas Real Estate Research Center UrbanAgra Corporation U. S. Army Engineer District A. L. Williams—Calvin Pope and Associates NATIONAL AGRI-MARKETING ASSOCIATION CAREER PLANNING ,& PLACEMENT CENTER)