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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 1984)
Sports Wednesday, September 26, 1984AThe Battalion/Page 11 Landry vs. Ditka, teacher vs. student See page 12 ft Stump: No allusions of greatness gentlemen se them i ixM iti (if atient, sweepi) ow? He w there ist can’t “There’s a lot more to learn here and being a redshirt really helped me learn the (A&M football) sys tem," he said. “It almost takes that long (a year)just to learn it.” Sherrill agrees, saying Stump isn’t hugs.™ quite ready to step become the starter. “Stump is a young kid,” Sherrill said. “He’s got a long way to go.” d like to incident) dual even ded. ■ or Ljm h ent ar[ id the! g Stont •ackedop; . The"' [ C torni ed around :ontest, ppe^rt resc^ ufrthbi 11 the au- nediH* 1 ionM By JEFF GRAUNKE Sports Writer You’d think that after coming off the bench, completing two touch down passes, and revitalizing a sag ging Texas A&M offense during the second half of the Iowa State game that backup quarterback Craig Stump might have allusions of gran deur— not on your life. Even with all the praise from the press, Stump modestly responds: “No, I’m still the back up quar terback. It hasn’t changed.” Through all of this attention, Stump has remained quite subdued about his performance. He didn’t know what role he was going to play in the game, until A&M Head Coach Jackie Sherrill called on him in the third quarter. “I felt that I had prepared well enough,” Stump said. “It was just a matter of executing and hoping I’d do the best I could do.” Execute is a bit of an understate ment. Stump accounted for a dozen of the Aggies 38 points on two key drives. Tight end Duncan Webb hooked up with Stump for a five yard touchdown pass and, on the next drive, split end Creg Dillon caught a 29 yard pass from Stump for another score. In addition to those two touch down passes, Stump also converted six out of six thrid down situations into first downs when the Ags needed them desparately. Stump is young. This is his first season in uniform because he was redshirted last as a freshman. Stump believes that experience helped him tremendously. A&M’s Craig Stump Sherrill’s.got a point. Stump’s had difficulty holding on to the ball seve ral times during the ISU game. For tunately for Stump and the Aggies, he was able to fall on it. Otherwise, Stump might have become the villan instead of the hero. During his first year. Stump oper ated the scout team, which runs the opponents plays against the Ags’ de fense in practice. This season his role has basically been the same as it was last year with one major excep tion — this season he can play. That’s his No. 1 reason for being here. “I’m young and as a back up quar terback I have to go out and be pre pared in case something does hap pen,” he said. “I have to go out there and keep the team on track and see there’s not a let down.” Coaching has definitely been a factor in Stump’s success. “I like them (coaching staff) a lot,” he said. “They’ve helped me come a long way as far as making me work out with weights and they teach me a lot knowledge-wise.” The A&M coaches also played a big part in getting Stump to even sign with the Aggies. “I got a lot of letters (from other Texas A&M reserve quarterback Craig Stump (9) executes the option play during the third quarter against Iowa State last Sat- Photo by DEAN SAITO urday. Aggie running back Anthony Toney (25) prepares to take the handoff from Stump, while a Cyclone eyes their moves. universities). It was real close,” Slump admits. Stump’s popularity among major colleges was a result of his creden tials, including All-State, All-District and a member on the Dallas‘Times- Herald’s Blue Chip List. Notre Dame, Louisiana State and Alabama were just some of the schools that were actively recruiting Stump. He visited Notre Dame and LSU, but he chose A&M because of “Coach Sherrill and the type of of fense they (Aggies) play.” “I felt that A&M was up and com ing,” he said. When asked about motivation on the field, Stump responded: “Well it just overcomes you. Whatever your thoughts are, they’re all going to wards what’s going on right now.” “There’s a lot of tradition here and that had a lot to do with it (sign ing with A&M),” he said. “I like the people here, and I like the players here. I want to play here, but, of course, the degree comes first.” % and ready for pickup 8:45-4:45 English Annex must present Student ID (if you have pre-paid; check your fee slip) Aggielands will be available for purchase and pickup after October 10 in Room #230 Reed McDonald