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Friday, October 26, 1984/The Battalion/Page 9
Aggie Volleyball
vs. San Diego State
G. Rollie White —7:30
Childress stands out, win or lose
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By JEFF GRAUNKE
Sports Writer
The chips are definitely down for
Texas A&M after three staight
Southwest Conference losses, but
there’s one blue-chipper who still
manages to stand out — Ray Chil
dress.
Despite the rainy weather, the Ag
gies’ mediocre record and all the
criticism of Head Coach Jackie Sher
rill, Childress, a senior defensive
end, still performs at peak level ev
ery week.
Going into this weekend’s cellar
battle with Rice, the 6-foot-7, 280
pound Richardson Pearce High
School product has made 62 tackles
— 40 unassisted. The preseason All-
America candidate also has two fum
ble recoveries and five quarterback
I sacks.
With statistics like that, it’s easy to
I see why Childress and the Aggies
I have ascended to the top of the SWC
■ in total defense.
I “Childress played very well
■(against Baylor),” Sherrill said. “The
loverall performance of the defense
■ is getting better every week.”
I Childress agrees.
I “1 think the strength of the team
■ right now is the defense,” Childress
said. “Actually, I’m the only senior
on the defensive line, so we just have
a young defensive line.
“I think we’ve had better players
since I’ve been here. Last year we
had Keith Guthrie. He’s playing for
the San Diego Chargers. When I was
a freshmen we had Keith Baldwin.
He’s playing for the Cleveland
Browns.”
Even though Childress and the
rest of the defense are playing well,
winning is more important to him.
“You win as a team,” Childress
said. “That’s our weakness right
now, as a team we’re just not playing
well enough to win. I think the de
fense is playing well, but we’re not
[winning. 1 just take care of my posi
tion and do everything I possibly can
to help the team. I try for the best
part of my game to be consistency. I
ike to play consistently well every
play, every game, every week.
Texas A&M defensive end Ray Childress
smothers Baylor quarterback Tom Muecke
Photo by PETER ROCHA
during last weekend’s 20-16 loss to the
Bears. A&M hosts Rice at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Motivation could be a weakness
for me right now, I think. This is my
last year, which is something that can
motivate me. It might be harder for
me to get excited as I once did to go
out and play on Saturday, but the
better the team plays, the better I get
excited and want to play.”
So far, Childress hasn’t shown a
lack of motivation. He consistently
dominates the defensive front every
week. He’s constantly double-tea
A&M’s Ray Childress
med and no one runs right at him.
What makes Childress one of the
best defensive linemen in the SWC?
“Ability, size, experience and a
combination of those things,” Chil
dress said. “I feel that I am a great
player. Hopefully if I go to the NFL,
I’m sure the first two weeks I’m
there just being around experienced
NFL players I’m going to learn a
whole lot about the game. Hopefully
the young players on the team (Ag
gies) can do the same (and learn
from me).”
Childress learned his football a
long time ago in Memphis, Tennes-
see.
“Well, I played YMCA football in
the fourth grade,” he said with a big
grin. “That was a long time ago. I
was on the YMCA football All-Star
team. I just had a lot of size and abili
ty-”
Thanks to the A&M coaching
staff, Childress believes he has devel
oped to his potential.
“They’ve helped me vastly,” he
said. “(Defensive line) Coach (Paul)
Register knows my position, and he’s
done a Fine job of coaching me.
We’ve always gotten along. It’s im
portant. I think we respect each
other, Coach Register and I. He’s
just helped me along from the day I
got here.”
Evaluating the rest of the teams in
the SWC, Childress said:
“I think this year is a weak year
for the Southwest Conference, pe
riod, both players and teams,”
Chidress said. “This would be a
great year to win the Southwest Con
ference. Lets face it, there’s not that
many strong teams in it.”
The Aggies (3-3) host Rice (1-5)
Saturday. When it’s over, one team
will be at the bottom of the confer
ence standings.
“Offensively they (Rice) throw the
ball a lot, so we’re getting prepared
for the pass,” Childress said. “Rice
spreads their offense out all along
the line of scrimmage.”
Does that offensive alignment
help Childress get to the quarterback
quicker?
“In a way it does and in a way it
doesn’t,” he said. “There will be less
guys blocking, but they throw the
ball quicker that way. He (Rice quar
terback Mark Comalander) just
drops back and throws to one of his
recievers.”
How does Childress rate the Owls’
offensive line?
“It won’t be one of the better lines
we face,” Childress said. “They’ll be
competent and everything, but natu
rally they won’t be one of the better
lines in the conference.”
There has been speculation as to
whether or not Childress is a le
gitimate first round pick in the next
NFL draft. Childress said he hopes
to be drafted, but doesn’t lose any
sleep over it.
“Right now I’d like to go out and
win some ball games (with A&M),”
he said. “The better I play in college,
the better off I’ll be for the pros. I’m
just concentrating on playing in col
lege right now.”
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THIS IS ABSOLUTELY IT!
TODAY IS THE
LAST DAY(!)
for FRESHMEN
and
SOPHOMORES
to get pictured in the 1985 AGGIELAND
Class pictures are being taken at the
Pavilion from 8.30 to 12 and from 1 to 4:30.
TODAY