Thursday, February 13, 1986/The Battalion/Page 13
Sports
A&M harvests cream of football crop
Some of Texas', nation's top high school prospects commit to Aggies
By CHAREAN WILLIAMS
Assistant Sports Editor
You could tell by Texas A&M
Coach Jackie Sherrill’s mood that
it was the best of times in Aggie-
land Wednesday.
“Anything you want guys, I’m
in a very good mood,” were Sher
rill’s first words.
And Sherrill had reason to
whistle and shout.
A Cotton Bowl victory over
Auburn and season-ending No. 6
ranking in the Associated Press
Top 20 helped A&M scoop up
the cream or the college football
crop on the first signing day for
the nation’s high school seniors.
“There’s no doubt that (the
Cotton Bowl victory) helped us,”
Sherrill said. “Coming back from
Dallas no question made a big dif
ference in a young man’s mind.
We no longer have to tell a player
we ll go to the Cotton Bowl. They
know it’s true.”
The 26 players the Aggies
added to their roster include the
top quarterback, top receiver and
top offensive lineman in Texas,
making it perhaps the best A&M
recruiting year since Sherrill ar
rived on the scene in 1982.
“I am very pleased and excit
ed,” Sherrill said. “We wanted to
go after the top players. We
wanted to get the players who can
help us win a national
championship.
“We were fortunate to sign five
or six of the Top 30 players in the
state and 16 or 17 of the Top 60.”
TombalPs Lance Pavlas, Texas’
top signal caller, heads A&M’s
impressive list of recruits.
A Parade magazine All-Ameri
can, Pavlas passed for 1,636 yards
last season in leading the Tomball
Cougars to the state 4A
championship game. Pavlas, 6-
foot-2 and a native of Bryan, also
compiled a 3.9 grade point aver
age in the classroom.
“He has programmed himself
to be an outstanding player and
an outstanding student,” Sherrill
said. “The only concerns I had
(about his decision to attend
A&M) were that he had too many
’86 Texas A&M Football Slgnees
In-State Recruits
1. Lance Pavlas (QB) 6-2, 195 — Tomball (High)
2. Jeroy Robinson (LB) 6-2, 220 — Bryan (High)
3. Sean Wilson (P) 6-0, 205 —- Huntsville (High)
4. Terry Price (DE) 6-4, 230 — Plano (High)
5. Mickey Washington (DB) 5-11, 180 — Beaumont (West Brook)
6. Gary Jones (DB) 6-2, 190 —Tyler (High)
7. Percy Waddle (WR) 6-2, 175 — Columbus (High)
8. Chris Work (OL) 6-4, 240 — Beaumont (West Brook)
9. Layne Talbot (PK) 5-10, 185 — Beaumont (West Brook)
10. Mike Arthur (C) 6-4, 251 — Houston (Spring Woods)
11. Mike Pappas (OL) 6-2, 250 — Houston (Memorial)
12. Bill Cavanaugh (OL) 6-4, 260 — Harker Hieghts (Killeen High)
13. James Marcus (RB) 6-1, 190 — Grand Prairie (South)
14. Shane Krahl (TE) 6-6, 230 — Gainesville (High)
15. Artis Whetstone (DB) 6-0, 185 — Naples (Pewitt)
16. Albert Jones (OL) 6-4, 272 — Missouri City (Willowridge)
17. Dennis Ransom (TE) 6-4, 230 — Italy (High)
18. Kevin Burnett (DL) 6-6, 258 — Kemp (High)
19. John Miller (OL) 6-3, 250 — Grand Saline (High)
20. Jody Adamek (TE-LB) 6-4, 223 — Santa Fe (High)
Out-of-State Recruits
21. Bill Peckman (LB) 6-4, 218 — Elizabeth, Pa. (Forward)
22. Mark Barry (OL) 6-7, 290 — Chicago (Main South)
23. Dexter Harrison (DL) 6-3, 240 — St. Martinville, La. (High)
24. Jayson Black (DL) 6-3, 245 — Decatur, Ga. (Columbia)
25. Bryan Edwards (WR) 6-3, 280 — Mobile, Ala. (Baker)
26. Felton Ransby (QB) 6-2, 185 — Decatur, Ga. (Columbia)
Confirmed Walk-ons
27. Travis Evans (LB) — Caldwell (High)
28. Gary Oliver (WR) — Breckenridge (High)
family members here and would
go the other way.”
Pavlas and Felton Ransby,
from Columbia High School in
Decatur, Ga., become the only
quarterbacks A&M has signed
since Ore City’s Mark Motley
joined the Aggies two years ago.
“We did not sign a quarterback
last year because we felt there was
only one that could come in and
play,” Sherrill said. “These two
can come in here and compete.”
Snapping the ball to the new
quarterbacks will be Houston
Spring Woods’ Mike Arthur, the
top center in the state.
The 6-4, 251-pound Arthur
was first-team 5A All-State, sec
ond team Parade All-America
and on the Dallas Times Herald
15-man blue chip list. Arthur’s
brother, Tom, was a member of
A&M’s Twelfth Man kickoff team
in 1984.
“It’s very hard to find a true
center,” Sherrill said. “He’s an
outstanding prospect.”
Columbus wide receiver Percy
Waddle was ranked No. 8 among
Max Emfinger’s National High
School Scouting Service Top 100
players and was listed on every
Texas blue chip list.
Waddle , 6-3, 175, holds the
state high school record for ca
reer receiving yards with 3,224
and career touchdown receptions
with 56. He has yet to make the
required 700 on the SAT, but
Sherrill is confident he will in
time to be eligible for next season.
“Waddle is an outstanding re
ceiver,” Sherrill said. “He is pro
jected as a world-class quarter
miler and he has great flexibility.”
A&M kept one of the state’s
top three linebackers close to
home.
Bryan High’s Jeroy Robinson,
a 5A All-State selection, had 87
tackles including eight quar
terback sacks last season. The 6-2,
220 pounder can bench press 425
pounds.
“He is physical,” Sherrill said.
“I told him whatever he’s been
doing, he needed to tell our
strength coach.”
The Aggies also cornered the
market on some of the state’s best
kickers — Beaumont West Brook
place kicker Layne Talbot and
Huntsville punter Sean Wilson.
Talbot hit 9-of-10 field goals
last season, with his only miss
from 50 yards out, and 29-of-30
extra points on his way to being
named a 5A All-Stater.
“He’ll help us out,” Sherrill
said. “He had an outstanding
year.”
Wilson, son of former Kansas
City Chiefs’ All-Pro punter Jerrell
Wilson, had a 42.3 average last
season.
“He does a great job of getting
the ball inside the 10 and of get
ting great hang time,” Sherrill
said. “His daddy taught him so
much. We don’t have anybody to
coach him. If he gets out of sync,
we’ll call his dad to come
straighten him out.”
The Aggies only signed one
running back, that being South
Grand Prairie’s James Marcus.
Marcus, 6-1, 190, gained 1,086
yards on 198 carries last season
and was listed among the state’s
Top 100 players by Texas Foot
ball magazine.
Sherrill called the sleeper of
the list Tyler defensive back Gary
Jones. Jones was named to Texas
Football’STop 100 list last season.
“(Jones) has a brother at Rice
who is on their world-class sprint
relay team,” Sherrill said. “And
(Gary) is probably faster than his
brother. He is a top player — one
of the best we were able to sign.”
The Aggies are still recruiting
three players who have not yet
committed and expect to sign at
least one more.
“We’ll keep smiling and keep
on working,” Sherrill said.
He said tomorrow will be a new
day for the Aggie recruits and
next season will be a new year.
TCU axes A&M
70-53 to remain
on top of SWC
From Staff and Wire Reports
FORT WORTH — Texas Chris
tian’s Carl Lott scored 19 points and
a tough zone defense carried the
Horned Frogs to a 70-53 victory
over Texas A&M Wednesday night,
keeping the Frogs in a tie for the
Southwest Conference lead.
TCU increased its record to 10-2
and remain tied with the Texas
Longhorns for first-place in the
SWC. The Frogs are 18-5 overall,
their best record at this point in the
season in 27 years.
A&M dropped to 8-3 in the SWC
and 14-9 overall.
TCU, the second leading team in
the nation on defense against field
goals, constantly frustrated the Ag
gie attack.
Don Marbury, the SWC’s leading
scorer, got 23 points for the Aggies
but they came to late to do them any
good.
“The refs cheated us real bad,”
Marbury said. “It was ajoke.”
No other Aggie was in double fig
ures. A&M guard Todd Holloway,
who averages over 11 points a game,
was shutout and forward Winston
Crite managed only 4 points.
“We didn’t play well offensively,”
A&M Coach Shelby Metcalf said.
“We just didn’t have any outside
shooting. We got the shots and
moved the ball pretty well, but we
just didn’t execute.
“The shots that we missed a good
college team is supposed to make.
This is the first time TCU has
started in a zone (defense) and stuck
with it the whole time. I imagine
we’ll see a lot of (zone) in our next
five games.”
TCU, which is now 13-0 this sea
son in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, en
tertained a sellout crowd of 7,200
fans, the first sellout here since
1983.
The Horned Frogs jumped to a
28-23 lead and put the game away
when Carven Holcombe made a
three-point play and Metcalf drew a
technical foul.
A&M’s Don Marbury
Lott made the two free throws for
what amounted to a five-point play
and TCU had a 14-point lead, 62-48,
withjust under two minutes to play.
“We saw the same thing here (in
Fort Worth against TCU) for the en
tire game that we saw during the sec
ond half of the SMU game (in which
A&M lost 58-56),” Metcalf said. “We
played hard. I’m not saying we
played poorly. I’m saying we shot
poorly. There’s a big difference.
“We’ve got problems. We’ve got to
get playing well again.”
Arkansas 79, Texas Tech 72 (OT)
LUBBOCK — William Mills
scored 16 points and four other Ra-
zorbacks hit in double figures
Wednesday night as Arkansas de
feated Texas Tech 79-72 in over
time.
Mills converted a three-point play
with 1:22 left in overtime to give the
Razorbacks a 76-68 lead and the
Hogs cruised in from there.
Arkansas ran its record to 11-11
and 3-9 in the SWC. Tech fell to 10-
12 and 5-6.
The Raiders had a chance to win it
in regulation, but guard Mike Nel
son rimmed a 22-footer just before
the buzzer with the score knotted at
66-66.
See SWC, page 14
The. MiAA. TejuU. /l&M Patjeant
Special Guest:
Miss Texas 1983
Dana Rogers
Feb. 22 7:00
Rudder Aud.
Students $4.00
Non-Students $7.50
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