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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 1989)
The Battalion SPORTS 9 Wednesday, October 25,1989 Sports Editor Tom Kehoe 845-2688 Rasmussen throws flags on SWC refs Clay Rasmussen Sports Writer It’s become a real problem in the Southwest Conference. The players won’t talk about it, the coaches won’t discuss it, so that leaves it to the sportswriters to shed some light on the subject. I’m talking about the officiating in the SWC. Those of you that have attending any of the A&M games know what I’m talking about. It would be different if it was one bad call, or even one bad game. But this year, the officials have screwed up game after game. And this is not just another Aggie fan complaining about some bad calls. Ask Southern Methodist Coach Forrest Cregg. “I think the officiating this year in the SWC has become a problem,” Gregg said in his weekly show. Gregg’s not the only coach to question some of the officials calls. Several coaches around the league, while being more discreet than Gregg, have questioned calls publicly. And so have spectators and sports writers. Going back to the A&M-Tech game, the referees whistled Tech quarterback Jamie Gill down and took away an apparent fumble from A&M that would have preserved the Aggie’s 24-20 lead. Instead, Tech threw a touchdown pass the next play and won the game. With the fear of sounding like a whiney fan, take the A&M-Baylor game (please!). Watching the game from Floyd Casey Stadium, I saw a lot of questionable calls, but then again I See Rasmussen/Page 10 A&M defenses stay strong in 1980s Aggies recruit big, keep their players hungry for success By Richard Tijerina Of The Battalion Staff When you sit Texas A&M Coach R.C. Slocum down and make him talk about Ag gie defense, one word keeps coming up. Stable. It’s not surprising — A&M has produced more “horses” on defense in the 1980s than any other Southwest Conference team. And that stability has made the Aggies one of the most consistent defensive forces in the SWC. Since 1982, A&M has placed 11 de fensive players on the All-SWC team. Also, an Aggie has been voted by sports writers as first-team All-Americas five times — defensive end Ray Childress (1983-84) and linebackers Johnny Holland (1985-86) and John Roper (1987). A third linebacker, senior Aaron Wal lace, a preseason All-American and Butkus Award candidate, is expected to make a strong bid for post-season All-American honors in 1989. If he does, it’ll be another in a long list of defensive stars that have worn Aggie ma roon recently. “We’ve been a pretty steady defense and I think that’s because we’ve had a stable sit uation defensively,” Slocum said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “It starts snowballing — you’re coaching the same thing, you recruit guys to play like that, they play well and other guys come in and want to play like those guys.” Recruiting has been kind to the Aggies for years. They bring in quality athletes from good high school football programs, mold them to A&M’s defensive philosophy and by the time they graduate, they’re win ners. But last year the team went through ad versity, on and off the field. The team was placed on NCAA proba tion which made it ineligible to compete for its fourth consecutive Cotton Bowl. The Aggies struggled early in the season through a rigorous non-conference sched ule and ended the year at 7-5. Then at the height of the recruiting season, the Aggies photo by Scott D. Weaver Freshman defensive end Patrick Henry stops Baylor’s Lincoln Coleman in a crucial goal line stand during Saturday’s 14-11 Aggie win. found themselves without a head coach. Jackie Sherrill resigned, and Slocum, A&M’s longtime defensive coordinator, quickly was hired. However, Slocum and his new coaching staff struggled in recruiting high school players. As the recruiting wars were going on with other SWC schools, it was unsure whether or not the Aggies would receive the NCAA death penalty because of rules infractions. Most prep players found A&M’s situation too risky, and signed else where. It showed. The Aggies recruited only 14 players — nine of those defensive. But de fensive back Kenneth Norman from Sweet water, regarded as the Aggies’ top overall recruit, was drafted by baseball’s Cleveland Indians in the amateur draft and signed a contract with them. However, the other eight signed with the Aggies. Two, linebackers Marcus Buckley and Jason Medlock, were Proposition 48 victims. The other five made the team. Of those, 6-4, 270-pound defensive end Tyler Harrison has played the most. It was the lack of experience on the de fensive front that had Slocum most worried See Defense/Page 10 1989’s Ag defense better than Slocum thought it would be By Clay Rasmussen Of The Battalion Staff The Texas A&M defense was supposed to be anything but dominating this year. Gone from the defense were linebackers John Roper and Dana Batiste. Other high- impact players like lineman Leon Cole and defensive back Alex Morris were lost to graduation. The defensive outlook seemed grim for the Aggies. But the A&M defense has been anything but ineffective this year. Half-way into the 1989 season, the Aggies lead the Southwest Conference in rushing defense. A&M has limited opponents to 99.9 yards of offense per game, and this after playing the Houston Cougars, national leaders in total offensive production aver aging 57 points per game. The Aggies held Houston to two touchdowns and have been the only team to beat the Cougars thus far this year. A&M Coach R.C. Slocum is pleasantly surprised. “I was really concerned about the de fense going into this year,” Slocum said. “The defense has played better than I ever anticipated.” The surprise has come from the the Ag gies’ defensive secondary. Before the sea son, Slocum predicted his secondary to be one of the strongest in the past few years. Nagging injuries to strong safety Gary Jones has hindered A&M’s passing defense. The Aggies are ranked seventh in the SWC in total passing defense, above Texas Tech and Southern Methodist. They have given up 1,436 yards on the pass, but have recorded 12 interceptions (third in the SWC). The good news is the Aggies overall rank fourth in total SWC defense. New names, like William Thomas and Larry Horton have emerged and are carrying on the tra dition of “The Wrecking Crew.” How re you going to do it? A “My t hem lab report is due Monday. My English lit. paper is due Tuesday. My economics paper is due on If ednesday. And the big games tomorrow.'' 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