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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1991)
AGGIE SPOTLIGHT Richardson: Competitive Fire By Richard Tijerina Special to Battalion Gameday H e goes to sleep and dreams about it. He talks to high school friends and is reminded of it. He goes § home to Louisiana and coaches make him watch it on the VCR. Bucky Richardson cannot forget' the game, even when he wants to. Nov. 21,1986: Leesville 8, Broadmoor?. Forty seconds remained in Richardson's Broadmoor High School football career that night in Baton Rouge. A two-way starter at quarterback and safe ty, Richardson had just inter cepted a pass to thwart a Leesville drive late in the game. With a 7-6 lead, Richardson's Buccaneers now stood less than a minute away from victory. Backed up close to its own goal line, all the Buccaneers had to do was run the clock out to advance in the state playoffs. Richardson dropped back to pass on a first down play and under a heavy pass rush, he scrambled and ended up in his endzone. But his receivers were covered, and he dumped the ball off in the direction of his tight end after he felt a Leesville defender grab his jersey. The ball fell harmlessly to the ground. The referee dropped his flag. Richardson was called for intentional grounding and Broadmoor was charged with a safety. Before he knew it, Richardson's senior season was 1 gone. Broadmoor finished 9-2. Better waters lay aheaa for him in College Station, but he would not forget that November 1 n ight. Leesville 8, Broadmoor 7. "I've yet to get over it," Richard- See Richardson/Page 8 I o ^ - cn C « kii £ 2' m -pi O £ , >,£ U vs o T1 H c (B Q&A WITH COACH SLOCUM Does LSD’s loss to Georgia make you feel better or worse? It presents a different set of problems for us. We have a great respect for them. When you look at the ballgame, the turnovers they had and the dropped touchdown pass they had early in the game. How would you classify Curley Hallman as a coach? Curly would fit in the mold of a sound, fundamental coach - all of those guys are from the old school of doing things fundamentally and going out and doing the basics of football. Their hardnose, tough and sound and that’s why he won games at Southern Miss and that’s why he’ll win games at LSU. What do the Aggies need to do because of the inexperience? We would like for them to come off the field and have things go good and start getting a little confidence. I hope Bucky’s (Richardson) experience will rub off on some of those younger guys. We’ve spent time talking to Greg (Hill) and some of the young guys to let them know to just got out and play. We don’t want them putting a big burden on themselvesto make things happen. Slocum redefines program for future by Scott Wudel The Battalion When Richard Copeland Slocum was in elementary school, his first grade class visited a local bread company in Orange, Texas, on one of its many field trips. While there, the young Slocum was given a wood ruler. "The Golden Rule" was printed on that ruler. Across the ruler were the words "Do unto others as you have others do to you," Slocum remembers - Words the coach has lived by all of his life. And an idea he has tried to instill in his players and the entire A&M football program. When Slocum replaced former A&M coach Jackie Sherrill almost three years ago, he redefined the direction of the program with the philosophy that you can't have athletic integrity without academic integrity. With that in mind, he sat down and mapped out the direction he wanted the program to take. "I wanted to build a firm, solid foundation that we could add to, and ensure we would have a stable program - where we wouldn't be a flash in the pan," Slocum said. "I felt like it was important to try to establish a recruiting program where we brought in freshmen and trained and kept them in the program." Using that gameplan, Slocum and his staff have succeeded in recruiting one of the best classes of football talent in the nation for two consecutive years. More importantly, all but one of those players has been academically eligible to set foot on Kyle Field for the Aggies. "We wanted to build.a program where academics was at the forefront of the program," Slocum explained. "Where you could go into a home and recruit a young man and tell his parents that we have a program where he would have the opportunity to graduate. It may be Slocum's concern for the other man that has led to his success on and off the field. But how did this calm- demeanored man and his See Slocum/Page 11 ' Q&A WITH COACH HALLMAN Coach, what do think of Bucky Richardson? He's a great leader. He'll compete as well as anyone in the country. He's a very unique youngster and we'll have our hands full stopping Bucky and matching the intensity he brings to that football team. Even with Richardson he is one of only two returning starters, do you that maybe helps you a little bit since they'll be working out the kinks and playing some new players? That's always a concern your first ball game, so I know A&M is probably concerned about that. Usually the problem is you've got talent and you hope that through the veterens and good coaching you can bring those players along. Does split end Todd Kinchen need to play more under control or was he just trying to give that extra effort? I don't want Todd to slow it down. He's got a lot of imagination. He's got a lot of energy. The only thing he needs to do is keep his hands around that football and bring that ball into his ribcage. Todd fumbled a couple of times last week. That's always just a matter of technique. But the mental approach and the physical aspect, no I don't want to take that away from Todd, just for him to hold on to the football. GAMEDAY MATCHUPS: TEXAS A&M vs. LOUISIANA Texas A&M SE 23 LT LG C RG RT TE FLK QB FB HB 75 55 68 51 67 86 18 7 32 27 Offense: Tony Harrison Dexter Wesley Tyler Harrison Chris Dausin John Ellisor Keith Alex Greg Schorp Brian Mitchell Bucky Richardson Doug Carter Greg Hill L.S.U. Defense: DT 95 Marc Boutte NG 64 Scott Wharton DT 59 Clayton Mouton OLB 89 Shawn King ILB 85 David Walkup ILB 48 Anthony Williams OLB 35 Roovelroe Swan CB 23 Wayne Williams CB 19 Corey Raymond SS 25 Derriel McCorvey WS 14 Anthony Marshall Texas A&M Defense: LB 58 Lance Teichelman NG 98 Pat Henry RE 92 Eric England OLB 9 Marcus Buckley ILB 43 Jason Atkinson ILB 44 Quenton Coryatt OLB 56 Otis Nealy CB 3 Derrick Frazier SS 6 Chris Grooms FS 29 Pat Bates CB 26 Kevin Smith L.S.U. Offense: SE 49 Todd Kinchen LT 61 Ronnie Simnicht LG 52 Kevin Mawae C 55 Frank Godfrey RG 76 Darron Landry RT 69 Andy Martin TE 86 Harold Bishop FL 9 Wesley Jacob QB 16 Chad Loup TB 27 Vincent Fuller FB 22 Darrell Williams ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25 TWO TEAMS SEARCHING FOR AN IDENTITY 1. Florida St. (2-0) plays Western Michigan. 2. Miami (2-0) beat No. 10 Houston 40-10 on Thursday. 3. Michigan (1-0) plays No. 7 Notre Dame. 4. Washington (1-0) plays at No. 13 Nebraska Sept. 21. 5. Penn St. (2-0) plays at Southern Cal. 6. Florida (1-0) plays No. 16 Alabama. 7. Notre Dame (1-0) plays at No. 4 Michigan. 8. Clemson (1-0) plays Temple Sept. 21. 9. Oklahoma (0-0) plays North Texas. 10. Houston (1-1) lost to No. 2 Miami 40-10 on Thursday. 11. Tennessee (TO) plays No. 21 UCLA Sept. 21. 12. Colorado (1-0) plays No. 23 Baylor. 13. Nebraska (1-0) plays Colorado State. 14. Iowa (1-0) plays Iowa State. 15. Auburn (1-0) plays Mississippi. 16. Alabama (1-0) plays No. 6 Florida. 17 Georgia Tech (0-1) plays Boston College. 18. Michigan State (0-0) plays Central Michigan. 19. Ohio St. (1-0) plays Louisville. 20. Texas A&M (0-0) plays Louisiana State. 21-25. UCLA, Syracuse, Baylor, Pittsburgh, Mississippi St. Texas A&M's youth . . . Faced with the fact of possibly having to play as many two dozen never-before-seen- in-Aggie-uniform players, A&M opens the season with an LSU team loaded with returnees. Twenty of 22 Tiger starters from 1990 will line up against the Aggies' youth movement. Tailback Greg Hill, wide receiver Brian Mitchell, offensive linemen Tyler Harrison and Chris Dausin and free safety Patrick Bates will all start in their first game in an A&M uniform. LSU, on the other hand, is coming off a 31-10 loss to Georgia. vs. LSLTs experience ■■■■■ BpiaWfljjlMHBBHMHMMMBBBMaMBBBBBBjraB" THE LAST TIME ON KYLE FIELD 1989 - A&M jumped on No. 7 LSU early as Larry Horton returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown, was the beginning of an afternoon full of big plays. Tailback Darren Lewis threw a 31- yard TD-pass to tight end Mike Jones, fullback Robert Wilson rumbled for a 20-yard TD and cornerback Kevin Smith returned an interception 40-yards for another score as the Aggies won 28- 16. The loss sent the Tigers to a 1-6 start, their worst start since 1956. THE LAST TIME THEY PLAYED 1990 - A defensive battle until LSU split end Todd Kinchen broke the game open with a 79-yard TD catch and run and a 60-yard punt return to set up another for a 17-8 Tiger victory. The loss sent A&M into a 1-2-1 slide. TIGER SPOTLIGHT Kinchen: A New LSU Legend by Douglas Pils BattdionGamedm^ T odd Kinchen picked a good game to make his career. Last year Texas A&M pranced into Death Valley for a matchup with Louisiana State equipped with a No. 11 ranking, a 3-0 record, a high- powered offense and visions of an undefeated season. Somebody forgot to tell Kinchen. Kinchen permanently cast his name in stone as one of LSU's all-time greats on an innocent looking 2-yard swing pass. He took the third and 9 pass from quarterback Chad Loup and weaved his way in and out of Texas A&M's vaunted defense, including a brilliant move on All-SWC cornerback Kevin Smith, for a 79-yard touchdown. The play gave LSU a 10-0 lead early in the fourth quarter. However, on a A&M punt after its next possession, the 6-0,192-pounder highlighted his history making play with an encore. He returned the punt 60 yards to set up the Tigers' next touchdown for a 17-0 lead with 7:20 remaining. By game's end, Kinchen accounted for 218 of LSU's 419 total yards. "Definitely the A&M game was the biggest game I've played in at LSU," Kinchen said. "Having a long weaving touchdown like that is something that a player always dreams about. And to come back and make another big play is a big dream for a collegiate athlete." Circumstances for the Aggies are different this time. See Kinchen/Page 11