Sports
Friday, September 27, 1991
The Battalion
Page 7
Steve
dVBrien
Asst. Sports
Editor
Slocum must
play cards right
L ike a straight-faced gambler,
ready to play his hand, A&M
head football coach R.C. Slocum
leans back in his chair. No smiles, just
the straight face. Instead of a smoke-
filled room, this one is filled with fly
ing questions.
Is Bucky going to play? How much
of the running load will Randy Sim
mons carry? What's the condition of
Quentin Coryatt's shoulder?
The gambler keeps his cold stare.
His hand is a good one, but like all
great sharks he is reluctant to throw
down his best cards. The numbers are
simple, though.
An ace, a pair of jacks, a wild card
and a suicide king makeup his stash.
And under the table lurk two marked
cards.
Conference games, however, don't
give way to gamblers. Only coaches
make it. In conference you play every
down like it's your last. The Cotton
Bowl waits for no one. You throw
down your best and you bluff if that's
what it takes.
But out of conference, a coach quick
ly becomes a gambler and a techni
cian. The coach must play to win, but
he must also be sure his team is
healthy for the long conference sched
ule ahead.
A&M's first league matchup is
against Texas Tech in a week. For
now, Slocum remains the gambler.
see OBrien/ Page 8
Texas A&M vs. the University of Southwestern Louisiana
Kickoff marks end of long, emotional week
By Steve O'Brien
The Battalion
The stage is set again, but A&M
head coach R.C. Slocum has changed the
script. He hopes the players will fit into
their roles better this time around.
The Aggies are favored by 25 points
over the University of Southwestern
Louisiana but predictions don't mean
much to Slocum and his team. The Ag
gies lost to unranked, 18-point underdog
Tulsa last Saturday.
But the Aggie players have had to
deal with much more than a defeat on
the football field this week. Freshman
placekicker James Glenn collapsed be
fore practice Wednesday and later died
at a local hospital.
Senior quarterback Bucky Richard
son said the team will move on despite
the tragedy.
" When somebody on the team gets
weak, his friend picks him up," Richard
son said. "We go forward. That's what
we have to do here - grab each other by
the hand and pull forward.
"We realize we have a game, and we
have to take care of business. Our play
ers will be ready for the game. It's still
kind of a shock to everybody and no
body seems to believe it right now."
Before last Saturday's game, the Ag
gies were ranked No. 15 by the Associat
ed Press but quickly fell from the poll af
ter their loss.
"The team is disappointed and the
coaches are disappointed," Slocum said.
"But you can only go back and go to
work and say 'we're a young team and
we're going to get better as the season
goes on.'"
For now, though, the Aggies must
improve by 6 p.m. Saturday when they
kickoff against the Ragin' Cajuns or an
other upset may lurk for the opposition.
The last tifne the two teams played A&M
won 63-14.
Slocum' s lineup has changed little
since last Saturday. The Aggies again
will field a team riddled with injuries
and young players.
Freshman quarterback Jeff Granger
is expected to start in place of Riche.d-
son. Granger, primarily a passing quar
terback, completed 13-of-28 passes for
255 yards against Tulsa. Junior Kent
Petty may also see playing time if
Richardson can't perform.
After taking a 28-10 halftime lead
last weekend Granger and the rest of the
See Aggies/ Page 9
Graham a part of Glenn's dream come true
By Scott Wudel
The Battalion
Reggie Graham woke up Thursday
morning and wondered if the tragic
death of Texas A&M teammate James
Glenn had really happened.
Just last Saturday, Graham and
Glenn, both from Clear Creek High
School in League City, talked about the
possibilty of forming the Clear Creek
Connection - Glenn kicking off and Gra
ham making the tackle.
The only problem was that Glenn
was just a walk-on placekicker who was
sent on the trip as a safeguard in the
event that something happened to Terry
Venetoulias, the Aggies' starting kicker.
"James didn't really think he was go
ing to get a chance to play this year,"
Graham said. "We were sitting on the
bus after getting off the plane to go to
the hotel in Tulsa, and we were talking
about it.
"I said, 'James, if you ever kick it and
A&M redshirt freshman Reggie Graham
remembers his high school teammate James
TED ALBRACHT/ The Battalion
Glenn, and the experiences they had before
his sudden death Wednesday.
I'm on the kickoff team, it'll be a Clear
Creek player kicking the ball and a
Creek player making the tackle.'
"James didn't think he was going to
get in the game."
One of Glenn's goals was to kick for
A&M. Fate took a step in that direction.
The Aggies had just scored their
fourth touchdown with more than two
minutes remaining the second quarter.
Suddenly, A&M head coach R.C.
Slocum decided he wanted Glenn to
handle the next kickoff. He called
Glenn's number and told him he would
take the field as the Aggies' placekicker.
"It's kind of eerie when you think
back," Slocum said. "The only discus
sion we'd had in staff meeting was to
have James as a backup.
"During the course of the game, and
for really no reason at all, and I hadn't
thought about it before that instant, I
made the decision."
See Graham/ Page 9
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