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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1992)
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Sports Writer Oilers fans got to feel the brunt of the National Football League's asinine television blackout rule. If anyone is keeping count, that was the third time this season out of three home games. Following Sunday's 27-0 laugher over San Diego, the Houston faithful lit up the switchboards of the city's two post-game AM radio call-in shows, and for once there were more complaints about the blackout than about the Oilers' lackluster play. The blackout fiasco is more pro nounced in Houston, where ticket prices are abnormally high for a city still struggling to pull its oil-based economy out of a six-year depression. The lowest-priced tickets in the As trodome sell for $18. Yes, they are in the end zone, and they are not padded like the rest of the Dome's seats. An average ticket among the padded seats ranges in price from $23 to $33. Throw in $4 for parking and the astronomical (pun intended) con cession costs and one should see why Houstonians might prefer suffering through three hours of Charlie Jones and Todd Christensen announcing an Oilers game on NBC. See Norwood/ Page 8 Local quarterback returns to A&M lineup after recovering from injury A&M backup quarterback Tommy Preston (14) takes a break from practice last spring with former A&M quarterback Bucky Richardson (left) and Matt Miller. Preston returns to the A&M lineup after recovering from a back injury. By K. LEE DAVIS Sports Writer of THE BATTALION Tommy Preston has quarterbacked his team to victory on the carpet of Kyle Field on many occasions in his young life, but none of them at the helm of Texas A&M. That could change for the redshirt freshman from College Station's A&M Consolidated High if the talent he showed during a storybook schoolboy ca reer shines through on Kyle Field again one Saturday. Earlier this season it looked to A&M coaches as if Preston would not be able to play at all, when he suffered a herniated disk in his back and damage to a sciatic nerve that threatened to sideline him in definitely. But several weeks of rest have enabled the disk to heal, and Preston appears to be ready to play. Jeff Granger is still the starting quar terback for the Aggies this weekend against Texas Tech, but should the game turn to a route, A&M offensive coordina tor Bob Toledo said Preston will be the first quarterback off the bench. "Right now, we would probably give him (Preston) the chance to go into the game after Jeff at this point," Toledo said. "I just think it's only fair to give Tommy a chance to see what he can do in a game." After passing for 2,738 yard and 23 touchdowns during his, career and win ning the Whataburger-Texas Football Magazine Player of the Year award his senior year, Preston chose A&M over vir tually every other school in the nation. And Preston came to play. "I thought it (A&M) was a nice pro gram, in fact a great program as far as Texas was concerned," Preston said. "I wanted to stay a little bit close to home and I thought A&M was the best school for me." When Granger announced last spring that he would no longer play football, Preston and three other quarterbacks, redshirt freshman Matt Miller, sopho more Steve Emerson and senior Kent Pet ty, stepped in to challenge for the open starting slot vacated by the graduation of Bucky Richardson Miller narrowly won the battle, but when Granger returned and true fresh man Corey Pullig burst onto the scene. Miller and Preston were pushed down the depth chart and Emerson and Petty changed to new positions in the hopes of finding playing time. "He was in the battle to see if he could compete for the starting position, and he lost out on the battle obviously," Toledo said. "He threw quite a few more inter ceptions than the other guys did and made more mental errors than the others aid." "I think Pullig is still second as far as everything he has done, but Tommy de serves a chance," Toledo added. Preston said he realizes that Granger is the Aggies quarterback and that Pullig and Miller are ahead of him on the depth chart, but he said that he expected to have to fight for a job when he signed with A&M in the first place. And, Granger's return did not change Preston's focus, he said. "When I came in I had the thought that I had to beat Jeff out to be the start ing quarterback anyway, so it really hasn't made a difference," Preston said. Preston also admits that he has to work on his skills to improve to the level of a starting Division I college quarter back. "I need to work on my feet," he said. "I wasn't always a drop-back quarterback in high school, and I need to work on my footwork to throw better passes. "I also need to complete some passes in practice and make some big plays in practice that will catch their (the coaches') eye and put me in the game." Preston added that he has to keep from trying to accomplish too much in practice so that he can avoid mistakes. "When I do get in there I try my hard est, and don't try to overdo what I'm do ing," he said. Toledo agreed with Preston's assess ment, saying that the young quarterback had several things to work on. "His accuracy is the biggest thing," Toledo said. "He's got a strong arm but he's just not as accurate as the other guys. "He's got ability and he's got potential but he hasn't fully shown that yet." Toledo said that Preston has the strongest throwing arm on the team, in cluding Granger who is a top baseball pitching prospect. "He (Preston) is the most gifted of the quarterbacks arm-strength wise, and has a great arm, but that doesn't always make a quarterback," Toledo said. Preston needs to continue to learn the A&M offense, Toledo added, and polish the rest of his quarterbacking fundamen tals. THE WAITING IS OVER. The 1991-92 Texas A&M Video Yearbook is here. If you ordered a 1991-92 AggieVision, stop by the Student Publications office in room 230 Reed McDonald Building between 8:15 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday to pick up your copy. Please bring student ID. (Video yearbooks will be mailed to the permanent address of students who have not picked up their copy by Friday, October 8, 1992.) If you did not pre-order a video yearbook, a limited number of copies are now on sale for $29.95 plus tax. Cash, check, Visa or Master Card accepted. Don't miss out on Aggieland's memories in motion. It's 60 minutes of the places, faces and events of the '91-92 school year in living color and in natural sound or set to the hottest music. Guaranteed to be fun this fall, but imagine what it will look like in 10 or 20 years. GGIE ISION 91 -92 AGGIEVISION Midnight Yell Practice*Fish Camp A&M’s Funniest People*RHA Casino # Singing Cadets Intramural Sports*Bonfire*31-14*Big Event Bunjee Jumping*Residence Halls*Final Review Basketball Team*Sbisa*Greek Games Aggie Band*Rugby Team*AU-U-Night CAMAC*Aggie Players*AIcohol Awareness Week Football Games # Miss TAMU*Polo Team Academics*VoIleyball Team # Muster*Aggie Wranglers Art Fest*95 Class Ball*Reveille V 1992 Cotton Bowl*MSC Aggie Cinema Pillow Talk*Tennis Team*Miss Black & Gold Replant*Neely Hall Street Party Summer Orientation*The Nutcracker*Pillow Talk Grove Yell Practice*93/94 Class Ball Elections*Sailing Team*Greek Bid House MSC Open House*Track Team*International Week Lacrosse Team*Elephant Walk March In*Variety Show*Ring Dance*Halloween Football Ticket Lines*Women’s Chorus MSC Open House*All Night Fair*Nightlife Parents Weekend*March to the Brazos Baseball Team*Graduation