! Sports Thursday, February 3,1994 The Battalion Page 7 Writer's ramblings right rumors P onder ing the p e r - turbing pos sibility of Jimmy John son junking Jerry Jones' Cowboys and jaunting over to Jack sonville to coach the Jaguars jad ed my jubi lant attitude and pro voke d me to jostle through the mass of students on my jour ney to professor Jeff Jones' English class. On my journey to Jeff Jones' class, where my thoughts often jumble, I ran into an old friend, a jock named Jerry Jurica. I asked Jerry if Jimmy would really junk Jerry for the Jaguars? Jerry is no jerk and has no problem with me being a jolly Jew. "As the Jurica's jazzy Jew ish jangler," Jerry said in his joyful jargon, "you should know that Jerry won't let Jim my jaunt to Jacksonville and join the Jaguars. "Besides he wouldn't leave Jimmie Jones and Jim Jeffcoat, who are fans of the late Janis Joplin, a high school classmate of Jimmy Johnson himself." That comforting comment clued me in on the whole stinking situation incited by the irritating, illiterate idiots in the idiosyncratic media. Dammitt, I'm the darling, yet daring. Drew Diener and the damn media ain't gonna fool me. Those friggin', foolish fiends won't fiddle with my feelings. They're just jealous that Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones have built a wonderful winner here and no one, not Johnny Johnson of the Jets or Jimmy Jackson of the Jokes, can take that away from them. Rumors riddle the right eous and rich revealing the wrong and not the real. What in the names of Bill Bates, Bobby Bowden, Beavis, See Jostled / Page 8 Drew Diener Sportswriter A&M garners 'finest' recruiting class Aggies land six All-Americans, sign 12 players from Texas' top 100 By Drew Diener The Battalion Texas A&M head football coach R.C. Slocum said he was pleased with the 25 stu dent-athletes that signed Wednesday to play for the Aggies next season. The Aggies filled spots at almost every A&M. football sigae.es Player Pqs Hometown • Brinkley, Darren WR Belton • Brown, Down OL Houston • Brown, Quiton LB Corsicana • Campbell, Daniel TE Glen Rose • Driver, Trent LB Cleveland • Dudley, Adren TE Henderson • Farris, Mark QB Angleton • Flegeance, Jason OL St. Martinvillo, La. • Hackradt, Kobv OL Conroe • Hill, Daunte WR Huntsville • Hodge, Cedric RB Kemp • Holdman, Warrick LB Alief • Horn, Jake OL Garland • Horn, Shun DB jasper • Lucas, Justin WR Victoria • Mahone, Matt TE Longview • Maxwell, David DL Waco • McKinnev, Steve DL Houston • Meyers, Phillip LB Galveston • Nguyen, Dat LB Rockport • Oliver, Aaron WR Arlington • Ross, Rvon DL Garland • Vasquez, David OL Alief • Williams, Michael DB Lewisville • Williams, Pat DL Monroe, La. position: signing 14 offensive and 11 defen sive players. A&M once again landed a top-flight re cruiting class that includes six high school All-Americans and one junior college All- American. Slocum said the NCAA probation had little, if any, effect on the players who signed. He said he even delayed recruiting visits until after the NCAA ruling so he could know where A&M stood and be able to ex plain the situation to the recruits and their parents. "I'm very excited about this signing date," Slocum said. "Without question, this is the finest group of young men that we've ever brought in." Offensively, the Aggies concentrated on improving their passing game by signing Angleton quarterback Mark Farris and four highly-touted wide receivers. Rated by many as the top quarterback in Texas this year, Angleton's Mark Farris threw for more than 1,700 yards. He also tossed 21 touchdowns as a senior while earning Class 5A honorable mention all- state honors. "I like the coaching staff at A&M," Farris said during a phone conversation with The Battalion. "The chance to go to A&M helped me make my decision." Slocum said he had wanted to sign two quarterbacks, but is still pleased with the opportunity to get a player of the caliber of Farris. "We wanted to get the passing game more involved in our offense," Slocum said. "A guy can step into the depth chart here and be as high as he can at any competitive program." In addition to landing Farris and a stockpile of receivers, the Aggies signed five offensive linemen, three tight ends, and one running back. Running back Cedric Hodge is a high school All-American from Kemp. As a se nior, Hodge rushed for 2,305 yards and 30 touchdowns on 215 carries en-route to earn ing first-team Class 3A all-state honors. At 6'2" 200-pounds, Hodge runs an im pressive 4.3 in the 40 yard dash. On defense, the Aggies concentrated on reloading at defensive line and linebacker. Slocum said linebacker was the weakest area on the team last season. Raun Nohavitza/THE Battalion Texas A&M head football coach R.C. Slocum speaks of the Aggies' 25 recruits. "We were fortunate that this was a good year in the state of Texas for linebackers," Slocum said. "Over the years, we have tak en great pride in the linebackers we've had at Texas A&M." In all, the Aggies signed five linebackers, four defensive linemen, and two defensive backs to help carry on the "Wrecking Crew" tradition. Among the five linebackers signed by A&M, Trent Driver, a 6'3" 215-pound All- American from Cleveland is the most-her alded. After racking up 150 total tackles includ- See Signing/ Page 8 Kevin Ivy/THE Battalion Beth Burket, left, and Lisa Branch apply defensive presure during Texas A&M's victory against Baylor on Wednesday night. Lady Aggies break Baylor, look to Texas Tech contest By Nick Georgandis The Battalion The Texas A&M women's basketball team began to separate the women from the girls in this year's Southwest conference race, by beating the Baylor Lady Bears, 92-78, Wednesday night at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The game looked to be a nail-biter midway through the second half, as the Lady Bears came back from a 47-42 halftime deficit to take a 64-63 lead with 9:25 left in the game. The Lady Aggies fought back, and took the lead for good at 72-70 with five minutes left in the game. Head women's basketball coach Lynn Hickey said the key to the Lady Aggies' victory was their defensive intensity down the stretch. "My biggest concern throughout the game was playing tentative defense, " Hickey said. "Once the defensive agression picked up, we were able to fol low that with an offensive attack." The Lady Aggies improved to 6-0 in SWC play with the win, the best start in Lady Aggie history. A&M's 14-3 mark overall is the team's best start through 17 games. Sophomore center Kelly Cerny said she believed the win was particularly satisfying because of the two teams' previous meeting, in which the Lady Bears eliminated A&M from the 1993 SWC Tourna ment. "Last year, they prevented us from getting fur ther, although we knew we had a better team, " Cerny said. "We wanted to prove that Baylor wasn't going to beat us this year, and they're still not going to beat us." Sophomore guard Lisa Branch led the Lady Ag gies with 21 points. Most of A&M's heavy damage was done by the 1-2 inside punch of Cerny and sophomore center Martha McClelland who combined for 35 points, 23 rebounds and 11 assists. Hickey said she believed the pair's work on the glass was the key to the win. "Martha and Kelly were a pretty tough combo tonight, " Hickey said. "At halftime we were down by l(in rebounding), and then we come out and to tally dominate in the second half." The Lady Aggies next game is at home on Satur day night against Texas Tech in a match-up be tween the two teams with the best conference records. The defending national champion Red Raiders will come into the game ranked fourth in the na tion. For a half-century, this western romance has enchanted audiences across the country whflfe redefining musical theatre. Don't miss this piece of theatre history as the Rodgers and Hammerstein masterpiece returns to the stage for a spectacular 50th Anniversary celebration. With unforgettable tunes like “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'” and “The Surrey With the Fringe on Top,” you'll see why this American classic remains a timeless treasure. February 15, W4 • 8:00 pan. • Rudder Auditorium ^ ets are 0n sa k at ^ ^ ox ^ ce * tamu, or charge by phone at 845-1234 LTLxliD Come of age with MSC 0PAS... and see the world in a new light L Persons with disabilities please call 845-1515 to inform us of your special needs. We request notification three O- (3) working days prior to the event to enable us to assist you to the best of our ability. Don’t let something simple like classes on Friday fool you — in College Station, the weekend starts on THURSDAY! Here’s your weekend update on happenings at The Globe. Tonight - LADIES NIGHT - $2.50 frozen drinks, $1.75 Zimas, $1.50 wine coolers, giveaways all night long! Friday and Saturday, it's the WORLD DOMINATION DANCE MIX - the best music in town and great specials all night long! PLUSH! All three nights, 50$ bar drinks, $1.50 pitchers, and NO COVER from S-10. No cover 21 and up till midnight! If you prefer parties that aren't watered-down, come to 226Southwest Parkway College Station Call 76-GLOBE v inforrtUUm ’' * 4