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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 1994)
Tbs ASM Football Twci) Chart len Inside lid li 38 RcggieO 35 Jasonfe ebacker ) ARMSTRONG hell inebacker Walker II Driver Strong Safety 40 MICHAEL HENDRICKS 36 Steve Kenney Outside Linebacker 46 Reggie l3rown 43 Warrick Holdman erback Defeist (efensive End (ENS lliams 96 Bran(i?| LARRY JACKSON 98 Davi | : 45 lirad Crowley Left Cornerback 22 Billy Mitchell 27 Donovan Greer X ■nbaumen Right Tackle 67 Hunter Goodwin 76 Chris Ruhman > 0 i 0 Left Guard Ight Guard 78 James Bmijohn Richard 73 Todd Mah Robert Dankfels eirne iders :k GROCE on Smith Tight End 88 James McKeehan 85 Hayward Clay o Flanker 18 BRIAN MITCHELL 17 Gene Lowery Broy 994 Texa merical Roster une iver, Aaron "Cray, Danny illig, Corey bite, Junior cMullen, Typail mders, Chris don, Chris river, TYent ase, Stormy yatt, Sherrod guyen, Dat ncas, Justin * anetoulias, Manoli merson, Steve owery, Gene htchell, Brian eterson, Aide homas, Etodney iggens, Wilbert litchell, Billy litchell, Keith lickens, Ray lodge, Cedric Id lliams, Andre Irner, Donovan Wallace, Kddie Villiams, Michael torn, Shun Valker II, Larry Iroce, Clif JcBIroy, Leeland Vndrus, Jason Tenney, Steve lackson, Larry Traham, Reggie Mien, Dennis Jendricks, Mike Tryant, Kyle Perry, Sean Toklman, Warrick 3mith, Detron Drowley, Brad Nil Name Pos. 16 Brown, Reggie LB 17 Bennett, James P 18 Maxfield, Kyle DB 50 Ward, Brandon OL 51 Meyers, Phillip LB 52 Vazquez, David OL 53 Reinarz, Cole LB 54 Collins, Calvin OL 55 Williams, Pat DL 56 Armstrong, Antonio LB 57 Heard, Marcus DL 56 Cody, Michael Of. 57 Goodwin, Hunter OL 98 Horn, Jake • OL 59 Hackradt, Koby OL 10 Danklefs, Robert OL fl Vordenbaumen, Tim OL 12 Jones, Jeff OL '3 Mathison, Tbdd OL ’4 Kern, Ryan OL 1 Brown, Don OL '6 Ruhman, Chris Of, 7 Flegeance, Jason OL 8 Brooks, James OL 9 Richard, John OL 0 Beirne, Kevin WR 2 Mathews, Ryan WR 2 Campbell, Daniel TE 3 Hill, Daunte WR 3 Johnston, Bill P 4 Waguespack, Keith K 5 Clay, Hayward TE 6 Brinkley, Darren WR 7 Brady, Jim TE 8 McKeehan, James TE 9 Jasper, Edward DL 0 McKinney, Steve DL 1 Mahone, Matt TE 2 Ross, Ryon DL 4 Brown, Quinton .LB 6 Mitchell, Brandon DL 8 Maxwell, David DL ■ V ■ N E The Aggies lost all starters and three reserves from the 1993 defensive line ... Senior right end Larry Jackson moves from inside linebacker where he had 60 tackles last year... Sophomore left end Brandon Mitchell saw limited action last year in a reserve role ... Compared to Aggie great Sam Adams in terms of explosiveness ... Sophomore Eddie Jasper and red-shirt freshman Marcus Heard will both see action at noseguard ... Red-shirt freshman Brad Crowley will back up Jackson while freshman David Maxwell will play behind Mitchell ... Junior college All-American Pat Williams is also expected to play when he becomes eligible ... Freshman Steve McKinney will add depth to the line. ■_ ■ N E B A. C K. E R S Senior outside linebacker Antonio Armstrong recorded 73 tackles and 8 1/2 sacks in 1993 ... Named defensive player of the game in 1994 Cotton Bowl after eight tackle and three sack performance ... Junior outside linebacker Reggie Brown will finally get a chance to start after seeing limited action the last two years ... Senior inside linebacker Reggie Graham finished last season with 44 tackles and four sacks ... Sophomore inside linebacker Larry Walker II saw limited action at linebacker but excelled on special teams ... Sophomore Keith Mitchell will back up Armstrong ... Sophomore Jason Andrus will play behind Graham while freshmen Trent Driver and Phillip Myers will see action behind Walker. Junior cornerback Ray Mickens tied Aggie great Aaron Glenn with 1 3 passes broken up in 1993 ... Thorpe Award Candidate ... Sophomore Donovan Greer and senior Billy Mitchell will both see action at the opposite corner vacated by Glenn ... Seniors Michael Hendricks and Junior White return to the safety positions ... Hendricks recorded 56 tackles with one interception last season ... White made 64 tackles and intercepted one pass in 1993 ... The Aggies led the nation in pass efficiency defense last season ... Sophomore Andre Williams will back up Mickens ... Senior Steve Kenney has fully recovered from 1992 knee injury and will play behind Hendricks ... Junior Dennis Allen will back up White. SPECIALISTS Sophomore Leeland McElroy returns with senior Billy Mitchell to give the Aggies the most dangerous kickoff return team in the nation ... McElroy led the nation with a 39.3 average and returned three kickoffs for touchdowns which tied an NCAA record ... He also tied a record by returning two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game ... Mitchell had a 95-yard return against the University of Houston in 1992 ... Ray Mickens will field punts for the Aggies this season taking over for a departed Aaron Glenn ... James Bennett, Sean Terry and Bill Johnston are all in a battle for the starting punting position ... Either Kyle Bryant, Keith Waguespack or Manoli Venetoulias have the unenviable task of replacing A&M's third all-time leading scorer Terry Venetoulias. i-i ■ The Aggies under R.C. Slocum are 28-1-1 at Kyle Field ... Offensive Coordinator Steve Ensminger still holds two passing records at LSU ... Defensive Coordinator Tommy Tuberville was on defensive staff at the University of Miami when they won three national championships ... Defensive line coach Bill Johnson was a four-year letterman at Northwestern State ... Wide receivers coach Les Koenning, Jr. was an all-state quarterback at Hamshire-Fannett High School in 1975 ... Defensive backs coach Larry Slade was the secondary coach for the University of Washington when they won the national championship in 1991 ... Outside linebackers and specialists coach Shawn Slocum was a member of the 12th Man Kickoff Squad Jackson Armstrong Mickens McElroy Slocum Stew Milner Battalion File Photo ,turning starter or " PaSS ^ 3 ^ TeCh reCe ' Ver dUrin9 a last season s game in Lubbock. ‘Wrecking Crew’ still on job Tuberville will keep 'aggressive attacking' Aggie defense style By Drew Diener The Battalion Despite the departure of former Texas A&M defensive coordinator Bob Davie, the swarm and attack mentality that has characterized the “Wrecking Crew” defense for the past decade will continue to exist under new coordinator Tommy Tuberville. “You can have two kinds of philoso phies,” Tuberville said. “You can have one where you are going to be soft and use a reading technique or one that is real aggressive, attacks, and make things happen. That’s what mine is and what (A&M head) coach (R.C.) Slocum’s has been for the past ten years.” Tuberville inherits a unit that re turns only five starters. After starting at inside-linebacker last season, senior Larry Jackson will replace Seattle Sea- hawks’ first round draft choice Sam Adams at right defensive end. Jackson’s move arose out of necessi ty, as the entire starting defensive line, including top backup Kefa Chatham, entered the world of professional foot- ball. Joining Jackson on the line as starters will be sophomores Eddie Jasper and Brandon Mitchell. Jasper saw limited action as a red-shirt fresh man last season while dealing with nag ging back problems. Mitchell, a former high school All- American, saw action in every single game last season, including the Cotton Bowl. Red-shirt freshmen Brad Crow ley and Marcus Heard, along with true freshman David Maxwell will also com pete for time. At linebacker, the Aggies return only one starter, senior outside linebacker Antonio Armstrong. Armstrong solidified his status last season as another in the long line of punishing Aggie linebackers, recording 74 tackles and eight and a half sacks en-route to earning All-Southwest Con ference honors. “These guys are going to come in and do even better than what we’ve seen in the past at line- backer,” Armstrong said. “We’re the same team, just a few different names, that’s all.” Junior Reggie Brown, who posted the fifth best time in the 40-yard dash (4.4) in the spring, has the task of re placing Steve Solari at the other outside linebacker spot. Senior Reggie Graham and sopho more Larry Walker will take over at the inside-linebacker positions. Competing for playing time will be sophomore Ja son Andrus and freshmen Phillip Mey ers and Trent Driver. , The strength of the defense, howev er, lies in the secondary, where three of the four starters are back this season. We have more returners (in the sec ondary than elsewhere on defense),” Tu berville said. “Plus, we have a lot of speed and depth (there).” Seniors Michael Hendricks and Ju nior White return at strong and free safety respectively, where they com bined for over 100 tackles last season. Hendricks said that he understands what Tuberville expects and is ready to get on the field and execute. “The philosophy (of Tuberville) is ba sically the same (Davie’s),” Hendricks said. “We’re still blitzing, we’re still having that reckless abandon, and we’re still having a lot of fun.” Junior Ray Mickens will continue to hold down the starting job at right cor nerback. Last season, Mickens estab lished himself as a threat to op posing offenses, picking off two passes and breaking up 13. “I want to make a lot of big plays this year,” Mickens said. “Last year that was not my goal, last year my goal was just to have good games.” Starting at left cornerback will be se nior Billy Mitchell, who replaces All- American Aaron Glenn, the first round pick of the New York Jets. Mitchell said that he is comfortable with that assign ment. “The schemes are easier (this year),” Mitchell said. “Under Coach Davie, I thought I might never catch on.” Secondary coach Larry Slade, who replaced Trent Walters last spring, said this secondary compares favorably to the one he coached at the University of Washington, the team that won the 1991 national championship. “The athletes we have here are a lot quicker," Slade said. “The common de nominator is that both groups work re ally hard and are very talented.” Aggie Facts Since 1985, the Aggie defense has recorded 398 sacks for 2,688 yards in losses equalling approximately 1.6 miles.