Thursday • October 16, 1997
S The Battalion
PORTS
Aggies take their 5-0 show
on the road to Kansas St.
A&M’s hopes of a perfect year run through Manhattan
NOTEBOOK
Chris
Ferrell
Sports editor
T he 14th-ranked Texas A&M Football Team
heads to Manhattan, Kansas, this week to
battle the No. 20 Kansas State Wildcats in
what should be the Aggies’ toughest test to date.
The Wrecking Crew will have its hands full with
KSU quarterback Michael Bishop who nobody, me
dia included, has been able to get their hands on.
This week K-State coach Bill Snyder announced the
media no longer can speak with Bishop, who led
Blinn to a JUCO national championship last sea
son. Snyder said football is a team sport, but Bish
op is getting all of the media’s attention.
Fresh off of my interview last Friday with Dick
Vitalel, 1 have these words of advice for Coach Sny
der: The kid’s a PTP’er, baby! Give him his props.
Everybody wants Bishop because, without him,
your offense would be "Cupcake City.’’
Homecoming Fame
The Aggies will be KSU’s homecoming oppo
nent Saturday, but the game also will be a home
coming for Coach R.C. Slocum, whose first college
coaching job came at Kansas State in 1970.
In 1971, Slocum was KSU’s head freshman
football coach (back before freshman were eligi
ble to play on varsity). One of Slocum’s former
KSU freshman players, Bud Peterson, will be
making the trip to Manhattan with the Aggies.
Peterson, now associate executive dean of engi
neering at A&M, was a receiver at Kansas State,
and he and Slocum have remained close over
the years.
“That’s the only security problem we’ve got,”
Slocum joked. “We have one of their former play
ers flying on our team plane with us, but A&M
pays him right now, so I’m hoping that’s strong
enough to keep his allegiance.”
Put Me In, Coach
One thing you can count on this week is there
will be a bunch of Aggies checking into the game.
Over the course of the season, A&M has been us
ing more than fifty players on a regular basis.
“After the game, you have 50-plus players that got
to see ‘Johnny’ play, as opposed to having 30-some
thing,” Slocum said. “So when we go out to practice,
we have 50 guys that are getting ready to play on Sat
urday. Regardless of how the game goes this week
end, we will play a large number of players.”
Injury Report
Junior starting right tackle Cameron Spikes
will be held out of contact for 10 days after hav
ing a torn retina surgically repaired Tuesday.
Spikes sustained the injury in Saturday’s 56-17
win over Iowa State. He had started 17 straight
games for A&M, but now will miss the Kansas
State and Texas Tech games.
Junior corner Shun Horn is listed as doubtful
this weekend with an injured hamstring, and
sophomore linebacker Chris Thierry is question
able for KSU after being taken off of the field in an
ambulance Saturday. Thierry suffered a “stinger”
in the 4th quarter against the Cyclones.
Who is That Masked Man?
With Spike’s injury, the danger of being poked
in the eye while on the football field was brought
into the spotlight.
That is one of the reasons sophomore tailback
Dante Hall wears a dark visor on his face mask.
Hall, known for his juking style of running, said
the visor also can give him an advantage while
looking up field because defenders can’t read his
eyes. The visor also can prevent him from being
blinded by the sun when looking up to return
kickoffs and punts.
Old-School Wrecking Crew
When Mike Hankwitz took over as A&M’s defen
sive coordinator, one of his main objectives was to
get back to the “bodies flying” style of years past.
When he brought this up to the other coaches,
defensive line coach Bill Johnson said the team
needed to “regain the rage”. Thus, the team’s de
fensive slogan was born, and the players have tak
en it to heart. They are beginning to look like the
Wrecking Crew of years past. The Aggies are gang-
tackling and flying at the football with the same
fury as that of defenses of old.
Senior Presence
Zerick Rollins anchors Texas A&M’s Wrecking
Chris Ferrell is a sophomore
journalism major
By Jeff Webb
Staff writer
The talk of Texas A&M football
this season is youthfulness. The Ag
gies are the youngest team in the Big
12 this year which leads one to won
der, who leads the mighty force of
nature known as the Wrecking Crew?
Ironically, the anchor of the defense,
the defensive line, provides the se
nior presence on the football field.
One of these leaders is senior defen
sive lineman Zerick Rollins.
Texas A&M almost missed out on
the benefit of Rollins’ services. Orig
inally a student-athlete at the Uni
versity of Oklahoma, Rollins trans
ferred to College Station after his
freshman year. A standout at Kash-
mere High School in Houston,
Rollins committed to the Oklahoma
program run by Howard Schnelen-
bergerin 1995.
“You’re kind of young and you’re
recruited by a lot of people, and I had
my best recruiting trip to OU,”
Rollins said. “The main reason why
I transferred was because my father
was ill. I wanted to pick a good
school as far as education, and I felt
A&M was the best place to be.”
Rollins was the one to originally
contact A&M about a transfer.
Some thought there would be
problems because Coach Schne-
lenberger did not want to let Rollins
out of his scholarship, but he even
tually relented. Defensive line
coach Bill Johnson was indifferent
about the transfer at first, but is
pleased he has another leader on
the defense in 1997.
“1 didn’t really worry about it at
the time, but he stuck to his guns and
he knew what he wanted,” Johnson
said. "I’m glad he did [transfer]. It
was good for us that he did.”
With the lack of experience on the
team this season, having a seasoned
veteran like Rollins teaches the team
a lesson in focus and commitment.
“Zerick is a very mature person.
He’s a guy that means business. He
has a good work ethic and desire,
and this program means a lot to
him,” said Johnson. “If these kids
would just take their attitude, their
work ethic, their commitment to this
program, those kids will be great
players down the road.”
“I think he’s a leader to the whole
team,” said line mate Brad Crowley.
“He leads with a great example.”
Rollins had an excellent example
of a football player when he was
younger. His older brother Joseph
played offensive line at Lamar Uni
versity while Zerick was growing up.
“I was in elementary school when
mm
DAVE HOUSED]
Senior Zerick Rollins tram
A&M from OU after his I
he was playing college footl
Rollins. “Any time you have:!
er playing college footballpf
to look up to them.’’
Rollins also looks up tooi^
NFL’s greatest stars, Bi
sive end Bruce Smith,
praise given to the Wreck!
this season, there are:
left to be played. Roi
there is still more work tobeij
“I had to work a longtimt
an opportunity. Ihavealot^
for and I still have a lot to pro
Swedish import Anna Becker big hit in To
By Margaux Harris
Staff writer
Anna Becker, a member of the
Texas A&M Woman’sGolf Team,
is a little modest when it comes
to describing her talents on the
golf course.
Becker, a sophomore business
major from Lund, Sweden, admits
that coming to Texas A&M was
quite an adjustment.
“It (the transition) was kind of
hard,” Becker said. The heat could
have affected my golf game. I left all
of my friends and family. All of this
affected my game.”
Now that she has made it
through her first year, she expects
things to improve.
Becker started playing golf at the
age of six and began competing at
age 12. For 10 years she and her fa
ther traveled together to participate
in tournaments across Europe.
“This (college) was a great dif
ference,” Becker said. “I am now
playing with a team — it was just
individual before.”
Becker said the earlier an athlete
begins playing a particular sport,
the more experience he or she gets.
“If you play too much, you will
get sick of it,” she said. “But I’m glad
I started early.”
During the fall of 1996, Becker
established herself as one of the
top freshmen in the Big 12 Con
ference. She competed in four
tournaments, resulting in three
top-20 finishes.
Despite her accomplishments,
Becker said she does noli
played well last year.
“The first year is alwaysj
she said. “It was hard!
from home.”
Becker said she is p
this year and hopes to com
improve in the spring.
She said the atmospherej]
has helped her make thet
“I think it’s awesome,” 1(
said. "It can’t really bebetta
the professors are greatsofe
everybody is really friendly. , |
Becker had offers ffomtej
schools, but chose Texasj 1
cause of its reputation oh
great sports school.
“I knew Isabelle (Rosben)
she said it was a great sc
Becker said.
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