1998 Texas A&M Football Preview
Just Nguyen, baby!
Jake Schrickung/Thf Battalion
Texas A&M linebacker Dat Nguyen speaks at All-University
Night last Wednesday.
A&M linebacker triumphs over racism
By Jeff Schmidt
The Battalion
Dat Nguyen (pronounced
DAT-WIN) has come a long
way in a short time.
Nguyen recently received
a degree in agricultural de
velopment and is considered
one of the best linebackers
in the country. He has been
featured in ESPN The Maga
zine, USA Today, The Sport
ing News and even had an
article in Sports Illustrated
before he ever played a
down of college football.
But it is thousands of
miles from where Nguyen
began, both literally and
figuratively.
The Dat Nguyen story be
gan before Sept. 25, 1975,
his birthday. It began when
his parents left their home in
Vietnam to flee from the Ho
Chi Minh-led communists.
Nguyen’s parents took their
five children from their
home near Saigon (now Ho
Chi Minh City) — Nguyen’s
mother was pregnant with
Dat — and went to Thailand
to wait for a U.S. Navy ship
to evacuate them from
Southeast Asia.
“My dad basically left
everything he had back
there,” Nguyen said. “He
didn’t speak any English or
have any money and coming
over here, didn’t know what
to expect.” From there, the
Nguyens wound up in a
refugee camp in Fort Smith,
Ark., where Nguyen’s moth
er gave birth to him. A
Catholic church in Kalama
zoo, Mich., raised enough
money to buy the Nguyen
family a car. They lived
briefly in Kalamazoo, but
Nguyen’s father, Ho, decid
ed to relocate the family be
cause it was too cold in
Michigan to make a living as
a fisherman. The Nguyen
family eventually ended up
in Rockport, Texas, after
stints in Dallas, New Orleans
Vietnam, Ben Da, wl
means “Port of Rock”)
went back to shrimping
opened a restaurant ar
marine-supply shop
However, the Ngm
were not immediately
cepted at Rockport. Perl
h was because Ho
catching more shrimp t
^ S m n p vals - The Ku Kluxl
ca me in at the behes
ome Anglo shrimper'
few Vietnamese shrim
were beaten, and sonS
their boats burned.
There was a lot of
smn, but we did the
thing- wejusti
Nguyen said in a recent
Sporting News article
was always wondering
^ Parents would s!
choose my Wends caref
0 just stay with relati
They couldn’t trust anyc
jobs, but they scraped up
S 8h money to put their
children through college.
Fortunately for Ho and
Tammy, they would not
Hnn dt KT PayforDat ’ s educa-
u°n - N8l ;y en took up foot-
srliw 6 ln junior high
school after he realized he
pi T 188er fhan everybody
bnl'J Was u either that or
whpro ln m SC ^ 001, w hich is
enerl dlS parents threat-
not rip° Send him if he hid
n °t clean up his act.
mv fri^ 0U i d i Ust 8° out with
late ” m ndS an< ^ come i n
la te, Nguyen said,
wniiia k Ngu yen, football
sion f!n eC °i! ne a 8 00( f hiver-
arp, 0n J the te nsion in the
bring m d U Would actually
together 6 C ° mmunit y closer
see Nguyen on Page 12B.
Last three Aggie games serve up tough opponents
Welcome to the first Aggie Foot
ball Notebook of the 1998 season.
As you should know by now, Texas
A&M lost 23-14 to Florida State on
Monday, Aug. 31.
It has to be consoling the
Seminoles still had to come from
behind to beat the Aggies despite
A&M’s poor showing in the sec
ond half.
Back to the present?
Flash back to 1996. A&M
opened the season with a tough 41-
37 loss to Brigham Young in the
Pigskin Classic.
The team took some time off
and then played a team from
Louisiana. They ended up losing to
the University of Southwestern
Louisiana 29-22 after USL re
turned two interceptions and
one fumble for touchdowns.
The Aggies ended up 6-6,
the worst season in coach R.
C. Slocum’s tenure.
Fast-forward back to 1998.
The current Aggies opened
the season with a tough loss
to FSU in the Kickoff Classic.
The team took some
time off and will play high-pow
ered (more on that later)
Louisiana Tech Saturday. Kinda
spooky, huh?
However, Slocum said he
knows what he did wrong after
the BYU game.
“We probably worked too
hard,” Slocum said. “We proba
bly assumed the [1996] team was
more mature than they were at
the time.”
Nguyen, Lose or Draw
Senior linebacker Dat Nguyen
had 13 tackles against FSU, giving
him a career total of 383, fourth in
A&M’s annals.
He is on pace to be the school’s
career leading tackier.
Tickets do not runneth over
Due to construction on The
Zone, Kyle Field is about 12,000
seats smaller this season.
The October 10th game aginst
Nebraska is already sold out,
with more capacity games ex
pected in the future.
A season for the records
Louisiana Tech quarterback
Tim Rattay has already thrown for
1,114 yards and seven touchdowns
in two games this season.
Compare that to Aggie quarter
back Branndon Stewart’s season in
1997. Stewart threw for 1,429
yards and 10 touchdowns.
Rattay is on pace for 6,684
yards (the NCAA record of 5,221
yards is held by former Houston
Cougar David Klingler) and 42
touchdowns.
Top five woes
Take a look at A&M’s last three
games. The Aggies played Ne
braska, UCLA and Florida State.
All three teams were (or are) in
the top five.
This has to be one of the most
brutal stretches of games
team has ever faced.
any
Impact starters
Sophomore linebacker Cor
nelius Anthony made his first start
against the Seminoles and con
tributed 10 tackles.
Redshirt freshman Jay Brooks
made the splashiest debut re
turning a fumble for a touchdown
and making five tackles.
Getting his kicks
Junior punter Shane Lechler
is not a natural placekicker, but
he may have to play one on TV
(pay-per-view against Louisiana
Tech). Lechler
worked at kicker
during practice
this past week.
Sophomore
kicker Russell
Bynum hit two
extra points
against FSU, but
Slocum said they
were shaky.
Slocum will wait until game
time before deciding on a kicker.
LECHLER
Frantzen? 10 18 Chad
Ibs^uninrr^K 6 '^ 2 ' inch ’ 226
Texas Hp liaebacker horn Diana,
Man hm? tarted 0llt as a 12 th
Slocum a ^. irn P ress i v e enough
m gave him jersey No. 59.
m m ?° W backin g up Nguyen
at inside linebacker.
Injury update
Rnhl e f hman lineb acker Harold
Robertson will miss the
L„ U1 n na Tech Same due to
shoulder surgery.
Junior wide receiver Matt Bum-
gardner is doubtful for the game
because of a sprained ankle.
Junior guard Semisi Heimuli
(sprained knee), sophomore wide
receiver Chris Taylor (sprained an
kle) , sophomore defensive lineman
Rocky Bernard (stinger) and senior
running back Sirr Parker (muscle
pull) are probable for the game.
Jeff Schmidt is a senior
journalism major.
1998 Texas A&M Football Preview
Photo Illustration by Jake Schrickling & Brandon Bollom/Thk Battalion
Senior Branndon Stewart serves
notice: the Aggie offense is his
BY ROBERT HOLLIER
The Battalion
Every dark cloud has a sil
ver lining. Or, look for the
positive in a negative situa
tion. Either way, that is what
Aggie senior quarterback
Branndon Stewart did with
his college football career.
In 1994, when Stewart was
deciding where to play col
lege football, he had a
chance to come to Texas
A&M, but he chose to take
his talents to Tennessee.
Unfortunately for Stewart, he
was at the wrong place at the
wrong time.
He had all the skills to be
the quarterback for the
Volunteers. He had only one
problem; Tennessee already
had a guy named Peyton
Manning.
As a result, Stewart left
Tennessee, transferred to
A&M and brought a lot of
hope, excitement and expec
tations with him.
“I wasn’t too disappointed
about what happened at
Tennessee,” Stewart said.
“Peyton and I were playing
well and the coaches had to
make a decision. I wasn’t get
ting outperformed. He just
had a better understanding
of the offense.
“The first time I came to
A&M, I was really impressed.
A&M would have been my
second choice if I hadn’t
gone to Tennessee.”
Now that he is in his third
year as the Aggies’ starting
quarterback, the fifth-year
senior is looking forward to
leading this team to another
Big 12 South title and, he
hopes, a lot more.
“I think anytime you're a
senior,” Stewart said, “the
coaches and players expect
more from you. They want us
to help the younger players
as much as possible.”
In his career at A&M,
Stewart has completed 257
passes in 495 attempts and
has thrown 19 touchdowns
and 11 interceptions.
His most prolific game
came in his sophomore year
against Colorado. He com
pleted 34 passes for 385
yards and one touchdown.
However, his best game
was last season against
Oklahoma State. With the
Aggies trailing the Cowboys
by 15 points in the fourth
quarter, Stewart led the
Aggies to a come-from-
behind 28-25 overtime win.
He completed 18 passes for
226 yards and one touch
down. But more importantly,
the win seemed to spark the
Aggies as they went on to win
the Big 12 South and earn a
trip to the Cotton Bowl.
This season could have
even better results as Stewart
will be working with new
offensive coordinator Steve
Kragthorpe and an offense
that will have the Aggies
throwing the ball more.
Kragthorpe is the Aggies’
fourth offensive coordinator
in three years and he knew
changes had to be made for
A&M to compete at a higher
level.
“It’s not a big transition,”
Kragthorpe said. “We’re going
to do a lot of the same things
as last year. The changes are
subtle. It’s mainly the termi
nology that we use.
“We’ve got a senior quar
terback coming back and
he’s got a good command of
the offense. He’s got a lot of
support and guys are helping
him make plays.”
Even though this is
Stewart’s fourth offensive
coordinator, the changes are
nothing new to him.
“I’ve got a unique prob
lem,” Stewart said. “Fve never
had the same offensive coor
dinator two years in a row. I’m
used to coming in each
spring and learning changes.”
Director’s
Cut