SPORTS ^\&M football team signs 22 players 2000 Texas A&M Football Signing Class (22) VILLANUEVA ! ■« ilTjJ :tion. puts a tre? Wednesday. usme manxm carrots dst-; 11 diversity's Vqr? center. Ilw carra n exteriors. coBBir ro beta carot«nK& GUY ROGERS/l HI Battalion A&M coach R.C. Slocum announces the Aggies’ signing class yesterday at a press conference at Cain Hall. BY DOUG SHILLING The Battalion National Signing Day was good to the Texas A&M football team for the second straight year as 22 players signed letters of intent to play for the Aggies in the fall. The 22 players consisted of 20 high school seniors and two junior college transfers. A&M signed nine offensive play ers and 13 from the defensive side of the ball. “1 was pleased with our class,” A&M coach R.C. Slocum said. “Of course we wouldn’t offer guys if we didn't like them. The guys we got were ones we feel good about.” The strength of the Aggie class once again came from the defense. Defensive lineman and defensive backs were two of the major target ar eas for A&M when recruiting began, and the players they signed did not disappoint. Defensive linemen Eddie Brown from Aldine, Linnis Smith from Tyler and Marcus Jasmin from New Orleans, La. bolstered the line and helped the Aggies reach their goal of becoming a bigger unit. Smith is the smallest of the bunch at 260 pounds, with Jasmin at 292 and Brown weighing in at 295. "We had to get bigger on the defen sive line,” Slocum said. “We play in a physical conference, and we felt it was an area of concern. We aren’t a big de fensive line across the board so we made an emphasis of trying to get some big ger guys. “ The Aggies helped their depleted de fensive back field by signing six DBs. Adam Black of Houston, Jonte Buhl of Pflugeryille, Dawon Gentry of Deni son, Keeland Jackson of Garland, Kevin Mangum of LaMarque and junior col lege transfer Mike Pinesette from Blinn College all signed to play defensive back for A&M. With three starters lost to graduation, the Aggies recruited people who could come in and step in right away. “We signed several defensive backs,” Slocum said. “We need imme diate help in the secondary. We signed most these guys based on the hopes they were man coverage guys.” On the offensive side of the ball, the main area of concern was wide receiver. After not signing any wide receivers last year, A&M w anted to try and emphasize that position this year. See Signing on Page 11. Name Position Ht. Wt. Cl.-Exp. Hometown (High School/JC) Adam Black DB 6'0 175 Fr-HS Houston, Texas (Cy Falls) Eddie Brown DL 6-2 295 Fr-HS Aldine, Texas (Eisenhower) Jonte Buhl DB 5-9 170 Fr-HS Pflugerville, Texas (Connally) Ricky Cardoza OLB 6-5 220 Fr-HS Mission, Texas (High) Kasey Cheshier OL 6-5 270 Fr-HS Duncanville, Texas (High) Eric Crutchfield ATH 6-1 185 Fr-HS Galena Park, Texas (North Shore) Robert Ferguson WR 6-2 220 Jr-T'R Houston, Texas (Spring Woods/Tyler JC) Dawon Gentry DB 6-0 180 Fr-HS Denison, Texas (High) Mathus Gill FB 5-11 230 Fr-HS Brenham, Texas (High) Geoff Hangartner OL 6-6 280 Fr-HS New Braunfels, Texas (High) Keelan Jackson DB 6-0 195 Fr-HS Garland, Texas (High) Marcus Jasmin DL 6-4 292 Fr-HS New Orleans, La. (De La Salle) Keith Joseph RB 6-3 220 Fr-HS Houston, Texas (Lamar) Dustin Long QB 6-3 185 Fr-HS Port Neches, Texas (Port Neches-Groves) Kevin Mangum DB 6-0 176 Fr-HS La Marque, Texas (High) Joey Perot TE 6-4 255 Fr-HS Petal, Miss. (High) Mike Pinesette DB 5-11 185 Jr-TR La Marque, Texas (High/Blinn JC) Cody Scales P 6-2 180 Fr-HS Tyler, Texas(Lee) LeBrandon Sheppard LB 6-1 210 Fr-HS Lufkin, Texas (High) Chris Sims K 6-0 170 Fr-HS Garland, Texas (High) Linnis Smith DL 6-4 260 Fr-HS Tyler, Texas (John Tyler) Brian Thompson LB 6-2 220 Fr-HS Tyler, Texas (Lee) Underneath solid class, problems lurk for Aggie recruiting ants: os Country Foo& r recipe cards 3ft) lOting Red Fye Bku) okmg ingrediflt get s Rice Mite 000, for m-ster;: A nother signing day has come and gone here in Aggieland, and as usual, A&M coach •R.C . Slocum put together another solid class for the Aggies. All the needs have been filled and A&M has "another top-25 class signed, sealed, delivered 'and on its way to campus in the fall. So every thing is nice and rosy for the Aggies, right? ’Well, in the immortal words of Lee Corso, .“Not so fast my friend.” Despite the fact this class “filled needs,” there were some things that were lacking. The most glaring was A&M’s inability to sign more playmaking wide receivers this year. After not signing any wide receivers during last year’s recruiting season, the Aggies targeted the position as a major need this year. And with what was supposed to be the best w ide receiver class to come out of Texas in some time, A&M expected to do well. The Aggies did not do so well, however, only landing junior college All-American Robert Ferguson. A&M lost out on the "Big 3” w ide receivers B.J. Johnson, Roy Williams and Sloan Thomas, who all went to Texas, and many other of the state’s top receivers. Speaking of Texas and the recruiting freight train named Mack Brown, they managed to do well against the Aggies in head-to-head recruit ing battles. Including the “Big 3,” the Longhorns beat out the Aggies for the services of players like tight end Brock Edwards from Fort Worth, who went to school and is friends with A&M quar terback Vance Smith. Texas also nabbed quarterback Chance Mock from the Woodlands who was a heavy A&M lean during the summer. So, while the tendency is to look on the bright side of this year’s class, there are some underlying problems with it. That being said, one has to wonder why problems are there. Pessimists’ first reactions would be to blame Coach Slocum and his staff. Well, let me be the first to debunk this theo ry. Coach Slocum is a good coach who has done a wonderful job at A&M. You don’t become a school’s winningest coach and win champi onships by being a bad coach. And as far as re canting goes, he and his staff are known throughout college football for being wonderful recruiters. The problem with the Aggies is something that unfortunately the coaching staff has nothing to do with. The problem is with perception. Unfortunately for A&M, some recruits’ per ception of the Aggies isn’t what the A&M staff would like. One explanation some wide receiver recruits gave for not signing with A&M is that they thought the Aggies you, able ictuses. I Live access to 100s of Americas best radio stations $ FREE e mail fax and voicemail viayourown 800# $ Music, Sports and Live Celebrity Interviews All this, and more, only from... Br08dC3StflMERICfl.C0lll ©2000 BfoacfcasfAmoriea.ptsiv J5S, .WIN '50K *»v!