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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 2003)
|\.s season nears, QB still up for grabs RBs seek to improve Indians Southern California. Seniors Carol Price and Tara Pulaski, juniors Melissa Munsch and Lexi Beers and sophomore Laura Jones return as starters this year for A&M. The tournament run, cou pled with a fifth-place Big 12 finish, was adequate, but the Aggies are looking for more in 2003. Sports The Battalion By True Brown THE BATTALION Texas A&M Aggies El Arkansas State Indians SATURDAY With the 2003 season opener four days away, Texas A&M football coach Dennis Franchione finally named the starter for Saturday’s game against Arkansas State. “Dustin McNeal,” Franchione joked at Monday’s media luncheon, referring to both candidates for the job, Dustin Long and Reggie McNeal. OK, maybe not. In reality, Franchione is still keeping his quarterback cards close to his vest. He told media Monday that A&M’s quarterback compe tition — not controversy, Franchione said — is an ongoing process. “We are going to try and play (Long and McNeal) as balanced as we can,” Franchione said. “Our first priority is to win a football game, but if one guy gets in a rhythm, we may lean more towards him. Who takes the first play is probably more of a topic for you all than it is for us as football coaches.” Franchione has said in past weeks that A&M’s players will be equally com fortable with either Long or McNeal. Long started nine games in 2002, throwing for 19 touchdowns and more than 2,500 yards. On just about any other Big 12 team, those numbers would have landed the jun ior from Port Neches the starting role. But McNeal proved in November during an upset win against then- No. 1 Oklahoma that he too possesses the tools to lead A&M’s offense. While McNeal has only 24 com pletions to his name, he has become a fan favorite to take the opening snap Saturday night. “I’m interested in how each one of those guys exe cutes individually, and not whether a play broke down because the left guard missed his blocking assign ment,” Franchione said. “I’ve talked to several of our players, and they believe in either one of them. I don’t think they’ll play any differently with either one out there.” Franchione said A&M’s quarterback competition is a neck-in-neck race with neither player being a clear favorite. “It’s hard to separate the two guys. They’re very close,” Franchione said. “One day, one of them may have a little better practice than the other one, and then vice versa. A few key things I talk to Dustin about are making sure he’s got the call completely right in the huddle and not throwing or forcing the ball into coverage. “The key things I talk to Reggie about is not hanging in the pocket too long and pulling it down and going with it. But they both are good leaders in the huddle, they both know the offense well, they’re both respected by their teammates.” Saturday’s kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Kyle Field. By Douglas Pils THE ASSOCIATED PRESS looks to experience for success “Our team goal has been to win a Big 12 Championship and to make it to the Final Four,” Beers said. “We had a meeting at the beginning of spring and that’s what we are going to go for.” Preseason polls have the Aggies unranked and picked to finish fourth in the confer ence. “We were two matches away from finishing third in the toughest conference in the nation (last year) and we’re picked to finish fourth and not even in the Top 25,” Corbelli said. “It’s funny to me. Those early polls don’t mean anything. See Aggies on page 2B JONESBORO, Ark. — Danny Smith came out of nowhere last year to post Arkansas State’s best rushing season in school history. Smith, who entered 2002 with just 244 career yards, rushed for 1,390 to give the Indians a 1,000-yard rusher for the third straight season — the first such streak ever in Jonesboro. If coach Steve Roberts’ offense is going to make it four, someone out of a packed group of five will have to distinguish himself early. “We have listed five starters at tail back at this particular time,” Roberts said. “The starter will be who we feel like the first play call will be, more than it will be the starter.” Antonio Warren, Clint Roy, Shermar Bracey, Terrence Dunbar and Chris Easley enter this week’s season opener at Texas A&M on Saturday with an equal chance of being on the field for that first play. Smith, the Sun Belt Conference offensive player of the year, had just 83 yards after the first two games, so Warren took most of the carries in Arkansas State’s first victory last year. He carried the ball 32 times for 193 yards in a 21-19 win over Tulsa and earned conference player of the week honors. Warren had 318 yards in a three- game span before cracking his ribs against Tennessee-Martin, and the injury slowed him for the rest of the season. “Anytime you get hurt, it’s a down fall for you,” said Warren, who fin ished with 554 yards and three touch downs. “Danny helped me out and everything happened for a reason”. Average neyv textbook price * You do the math. How smart is this: All the textbooks you need for up to 60% off retail prices. And all you have to do is go to half.com and type in the book titles, or ISBN numbers. Gotta love that new math. h©tfconr Same textbooks. Smarter prices. ...vthook Dries- $26 based on site statistics, January 2003. tFirst time buyers only. 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