For the rest of this season, Texas A&M's loss to Southwestern Louisiana may continue to stick out on the schedule as the season’s ultimate eyesore.
Eight turnovers were unsightly, to say the least.
On the other hand, long after this season is done, the USL game may be fondly recalled by A&M fans for a much different reason. Remove the turnovers and the trauma of losing, and what took place on that Louisiana Saturday night warmly tugs at the heartstrings of virtually every Aggie who has ever stood throughout a football game or recited the legendary tale of E. King Gill.
Little-known and never-before-used, senior Barry Johnson did not come from out of the press box and suit up under the stands as Gill, the original 12th Man, had done 74 years earlier. But the former Corps of Cadets member and walk-on did come from virtually nowhere to aid the Aggies in a desperate time of need. And unlike Gill, this modern-day version of the 12th Man actually played.
Johnson caught two passes for 47 yards against the Ragin' Cajuns, including a 25-yard reception during the final minute of the game where he broke one tackle and was within one more broken tackle of tying the game.
Unfortunately for the Aggies, Johnson was unable to convert the reception into a miraculous touchdown, and A&M lost its eighth turnover of the game two plays later to seal USL's win. Nevertheless, it was a rather incredible debut for a young man who was playing in his first official football game since the eighth grade. Intramural games — where he first made his mark at A&M — don't count.
"It was an unbelievable feeling to actually play in the game," said Johnson, who played high school baseball and basketball at Cleburne, but quit playing football because he didn't like being hit. "I was so excited that the game was kind of like you had been in a car wreck and were knocked out and didn't come back to consciousness until it was all over. I still can't tell you much about the whole day. It was a blur.
"But I do remember that when I first got into the game, I was praying that the first pass wouldn't come to me, and it didn't. Then when it did come to me on the next play, I was just thinking, 'Please, don't drop it.' And then there at the last, I was thinking, 'Six points.' But it didn't happen. That's why I'm not real pleased with my first game, because we didn't win. That's the bottom line of why I'm out here, to help this team win."
The fact he is out there at all involves a rather amazing story, steeped with Aggie traditions, folklore and beliefs and filled with as much "good bull" as the branding of Bevo. He appears to be "Rudy" with a maroon helmet instead of the golden headgear of Notre Dame.
The major difference, of course, is that Johnson has outstanding talent. At 5-11, 185, he runs a 4.4 (in the 40-yard dash) and catches the ball extremely well.
"He’s an intelligent kid, a hard worker, and he has a lot of talent," said A&M receivers coach Les Koenning Jr. "I’m very excited for him, and I’m excited about how he can help our football team.
"When you look at his story and where he came from, he just might be the ultimate symbol of the modern 12th Man and what that tradition is all about. This is a guy who was in the Corps, who understands the traditions of A&M and who endured and persevered through some tough times to get here. The kids really respect and admire what he’s done."
Johnson may eventually become an Aggie legend on the level of Gill himself, but he started out only as a legend on the intramural fields. And in a most subdued tone, he says that may not have even been the case.
"Let's save some room for modesty here," he said. "I'll just say I was pretty good in intramurals."
Whatever the case, it was on the intramural fields at A&M where Johnson first began receiving considerable attention for his athletic skills.
A business analysis major, Johnson came to Texas A&M to make his mark by using his mind, not his body. Johnson, who eventually plans on attending law school, asserted himself in the classroom and was selected as the vice president of his class for two years and as a member of the Who's Who Among American College Students. He also joined the Corps, and he began playing intramural sports as a way to stay in shape and occasionally take his mind away from studies.
That's when his fellow Corps members began to notice something special about Johnson's ability on the football field. He had enough moves, they said, to take his game to another, much higher level.
"I was out there playing intramurals, shaking and baking, and the guys started getting on to me about trying out for the football team," said Johnson, who spent four years in the Corps and is a fifth-year senior. "They were telling me that for two years before I tried out, so I kind of blew them off for a while. But eventually, I decided to try out."
Despite feeling good about his first tryout in the spring of 1995, Johnson did not make the team. But he had become enamored with the idea of playing for a major college football program.
Johnson spent several months calling the A&M position coaches, desperately trying to get an individual tryout. He was, however, always intercepted by the football secretaries, and the coaches never returned his calls.
Undaunted, Johnson returned for another tryout in the fall of 1995 and made the team.
"I was very excited for him but a little surprised," said Johnson's mother, Joy, who lives in Bay City. "When he was growing up, I thought he was going to be a baseball player. To be honest, when he told me he was going to try out for the football team, I laughed."
The laughter soon stopped as Johnson made a major impact on practices as a scout team member. Walk-on scout teamers rarely receive much attention from coaches who are busy trying to prepare the starters and other scholarship players for the next week's opponent, but A&M head coach R.C. Slocum began to notice Johnson.
Play after play and day after day, Johnson was making big plays against the defensive regulars. And although he had no promise of ever playing, Johnson kept hustling and working hard.
"He (made big plays) all the time in practice," Slocum said. "To me, he looked just as good as the other guys working with our first and second teams."
Johnson never played in the 1995 season, but he certainly earned the respect of his teammates and the A&M coaching staff. And he made enough of an impression during preseason workouts this year that he was included on the travel team to A&M's opener at BYU.
Then prior to the USL game when wide receiver Aaron Oliver was suspended from the team due to check forgery charges and starter Albert Connell was removed from the starting lineup because of poor class attendance, Johnson got the call.
"The morning before we traveled (to Lafayette), the coaches told me to get ready, because I was probably going to see some playing time," Johnson said. "I was real excited. It was like a dream come true."
Of course, the game turned out to be quite a nightmare for the Aggies. Johnson says he was extremely disappointed with the outcome of the contest, as well as one other aspect of the game. When the team returned to College Station, Johnson watched the game on a tape-delayed broadcast only to discover the announcers kept calling him Brian Johnson.
"It kind of made me feel bad," Johnson said, "like I wasn't anybody."
Rest assured, Johnson is a somebody, and he's somebody A&M fans will probably get to know quite well during the rest of the year. In fact, his story may be recited time and time again for generations to come.
At Texas A&M, after all, answering the call to help the football team isn't just honorable. It's the stuff legends are made of. And if Barry Johnson can put a positive spin on one of the most discouraging losses in the recent history of Texas A&M, he just may be a legend in the making.
COLLEGE STATION -- For all of the complexities of college football - the schemes and the diverse packages of substitution football - the game of X’s and O’s can really be as simple as knowing your ABC’s.
The game is a 60-minute comparison of who made the plays and who didn’t. Not 97 plays like the Aggies attempted in the 24-10 loss to Colorado at Kyle Field. But winners are separated from losers by about six or seven, game-changing plays that were or were not made.
The Aggies haven’t made them. All year long.
Against Colorado, the lack of big plays by the Aggies was never more apparent.
On a fourth-and-1 from the Colorado 3-yard line, down 21-7, the Aggies went for it on a good call from the sideline. As Branndon Stewart faked the handoff and looked toward the flat, Marc Broyles was open and likely would have scored. But Stewart was hit as he threw the ball, and the pass sailed wide.
The momentum -- and perhaps the game was lost on one big play the Aggies could not convert.
"That was real big," coach R.C Slocum said as his Aggies fell to their worst start in eight years at 1-3. "That’s the difference between winning and losing -- those kinds of plays."
Then there was Dat Nguyen’s near interception deep in A&M territory in the third quarter, and the operative word here is "near." The Aggies have been near to several big plays, but so far away from capitalizing on them. Not to harp on Nguyen, who has been a rock for the Aggies in the middle, but if he makes the interception in the flat, he likely scores, and the Aggies are down 21-14 and not 24-7.
"All I saw was green," Nguyen said. "It could have been a momentum-changer."
The Aggies are not only lacking the big plays -- which a team like Colorado can hand out in bushels -- but it appears A&M just is short on big-play players.
Because of the Aggies’ youth at the skill positions on offense and the lack of experience in the big play sanctuary of the secondary, the Aggies are asking themselves this question: Where have you gone Leeland McElroy? Or Quentin Coryatt? Or Kevin Smith?
Those types of players are rare, but the Aggies have had them. They are the types of players, especially in big games, who change complexions of games if not their outcomes.
Besides Albert Connell on offense and maybe a Keith Mitchell on defense, the Aggies are not loaded with marquee game-changers. Without them, games like the one against Colorado become even more frustrating. A big play here or big player there, and A&M has a shot at a win over the Buffaloes.
"The plays were there," Mitchell said. "We’ve got young guys, and we just didn’t make them. Maybe we need somebody in the back (secondary) who has seen it all and been through it."
A testament to other teams making the plays on the Aggies is the turnover ratio. A&M ranked 108th out of 110 teams in Division I in turnover ration coming into the game. After four more fumbles against Colorado, and nine in the last three games, A&M may have the turnover cellar all to itself when the national statistics are released this week.
"Those turnovers definitely hurt us," said Stewart, who passed for a school-record 385 yards and record 64 attempts. "We kind of stopped ourselves again. We had mistakes and fumbles you can’t have against a team like Colorado."
The turnovers have gotten so bad that the Aggies are approaching numbers that are mind-boggling. A&M fumbled the ball 26 times in 11 games last year, losing 18. In just four games in 1996, the Aggies already have put the ball on the ground 21 times, losing it 11 times.
Thanks to the turnovers and three losses in four games, the Aggies and Slocum find themselves in a difficult position, to say the least. Fortunately for the Aggies, there are eight games left, and the South Division championship likely will still be decided in Austin on Nov. 29.
And after being "snakebit" by turnovers as Slocum says, the turnover pendulum surely must swing back toward the positive for this A&M team struggling to hold onto the ball and its season.
"We’ve got a long season," Mitchell said. "It can’t go like this the whole season."
The players and Slocum admitted after the game that the 1-3 start was almost inconceivable during the summer.
"I couldn’t even imagine a 1-3 start," Mitchell said. "But as Coach says, we’ve dug a ditch, and we have to get ourselves out of it."
And the man who has to keep the dirt from falling back into the ditch during the excavation is Slocum.
"In all honesty, we didn’t anticipate this at all," Slocum said. "We could have been 3-1 or 4-0, but we’re not. We can be a good football team, but we’re not right now. We weren’t today.
"We’ve been very fortunate because we haven’t had to deal (with losing). But we got ourselves into this, and no one is going to come along and bail us out."
Perhaps because guys like McElroy, Coryatt and Smith are busy on the weekends.
On T-shirts, hats and other fan memorabilia, planes such as the 737, 747, F-14, F-16 and others have been used to depict the New York Jets' inanimate mascot. But nowadays, perhaps a more appropriate three-digit tag for the struggling Jets would be 979.
That's the area code of College Station, and rest assured, the Jets have called upon Texas A&M in recent years to help rescue a floundering franchise and give New York fans a high-flying team once again.
Since 1994, the Jets have used two high draft picks to select cornerbacks Aaron Glenn and Ray Mickens and have acquired safety Gary Jones through free agency. Now, the three former Texas A&M defensive backs are starting for the Jets and have become three positive personnel parts of a team that is desperately trying to right itself.
The Jets have been a wreck for years. So they have turned to the Wrecking Crew for solutions.
"We've talked about getting the Wrecking Crew hand signal going up here," said Mickens, a rookie who was selected in the third round of the 1996 NFL draft. "I don't know if that will ever catch on, but it is important to try to establish the same defensive attitude here as we had at A&M. Having three starters from Texas A&M gives us a pretty good starting point."
Indeed, the Jets may have discovered a foundation in Mickens, Glenn and Jones. All three carry a confidence and swagger that has been missing from the Jets, particularly on defense, in recent years.
The Jets acquired some potential offensive stars in wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson and quarterback Neil O'Donnell last year. But on defense, New York appears to be relying on the trio from Texas A&M to instill a new attitude.
"The three of us obviously understand and take pride in the tradition of defense at Texas A&M," said Jones, a six-year veteran of NFL wars with the Steelers and Jets. "We want to extend that here. It make take some time, but hopefully, we'll get it done. Now, I'd just like to see us turn this thing around, get it started right away."
Unfortunately for Mickens, Glenn, Jones and the rest of the Jets, New York has started the 1996 season much like a skydiver with a failed parachute: Falling fast and no relief in sight.
Through the first four weeks of the season, the Jets were the only AFC team without a win. And in the fourth game of the year, the Jets earned the dubious distinction of "The Bad Apple" by losing to the previously winless Giants, 13-6, in a dismal, mistake-plagued battle of Big Apple teams.
Losing is rarely easy for anyone, but it has been particularly tough on the Texas A&M trio, who have become accustomed to much more.
"My first year here was my first time on a losing team," said Glenn, a first-round pick of the Jets in the '94 draft. "I know it's hard to play when you have nothing to play for. But my attitude is that this game that I play — the tape will go to 29 other teams, and I want them to say, 'See that 31? He's playing hard.’"
Certainly, Glenn has always play hard. He also has learned to play much smarter since first coming into the league. In fact, some NFL scouts and coaches are already calling him one of the premier cover cornerbacks in professional football.
That's not a surprise to the Jets coaches or Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum, who noticed something special about Glenn on his first day of practice in College Station.
"Of course, Aaron was a junior college transfer, so he came to us as a junior, more developed and skilled than what a typical freshman would be on his first day," Slocum said. "But still, you could tell on the first day that he was something very special. He was working on the second or third team that first day, and I told the coaches to move him up right away. He needed to be on the field."
Glenn made an immediate impact for the Aggies, earning first-team All-Southwest Conference honors in 1992 and becoming a first-team All-America in 1993 when he was also the runner-up for the Thorpe Award, honoring the best defensive back in the country.
Glenn's impact for the Jets was almost as quick. In 1994, he started 15 games, was selected to several All-Rookie teams, led the team in passes defended and finished ninth in the AFC in kickoff returns, averaging 21.6 yards per return.
Still, Glenn was a rookie, prone to youthful mistakes and susceptible to the tricks of veterans like Dan Marino. And perhaps the most memorable moment of Glenn's rookie year came against Marino.
At a point in the season where the Jets were still thinking about the playoffs, the Dolphins were driving in the closing seconds of a game, attempting to come all the way back from a 24-3 deficit. Marino shouted "clock," the universal command that he was about to spike the ball into the ground and stop the clock.
Glenn relaxed for a moment, thinking the ball was about to be dead. Instead, Marino tossed the winning touchdown over Glenn's head. The Jets went on to lose their final five games, kicking off a stretch in which New York went 3-22 over its next 25 games.
"I learned my lesson," Glenn said. "What it taught me was you can never take a play off."
Perhaps the maturation process and development of Glenn can best be defined by this year's early game against the Dolphins. Facing Marino again, Glenn exploited the All-Pro quarterback, stepping in front of a pass and returning it 100 yards for a touchdown.
In one sense, it was sweet revenge for Glenn. On the other hand, the hapless Jets still lost, 36-27.
Mickens says the loss to the Dolphins and the Jets' overall dismal start has been particularly hard on Glenn, Jones and him because it has coincided with the difficult start of Texas A&M. They had wanted to boast about the Aggies. Instead, they have been tortured by other teammates.
"No doubt about it, people around here definitely let the three us know that A&M started 0-2," Mickens said. "Everybody follows their colleges around here, and we've been taking some real abuse. I was shocked when we lost to BYU and even moreso when I heard about Southwestern Louisiana. But I'm sure things will get turned around down there. Somebody just needs to step forward and shoulder some leadership."
That's exactly what Mickens did for the Aggies from 1992-95. Outspoken and emotional, Mickens led Texas A&M by his actions and his words.
He was selected as an All-America in his senior year and was a part of three consecutive All-SWC teams, intercepting nine passes during his career. Perhaps more importantly, though, Mickens was a motivator. He always seemed to know when to kick a teammate in the tail or pat him on his back to get the most out of him.
"He really was one of those guys who other players looked to," Slocum said. "Obviously, he wasn't a very big guy, but he played an awful big role in our program and the continuing tradition of Texas A&M."
Mickens' size -- or lack thereof -- was the primary reason he wasn't selected until the third round. Glenn is only 5-9, but he seems to tower over Mickens, who is listed at 5-8. The truth may be that Mickens is closer to 5-7, and even that may be stretching it.
Nevertheless, Mickens has immediately stepped into the starting lineup. And as he did as a redshirt freshman at A&M, Mickens is learning from Glenn and watching his every move.
"I never imagined the Jets would draft me," Mickens said. "On draft day, I kind of invisioned I'd be on another team and calling Aaron every day on the telephone asking him about techniques."
The Jets, however, had another plan. And New York has been quite pleased with the decision to draft Mickens.
"Chuck Noll used to say, 'Don't tell me how big they are, tell me how good they are,’" Jets director of player personnel Dick Haley said. "I think that rings true for Ray Mickens. He's got great quickness. He's tough, aggressive, and he knows how to play. I'm personally very excited about having him here."
Jones entered the NFL without the honors, hype or expectations of Glenn or Mickens. After a successful -- not spectacular -- career at Texas A&M from 1986-89, Jones was picked in the ninth round of the 1990 draft (239th player overall) by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He wasn't an All-America. He hadn't been a first-team All-SWC selection, either. Many people didn't even expect Jones to make the Steelers. Instead, he played in all 16 games as a rookie and began to build a reputation as one of the harder hitting safeties in the league.
Jones missed all of the 1992 season because of a knee injury, but he began to emerge as one of the most reliable backup defensive backs in the league in 1993. But in 1995 -- his first year with the Jets -- Jones became a regular in the starting lineup.
"It really doesn't surprise me that Gary Jones is starting for the Jets now," Slocum said. "To make it in the NFL you obviously have to have talent, but to stick around for a long time, you also have to be very reliable, a hard worker and a good guy. That sums up Gary Jones. He's a very intelligent player and a great guy. He's the kind of person you want on your team. He'd make a very good coach one of these days."
Jones says he would love to coach after he finishes playing in the NFL, and he would like nothing more than to come back to Texas A&M to begin his coaching career. Right now, however, Jones is focused on helping the Jets turn things around and perhaps helping A&M establish a new national identity.
"For a long time, Texas A&M has been known for producing great linebackers into the NFL," Jones said. "There's also a strong reputation for running backs. But take a look around the NFL now, and you see an awful lot of Aggies in the secondary of NFL teams. If this keeps up, we just might become known as ‘Secondary U.’"