There was R.C. Slocum at his weekly press conference, talking about playing the final games of the season for the sheer enjoyment of, well, playing the games.

He was talking about turning negatives into positives and coming out of down times even stronger than before.

There wasn’t bowl chatter. There wasn’t talk of polls. There was talk, rather, of next year.

And as Slocum continued to break down the season, it became quiet apparent what was going to be the remedy for Aggies who would like to remember November and forget, really forget, September and October.

It was time to flash back to 1994, the probation season when the Aggies weren’t going anywhere either.

Granted the Aggies went 10-0-1 that season, tying lowly SMU at the Alamodome (where was overtime when A&M needed it?). But there was an attitude the team and the fans had to adopt to survive that fall: Enjoy each Saturday for what it is — a celebration of the Spirit and the three hours that you’re not in the office.

In 1994, A&M fans were also treated to Leeland McElroy and Rodney Thomas. Their personable exploits had to be savored when some of the usual team goals could not.

So in a season that has frustrated all levels of fans, players and coaches, there are two players worth isolating the binoculars on the rest of the season. Forget about the wacky South Division and what the Texas Longhorns are up to.

Instead, focus on the play of these two Aggies who likely will help shape the future of the program.

First, and perhaps foremost, there is Dat Nguyen.

Here’s an inside linebacker who is 6-foot-1 and weighs 213 pounds and came into fall camp two years ago 20 pounds overweight. He had to be redshirted to lose the weight and acclimate himself to Division I-A college football after starring at Class 3A Rockport-Fulton.

Nguyen may not be the biggest or strongest of fastest player on the defense. He’s just probably the best.

In fact, defensive coordinator Phil Bennett calls Nguyen one of the best, if not THE best, linebackers in college football. And yet Nguyen receives more publicity for his Asian decent rather than his actual play on the football field.

The guy can flat-out play and should be listed on somebody’s All-America team. Yet, the sophomore likely will just earn all-conference honors, and even then, he’s not guaranteed a spot on the first team.

Watching Nguyen shoot across the field to recover a fumble as he did against Texas Tech or chase down a Heisman Trophy candidate from behind and throw to the ground with one arm as he did against Tech’s Byron Hanspard and Iowa State’s Troy Davis, well, it should almost be a senior privilege.

Nguyen is a yes-sir, no-sir guy who is a local hero in Rockport and will be one of the most talented linebackers ever to come through Linebacker U.

So remember the beauty of this crazy A&M season: Nguyen has two more years in the maroon and white.

HALL OF FAME

While so much of the star gazing this summer was directed at quarterback Branndon Stewart, much of the inside talk with the coaching staff during two-a-days centered on a happy-go-lucky running back with Robert Newhouse legs and Leeland McElroy’s number.

Dante Hall, from the very first practice, was making plays, both as a running back and a punt or kickoff returner.

As the November stretch appeared, Hall was still making those plays while many of this older cohorts were not. His 184-yard performance against Tech was overshadowed by a 13-10 loss, but the future of the A&M running game was obvious.

Last fall, the A&M coaches were so hot on Hall’s trail that a broken bone in his foot that sidelined him for seven games did little to deter their chase. Hall, after all, had gained 490 all-purpose yards in his first two games at Aldine Nimitz. And when he returned for the season finale, he gained 126 yards on eight carries.

And as a junior, Hall pulled a McElroy and returned consecutive kickoffs 99 and 98 yards for touchdowns. And now, fittingly, he wears No. 34.

Hall’s high school coach, Burnis Simon, was a former A&M player in the early 1980s, and he was not shy with his praise of Hall during recruiting season.

"He’s a great one," Simon told me last January. "I played with Johnny Hector, and he’s going to be as good as Johnny Hector. If you look at Barry Sanders, you’re looking at Dante Hall. I think he would have been Offensive Player of the Year (in Houston) if he had not gone down with an injury. He would have been a Parade All-American. He is unreal."

Ironically, it could have been the injury that helped A&M land Hall. Only the Aggies and Missouri stayed steady on the recruiting trail, and with a mother who wanted to watch her son play, Hall ended up just 90 miles from home.

Thankfully for the Aggies.

Hall has given A&M big-play capabilities outside of Albert Connell’s heroics. The true freshman who turned 18 six weeks ago breaks tackles like you or I snap chips with our salsa.

He had returned one punt for a touchdown against Iowa State and had come close on several other returns. Imagine if he breaks a kickoff return for a TD this year. Talk about a triple threat.

And, like Nguyen, the good times watching this kid are just beginning.

Yes, the 1996 season has gone awry. Yes, the Aggies have lost more home games this fall than they did in the previous seven seasons combined.

And team goals are limited to finishing out the season strong and beating Texas.

But there are ways to temper any frustration that has built up. Just sit back and enjoy Nguyen and Hall, the Aggies’ beacons in the current storm and certainly the two lighthouses for the future.

In a recruiting story dripping with irony, the very reason why so many top high school players have avoided Aggieland in the past is why Texas A&M’s basketball future could become so bright.

A&M is a football school, the party line goes. Basketball, the rival recruiters hammered home, fits in the A&M sports calendar just after football season, right before spring practice and directly under football recruiting.

But Jerald Brown had heard that talk before at one Texas football factory known as Aldine High School. And in a storied four-year career, Brown brought basketball back to Aldine, leading his team from the bottom of its district to the playoffs by his senior year.

Now, while some other recruits became skittish on the football-loving Aggies, Brown became steadfast on his commitment to the program.

"Everybody knows A&M is a football school," said Brown, Texas’ Mr. Basketball and Class 5A Player of the Year in 1995-96. "I came from a football school back at Aldine. I like what we did in high school. We didn’t change it from a football school to a basketball school, but we kind of leveled it out from the fans’ standpoint.

"It took four years for me to go to the playoffs, and in the mean time, we made a difference each year. People started opening their eyes up more and more toward basketball. And it’s the same here. I think we’ve got the ability to do that."

Brown certainly opened some eyes when he chose the Aggies over a number of national "basketball" schools like Kansas and North Carolina. After all, he was rated among the top 30 players in the country after averaging 23.9 points and 11.5 rebounds as a senior at Aldine. He was selected to play in the prestigious McDonald’s High School All-America game and was named to Parade’s All-America team.

Not since Bryan’s Rudy Woods signed with Shelby Metcalf in 1978 has there been so much attention directed at an A&M basketball recruit.

And much like Texas Tech’s Heisman Trophy candidate Byron Hanspard, who said the Lord led him to Lubbock, Brown admits that he was tempted to sign with Baylor until he prayed one night before falling asleep. The next day, feeling gigged by God, Brown dressed in all maroon, went to school and later that day told his mother he was headed to A&M.

"I liked my visit to Baylor," he said. "And then I came on a visit to A&M, and A&M just took the cake. Everyone was so friendly on campus. It was ‘howdy’ this and ‘howdy’ that. It wasn’t like I was a stranger."

Aggie coach Tony Barone surely was no stranger to Brown, having watched Brown develop from a skinny freshman in high school to a state-wide heavyweight in four years.

Barone first saw Brown at a basketball camp at Sam Houston State, and when he saw the lanky, but skilled player, Barone quickly checked the camp roster to find out his upperclassman classification.

"I found out he was a freshman-to-be," Barone said, following a preseason workout at G. Rollie White Coliseum. "I don’t think there was any question in anybody’s mind who saw Jerald Brown at that point in time that he was going to be a wonderful basketball player."

But could Barone and the Texas Aggie basketball program convince Brown to shun Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse and UNC’s Dean Smith Center for G. Rollie White Coliseum?

How could Barone get his feet in the door with Brown when the coach’s hands were tied with an antiquated arena and the hangover of an NCAA probation?

"We were lucky to be involved," Barone said frankly. "What happened was he has a very, very strong mother (Janice), who looked at the big picture as opposed to looking just at basketball. We spent probably a year informing her of all of those things (besides basketball) because she was so adamant about it.

"Everybody who went in there and showed her a highlight film, they were at a disadvantage. She didn’t care about that. What she cared about was what was going to happen to her son and your university."

It also helped that A&M was about to enter the Big 12 conference, the Reed Arena was on its way and College Station was 90 minutes from Houston.

And it didn’t hurt Brown’s view of the A&M program when he realized he could contribute right away. The 6-8, 215-pound Brown, who played forward in high school, likely will start the first game of the year at the off-guard position.

"It wasn’t like Michigan, where you had 10 All-Americans and there aren’t enough balls to go around," he said. "We have a team concept here and the new arena is a big plus also. We’ll get more fans in there."

But Brown doesn’t appear to be one of those high school stars who searches the country looking for the soft spot in a program where he could come in and play. The polite, personable freshman instead chose A&M for all the right reasons.

And although he fretted early on about the pressures of being Mr. Basketball at A&M, Brown has since eased into his role as another freshman learning the major differences between high school and college ball.

But Brown is learning quickly. And from the time he won the slam-dunk contest at Midnight Mania on Oct. 15 to just another long workout in November, Brown is already turning some heads, the most important being that of his head coach.

"He has a chance to be one of those kids who will electrify the crowd on a regular basis," Barone said of Brown, who was a two-time state qualifier in the high jump at Adline. "There hasn’t been a kid in any program who elicited that kind of enthusiasm (at Midnight Mania) in the last number of years. Bucky Richardson elicited that type of thing.

"This is a special kid. The thing we have been thrilled with is he really picks up everything. His basketball I.Q. is at the highest level."

But as much as Barone wants to show off his prized recruit to the basketball world, he will do it with caution. The media, for sure, won’t be able to create any undo pressure on Brown.

"One of the biggest issues you’re dealing with here is you’re dealing with a freshman," Barone said. "All you have to do is look around the country and see how the hype and tremendous pressure is placed on these kids by the media. And I’m not going to allow that to happen. I’ve said that before, and I mean it.

"Jerald Brown is not someone who is going to be destroyed because the media decides it’s going to make him out to be more than he’s going to be."

Brown’s talents range from being a solid outside shooter to a stingy defensive player who will be able to utilize his size at guard. The banging inside that goes with the forward position will be limited for now.

"We’re going to nurture his talent so he can take advantage of being a freshman learning how to play the game on this level of basketball," Barone added. "He’s going to face that with tremendous pressure, and we know that. But we’re going to shield him from unreal expectations from the get-go."

Brown already admits that the game is much different on the collegiate level than it is on the high school level. There are no easy shots and time for lazy defense under Barone’s watch.

But already Brown looks comfortable in the maroon and white. He, along with the rest of the Aggies, look like basketball players. And perhaps under the leadership of Brown, A&M basketball will rise to unprecedented heights.

The word "Dream," after all, is stitched on the back of every practice pair of shorts. And Brown has realized dreams before.

"It was unbelievable (making the 5A playoffs)," Brown said. "It was the best feeling I’ve ever had. I was happy I was part of the team that brought my school there. It’s been a long time since A&M has been to the (conference) championship and the NCAA quarterfinals. That would be the most overwhelming feeling in my life."

Yes, Brown has been on the A&M campus just over two months, and he is already imagining the pride he could stir in Aggie basketball.

"People ask me all the time, ‘Do you like A&M?’" Brown said. "I like to say, ‘I love A&M.’ It’s been great to me so far. I plan on having another great three years here."

Which should sit nicely with all the football-loving basketball fans out there.

From afar, it's tempting to make a number of quick and uneducated assumptions about Texas A&M sophomore wide receiver Aaron Oliver.

For example, it seems natural to assume Oliver is simply a product of great athletic bloodlines; that his accomplishments on the playing fields and presence on the major college football level are based primarily — if not solely — on genes. After all, Oliver is the son of a former National League batting champ and the grandson of a former Harlem Globetrotter.

It's also quite easy to conclude that Oliver lacks toughness. Since his arrival at A&M in 1994, injuries have followed and hounded Oliver like a stray dog at dinner time. As a result, perhaps only Karl Kapchinski — A&M's head trainer — has spent more time in the Aggies' training room than Oliver.

Finally, Oliver's recent brush with the law for check forgery and the subsequent felony charges that were initially filed against him (and later reduced to a misdemeanor) makes it easy to assume Oliver is a troublemaker and a bad influence.

In reality, however, all of the aforementioned assumptions are as inaccurate as a typical supermarket tabloid. Oliver isn't a bad kid or a troublemaker; he's a good young man who made a poor, naive decision.

While he does appear to be particularly prone to injuries, Oliver is probably one of the toughest young men at Texas A&M, consistently bouncing back from injuries and agony with amazing resiliency.

And beyond his family ties, it's evident that Oliver's modest accomplishments (at least for now) and major abilities have much more to do with self-sacrifice and perseverance than mere genetic good fortune. His family tree is rooted deeply among the bright lights and big crowds of major sporting arenas, and he certainly carries an ample supply of God-given talent. But the soft-spoken Oliver never knew his grandfather and rarely even saw his father during his formative teenage years.

His family life was far more torn than terrific. So in athletics and everyday existence, Oliver learned to become self-reliant, not dependent on a name or genetic background. He hasn't always done the right thing, and it certainly hasn't always been easy for him. But Oliver continues to play the hand life has dealt him — no matter how unlucky the cards may be — with an attitude of optimism and a will that won't be broken.

"He is who he is because of himself, not anybody else," said his father, Al Oliver, who helped lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to the 1979 World Series title and later starred with the Montreal Expos and Texas Rangers. "That's the thing that makes me most proud of him. He's gotten to this stage of his career by his own will and determination, and he's earned everything by himself. The kid's gotta an awful lot of heart.

"Like everyone, he's made some mistakes and had some hardships throughout his life. But I'm very proud of the way he has always handled himself. He's a fine young man."

Oliver's life story is primarily one of heart overcoming a series of heartaches. His comfortable childhood was once derailed by the bitter divorce of his parents, sending Oliver into a shy seclusion.

Then his once skinny — perhaps even scrawny — build was considered too small for his primary passion — football. Now, his promising career at Texas A&M has been consistently burdened by a series of major and minor injuries. And he is on probation with the authorities and under close scrutiny from the coaches for his involvement in the check forgery fiasco.

Today, Oliver probably possesses enough emotional and physical scars to fill a large suitcase, but he does not appear to carry around any heavy burdens or emotional baggage. Oliver remains positive about the present and optimistic about the future, focusing primarily on passes to come, not past hurts.

"The past is the past," Oliver says. "There's nothing you can do about it. I've had some tough times with the injuries and all, but I hope better things are coming."

Oliver is apparently better now than he has ever been. He is leaving past problems behind him like he often leaves defenders in the dust. There are still some lingering doubts about his durability and there is no room for mistakes with the law off the field. Nevertheless, Oliver is expected to be one of the key components of A&M's much-improved passing game for the rest of this year and in the seasons to come.

"We feel like he has the opportunity to play a major role in the future of our football team," Texas A&M receivers coach Les Koenning, Jr. said. "He has a great deal of talent."

Off the field, Oliver appears to be developing a much more confident, outgoing personality. He has matured considerable in the last few months — the result of the public scorn and scrutiny that followed the newspaper announcement of his trouble with the law.

His mother, Donna Oliver, says she barely recognizes the painfully shy child of years ago. Furthermore, Oliver has recently developed a much closer relationship with his father, who frequently flies across the country to see him play, rarely missing an A&M home game. Meanwhile, Oliver remains extremely close to his mother, who has chosen to remain in Arlington until Aaron graduates from Texas A&M instead of returning to her native Pennsylvania.

Overall, things finally appear to be coming together for Aaron Oliver, which is a far cry from where he was just 10 years ago. That's when what appeared to be a dream childhood took on a more nightmarish plot.

Oliver went from being the son of a famous ballplayer and the envy of all his friends in Arlington to being just another innocent casualty in the growing divorce rate in America. That was the first of a series of trials and tribulations that would toughen him and shape the rest of his life.

Where once he was able to associate with big league players like Fergie Jenkins and Gaylord Perry and hang out in the clubhouse of a major league team, Oliver suddenly was faced with a major void in his life. His father had been scratched from his own home's lineup card, and no pinch-hitter was in sight.

"The divorce was pretty tough on Aaron," said Donna Oliver, a substitute teacher and graduate school student in Arlington. "Aaron was already a shy boy, and he needed a father figure in his life. Of course, even when we were still married, Al was too busy being Al Oliver instead of Dad.

"We were divorced in 1986, and Al left town for Ohio in '87. Al wasn't around when Aaron was growing up, and he didn't even see Aaron play (football) until Aaron was a senior in high school."

That was not by choice, Al says. He would have loved to have been there for his son, but Al says the problem was that his ex-wife made it extremely difficult for him to see Aaron.

Regardless of whose side of the story is more accurate, two things are quite obvious: Al and Donna did not leave on good terms and Aaron was definitely caught in the middle. Even today, Al and Donna are not on good terms, sharing almost nothing in common except an enthusiasm for their son's athletic and academic well-being.

To initially cope with his parent's inharmonious relationship, Aaron's escape became participating in sports. He lost his troubles on the field. His coaches in junior high and at Arlington Lamar High School became father-like figures.

"I thank God for him having good men for coaches along the way," said Al, now a motivational speaker who travels across the country. "The parents of Aaron's friends also had a very positive influence on his life. A kid in that situation could go in any direction — bad or good — but Aaron stayed on the (right path). I'm very proud of him for that, and I'm very thankful he had sports and good people associated with those sports to help him through some hard times."

Aaron says he might have been a baseball player if he had been able to spend more time with his father during his teen-age years. But since he was raised in football country and was friends with so many boys whose priority was football, Aaron chose football over all other sports. He also ran track and played soccer in high school, but it was on the football field where he felt most comfortable.

And it was on the football field where Aaron Oliver began to mature physically and mentally. The skinny kid developed into a scrappy, tough player. Showing the confidence once displayed by his father on the baseball field, Oliver made a major impact right away. He started on the varsity as a sophomore and caught 98 passes for over 1,400 yards in his final two seasons at Lamar. Schools like Alabama and A&M came calling.

Above all else, however, Oliver made a name for himself. No longer known as Al's son, Oliver emerged as one of the most talented receivers and dedicated athletes in Lamar High School's rich football history.

"We have over 30 kids playing college football right now, so we've had some pretty talented guys come through here," Lamar coach Eddy Peach said. "But of all the kids who have ever come through my program, Aaron Oliver is probably the hardest working player I've ever coached.

"He already possessed great talent, but what made him an outstanding football player was his work ethic. He really developed in the weight room through his dedication and was such a hard worker in practice. He was one of those kids who is so easy to coach because he wanted it so badly."

Oliver's work ethic also has made a positive impression on the Texas A&M coaching staff. But unfortunately for Oliver, injuries and ailments beyond his control, self-inflicted troubles and missed games have overshadowed everything else since he arrived in College Station.

On the first day of practice during his freshman year, for example, Oliver ruptured his Achilles tendon. As a result, he sat out the entire 1994 season.

Then as a redshirt freshman last year, Oliver missed two games due to injuries, but still managed to catch 18 passes for 230 yards during the regular season. But as the Alamo Bowl approached, Oliver's bad luck continued. He pulled a hamstring and also split the palm of his hand after catching a pass in practice.

In this year's opening game against BYU, Oliver caught Branndon Stewart's medium-range pass across the middle and turned it into an electrifying 57-yard touchdown reception. On the play, however, Oliver pulled his other hamstring and missed the rest of the game.

As frustrating as the hamstring pull was, it was certainly easier to deal with than two events that would follow.

On the Friday before the second game of the season, the Bryan-College Station Eagle ran a story of Oliver's involvement in a check forgery incident. Oliver had been using his ex-roommate’s checkbook — apparently with his friend's permission — to pay for a variety of expenses.

As it turned out, however, Oliver didn't have permission to continually write checks, and he didn't understand the severity of forging his friend's name.

"My scholarship money hadn't come in yet, and I needed money to pay my utilities and rent," Oliver said. "So I asked my old roommate if I could borrow the money and then pay him back when my scholarship money came in. He let me use his checkbook, and I (later) paid him back. But I still had his checkbook later on when I made a big mistake in judgment.

"I needed some food and other things, so I just used his checkbook to pay for it and signed his name. I figured I had his permission and would just pay him back later. I didn't know it was a felony, and I wouldn't have done it if I had known the severity of what I had done. It was just a big mistake on my part."

His former roommate's parent filed charges, and when the story broke, A&M head coach R.C. Slocum suspended Oliver. Meanwhile, Oliver and his parents hired a lawyer to help solve the matter. The charges were dropped to a misdemeanor, and Oliver was placed on probation and sentenced to perform community service.

After the matter had been resolved, Slocum allowed Oliver to return to the team with one very definitive warning:

"Everybody makes mistakes," Slocum said. "This particular matter has been resolved in the courts, but from this point forward, (Oliver) better be on his best behavior."

Oliver understands the warning. Something like this, he says, will never happen again.

"I understand why Coach Slocum suspended me, and I know I did something very wrong," said Oliver, who missed the Southwestern Louisiana and North Texas games as a result of the suspension. "But I'm not a bad person, and I'm not a going to let anything like this ever happen again."

Unfortunately for Oliver, bad luck beyond his control would soon strike again. Oliver returned to the team and played against Colorado. Then on the Sunday night following the loss to the Buffaloes, he began experiencing tremendous pain in the groin area.

"I was like, 'What is going on?' I was just about to go to sleep, but I told my roommate that he needed to take me to the hospital," Oliver said. "Once we got to the hospital, the doctor told me I had a twisted testicle, and the blood wasn't circulating there. I said, 'Oh Lord, what next?'

"It wasn't classified as major surgery, but it was enough to scare me."

It was enough to keep Oliver out of the lineup once again. Oliver missed the next week of practice and the next game against Louisiana Tech. In fact, it took him until the week of the Kansas State game before he finally began to feel 100 percent healthy.

Now, Oliver is finally back. And with any kind of good luck, he plans to stay back.

"I've told Aaron that he needs to get a rabbit's foot or something like that," Koenning said. "He's got such great potential, but it's hard to use it if you're constantly in the training room. Hopefully, it's about time for Aaron's luck to change for the better."

If he can stay healthy, Oliver has virtually unlimited potential. He has good size (6-2, 193), excellent speed (4.48 in the 40-yard dash) and outstanding hands. Additionally, he has a great quarterback in Stewart and an outstanding receiver on the other side in Albert Connell, who is usually the focus of double-team coverage.

Oliver just hopes to make the most of the rest of the season.

"We have a balanced attack, a great running game, some real good receivers and we should be very tough to stop the rest of the way," Oliver said. "I just hope I can keep these injuries away. It's been very frustrating for me to be on the sidelines."

The Oliver family is most accustomed to sitting on benches in the backyard, not the ballpark. Both Al Oliver and his father, Albert, were primarily injury free throughout their athletic careers.

So Al is somewhat puzzled and certainly concerned by his son's string of injuries. He has tried to analyze the injuries and attempted to find a solution. So far, he doesn't have many answers.

"My father always told me to stay off my feet on game days and to always eat right," Al said. "I've told Aaron the same thing. Maybe that will help him, maybe not. I don't really know what the answer is."

Indeed, the same advice that worked for Al may not work for Aaron. They are from the same genes and they share the same last name, but they are definitely different people.

And while Aaron Oliver may be forced to use a crutch due to an injury, he will almost certainly never use his name as a crutch. His mother still calls him her baby, but he is definitely his own young man.

It would be wrong to assume anything else.