At the postseason awards banquet honoring the 1997 Texas Aggie football team, a video highlighting the 9-4 squad was shown to the delight of the players, coaches and fans in attendance at the College Station Hilton.

The video was capped off by the incredible scene following the dramatic win over Oklahoma State. There was A&M fullback Tiki Hardeman busting through the OSU defense for the game-winning touchdown in overtime, and there were his teammates stacked 10 high on top of Tiki, squeezing the breath out of him and the life out of the Cowboys.

It was a January night to tingle the spine and celebrate A&M's return to the bowl and national scene.

And sitting near the head table was a burly freshman named Ja'Mar Toombs. He was enduring the final stages of a hectic recruiting race, besieged with phone calls and flattery from the likes of Ohio State, Florida State and Texas A&M.

With signing day just five days away, Toombs still had no idea where he was headed for his college career. Because he had placed the Aggies on his list late in the fall, his visit could not be scheduled until the last possible weekend. Yet, ironically, it may have been that late visit ÑÊwith recruiting winding down so the A&M coaches and players could spend one-on-one time with him Ñ that sealed his and the Aggies' fate.

And, make no mistake about it, after watching A&M's running back corps dwindle to just a few able bodies, this was fate. It had to be destiny. How else can you describe Toombs' meteoric rise on the depth chart to the point where thousands of Aggie fans chant his last name in unison after every handoff?

"Not since George Woodard have we had a fullback that's done as much as Ja'Mar as a true freshman," coach R.C. Slocum said. "That's a long time ago. I had dark hair when George Woodard was here."

In hindsight, the recruiting race for Toombs may go down in the history of A&M football as The One that Didn't get away. For those who cringe at the thought of Harvey Williams shunning A&M for LSU in 1986 or Chip Ambres saying goodbye to Aggieland and hello to the minor leagues, it was the Seminoles and Buckeyes who lost out this time.

During the final days of January, Toombs had Ohio State's John Cooper, FSU's Bobby Bowden and Slocum visiting his house in successive evenings. Talk about the murderer's row of recruiters.

"It was a last-day decision," says the 262-pound freshman. "The night I got back from here, that Sunday night the phone was ringing off the hook, and I didn't answer it. And if I did answer it, I acted like I wasn't myself. I didn't make up my mind until the next day."

And he made his mind up based primarily on the fact that his mother could come watch him play. After all, the Aggies already had Hardeman, Marc Broyles and Jason Bragg in the fold at fullback.

But Tooombs was told by the A&M coaches to get ready to play anyway. They felt he was the only member of the 1998 recruiting class physically ready for the rigors of college football. At the very least, with Broyles' drooping eye condition worsening, Toombs would be needed as a backup and a special teams player.

He then came to campus early in the summer, began hitting the weight room and adjusting to life in Aggieland. And during the summer, you could tell Toombs was a different freshman. Physically, he already resembled an upperclassman, but he still had the look of a wide-eyed Fish buying into all that is Aggieland.

After one two-a-day practice, Toombs and the rest of the team passed by the artificial practice field only to hear the Aggie Band pumping out the "Aggie War Hymn." The team stopped and began to saw varsity's horns off. Who was smiling, singing and sawing with the excitement of a freshman still recalling his recent visit to Fish Camp?

None other than the Big Rumble.

Little did Toombs or the Aggies know that he would be a key ingredient two months later in A&M's biggest win ever, the 28-21 upset of Nebraska at Kyle Field.

"You can't say enough about what that's meant to us," Slocum said of Toombs' presence. "There aren't too many people who could have come in and done what Ja'Mar has done. He's done an amazing job."

Toombs' 71-yard run up the heart of the Cornhusker defense will go down as one of the more memorable runs in recent A&M history, and his workmanlike performance against Oklahoma State kept a wounded Aggie squad on track for a possible Big 12 South Division title.

It's simple. The Aggies could be hovering around .500 had Toombs not come through like he has.

"We're fortunate to have Ja'Mar," says sophomore receiver Chris Taylor. "He stepped in and picked up a lot of slack. Ja'Mar's a great player. And the scary thing for other teams is he's just a freshman. Ja'Mar is for real, and we are fortunate to have him."

Added Dante Hall: "That was a huge signing. Luckily, he stepped right in and has done just as well as any one of us could have."

A&M offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe doesn't hesitate when assessing Toombs' value to this offense. In fact, there is no wondering what would have been.

"I don't wonder, I know," he said. "I know where we'd be. We'd be in pretty bad shape without Ja'Mar back there. He does have a lot of ability.

"No question, he's a valuable player. We didn't know how valuable he'd be coming into the year, but when you lose three or four of your top fullbacks... We went from grooming him to throwing him into the fire."

Toombs has taken pressure off of Hall and the rest of the tailbacks and forced defenses to defend the quick-hitting fullback play. He also is learning to block on the fly, and he's made his share of mistakes in that area.

But not since Robert Wilson was running through defenses and pancaking safeties with his blocking has a fullback caused so much excitement for the maroon and white.

And for those fans who laugh at the recruiting junkies out there, this was a case of recruiting paying off in a big way. It was a textbook case of A&M assistant coach Tam Hollingshead staying persistent with Toombs even though SuperPrep's Southwest Player of the Year in 1997 didn't really have much interest in the Aggies until late in the game.

Toombs' recruiting story also is a testament to Slocum's stance on keeping players in state. Here was a big-timer making it to the big-time in the state of Texas and at A&M.

"It really got down to his feelings for his mother and being close to home," Slocum said. "Being somewhere where she could keep in touch and watch him play... I think that was a factor. We thought he had an opportunity to play, but he knew Tiki was coming back, so it wasn't altogether a deal of how much he would get to play. It was more of staying in Texas and close to Mom."

"His mother is getting to participate in this. At some point, you play football for the fun and enjoyment, and what adds to that fun and excitement is your family."

Toombs concurs with Slocum's opinion, adding that his mother reminds him of his wise decision to play for the Aggies each week.

"She says it all the time," Toombs said. "She says how she wouldn't get a chance to see me play if I was at Florida State. So I'm happy for her and happy for myself that I'm here."