|
Volume 5, No. 13
Editor’s Note: Senior offensive lineman Chris Valletta, a three-year starter at left guard, is winding down his career at Texas A&M. With two more home games left on the schedule, Valletta sat down with 12th Man Magazine’s Homer Jacobs to discuss his thoughts on playing out his time for the maroon and white: Q: How would you rate the success of the offense so far and the progress of the offensive line? Valletta: Coach (J.B.) Grimes has always told us that ‘close’ is only good in horseshoes and hand grenades. And that is the truth. ‘Close’ does not work in football. When we do hit on all cylinders on offense, it will be explosive. We will have one of those 500- or 600-yard type of games in total offense. And I really do think it will happen. We just have to make it happen. I think we’ve done a great job (on the offensive line). Taylor Whitley has stepped up and is doing awesome. As far as our chemistry together, we’re playing really well. Everybody really understands now what Coach Grimes is looking for out of us. We know what to expect from him, so we work well together. We’re having fun, which is the most important thing. Q: Has the offense had one of those type of days in practice, where everything is clicking, and the defense is scrambling to keep up? Valletta: We always keep track of how we do against our defense. If we run 10 plays against our defense, we’ve had days where we hit nine plays on them, and they’ve stopped us once. We’ve had days where we’ve gone 5-5 to against them. It’s a little inconsistent. But if you can get the offense on a consistent basis, it’s really exciting. Q: It appears that the pass blocking has been excellent this year, but the run-blocking, especially in short-yardage and goal-line situations, has been suspect. Is that a fair assessment?
Valletta: Yeah, absolutely. There is no excuse for us not to score points in the red zone or inside the 10-yard line. It seems like we’ve had third-and-1 a couple of times, and we didn’t get it done. I think we have good pass blockers, but I think we have good run blockers, too. I really believe that. It’s just execution, and it’s not any one individual’s play. It’s everybody. Q: As a senior who has never lost while playing at Kyle Field, how much did that loss to Colorado hurt? Valletta: It hurt a lot because it was a home game. It’s my senior year, and it’s a team I got to beat at Colorado the last time and it was a team that beat us the last time they came here. I felt bad for our fans because I really felt like we should have won the game. We had opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of. I kind of looked up in the crowd afterwards, and I felt really bad because we didn’t show up for them like they did for us. Q: What’s your most memorable moment as an Aggie? Valletta: The most memorable time was when our team made the decision to go out to the bonfire site when they needed help moving the logs. I remember huddling together as a group at bonfire and deciding that we weren’t going to practice and that we would send a couple of guys to go tell Coach Slocum… and just seeing the reaction and the way everybody helped in that situation. It was meaningful, and it was such a tragic event. The night before the Texas game at Kyle Field, when all those candles were lit, you could look at every guy’s face on the team, and there was a complete and total knowledge that we were going to win that game. There was no doubt. What a neat feeling to have. I get goose bumps thinking about that feeling and the whole circumstances leading up to that game. Q: As far as a student-athlete taking advantage of what a university has to offer, you have been a guy who has really done that with both your football and extracurricular activities such as your job as a radio disc jockey. What made you choose that path? Valletta: I like to consider myself being an involved person. Obviously, my education here is No. 1, and football is right there with it. But I’ve had a couple of opportunities to go out and have fun and have a job like I do at the radio station. It’s something people have thought is interesting because it’s not typical of a college athlete. But I just look at it as another job, and I take some heat for it sometimes, but it’s fun. I enjoy doing it. Q: What’s the best part about being on the radio? Valletta: I guess being able to take my own stupidity and share it with the world. I just have a lot of fun doing it. Q: Your pretty much the media favorite on the team and you are in the media with the radio job. What’s been the connection between you and the media? Valletta: I don’t know. I really didn’t expect for me to be in this position with the media. It’s fine, and I accept it. I think a lot of it has to do with me having that job at the radio station because it’s a more vocal position, so to speak. I remember the first day we stepped on campus, Coach Slocum had all the freshmen in a meeting, and they talked to us about how to speak to the media. They taught us how to answer certain things and not to get dragged into certain situations. I paid attention to that because I knew that was a role we’d all have to play. Q: You have two big games left at Kyle Field, perhaps against two top-10 teams. What’s it going to be like for someone like you that has invested a lot in Texas A&M. Valletta: The OU game will be the last game I ever see from the field, and that combined with the fact that they put it to us last year, all those emotions will boil up into one game. It’s going to be very interesting and very exciting. We’ll see what happens and give it our all. Q: How will your family get through that last game watching you play? Valletta: My parents have been so supportive, and we just have the best family. My brother has been to every game the last two years now that he’s out of school. They’ll be there in the stands, and they’ll be crying just like I will be after that last game. It will be an emotional time for myself and my family. |
.gif)
