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Tom’s Barbecue has gone out of business in Bryan-College Station, and the recently crowned Miss USA hails from a former all-male military college. And on the football field, Texas A&M is being questioned about its lack of linebackers. What, for Aggie sakes, is going on here? Actually, Tom’s had a nice run in town, and Kandace Krueger is as good a representative of A&M as an Aggie could find. As for the Aggie linebackers, maybe judgment on the group should be withheld until A&M tees it up with Notre Dame on Sept. 29. "Overall, the big thing to look at is where we were on day one (of spring practice) and where we are today," said inside linebackers coach Alan Weddell. "And we’ve showed improvement almost every day. We’ve had 15 practices, and we’ve got 29 before McNeese State and another 20 before Notre Dame. We’ve got 50-plus before we play Notre Dame at home, before the big-time crowd. We’ll just keep working hard.
"I think this summer is very important for our linebackers. The young ones have got to get stronger and have to come back in great shape so they can continue to improve during the grueling two-a-days." Why all the fuss about a linebacking factory that has produced playmaker after playmaker for over 15 years? Mainly because of its tradition as the signature position for the Aggies – on either side of the ball – and the fact that A&M will have to replace three starters this fall, the linebacker spots are drawing some serious attention heading into the fall. Gone are outside stalwarts Roylin Bradley and Jason Glenn – last year’s team leader – and the inside presence of a steady Cornelius Anthony. Only junior Brian Gamble returns with starting experience, and even the heady Gamble missed most of spring practice recovering from double hernia surgery in the offseason. Fortunately for the Aggies, a salty secondary and a blossoming defensive front will anchor this year’s Wrecking Crew, allowing time for a young linebacking corps to figure out the demands of playing defense in the Big 12. "I think we’ve been doing pretty well," said senior outside linebacker Christian Rodriguez. "Obviously, there’s a lot of questions after losing three linebackers and three pretty good ones at that. It’s just one of those things where we have guys who have a lot of experience. I think it’s going to be one of those things where next year, we go into the McNeese State game with guys who haven’t had a lot of starts, but yet have a lot of experience. So we’ll be all right." The official spring depth chart (page 9) shows a bunch of new jersey numbers to watch in 2001. Junior Jarrod Penright, coming off a nerve problem in his groin, will start at one outside position, while Gamble obviously will hold down his standard inside spot. But the other two linebacking positions are filled with newcomers and former part-timers.
Rodriguez is entering his senior year, but he has played sparingly behind Glenn for the last two years, while Jared Morris will share time with Harold Robertson at the other inside spot. Even junior Jesse Hunnicutt, who played impressively at both outside linebacking spots this spring, is in the mix for playing time with Rodriguez. Yet, while there is a plethora of names being shuffled about, the perception is all about plight… where are the game-changers in the typical Aggie mold? Penright has the Greek-god body (6-3, 238) and could emerge as the playmaker of the group in 2001, while Gamble has made enough solid plays to signify a big junior year coming. Still, there are no guarantees with this unit, except for the fact that A&M linebackers usually emerge every season. And perhaps linemen Ty Warren and a healthier Rocky Bernard can keep the linebackers roaming free to make some big plays. "You look at the elite teams in football, whether it be college or pro, and the teams that have the best linebackers seem to have the best D-lines," said Gamble, who led the Aggies with 110 tackles and six double-digit tackle games in 2000. "(Teams) are going to have to double-team a lot of those guys to keep them from making plays, which will open it up for the linebackers to run and make plays." The Aggies are coming off a 7-5 season in which they finished 10th nationally in scoring defense (17.8 points per game) and 25th in total defense (321.6 yards per game). Yet, defensive breakdowns led to A&M giving up 35, 43 and 43 points, respectively, in the Aggies’ final three games – all losses to Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi State. Sure, there were other factors involved in the late swoon, like Oklahoma’s national championship offense, crippling injuries and heavy snow. But A&M players admit they lacked some of the fire usually associated with the Wrecking Crew. "I think coming out of last season, we weren’t really comfortable with the way we played at times," Gamble added. "At times, we were kind of complacent and didn’t really run to the ball. We’re getting back to the swarming style of play. We put an emphasis on that this spring, and we’ve been running to the ball. If you do that, things will happen. If you look at the Baltimore Ravens and teams like that, that’s what they do." Gamble is already acting like the quarterback of the defense, even becoming more vocal about what the Aggies need to correct to contend for a bowl game this season. He points to the 30-7 drubbing of Iowa State last fall as the example of what A&M can do each week in the Big 12 if the Aggies can muster up the work ethic needed each day in practice. "Every year we have a little meeting with our coaches after the season, and we go over some points to what we feel we can do better," Gamble said. "Last year, we played some pretty good defensive games, but our best defensive game was against Iowa State. That week of practice, we had one of the most intense weeks of practices that we ever had. It wasn’t because the coaches were pushing us, it wasn’t any of that. It was because we, as players, took it upon ourselves and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to out here and we’re going to have fun, we’re going to get fired up and we’re going to play hard in practice.’ If you remember the Iowa state game, we dominated offensively, defensively, and special teams.
"My question to us, especially as a team, is: Why don’t we do that every week? It’s not even in the coaches’ hands, it’s in the players’ hands. I think if we get together and we take it upon ourselves to say this is the type of defense and the type of team we want to be, we won’t have any three losses in a row. We’ll be a great team, and we’ll be a team to be reckoned with." Indeed, Gamble is almost sounding like Glenn, but replacing the fiery ’backer could be the toughest challenge of all for the Aggies. When Glenn went down with a knee injury in the second half of the OU game at Kyle Field, the Aggies never seemed to recover defensively the rest of the season. So enter Rodriguez, whose crowning moment to date was a devastating sack of Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke in the 1998 Kickoff Classic. Rodriguez shot into the backfield from the backside and caused a fumble, which Jay Brooks picked up and took to the end zone. It was a play Rodriguez hopes he can recreate as a senior now set on carrying a much heavier burden as a starter. "It’s the reason I came to A&M," said Rodriguez, one of the most polished personalities off the field for the maroon and white. "I wanted to come here and be a starter. It’s been four long years, and I’ve played enough to say that I’ve had ample experience. I think I’m ready to be an everyday starter and can’t wait to go out there and show everybody what I came here for. "Coming in every third series or every second series, you just kind of get out of rhythm. I think now by getting all the reps with the first team and being able to know that I’m going to be in there for a certain amount time or until I get tired really helps." The Aggies’ linebacking corps added an old face to its depth chart, as Amon Simon has made the transition back to inside linebacker after a stint at fullback, while a new face in Everett Smith will try to adjust to the outside spot after spending his first few seasons in Aggieland at safety. Smith, along with redshirt freshman LeBrandon Shepard and a rapidly-improving Hunnicutt, have caught the eyes of the A&M coaches and upperclassmen like Gamble. "Shepherd is a unique kind of guy," Gamble said of the Lufkin product, who was held out of the Maroon and White Game for academic reasons. "He’s a real physical kind of player. The thing about ‘Shep’ is that he seems like he’s mad every play. Every play somebody is going to get hit or tackled. Whether it be a running back or an offensive lineman or a coach, he’s coming after them. "Everett Smith moved from safety to outside linebacker, and that really fits him. I think he could use a little bit more weight. Other than that, he’s done a pretty good job. Then you’ve got Jesse Hunnicutt, who is an animal. All he’s got to do is get down what he’s supposed to do when he’s supposed to do it, then he’ll be a good one. Then Penright has sat out and missed a lot. But there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to do everything he can to get back into it." Just as the Aggies are hoping their linebackers can get back into the spotlight that has burned so often before them.
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