Jason Webster Named Aggie Heart Award Winner at 2000 Texas A&M Football Banquet
Jan 29, 2000 | Football
January 29, 2000
Jason Webster, a senior cornerback from Houston, Texas, was named the Aggie Heart Award winner, the highest honor for a Texas A&M senior football player. The award was presented by Aggie Head Coach R.C. Slocum at the annual Texas A&M football banquet Saturday at the College Station Hilton. All of the awards were voted upon by the Aggie football players.
The Heart Award is presented to a senior who has completed his eligibility and the criteria includes intangibles such as effort, desire, determination, competitiveness, leadership and courage.
"Jason Webster epitomizes what college athletics is all about and he is very deserving of the Aggie Heart Award," Coach Slocum said. "He has been an outstanding player for us for four years and has always been willing to do whatever he can to help the team. He played on every special teams unit and was a team leader. He's a young man of great faith and character and I can see why his teammates selected him for this prestigious award."
Webster, who played at Willowridge High School in Houston, had a busy night just as he had during his Aggie career. He was honored as the Wrecking Crew MVP and team captain for 1999. He led the team with 10 passes broken up this season and also intercepted four passes. A solid tackler, Webster posted 74 stops on the season including five for losses of 12 yards. He was usually the first man down on punt coverage and was a large reason why the Aggies finished #1 in the nation in net punt average. Webster will earn his degree in May of 2000.
On the offensive side of the football, Aggie signal caller Randy McCown was named the offensive MVP. McCown, from Jacksonville High School, was 152-of-295 with 14 touchdowns for 2,374 yards this year, the second best passing season in school history. He earned the starting quarterback position last season and helped lead the Aggies to the Big 12 Championship in 1998. He leaves Texas A&M as the No. 5 passer in career yardage and he earned his degree in December of 1998.
The offensive team captain has been a rock on the offensive front for the past four seasons starting every game possible in his Aggie career. Semisi Heimuli, from Euless Trinity High School, tied the school record of 51 starts set by Dat Nguyen. Heimuli earned second-team All-Big 12 honors and was a team leader on and off of the field. He earned his degree this past December as well.
The special teams MVP and team captain was Shane Lechler, from East Bernard High School. Lechler leaves his name all over the Texas A&M, Big 12 and NCAA record books. He set the NCAA career record for average with a 44.7 mark for his 268 career punts. He posted 37 games with an average of 40 yards or more to set the NCAA record. His top game average came this season when he averaged 57.2 yards per kick against Texas Tech. His long punt was 76 yards as a freshman in 1996 at Iowa State. He is the main reason the Aggies finished the season ranked #1 in the country in net punting average as a team. Lechler, who earned his degree in December of 1998, also handled the kickoffs and was 1-of-1 in field goals this year along with 6-of-8 in extra points.
The 12th Man MVP and team captain was Eric Stanford from Waco Robinson High School. Stanford, a sophomore, recorded seven stops for the Aggies in covering kicks.
Offensive tackle Andy Vincent, from Sulphur, Louisiana, was presented the Senior Academic Achievement Award. Vincent started 27 games in his career and was also very much involved in Aggie Athletes Involved, a service organization. Vincent will graduate in May from the School of Business.
The banquet is held each season in honor of the senior class. This group of 19 Seniors helped the Aggies put the finishing touches on the winningest decade of any Division I school in the state of Texas with 94 victories in the 1990s. The seniors went to three bowl games and were part of two Big 12 South Division Championships as well as the overall 1998 Big 12 Champions. The senior class upheld the winning tradition at Kyle Field by posting a 21-3 home record including a victory over #2-ranked Nebraska in 1998. They leave a 19-game home winning streak in the hands of the remaining squad members.
"I'm very proud of these seniors," Coach Slocum said. "We talk about taking advantage of the opportunities offered here at Texas A&M to achieve academic and athletic success. These are good football players who have experienced a great deal of success on the football field, won championships and went to three bowl games in four years. They have also achieved a great deal of success in the classroom with several already earning their degrees and many more slated to graduate in May or December of this year. They have put forth the effort to achieve the total college experience and I couldn't be more proud of any group."
Eight members of the senior class earned their degrees last August or December. Six more seniors are slated to graduate in May with the rest of the 19 seniors on schedule to graduate later in the year.
