December 28, 2001
Texas A&M Notes
FRESHMAN STARTERS --- The Aggies had five true freshmen in the starting lineup against the TCU Horned Frogs in the galleryfurniture.com Bowl - on offense: offensive tackle Jami Hightower (Jacksonville, Texas), wide receiver Terrence Murphy (Tyler, Texas), running back Derek Farmer (Tyler, Texas) and tight end Thomas Carriger; on defense: cornerback Byron Jones.
During the first half, A&M's freshmen produced 111 of the team's total offense output of 137 (81 percent) and another 130 yards of return yardage. Running backs Derek Farmer and Keith Joseph combined for 36 rushing yards, while Farmer and tight end Thomas Carriger produced 75 receiving yards. The return yardage was produced by Terrence Thomas (53 on KO returns) and cornerback Byron Jones (77 yards on two INTs).
CARRIGER NABS FIRST CAREER RECEPTION --- Converted true freshman tight end Thomas Carriger grabbed the first and second catches of his career in the first half against TCU. Carriger, who came to A&M in August intent on redshirting as a defensive lineman, was forced into action due to injuries to all four scholarship tight ends on the Aggie roster. Not only were today's catches the first of his career, it was the first time he has even had a ball thrown his direction. His first catch was a short grab over the middle that he turned into a 38 yard gain and his second catch was a screen that produced 19 yards.
B. JONES GRABS THREE PICKOFFS IN FIRST CAREER START --- True freshman cornerback Byron Jones made the most of his first career start with three interceptions that he returned for a total of 77 yards, both are A&M and galleryfurniture.com Bowl records. Several Aggies have grabbed two interceptions in a bowl game, most recently Chris Crooms in the 1992 Cotton Bowl. Jones, a freshman from Bay City, Texas, started in place of 22-game starter Sean Weston, who hyper-extended his knee during bowl workouts. During the regular season, Jones produced 33 tackles and broke up a pair of passes but did not register an interception. As a sidenote, former A&M All-American and NFL Pro Bowler Kevin Smith gave some one-on-one instruction to some of the Aggies' young defensive backs after the Thursday walkthrough, including Jones.
M. JONES GRABS RECORD 82-YARD RECEPTION --- Aggie senior reserve wide receiver Mickey Jones broke the Frogs' backs with an a 82-yard touchdown reception, the longest offensive play in a bowl game in school history (previous long play was an 81-yard TD run by Bob Smith in the 1950 Presidential Cup (vs. Georgia). It was the longest offensive play of the season for the Aggies, bettering Derek Farmer's 65-yard jaunt against Iowa State.
OTHER NOTABLES ---
The Aggies limited the Frogs to -26 rushing yards, which is an A&M bowl record. The previous low was -12 yards by Brigham Young in the 1990 Holiday Bowl. TCU was limited to 118 total yards, which was the lowest by an A&M bowl opponent since Alabama was limited to 75 yards of total offense in the 1942 Cotton Bowl (29-21 Alabama win).
Today's victory was the Aggies' 24th straight win over former Southwest Conference foe TCU, but the first since 1995. It is A&M's longest winning streak over any opponent.
The win improves A&M's overall bowl record to 13-14 in 27 bowls. R.C. Slocum's bowl worksheet improves to 3-8 in 11 bowls. It was A&M's first bowl win since a 22-20 victory over Michigan in the 1995 Alamo Bowl. It was the 19th bowl berth of Slocum's career, including 18 at Texas A&M in 29 seasons in Aggieland.
Fifth-year senior offensive center made the 50th consecutive start of his career against TCU, which is just one shy of A&M's record of 51 career starts shared by Dat Nguyen (1995-98) and Semisi Heimuli (1996-1999). …
Bowl captains for the Aggies were: punter Cody Scates (Tyler), 12th Man Kickoff team member Bobby Jordan (Brenham, Texas), offensive center Seth McKinney and defensive end Rocky Bernard …
Sighted on the A&M sideline were current and former NFLers: Jacob Green, Curtis Dickey, Quentin Coryatt, Derrick Frazier, Leeland McElroy, Patrick Bates, Kevin Smith, Robert Wilson, Keith Alex, Clif Groce and Michael Jameson.