August 04, 2004
| Depth was a hold-your-breath situation in the o-line last season, and the Aggies lived fortunately with the same five who formed the interior bulwark. Their work was not always artful, but they always showed up for work and they worked with due diligence.
Three are back - senior center Geoff Hangartner, junior guard Aldo De La Garza, and sophomore tackle Alex Kotzur. So let the race begin. Six big men who weren't around last year have crowded the scene. Nine vying for five spots - that's a problem A&M coaches are joyful to live with. One has been there, done that: Jami Hightower was a fixture heading into the summer of 2003, and an unusual ailment struck. Believing he would miss a week or three, he missed the whole season. Hightower, already a mountain of a man, came back in the spring with another 25 pounds, and coaches were concerned. After four weeks of practice, they were delighted at Hightower's ominous presence. He is game-smart and amazingly agile. With an influx of four redshirts, their hunger growing along with their bodies during the last year in waiting, battles for jobs raged all spring. One emerged No. 1 at strong tackle, Cody Wallace, and another worked No. 1 all spring at center, Chris Yoder, because Hangartner sat out the spring. The other two, Corey Clark and Kirk Elder, made the two-deep. Taylor Schuster, a tight end his first two years in the program, slid over looking for work at tackle. Yet another was set to throw in, too, as juco transfer Grant Dickey arrived for the voluntary summer workout program and prepared to end his two-year wait to play D-I football under the tutelage of Coach Fran and Jim Bob Helduser. Dickey is not the typical junior college transfer recruited to fill a gap. Franchione, inextricably linked to the Dickey family (Grant's uncle Jim gave Fran his start in college coaching), recruited Grant to Alabama. When the staff moved, he transferred to the community college in his hometown Tyler, completed his requirements in one-and-a-half years, and he arrived with three years of eligibility and the talent level to move somebody aside. The H-men, Hangartner and Hightower, enter '04 as third-year quality starters. The rest were expected to put on one of the best battles of fall camp. Dominique Steamer, a high-spirited junior who backed up in nine games last season, earned temporary custody of the quick guard position in the spring, and De La Garza clung to No. 1 at strong guard where Dickey will push him. In Franchione's system, the linemen are not pigeon-holed into a specific spot. The coaches' fall quest is to identify the 11 best players to have on the field, so Helduser will select the best five linemen and then figure out where to place them if two or more are listed at the same position. Never excitable, Helduser at least expressed pleasure in seeing the o-line burgeon with a nice mix of old and new. "We're already better than in 2003," Helduser said, "and I believe we'll improve throughout the season as our younger guys mature. They'll push each other to get better, and our depth will improve and give us flexibility in positions, competition, and the luxury of playing more guys." The only troubling caveat to all this: no guarantees. The o-line still must prove it can keep QB Reggie McNeal in one piece, open the slight daylight that Courtney Lewis needs to slither through, permit a talented array of receivers time to get open, all while going toe-to-toe with a powerhouse schedule. AggieAthletics.com's 2004 football preview will bring you right up to the "beginning" of football season, when the players report to campus on Aug. 8.
|