August 20, 2005
The Texas A&M football team continued preparations for its Sept. 3 opener with Clemson with a pair of workouts on Saturday.
"There were a lot of good things in our morning workout, and a lot of things still stick out that we need to work on," A&M head coach Dennis Franchione said. "We got a lot of good work, a lot of good film work and things to teach from. We had a few too many penalties this morning and some mistakes in the kicking game that weren't pleasing. The other side of it was that we did some good things. It wasn't all bad and I don't want to make it sound that way. When you're sitting two weeks away from what would be the third quarter (of the Clemson game on Sept. 3), you don't want to see too many of those kinds of things."
The Associated Press released its preseason Top 25 on Saturday and the Aggies were No. 17. Previously, the USA Today's coaches poll ranked the Aggies No. 17, as well. It is A&M's highest preseason ranking since 1999 when the Aggies opened the season at No. 7 by the AP and No. 8 by the coaches.
"We appreciate the gesture of respect from the voters of both polls," Franchione said. "I don't know that we are that good. I don't know if anyone knows at this point in time. I guess it's better to be there than not be there. When I vote right now, I have to go back and look at what people have coming back and how they've done. It's not based on what they are doing. I think our football understands that and appreciates the chance to start there. There's not a lot of discussion about it. It's not a concern right now."
After the evening workout, Franchione was asked which players have helped themselves the most during fall camp.
"(Offensive lineman) Yemi Babalola is the one that comes to mind," Franchione said. "He's going to compete to be a starter. (Offensive lineman) Cody Wallace is certainly in the mix to be a starter. (Tight end) Amos Gbunblee has probably helped himself. All of our freshmen that are in there competing. (Running backs) Jay Lucas and Samson Taylor have both improved their stock. (Wide receiver) Pierre Brown. (Defensive lineman) Michael Bennett. Maybe (linebacker) Stephen Hodge. Certainly (cornerbacks) Marquis Carpenter and Ray Ray (Ronald) Jones at the corner come to mind. (Placekicker/punter) Richie Bean is kicking the ball better. It's going to be pretty competitive between him and Justin (Brantly) at punter and him and Layne Neumann for kickoffs."
The Aggies return to practice for a single workout on Monday. All practices are closed to the general public.