First Scrimmage of Fall Camp for the Aggies
Aug 15, 2005 | Football
August 15, 2005
Fresh off a day off on Sunday, the Texas A&M football team scrimmaged and practiced for two and a half hours on Kyle Field on Monday.
The Aggies went through a controlled 65-play scrimmage early in the workout.
"I was a little disappointed with the way we bounced back (from the day off)," A&M head coach Dennis Franchione said. "I thought it would be better. I'm not sure why it was like that, but I thought with the day off it would be a better practice. We scrimmaged for the first time and I'm sure that causes a little bit of anxiety."
"I would have hoped that the scrimmage would have gone better, but it wasn't awful or anything like that. We had the typical first scrimmage mistakes from substitutions and playing a lot of people. It ended up being a good building block to learn from. Concerning is probably the more correct description rather than disappointing."
After the workout, Franchione was asked about the Aggies' defensive front and the loss of senior All-Big 12 honoree Mike Montgomery from last year's starting lineup.
"Red (Bryant), Jason (Jack) and Chris (Harrington) are a year older and they're better," Franchione said. "We don't have (Green Bay Packers draft pick) Mike Montgomery anymore. But when I say that I think we'll have a decent front four, it's from the standpoint that they're the building block of the defense. I don't mean they're going to control the game, but they are one of our stronger areas."
Franchione said the defensive line, along with the offensive front, have improved the most in his three years at A&M.
"We had no chance to control the line of scrimmage in 2003," Franchione said. "I'm not saying we're going to control the line of scrimmage but we were going to manage it better with this group than we ever could have in '03. It's the same with the offensive line. 2003's had its weaknesses: youth and inexperience. Last year we got better while playing some redshirt freshmen and now they are a year older. But the d-line has probably come further than anything."
