Aug. 12, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M head football coach Mike Sherman put the Aggie football team through practice in shorts and helmets this morning inside the McFerrin Athletic Center.
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"I thought we competed," Sherman said. "We made some progress."
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Sherman explained his reasoning behind no shoulder pads and working inside as the Aggies worked Wednesday night and then back on Thursday morning inside the McFerrin Athletic Center.
"Last year we had a bunch of cramping at this time," Sherman explained. "That's why we went inside yesterday and today because last year when I looked back and looked at my notes, we had a bunch of guys with IV's. We also need to learn how to practice without pads on."
The Aggie football team will return to the Coolidge grass practice fields on Friday at 8:25 a.m. with the only practice of the day. The squad will don full pads for the first time this fall.
Sherman mentioned wide receiver Ryan Swope, a sophomore from Austin Westlake High School, should be back to practice on Monday or Tuesday. Swope took a helmet to his thigh on Wednesday night. Sherman also stated he expected linebacker Sean Porter, from Clemens High School in Schertz, Texas, to return to practice after attending the funeral of his grandmother in Alabama. Porter underwent thumb surgery but will have the hand taped up for practices.
Randy Simmons, a running back for the Aggies from 1988-91, attended Wednesday's practice.
In other activities on Thursday, the all-time winningest coach in Texas A&M football history, R.C. Slocum, will speak at the Aggie commencement convocation at 5:30 p.m. at Rudder Theater. Slocum posted a 123-47-2 (.721) record as the Aggie head football coach leading A&M to three consecutive Southwest Conference Championships (1991-92-93) as well as the 1994 squad that posted the best record in the SWC with an overall record of 10-0-1. By not losing a conference game in four years, it is easy to understand why Slocum is the winningest football coach in SWC history with a league mark of 44-6-2 (.865) from 1989 through the conclusion of the league in 1995. A member of both the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, Slocum also won two Big 12 South Championships (1997-98) as well as the overall Big 12 Championship in 1998. Slocum currently serves as the special assistant to Texas A&M University President Dr. R. Bowen Loftin.
Commencement convocation is a relatively new Texas A&M tradition, in which all members of a graduating class have the opportunity to assemble together, along with family members and friends, in an informal setting. It is a prelude to the degree candidates formally receiving their degrees in subsequent ceremonies aligned by the academic colleges representing their major fields of study.
More than 1,800 students are scheduled to receive their degrees this summer including 18 Aggie student-athletes at commencement ceremonies held at Reed Arena at 9 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 13. (A complete release of all student-athletes will be issued on Friday.)
Current Aggie football players receiving their degrees are defensive lineman Lucas Patterson from Kingsville, defensive back Chris Caflisch from San Antonio and defensive lineman Cody Williams from Longview. They join four other current players who will be former students playing this fall including pre-season Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year Jerrod Johnson, linebacker Michael Hodges, wide receiver Cody Beyer, and defensive back DeMaurier Thompson.
Other former football players receiving their degrees on Friday include Arkeith Brown, Pierre Fleurinor, Howard Morrow, Matt Moss, and Antonio Perry.
The Aggies open the 2010 season on Sept. 4 against Stephen F. Austin with kick scheduled for 6 p.m. at Kyle Field. For ticket information, call 1-888-99-AGGIE (888-992-4443) or go to AggieAthletics.com and click on tickets.
The upcoming schedule is as follows:
Friday, Aug. 13           8:25 am    Coolidge Practice Fields (OPEN PRACTICE--REGULAR POLICY)
Saturday, Aug. 14         8:25 am    Coolidge Practice Fields (OPEN PRACTICE--REGULAR POLICY)
                          4 pm       Inside the McFerrin Athletic Center (CLOSED PRACTICE)
Sunday, Aug. 15           10:30 am   Kyle Field (OPEN PRACTICE--REGULAR POLICY)
Entrance at Gate 5: Southwest Corner of the Stadium between Netum Steed Laboratory and the first deck of Kyle Field (press box side of the stadium).