It was an offseason of turmoil, speculation and change for the Big 12, but with 2010 football season a month away, the Big 12’s coaches and noteworthy players embarked on the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the conference’s annual football media days.
The day started off with a bit of a wrinkle for Texas A&M as wide receivers Coach Steve Kragthorpe, who was hired this offseason, resigned due to family medical issues. He will be replaced by former Indiana State offensive coordinator and 1999 Biletnikoff Award winner Troy Walters. Walters was a standout at A&M Consolidated High School in the mid-1990s.
“At Indiana State, Troy worked for Trent Miles who worked for me at Green Bay and for whom I have tremendous respect,” A&M Head Coach Mike Sherman said. “Having spent time in the ‘West Coast’ offense in his career, Troy definitely will come in with some accrued knowledge of our system which will help him get off to a faster start as he learns our offense over the next two weeks.”
With the news of the resignation and impending hire, Sherman was joined Monday by senior quarterback Jerrod Johnson, senior “joker” Von Miller and senior nose tackle Lucas Patterson in Dallas where the group discussed A&M’s potential resurgence, the team’s high expectations and everything involving the 2010 version of the A&M football team.
“It’s always exciting to get ready to kick off the season,” Sherman said. “We’re anxious to kick this thing off and to get it started.”
Johnson comes into his senior campaign having broken eight A&M single-season records during the 2009 season. Because of that and his skill set, he is being hyped as a Heisman Trophy candidate and will lead an Aggie offense that finished No. 5 overall in the country in 2009. With Johnson at the helm, the Aggies have a set of skill position players including sophomore running back Christine Michael and junior receiver Jeff Fuller that rivals the best in the country.
“I think we have some of the best players in college football,” Patterson said. “It’s just a lot of offensive weapons. Our explosive unit from last year has gotten even better.”
Miller, who led the nation with 17 sacks in 2009, opted to forego the NFL Draft and stay for his senior season in Aggieland. Under new defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, Miller will be used at the ‘joker’ position, a hybrid outside linebacker — defensive end in the 3-4 defense. And if Miller doesn’t put up the monster numbers he did last season, Sherman says he could have more of an impact.
“His presence should change how an offense is planning to play the game,” Sherman said.“If he’s done that, he’s done his job. For him to go back and have the amount of sacks he had last year, I think that’s unrealistic. If he does, great; if he doesn’t, he can still play better and not have the stats he had a year ago.”
Patterson will be sliding over from defensive tackle to nose tackle with the inception of DeRuyter’s new 3-4 scheme. He’s excited about the opportunity and thinks he’s perfect for the position.
“I really like that position,” Patterson said. “Everybody I’ve talked to is like ‘wow, nose, you’re going to get double-teamed’ but that’s the way I play football. My style of play fits the nose guard position. It’s not a flashy position but my work at that position can help the defense.”
Equipped with a new defensive scheme, a plethora of offensive talent and a moniker as the dark horse of the conference, Aggie football and its fans are hoping 2010 is the season when A&M returns to be a household name.
“Our fan base and former students dream of the days of the mid-1980s and mid-1990s where we were a marquee-type team and we’re getting closer to that point,” Sherman said. “That vision I had when I took the job. This season is about taking that next step.”