2011 Texas A&M Aggies Football Preview

The clouds were gathering over the Agriculture and Military institution near Houston that is otherwise known as AggieLand.

The Texas A&M Aggies were slogging through a 3-3 season and going nowhere quickly. Their No. 1 quarterback, Jerrod Johnson, was a walking interception factory. Winnable games turned into losses. After an offseason in which the school flirted with the Southeastern Conference, A&M needed to accrue all the leverage and stature it could by means of strong on-field performances. Through the first half of the 2010 season, those results were nowhere to be found. Coach Mike Sherman looked like a dead duck, and the program was this close to requiring a fresh start just a few short years after the ill-fated tenure of former coach Dennis Franchione. A&M was boring but relentlessly successful under esteemed coach R.C. Slocum. The Aggies had scrambled to remain relevant since Slocum exited stage right, and when the football team stumbled through its first six games in 2010, there was little hope that Sherman would be the man to turn things around.

Then, out of nowhere, it happened.

Just as surely as A&M ran into a dead end, Sherman flipped the switch, made one change, and transformed the outlook for his team and his career in the process. Sherman tabbed Ryan Tannehill as Johnson’s replacement at quarterback. Tannehill doesn’t have anything close to Johnson’s speed, and his arm isn’t quite as dynamic as well, but the No. 2 Aggie signal caller spent the final six regular-season games of 2010 making dramatically better decisions than the man he replaced. Tannehill’s combination of ball security and sound decision making enabled A&M to win games the NFL way: by making fewer mistakes than the opposition. The Aggies became a more efficient and airtight team – they won a few games in shootouts but were also able to prevail over tough defensive teams such as Nebraska in low-scoring grinders. One by one, formidable foes kept falling to the Aggies: Oklahoma, Baylor and Nebraska went down. Moreover, although Texas suffered its worst season in over a decade, the trip to Austin on Thanksgiving night was not a slam-dunk victory. The Aggies had to earn it, and they proceeded to do just that. A 9-3 season and the win over Bevo created just the kind of season Sherman and the AggieLand faithful needed. A Cotton Bowl loss to LSU did little to diminish the good vibe flowing from this program after a redemptive six-game stretch.

Returning ten starters from a squad which won six of its last seven games has the fans in College Station amped for the 2011 campaign to begin. Tannehill, who came out of nowhere during the middle of the season to lead an inspired Aggie resurgence, is back with his best offensive weapons. Running back Cyrus Gray and wide receiver Jeff Fuller, both All-Big XII selections, are primed to take their games to another level. Wide receivers Ryan Swope and Uzoma Nwachuku, along with four linemen, also return from an offense which placed in the top 20 in passing yards. Points and turnover margin, however, are more important than the often-hollow yardage category. We’ll see if Tannehill can finish drives as well as he did last season.

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The defense must replace all-world linebacker and top-tier NFL draft pick Von Miller. How you replace a Dick Butkus Award winner is beyond a single individual’s capability. But defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, now in his second year at A&M, has a great scheme in place. Before his arrival, the Aggie defense was ranked near the bottom of college football. After 2010, Texas A&M ranked 21st in scoring defense. Look for more improvement in 2011 despite the loss of Miller.

The Aggies face off with Oklahoma State in a week three matchup with huge implications for the Big 12 race. Texas A&M also gets Missouri and Texas at home this season. A non-conference visit to Arkansas in week four will be a difficult task, as will a November 5 meeting with Oklahoma in Norman. The schedule is just enough to test the Aggies without overwhelming them. All eyes will be on Sherman. Can he get the Aggies back to the elite level by turning last year’s good season into a great one this time around?