Dec. 2, 2009

I'm not much into moral victories, but I left the football game Thursday night feeling good about our future. And I heard from a lot of you with the same feeling.

First, I must talk about our quarterback Jerrod Johnson. Obviously Jerrod was a talent when we recruited him from Humble High School. Last year, when Jerrod went in the lineup after Stephen McGee was injured, he spent most of his sophomore year running for his life. That's different now. Watching him mature mentally and physically has been fun. He makes great decisions. Last year he may have thrown a ball through a receiver with his velocity, but this year he throws with great touch and accuracy. And boy can he run. Colt McCoy had a Heisman Trophy winning performance against us, but Jerrod definitely had a Heisman Trophy candidate performance in the same game to start the talk for next season.

Not only is Jerrod a great athlete and human being, but if I had a daughter, Jerrod is the type of guy I would want her to bring home. He is a first-rate person.

How about our receivers? They caught everything in the neighborhood. I remember Jeff Fuller taking a ball away from a defensive back and making impressive touchdown catches, Ryan Swope made plays, Ryan Tannehill made impressive third-down catches, and Howard Morrow caught a great touchdown pass. I think as a senior, Howard may be one of the most improved players on the team. I also thought our running backs ran hard. What impressed me most on the offensive side were our linemen who protected Jerrod and gave him a lot of time to throw. It's a testament to the quality job our coaches are doing with the linemen. It was great to see Lee Grimes play a complete season after all the surgery and rehab he's gone through. It was very well deserved that the conference coaches voted him to the All- Big 12 second team.

Where I hope to see real improvement next year will be with special teams and on the defensive side of the ball. Hopefully we will be bigger, stronger, and faster. With more speed and experience, we will be improved in the kicking game. Meanwhile, watching 215-pound receivers manhandle our 165-pound defensive backs tells me once our guys spend another year with strength coach Dave Kennedy, they will be able to make a tackle on initial contact. Too many times this year our guys were in position to make the tackle, but the offensive player was so much stronger that our guys could not bring him down. I believe that will change with our off-season program.

***
Congratulations to six members of our football team who earned All-Big 12 honors earlier this week. Highlighting our selections were Offensive Freshman of the Year Christine Michael and first-team defensive lineman Von Miller. Quarterback Jerrod Johnson, tight end Jamie McCoy (selected at fullback), offensive lineman Lee Grimes and defensive back Trent Hunter were named to the All-Big 12 second team.
Today we learned Von has been selected as a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award which is presented annually to the nation's top defensive end.

***
I loved the energy our crowd had Thursday night. I was down on the field before the game and felt it. Some of you tell me Kyle Field is not as loud as it used to be "when I was in school." But I would say the atmosphere Thursday night was absolutely incredible.

When I first arrived here in 2003, I heard from many of you imploring me to work to get this football game moved back to Thanksgiving night. We did that. And this was the first time since 1993 to play the game at Kyle Field on Thanksgiving night.

Each year we bring in outside consultants to evaluate how we stage our football games. They look at everything from traffic and parking, ticketing, ushering, concessions, and experience in general. They tell us we have among the best game day atmospheres of anyone they visit in the country. It's nice to hear that from folks who recently visited USC and Ohio State and schools in the SEC. Our athletes, staff and fans combined are simply the best.

We heard from some of you concerned about the number of folks dressed in orange sitting around you. We even saw some decked head-to-toe in orange gear selling game programs and working in the concession stands. That seemed odd to me. But many of these orange-clad fans managed to hold tickets for seats in our donor sections. I assume our season ticket holders weren't able to come to the game. I wish they would have filled the seats with their friends who owned some Aggie gear. But hearing the price some people paid for their tickets on the alternative market, the original ticket holders were able to recoup their price paid for the whole season package. That must have been more important.

***
Let's talk bowl games. We probably won't know where we are going until Sunday afternoon. I believe it's down to the Independence Bowl or Texas Bowl for us. Things could change if Nebraska wins the Big 12 Championship game this Saturday. A Nebraska win would send them to the Fiesta Bowl, and I believe our friends from the state capital would likely be chosen at-large for another BCS game. In that scenario, the Big 12 would have only seven teams for our eight non-BCS games. That would leave the Texas Bowl looking for a non-Big 12 team to fill the league's spot in Houston.

We will post the information about how to get tickets, hotels, and transportation to whichever bowl game we are attending as soon as we know it. If you would like an early peek at the bowl game details, check out the websites for the Big 12 bowls our league has agreements with.

***
It was a great weekend for our men's basketball team. As I told you last week, our men were playing in arguably the toughest tournament in the nation at the 76 Classic in Anaheim. We played very well beating two top-20 teams in Clemson and Minnesota. For that effort, we entered the top 25 rankings this week at No. 19 in the AP and No. 22 in the coaches' poll.

While we don't have the tallest team, clearly we have some of the most athletic and fastest players anywhere. Now if we could just make some more free throws down the stretch. It's been fun watching our players get better every day under the tutelage of Mark Turgeon and our assistant coaches. Those guys can really coach basketball.

***
Wednesday night we have a double-header with our women's and men's basketball teams. Our No. 7-ranked women host SFA at 6 p.m., and our No. 19-ranked men will host Prairie View A&M around 8 p.m. For those of you looking for an inexpensive way to entertain the family, our ticket prices are very low. In fact, one ticket works for both games.

Click here to purchase your tickets for the double-header.

Friday, our men will host Akron at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, our women will be playing in the Colliers International Classic in Berkeley, California on Saturday and Sunday. The first game for the women will be against Southern Illinois on Saturday. We will play either Cal or Colorado State on Sunday.

***
Don't forget to take advantage of the Old Army Spirit section $5 seats for home men's basketball games. That's right, $5 seats to every men's basketball home game, except Kansas and with our friends from the state capital. This was made possible through a sponsorship by the Old Army Spirit Company on Harvey Road in College Station. Just stop by the store beginning the first business day after our last home game to purchase these special $5 seats for sections 201-203. The tickets must be picked up at the Old Army Spirit Co. store, but you can also make your purchase via their website.

We will not offer this ticketing level via our ticket office or at the Reed Arena box office.

***
For those of you who use Olsen Blvd. and Tom Chandler Drive to come to Reed Arena, you will need to redirect your car while we are hosting the NCAA Women's College Cup at the Aggie Soccer Stadium. We are anticipating huge crowds for the final four of women's soccer this weekend, and to accommodate the crowd we have expanded the stadium literally on to Tom Chandler Drive. We have some tickets remaining to watch UCLA, Stanford, Notre Dame and North Carolina. You can purchase now by clicking here. This road closure will last until Dec. 8. Here is a map.

***
Congratulations to coach Laurie Corbelli and our volleyball team who return to the big dance after a three-year absence. I enjoyed watching this group of seniors who were on the bubble the last couple of years be selected for this year's NCAA Tournament. We will play a talented Arizona team in the first round in Baton Rouge on Friday at 5 p.m. at the Maravich Assembly Center. The other teams at the site are LSU and Tulane. I'm pleased we are able to send members of our Hullabaloo Band and Yell Leaders to help support our team.

***
Good luck to our No. 8 women's swimming and diving team as we face Rice in our first home meet of the season at the Student Recreation Center Natatorium at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. As always, both men's and women's swimming meets are non-ticketed events, so we hope to have a great crowd Saturday afternoon.

***
Our Bonfire documentary DVD entitled, "The Burning Desire," is receiving rave reviews since being released at the football game last week. This documentary brings everything into perspective about our history and traditions, and why Bonfire was such a large part of our school's history. You can order your copy now by clicking here. You can also purchase the DVD at the MSC Bookstore located at G. Rollie White Coliseum, and at all Aggie Locker locations.

***

I hope to see you at Reed Arena or around the soccer stadium this weekend.