This is Jason Atkinson, linebacker from the early 90s, and I have been a long time TexAgs fan and lurker, but have not posted before. As spring training wraps up, I wanted to share my review of our team for anyone who was not able to see our new stable in action and anyone else who is just curious how the old school players view the new pups.
It was an exciting spring where a large group of young players made an impact, and a hefty number of players’ rankings and positions on the team changed as well. For those of you who know me, know I am always on the look out for future talent. Rome was not built in a day and neither were the Wrecking Crew or the 1990’s teams. Last Saturday 3 young players jumped out at me and their play today confirmed that they need to be added to your watch list. These guys are my “Ax’s Future Favorites.” They may not shock the world this year, but keep them in the back of your mind over the next 1-2 years. I believe you will be hearing a lot more about them.
So let’s start with defense. All in all, I thought our defense got better this spring. I love watching the speed of the 50 defense and I saw some players who looked very comfortable playing in it.
D-Line: They looked much improved even though of the expected highest impact players who will be there in the fall were not in the field. Lucas Patterson was a monster man at noseguard this spring. If he plays as good in the fall as he did this spring, our run defense will improve significantly over last year. Patterson was the most impressive player I saw on the defense the entire spring and has my vote for Spring MVP. Behind him Rod Davis has been running 2nd team, but in my judgment, he is a long way from being able to play D1 football. Andrew Wolridge was splitting time with Rod and looked much better to me in the practices I watched. In my opinion with Lucas and Andrew backing him up, we will be both strong and deep at noseguard. At left DT Tony Jerod-Eddie is back and would be the obvious starter there. I did not see the effort from him that I expected from an upperclassman though. I do not think his starting job is completely safe if his effort doesn’t improve before 2-a-days. Behind him KJ Williams looked better than expected for a TE transfer, but he needs to gain another 10 pounds of muscle to compete for the starting job. Stephen Berrera moved from O-Line to left DT and he was impressive. He comes off the ball low, has good strength and speed on pass rush. His move from O-Line to D-Line is part of Sherman’s push to get the best 22 players on the field and I believe he is better at this position. He looks more comfortable on this side of the ball and I think he could see some PT here this year. At right DT Eddie Brown is the returning starter, but was out this spring. Adren Dorsey started most of spring until his recent suspension. He looked quick and was solid as a backup, but I thought Spencer Neely looked just as good. Spencer started in the Maroon and White game and played well. He is fast if a little skinny for D-Line. In fact, they had him running down on the punt team, and he made a good open field tackle. When is the last time we saw a defensive lineman on punt team, and more, look good at it? We still have a long way to go up front, but I think we got better this spring. With the addition of Jonathan Mathis a juco transfer from Blinn and my old Alma Mater Westfield High School and Eddie Brown during two-a-days, our D-line could form into a strong unit.
Outside Linebacker: Without a doubt we have tremendous speed and depth in this group. With all the hype around Von, I was excited to watch him be a dominant player like previous Wrecking Crew linebackers have been in the spring prior to their senior years. He and Tony Jerod-Eddie must have met and agreed to collectively take it easy this spring. Von took a lot of plays off and just played with less intensity than I have seen from other Aggie backers before him. Sean Porter started opposite Von and had a nice sack today. The main backups that were impressive were Weaver and Stewart. There is also a fifth kid who showed spots of excellence. Caleb Russell is a kid I had not heard about prior to this spring, but I thought he looked very good at times. He is not the athlete some of his competitors are, but he is very good in man-to-man pass coverage and his pass rush was surprisingly impressive given his 228 pounds. Caleb is the first on my “Ax’s Future Favorites” watch list. None of the 5 looked completely comfortable with the system yet. OLB in the 50 is a difficult position to play because of all the variables that affect your responsibilities on any one play. I started out at this position my true freshman year and can tell you it is not simple. With 5 talented players, we will be able to find 2 who can be dependable and high impact next fall.
Inside Linebacker: Now to my favorite position. Mangum was out for the spring so Garrick Williams got to start and Wow did he take advantage of it. Garrick has shown himself to be a phenomenal linebacker! He has the speed and pass coverage ability of a DB, the hardnosed run defense of other previous Desoto linebackers and what is more Ags is this kid has the Wrecking Crew attitude. Last Saturday, on a goal line segment, the ball was placed on the 3 yard line and the offense must have tried 15 times and never got in. After each play Garrick stuck a running back in the backfield he was squealing loud enough to be heard in Snook. Next to him Hodges is the veteran, but I believe his starting position is at risk. Hodges is a smart, aggressive linebacker with sound fundamentals and excellent effort. He showed a few bursts of speed that were not there last fall, but he still has a hard time getting to the sideline on the sweep. This is a critical role of the ILB in the 50. Behind him is my second “future favorite” and not just because he wears 43. Aaron Arterburn is a grey shirt sophomore who is going to be a very good LB for us in the future. Aaron is the tallest ILB. He has the size, speed, instincts, and comfort in the 50 of a player who had been playing it for years. His pass coverage was very smooth, though not as good as Garrick’s and sideline-to-sideline his speed gives him an advantage Hodges does not have. His speed is probably between Garrick and Hodges. I do not expect him to start this year, but he will be a solid backup and should see lots of action this fall. The other ILBs I saw were Ricky Cavanaugh and Malcolm Johnson. They both looked uncomfortable with the system so it is difficult to judge how well they will play when they get up to speed. So, I see us having 4 solid ILBs going into fall and they are much faster than their predecessors last year.
Safeties: This group got beat up a lot this spring; but playing against the best receiving corp in the nation can do that to just about anybody. Trent Hunter is definitely the leader and he plays that way. He is very fast and comes up with big plays at opportune times. I see the other safety spot as up for grabs right now. Steven Terrell has been starting, but Clay Hunnicut and Colton Valencia both played like they wanted the position. Hunnicut is one of the 4 high school seniors who are already on campus rather than enjoying what is usually one of the most fun springs in a person’s life. He was a high school quarterback, but quickly switched to safety and has never looked back. He looked like a veteran out there and plays very good run defense in the alley. The last safety I want to talk about is my 3rd “Ax’s Future Favorite.” #39 is Blane Cheatum who no one is talking about. I saw him absolutely knock out Christine Michael and block a field goal last Saturday. He has some tremendous players in front of him right now, but watch this kid, because he is a player.
Cornerback: I am not sure what to think about our corners because they should be graded on a curve given they are playing against Fuller, Nwachukwu, and Swope everyday. T. Fred was out so the Juco transfer Coryell Judie got a plenty of PT. Judie has tremendous recovery speed and natural athletic ability, but is not consistent in the system yet. Today, Fuller beat him for a long TD, then he came back and intercepted the ball in a few plays later. Lionel Smith is a hard-hitting corner. Dustin Harris started on the right with Gardiner and DeAndre Thompson getting some reps behind him. I am still scratching my head, because we did not look very good, but again this could be deceiving given their competition. In 1991, the defense did not look very good during practice because we were chasing around this speedy freshman scout team running back named Greg Hill, but we ended up being the #1 defense in the nation. Do not write off our defensive backs because of all the big plays they gave up this spring.
From what I could see Trent Hunter and Lucas Patterson (NG) are the two leaders of this team with Garrick Williams bringing the personality. Von has the ability to make an impact, but he needs to decide to bring it.
Offensive Skill Positions: On the offensive side of the ball everyone is concerned about the line since last season was the best of times and the worst of times, but let’s start behind them. The Aggies return one of the best corp of skill players in the nation this year. We have 2 running backs that could start for anyone in the nation (Christine Michael and an unbelievably fast Cyrus Gray). Our 3rd running back is a young pup named Kalvin Guyton who could probably start at most of the other colleges in Texas. Any one of our 3 starting receivers (Fuller, Nwachukwu, and Swope) could be the best receiver on most of the teams in the nation. Their 3 backups Terrence McCoy, Brandal Jackson, and Kenric McNeal are also very solid. And, at quarterback we have two very poised and talented players with 3 very talented young pups behind them. Jerrod Johnson led the 1st team today after not playing during much of spring training. I have no doubt he will be even better this year than last year. Whether Tannehill stays at backup QB or moves back to receiver, he is a very talented player and played like the team leader this spring while Jerrod was out. Of the young quarterbacks, I liked Jamiel Showers the most until today. He has a great arm and a lot of fight. Today, he seemed nervous in the pocket and ducked out too early several times. Matt Joeckel is a prototype quarterback and looks to be developing fine, be he also seemed a little nervous in front of the crowd today. His passes fell way short and he looked a little confused. The last play of the day was a nice play by the 5th quarterback O’Quinn. He was flushed from the pocket but maintained his composure and found the open receiver in the corner of the end zone and completed a nice TD pass on the run.
Offensive Line: My personal belief is that our O-Line is going to be good this year if our starters can stay healthy, because we are very shallow. After trying many players at center, Matt Allen moved there and looked very solid. Even against Patterson Allen looked strong and poised. Patrick Lewis was shuffled around a bit this spring, but ended up back at starting right guard. He is an excellent run blocker as he showed when he was unveiled at the Tech game last year. The starting right tackle is Brian Thomas, who I thought looked very good. Other people had different opinions, but his run blocking was excellent and our inside running game looked strong today. On the left side, Evan Eike is the starting left guard. He is also a very strong run blocker, but his pass blocking needs a little help. Starting to his left is the high school senior Luke Joekel who many believe to be the biggest story of this spring. Luke is without a doubt the best pass blocker on this team, but that is not saying much. He is still young and is the lightest guy on the line by probably 20 pounds. Today, he blocked two blitzers on one play and it was impressive. The word is that when Jake Matthews gets on campus things could change. The only other offensive lineman I was impressed with was Rhontae Scales. He is very good on run blocking and had a nice open field block on a safety today. He is big and athletic. So, I count 6 D1 caliber o-linemen currently on the squad. Their health will decide a lot this fall.
I am excited about our prospects and believe Sherman is doing the right things. He is a vocal coach who is right in the middle of everything. The spring practices moved fast and the energy level was incredibly high. Aside from a few disappointments, I thought the team came together very well. We changed defensive schemes, had multiple new coaches and played without our starting quarterback most of the spring, but our men came together. Spring training is important because it is the opportunity for the young pups to show what they are made of and many took advantage. The competition for every starting job is very high even at positions with 2 solid players, the 3rd team guys are nipping at their heals. This is a healthy thing for our team and often goes unnoted. Your second team drives your first team to be better and with that said, the O-Line is the only place where some starters are feeling safe. I believe everyone else who wants to play this Fall will be working extra hard this summer because of the heat coming up behind them. Enjoy your summer and my God bless you and the Aggies.
Jason Atkinson
It was an exciting spring where a large group of young players made an impact, and a hefty number of players’ rankings and positions on the team changed as well. For those of you who know me, know I am always on the look out for future talent. Rome was not built in a day and neither were the Wrecking Crew or the 1990’s teams. Last Saturday 3 young players jumped out at me and their play today confirmed that they need to be added to your watch list. These guys are my “Ax’s Future Favorites.” They may not shock the world this year, but keep them in the back of your mind over the next 1-2 years. I believe you will be hearing a lot more about them.
So let’s start with defense. All in all, I thought our defense got better this spring. I love watching the speed of the 50 defense and I saw some players who looked very comfortable playing in it.
D-Line: They looked much improved even though of the expected highest impact players who will be there in the fall were not in the field. Lucas Patterson was a monster man at noseguard this spring. If he plays as good in the fall as he did this spring, our run defense will improve significantly over last year. Patterson was the most impressive player I saw on the defense the entire spring and has my vote for Spring MVP. Behind him Rod Davis has been running 2nd team, but in my judgment, he is a long way from being able to play D1 football. Andrew Wolridge was splitting time with Rod and looked much better to me in the practices I watched. In my opinion with Lucas and Andrew backing him up, we will be both strong and deep at noseguard. At left DT Tony Jerod-Eddie is back and would be the obvious starter there. I did not see the effort from him that I expected from an upperclassman though. I do not think his starting job is completely safe if his effort doesn’t improve before 2-a-days. Behind him KJ Williams looked better than expected for a TE transfer, but he needs to gain another 10 pounds of muscle to compete for the starting job. Stephen Berrera moved from O-Line to left DT and he was impressive. He comes off the ball low, has good strength and speed on pass rush. His move from O-Line to D-Line is part of Sherman’s push to get the best 22 players on the field and I believe he is better at this position. He looks more comfortable on this side of the ball and I think he could see some PT here this year. At right DT Eddie Brown is the returning starter, but was out this spring. Adren Dorsey started most of spring until his recent suspension. He looked quick and was solid as a backup, but I thought Spencer Neely looked just as good. Spencer started in the Maroon and White game and played well. He is fast if a little skinny for D-Line. In fact, they had him running down on the punt team, and he made a good open field tackle. When is the last time we saw a defensive lineman on punt team, and more, look good at it? We still have a long way to go up front, but I think we got better this spring. With the addition of Jonathan Mathis a juco transfer from Blinn and my old Alma Mater Westfield High School and Eddie Brown during two-a-days, our D-line could form into a strong unit.
Outside Linebacker: Without a doubt we have tremendous speed and depth in this group. With all the hype around Von, I was excited to watch him be a dominant player like previous Wrecking Crew linebackers have been in the spring prior to their senior years. He and Tony Jerod-Eddie must have met and agreed to collectively take it easy this spring. Von took a lot of plays off and just played with less intensity than I have seen from other Aggie backers before him. Sean Porter started opposite Von and had a nice sack today. The main backups that were impressive were Weaver and Stewart. There is also a fifth kid who showed spots of excellence. Caleb Russell is a kid I had not heard about prior to this spring, but I thought he looked very good at times. He is not the athlete some of his competitors are, but he is very good in man-to-man pass coverage and his pass rush was surprisingly impressive given his 228 pounds. Caleb is the first on my “Ax’s Future Favorites” watch list. None of the 5 looked completely comfortable with the system yet. OLB in the 50 is a difficult position to play because of all the variables that affect your responsibilities on any one play. I started out at this position my true freshman year and can tell you it is not simple. With 5 talented players, we will be able to find 2 who can be dependable and high impact next fall.
Inside Linebacker: Now to my favorite position. Mangum was out for the spring so Garrick Williams got to start and Wow did he take advantage of it. Garrick has shown himself to be a phenomenal linebacker! He has the speed and pass coverage ability of a DB, the hardnosed run defense of other previous Desoto linebackers and what is more Ags is this kid has the Wrecking Crew attitude. Last Saturday, on a goal line segment, the ball was placed on the 3 yard line and the offense must have tried 15 times and never got in. After each play Garrick stuck a running back in the backfield he was squealing loud enough to be heard in Snook. Next to him Hodges is the veteran, but I believe his starting position is at risk. Hodges is a smart, aggressive linebacker with sound fundamentals and excellent effort. He showed a few bursts of speed that were not there last fall, but he still has a hard time getting to the sideline on the sweep. This is a critical role of the ILB in the 50. Behind him is my second “future favorite” and not just because he wears 43. Aaron Arterburn is a grey shirt sophomore who is going to be a very good LB for us in the future. Aaron is the tallest ILB. He has the size, speed, instincts, and comfort in the 50 of a player who had been playing it for years. His pass coverage was very smooth, though not as good as Garrick’s and sideline-to-sideline his speed gives him an advantage Hodges does not have. His speed is probably between Garrick and Hodges. I do not expect him to start this year, but he will be a solid backup and should see lots of action this fall. The other ILBs I saw were Ricky Cavanaugh and Malcolm Johnson. They both looked uncomfortable with the system so it is difficult to judge how well they will play when they get up to speed. So, I see us having 4 solid ILBs going into fall and they are much faster than their predecessors last year.
Safeties: This group got beat up a lot this spring; but playing against the best receiving corp in the nation can do that to just about anybody. Trent Hunter is definitely the leader and he plays that way. He is very fast and comes up with big plays at opportune times. I see the other safety spot as up for grabs right now. Steven Terrell has been starting, but Clay Hunnicut and Colton Valencia both played like they wanted the position. Hunnicut is one of the 4 high school seniors who are already on campus rather than enjoying what is usually one of the most fun springs in a person’s life. He was a high school quarterback, but quickly switched to safety and has never looked back. He looked like a veteran out there and plays very good run defense in the alley. The last safety I want to talk about is my 3rd “Ax’s Future Favorite.” #39 is Blane Cheatum who no one is talking about. I saw him absolutely knock out Christine Michael and block a field goal last Saturday. He has some tremendous players in front of him right now, but watch this kid, because he is a player.
Cornerback: I am not sure what to think about our corners because they should be graded on a curve given they are playing against Fuller, Nwachukwu, and Swope everyday. T. Fred was out so the Juco transfer Coryell Judie got a plenty of PT. Judie has tremendous recovery speed and natural athletic ability, but is not consistent in the system yet. Today, Fuller beat him for a long TD, then he came back and intercepted the ball in a few plays later. Lionel Smith is a hard-hitting corner. Dustin Harris started on the right with Gardiner and DeAndre Thompson getting some reps behind him. I am still scratching my head, because we did not look very good, but again this could be deceiving given their competition. In 1991, the defense did not look very good during practice because we were chasing around this speedy freshman scout team running back named Greg Hill, but we ended up being the #1 defense in the nation. Do not write off our defensive backs because of all the big plays they gave up this spring.
From what I could see Trent Hunter and Lucas Patterson (NG) are the two leaders of this team with Garrick Williams bringing the personality. Von has the ability to make an impact, but he needs to decide to bring it.
Offensive Skill Positions: On the offensive side of the ball everyone is concerned about the line since last season was the best of times and the worst of times, but let’s start behind them. The Aggies return one of the best corp of skill players in the nation this year. We have 2 running backs that could start for anyone in the nation (Christine Michael and an unbelievably fast Cyrus Gray). Our 3rd running back is a young pup named Kalvin Guyton who could probably start at most of the other colleges in Texas. Any one of our 3 starting receivers (Fuller, Nwachukwu, and Swope) could be the best receiver on most of the teams in the nation. Their 3 backups Terrence McCoy, Brandal Jackson, and Kenric McNeal are also very solid. And, at quarterback we have two very poised and talented players with 3 very talented young pups behind them. Jerrod Johnson led the 1st team today after not playing during much of spring training. I have no doubt he will be even better this year than last year. Whether Tannehill stays at backup QB or moves back to receiver, he is a very talented player and played like the team leader this spring while Jerrod was out. Of the young quarterbacks, I liked Jamiel Showers the most until today. He has a great arm and a lot of fight. Today, he seemed nervous in the pocket and ducked out too early several times. Matt Joeckel is a prototype quarterback and looks to be developing fine, be he also seemed a little nervous in front of the crowd today. His passes fell way short and he looked a little confused. The last play of the day was a nice play by the 5th quarterback O’Quinn. He was flushed from the pocket but maintained his composure and found the open receiver in the corner of the end zone and completed a nice TD pass on the run.
Offensive Line: My personal belief is that our O-Line is going to be good this year if our starters can stay healthy, because we are very shallow. After trying many players at center, Matt Allen moved there and looked very solid. Even against Patterson Allen looked strong and poised. Patrick Lewis was shuffled around a bit this spring, but ended up back at starting right guard. He is an excellent run blocker as he showed when he was unveiled at the Tech game last year. The starting right tackle is Brian Thomas, who I thought looked very good. Other people had different opinions, but his run blocking was excellent and our inside running game looked strong today. On the left side, Evan Eike is the starting left guard. He is also a very strong run blocker, but his pass blocking needs a little help. Starting to his left is the high school senior Luke Joekel who many believe to be the biggest story of this spring. Luke is without a doubt the best pass blocker on this team, but that is not saying much. He is still young and is the lightest guy on the line by probably 20 pounds. Today, he blocked two blitzers on one play and it was impressive. The word is that when Jake Matthews gets on campus things could change. The only other offensive lineman I was impressed with was Rhontae Scales. He is very good on run blocking and had a nice open field block on a safety today. He is big and athletic. So, I count 6 D1 caliber o-linemen currently on the squad. Their health will decide a lot this fall.
I am excited about our prospects and believe Sherman is doing the right things. He is a vocal coach who is right in the middle of everything. The spring practices moved fast and the energy level was incredibly high. Aside from a few disappointments, I thought the team came together very well. We changed defensive schemes, had multiple new coaches and played without our starting quarterback most of the spring, but our men came together. Spring training is important because it is the opportunity for the young pups to show what they are made of and many took advantage. The competition for every starting job is very high even at positions with 2 solid players, the 3rd team guys are nipping at their heals. This is a healthy thing for our team and often goes unnoted. Your second team drives your first team to be better and with that said, the O-Line is the only place where some starters are feeling safe. I believe everyone else who wants to play this Fall will be working extra hard this summer because of the heat coming up behind them. Enjoy your summer and my God bless you and the Aggies.
Jason Atkinson
