Five for Friday

Time to get real…

A&M’s year long celebration of moving to the SEC officially jumped the shark this week with the release of the now famous video. At this point we’ve gone over just about every angle of A&M’s move, and it’s time to get down to business. We’ve talked about how, over time, A&M’s athletic department should fit in well with the rest of the SEC, but it’s almost like everybody has forgotten the absolutely daunting task in front of the Aggies this season. They face the four teams that have won the last six BCS Championships, and that’s coming off of a 6-6 season a year ago. Over the next month leading up to fall camp, we’re going to breakdown exactly that.

The problem at this point is that A&M, and the fans, have hyped this season so much that even if they win seven games, many fans aren’t going to realize just how big of an accomplishment that will be. A&M has an entirely new coaching staff, a new quarterback and essentially a whole new secondary they’ll be working with. Seven wins would be a hell of a season.

”The Opening” Has Begun

Maybe I just don’t “get it,” but I’m not a huge fan of the Nike summer camp circuit. First off, they’ve invented their own rating system of athleticism. (According to their SPARQ system, Texas’ Daje Johnson is the nation’s best athlete from last year’s class.) Now, this isn’t to say that I don’t think the camps are good for the athletes, certainly they are. Playing against good competition, no matter the format, is always good.

But we judge quarterbacks who are throwing without having to find passing windows, one of the game’s finer points. And obviously we’re judging them without players coming after them. Defensive backs also lose their ability to be overly physical with wide receivers, and don’t even get me started on the linemen.

But, judge it we shall, and if that is your cup of tea, then 247Sports has you covered. Perhaps our largest contingent to ever attend any event is covering The Opening, and they’ll be posting updates throughout the event on The Blue Board.

Closing Out the Class

We’ll have much more on this next week, but it’s interesting how many recruits A&M already has in the boat. The question is, how many of them end up signing with A&M? Between now and signing day we’re sure to see players decommit, and others players added to the class, but that’s the modern era of recruiting.

For a coaching staff, it’s hard because even if you have your class full and you’re happy with you have, you can’t stop recruiting that class. Last year the Aggies both benefitted from and were hurt by decommits in the final months. However, much of that can be attributed to a coaching change. But what will happen this year?

No surprises at SEC Media Days

When the Aggies, and we media types, head to Hoover, Alabama in two weeks, there won’t be any surprises from the player group. The Aggies are sending Luke Joeckel, Ryan Swope and Sean Porter to the event. Statistically, those three make the most sense. Ryan Swope is on the verge of being A&M’s best receiver ever, Porter led the team in sacks a year ago and Joeckel is a projected top ten draft pick, perhaps as early as next year’s draft.

Selfishly, I’d rather have seen Christine Michael, who not only is recovering from injury but always brings some fire to interview room.

New Look for Aggie Basketball

This week, [b]ESPN’s Myron Medcalf wrote about the ten most indispensible players in college basketball. That list is hard to argue with, but it got me thinking. If the Aggies are going to have a big 2012 season, it’s likely going to be behind Elston Turner’s play. He’s the only player coming back that showed any consistency from a season ago.

But this A&M team is the ultimate wild card team. At this point, it’s impossible to predict what they might look like. With six new players on the roster, and Kourtney Roberson returning from injury the Aggies really have seven players in the mix that weren’t there last year.

I don’t even think Billy Kennedy himself could predict what this team will do, but it should be fun to watch.