New Names and Faces enter Aggieland!

After an embarrassing 4-8 season and a beat down by then rivals the University of Texas, the 2009 recruiting class looked even worse with only one five-star recruit. Although they weren’t the best recruiting class, the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of 2013 – including those recruits – and the 12th man knew they were going to turn things around for the football program.

Christine Michael proved to be a beast for the Aggie 2013 class. However, the rest seemed at best sub-par evident by Ryan Swope who was ranked 116th at his position, yet due to lack of great recruits the Aggies had their eye on him. The 2009 football season was an amazing difference from past years as they won their first three games, but they had a mid-season scare losing twice in a row.

The Aggies’ late surge proved to be the start of change. All of a sudden it seemed like this overlooked, underrepresented, under talented recruiting class might be able to make a difference in Aggie history. The Aggies made a major bowl game for the first time since 2004. This was still just the beginning for the class of 2013 as they would lead their team to the Cotton Bowl their second year in Aggieland and I know we all thought that this was the beginning of a new national contending football team.

Ryan Swope, who everyone saw as this small white kid trying to be a receiver proved doubters wrong as he set the school’s career receiving yardage record, single-season catches, and numerous others. After an uprising and a momentum shift in Aggie football, Texas A&M was finally at the top again and current and former Aggies wanted to see every second of it. The grass was green and the food was good. Mike Sherman looked to be the coach of the future.

After the storybook tape-burning resurrection the year before, after a devastating loss to Missouri, the class of ’13 seemed to follow the pattern of the past. All hope was lost and jokes about being a one half team rang louder than clanging cymbals in an empty chamber.  While many Aggies ranted, raved, and wondered who would be next in line to lead the Aggies, Kevin Sumlin was chosen and immediately made a splash with his senior class.

Although redshirt freshman sensation Johnny Manziel led the team, it was Patrick Lewis who kept Manziel in line and controlled the tempo as well as the offensive line with grit and determination to set up Manziel’s Heisman season performance.

Other key contributors to the recent Aggie’s success from the 2009 recruiting class include Ryan Epperson, Uzoma Nwachkwu, Kenric McNeal, Dustin Harris, and Steven Terrell. There is not enough time to go person by person to thank and show appreciation for the time spent here in Aggieland, but they started off as a horrible recruited class with one star wishing to put the Aggies on the map for football to becoming a brotherhood of love and a team of stars doing exactly what they came to accomplish.

No disrespect to the class of ’13 – because I know we are the best – but seeing how far these guys came and produced on the field shows exactly what a good coach and good work ethic can achieve. Sumlin has come in and used these seniors to put A&M on the map and recruiting has sky rocketed as the ESPN.com No. 12 recruiting class walks in with swag, but will the class of 2017 ascend to and overcome the expectations that 2013 has left for them?

I know you’ve heard the excitement and cheers as recruits such as Ricky Seals-Jones, Justin Manning, LaQuivionte Gonzalez, and many others have signed, and Ags it’s time to open up the champagne bottles and begin the celebration for numerous years to come. These are all just names to us now, and of course we don’t know how things will turn out. Let’s look back at the class of ’13, the most talented and highly recruited player, Michael, was out multiple years due to injury and butted heads with Sumlin. There’s no way to tell who’s going to shine and who’s going to fall, but in the past we have seen more than our fair share of players step up when it matters.

Dear 12th Man, thank you for your support and for being what you are. You are one of the many traditions and reasons why the class of ’13 and the class of ’17 was and will be successful. With Sumlin to lead and mold these young minds with traditions of honor, loyalty, respect, excellence, integrity, leadership, selfless service, and with the natural talent that these boys come in with, Texas A&M has nothing to be worried about as the Fightin’ Texas Aggie class of 2017 will win way more games than the classes of previous years.

Signees, Welcome to Aggieland.

God bless and Gig ‘em! ’13

Charity Chambers accompanied me in writing this article.