The Battalion: February 6, 2014

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february 6, 2014

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NATIONAL SIGNING2014 DAY RECAP I

PAGE FOUR

A&M HONORS SCHOLARSHIP OF INJURED PLAYER Signee Cedric Collins’ football career is over due to a rare condition, but his scholarship will be upheld.

PAGE FIVE

FRONT SEVEN GETS A SHOT IN THE ARM

t’s all over — the commitments, the defections, the offer sheets, the waiting. Twenty-two athletes cemented their football futures Wednesday and signed letters of intent to play at Texas A&M. Head coach Kevin Sumlin follows a 34-member 2013 class, ranked No. 8 nationally by ESPN, with a 2014 encore that finished No. 4.

Among the commitments are such talents as quarterback Kyle Allen, wide receiver Speedy Noil, defensive end Miles Garrett and defensive back Nick Harvey — all of whom aim to contribute to fill the shoes of departing Aggies like Johnny Manziel and Mike Evans.

Signing day can be a blur of commentary, rankings and Twitter activity. On pages four and five, The Battalion sports desk breaks down the class and its wrinkles. Who will take the reins of the program?

Which signees will make a name for themselves on the new Kyle Field?

NUMBERS

The A&M defense ranked No. 110 in rushing defense in 2013, and Sumlin and his staff made efforts to bolster the unit for the future by adding seven defensive linemen and linebackers.

SIGNING DAY IS CREEPY AND WONDERFUL COLUMN BY MARK DORE, PAGE FIVE

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7

SIGNEES

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5,125

4

OF THE TOP-10 RECRUITING CLASSES ARE FROM THE SEC

TH

COMBINED WEIGHT OF ALL 22 RECRUITS

NATIONALLY RANKED RECRUITING CLASS

service

The 12th Can takes action to fight hunger Duncan Rankin & Jennifer Reiley The Battalion

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exas Aggies Making Changes is hoping to expand its 12th Can Food Pantry to ensure fellow Aggies don’t have to worry about going hungry.

With the shelves stocked with an unprecedented 2,500 pounds of food for Wednesday and Thursday’s opening, Whitney Pearson, TAMC facilities chair, said the week is another step forward for the pantry.

“In our most recent opening in the beginning of January over the holiday break,

we served 24,” Pearson said. “As people’s knowledge of the pantry grows, so does the need.”

First suggested by former Student Body President John Claybrook during the 20122013 school year, the 12th Can came to fruition with its first opening November.

The food pantry is open once a month, but Phuong Trinh, finance chair of TAMC and senior finance major, said she would like to see the pantry open more often in the future.

“My goal for the organization is to expand the pantry,” Trinh said. “We

A&M dispatches MSU, halts 5-game losing streak Conner Darland

The Battalion ehind junior guard Jamal Jones’ game-high 20 points, Texas A&M (13-9, 4-5 SEC) ended its five game losing streak by defeating the Mississippi State Bulldogs 72-52 at Reed Arena Wednesday.

A&M head coach Billy Kennedy said he was relieved to see his players play at a high level and end their losing streak.

“We’ve practiced hard, we just haven’t been able to respond to adversity,” Kennedy said. “I thought tonight was the first time in a couple weeks that we responded to adversity in the first half and didn’t hang our heads.”

To start the game, A&M shot 11-31 (35.5 percent) from the field and 1-12 (8.3 percent) from three-point range.

The Aggies only committed one turnover in the first half and went into halftime tied at 26 with the Bulldogs.

The Aggies hit their stride offensively in the second half, increasing their shooting percentage to 69.2 percent on 18-26 shooting from the field. Meanwhile, A&M forced the Bulldogs to shoot under 38 percent.

As well as leading A&M in points, Jones also led the team with four threepointers and seven rebounds.

“I’ve been in a slump, so I’ve been doing whatever I can to make shots and help the team any way possible,” Jones said. “I’ve been spending a lot of time

My message to students is that we are all the 12th Man. We stand and support each other. If any student has a problem with budget and can’t get food, we are here to help.”

— Phuong Trinh, finance chair of TAMC and senior finance major

See 12th Can on page 2

msc townhall

‘Driver Friendly’ to kickstart Lunch Box Special series Students strive to draw musical diversity

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served 34 people in November. We can serve more people. I’d like to have more openings.”

In order to receive food, people come into the pantry, request a food basket and sign off.

Trinh said the food pantry is another food option for struggling members in College Station and the pantry’s location is more convenient for students.

“With the 12th Can Food Pantry, people do not have to go all the way to the Brazos Valley food pantry,” Trinh said. “They can come to

Katie Canales

Special to The Battalion n its first Lunch Box Special of the semester, MSC Town Hall will feature the alternative rock group, Driver Friendly.

Driver Friendly is just one of the many bands that will perform for A&M students at Rudder Fountain throughout the school year during the Lunch Box Specials. Tierney Rose, Lunch Box executive and senior communication major, is one of the members in charge of coordinating the lunchtime concerts.

“It’s just so you can see something different,” Rose said. “You don’t have to sit in the MSC and stare at the wall, you can actually go outside and enjoy some live music.”

Town Hall’s main focus is to recruit musical groups that will entertain the students and play music they will enjoy.

“We try to bring upand-coming acts, like Driv-

I

Heran Guan — THE BATTALION

Senior Kourtney Roberson scored 14 points and added six rebounds in the A&M win Wednesday. in the gym lately, so much that Coach told me to slow down a little bit and save my legs.”

For the full story, go online at thebatt.com

COURTESY

Members of Driver Friendly, an alternative rock group that toured with Relient K, say they have had positive experiences at A&M. er Friendly,” Rose said.

“They’re actually pretty big.

They toured with Relient K and Motion City Soundtrack, which are actually two pretty big bands in the rock world.

That is actually really exciting for us.”

Driver Friendly recently performed at the Grand Stafford Theater in downtown Bryan. The band’s lead vocalist, Tyler Welsh, said the band has had positive experiences in Aggieland.

“We just love playing there because everyone’s

awesome,” Welsh said. “It’s a great venue and it’s close to home so we can go there as often as we like. It’s always just a good show there. It’s always fun.”

Welsh also said BryanCollege Station encourages the participation of a diversity of musical acts.

“I think what’s really cool, especially coming out of Bryan, is there’s this really cool art scene,” Welsh said. “Actually, it’s a little bit See Town Hall on page 3

2/5/14 11:58 PM

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Jake Walker, Editor in Chief THE BATTALION is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.

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Jonathan Sheen — THE BATTALION

Dr. Martha Dannenbaum, Student Health Center director, spoke at Senate about Beutel visitation changes.

Health Center director talks charges

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ednesday’s Student Senate meeting dealt with Beutel visitation charges and healthy dining options.

Dr. Martha Dannenbaum, Student Health Center director, attended the meeting to discuss and answer questions about the proposed visitation charges at Beutel.

“Right now, we have about 60,000 visits per year on average, and about 20,000 of those already have some sort of charge associated with it,” Dannenbaum said. “The other 40,000 visits, though, don’t have anything associated

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with it.”

Dannenbaum discussed why the charges would be better applied per visitation rather than increasing the Health Center fee for all students.

Dannenbaum said the $5 charge is likely to increase in coming years to keep the student fees from increasing.

“That is probably what would happen because, as you know, $5 is nothing,” Dannenbaum said.

The money collected from the fees would be set aside for building renovations and other facility improvements.

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William Guerra — THE BATTALION

Netflix binges impact campus social dynamics Anna Davidson The Battalion

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etflix binging — the act of watching multiple television episodes back to back in one sitting — has become a popular pastime among college students.

“I don’t watch it that often, but before school started I watched all five seasons of Breaking Bad,” said Michael Pickel, junior recreation, park and tourism sciences major.

There are 62 episodes total of Breaking Bad. With each episode totaling 45 minutes, that is 2,790 minutes, or 46.5 hours of viewing.

In a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Netflix, “binge watching” was defined as watching between two to six episodes at one time. This was found to be a widespread activity, with more than 60 percent of those surveyed reporting binge watching regularly. Unashamed, 73 percent of those streamers said they had positive feelings towards

12th Can Continued from page 1

food pantry,” Trinh said. “They can come to the on-campus one.”

Senior finance major Andrew Miesch, who volunteered at the pantry Wednesday, said the bulk of the food for the 12th Can is donated by local supermarkets to the Brazos Valley Food Bank with a small portion coming from private sources like Aggies Can, the Student Affairs Can Drive and the Aggie Moms Club. Miesch said the pantry supports both students and faculty and that as people learn about the 12th Can, the demand for food will grow.

“As more people learn that we’re here

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The senators also addressed more balanced meal options on campus. The proposed Healthy Dining Options Bill seeks to promote healthier meal options on campus for students.

Student Senate passed the bill, which will request that Chartwells provide those options to students.

binge streaming TV. Pickel said it took him seven days to watch all 62 episodes — a 40-hour week with six and a half hours of overtime.

Gabriel Amaro, former sociology instructor at Texas A&M, said students need to be able to structure their lives around watching Netflix so they don’t procrastinate too much.

“Technology is at your fingertips and this is just another way that technology is getting into people’s lives,” Amaro said.

Kendall Gilliland, sophomore biomedical sciences major, blazed through eight seasons of Dexter in just over two weeks.

“I didn’t really just lay around and watch all day, I’d have it on while I was cleaning or doing homework,” Gilliland said.

“I like having noise in the background, plus it’s an interesting show without all the ads.”

For others, watching their favorite show is a welcome break from life.

“All I did over break was sit in my room and watch Gossip Girl,” said Paige Milburn, sophomore biomedical sciences major. “I’d wake up, workout and come back home. After I would shower, I’d grab some lunch and snuggle under my blanket and watch about eight to 10 episodes a day. I only got up to use the bathroom and get food. I am slightly ashamed but not really. I got through about five seasons.”

Amaro said this kind of watching can be negative for people who tend to keep to themselves. However, watching with others can be a positive source of connection among a group of friends, Amaro said.

Netflix has more than 44 million members, according to the company’s website.

“It’s so hard to stop with shows that end, on cliff hangers because of the ‘15 seconds until your next episode’ aspect,” Milburn said. “It’s never stopped me from going out with friends, just maybe a little later than I’d planned.”

and that we can help bridge the gap, I definitely expect to see more people served.”

Miesch said.

Kaitlin Raley, operations and logistics chair of TAMC and senior agribusiness major, said of the approximated 2,500 pounds of food stocked at the pantry, almost 500 pounds of it came through private donations.

Although the donations are helpful, Trinh said TAMC still requires additional funding.

“One obstacle is funding food right now,” Trinh said. “We don’t have a lot of donors. We did receive a budget from the Office of the Student Body President, but we have needed to use member dues to buy food.”

The food pantry will be open the first Wednesday and Thursday of every month. Those interested in getting involved with TAMC or the 12th Can are encouraged to donate food, money and time as they can.

Trinh said the pantry welcomes all those in need, following the ideal of selfless service that A&M embodies.

“My message to students is that we are all the 12th Man,” she said. “We stand and support each other. If any student has a problem with budget and can’t get food, we are here to help.”

In addition to Wednesday’s opening, the food pantry will be open from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

2/5/14 11:35 PM

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thebattalion

Town Hall Continued from page 1

Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION

The patent exhibit will be on display in the Stark Galleries through March 30.

Law professor Dennis Kelly to detail beauty and history of patent models They are precious to us both in an historical manner and an artistic one. They’re important to us as part of our technical history. They were inventions, things that were new and useful. They were advances in technology. I’m glad that people preserved them for us.”

Bradley D’Souza The Battalion

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n an effort to bridge the gap between the worlds of engineering and art, the MSC Stark Galleries will bring H. Dennis Kelly, Texas A&M School of Law professor, to speak on the patent exhibit on display in the MSC. The “Fun with Patent Law: Inventions in 3-D” presentation complements the patent exhibit in Stark Galleries, which is part of a traveling collection of more than 50 patent models from the Rothschild Patent Museum in New York. Prior to 1880, patents submitted to the U.S. Patent Office had to include a small model of the invention. However, due to storage constraints and a couple of fires, Congress removed this requirement and sold the remaining models at auction.

Kelly said the model collection interests him as a former patent attorney, but the beauty and ingenuity of the historical items holds just as much significance.

“But these models are interesting for other reasons,” Kelly said. “It’s the history of the patent system, inventions that people got patented prior to 1880. That’s pretty fascinating.

It is also appropriate that it’s presented in an art gallery because these models are a really good example of art. They’re American ingenuity. They’re made out of wood mostly, with a little metal. There’s a miniature of a bridge and a paper cutting machine, a motor and all kinds of stuff. They’re beautiful.”

Kelly, Class of 1973, played in the Aggie Band while earning his civil engineering degree. After serving four years active duty in the Army, he went to law school at Texas Tech.

Kelly then moved to Fort Worth, where he

Dennis Kelly

— H. Dennis Kelly, Texas A&M School of Law professor

began to practice law as a patent attorney. He got his start in academia as an adjunct professor and switched to full time shortly after.

Greg Phillipy, education curator at Stark Galleries, said he is excited for Kelly’s presentation, both for its content and for the collaborative precedent it is setting.

“This is a new collaboration with the TAMU School of Law,” Phillipy said. “This is one of the first exchanges we’ve had the opportunity to have and we’re thrilled to have Kelly come down and talk about patent law and patent models as well as some of the funny, interesting stories surrounding them.”

Kelly said he hopes those in attendance will come to appreciate the beauty of both the patent models and the history behind them.

“I hope that they enjoy learning about these inventions and learning about these models,” Kelly said. “They are precious to us both in an historical manner and an artistic one. They’re important to us as part of our technical history. They were inventions, things that were new and useful. They were advances in technology. I’m glad that people preserved them for us.”

Hyunjin Lee, sophomore biochemistry major, said she is interested in the presentation because patents have a real-world impact

on many professions today.

“In the future, if I came up with an invention, I would have to patent it,” Lee said.

“Patents serve as a way of claiming an idea.

The models show the ideas inventors in the past have had and preserve that history.”

Along with the exhibit, the Stark Galleries are promoting “Fuzzy Logic,” a competition that challenges student teams to build the most elaborate Rube Goldberg Machine to pop a balloon. Phillipy said the exhibit, the competition and Kelly’s presentation all share the same goal of bridging the gap between the engineering and art.

“Texas A&M University has a strong engineering program,” Phillipy said. “We’re trying to create the link between engineering and art. We want to highlight the ingenuity and the creativity behind engineering. We really want students and faculty from the engineering department to become engaged in that historical thought process while looking at historical models.”

The presentation is from 12-1 p.m. Friday and includes light lunchtime refreshments.

The exhibit will be on display at Stark Galleries until March 30.

better than Austin because it’s a really nice, close-knit community with great places to play. For a band that’s just now starting out, it might be easier starting in Bryan or College Station than it is in Austin.”

The Austin-based group has accumulated followers, including Emily Boyd, freshman biomedical sciences major and Austin native.

Boyd said she hopes Town Hall continues recruiting bands similar to Driver Friendly.

“I like rock ’n’ roll and alternative and stuff like that, so having more diverse bands is a lot better than just country all the time,” Boyd said. “It’s nice to branch out.”

As far as what Town Hall has in store for the campus in the future, the organization already has bands booked for the rest of the semester, Rose said.

“We have a band called the Bluebird Specials, that’s next week,” Rose said. “They are a three-girl folk band. They’re really cool, they’re really different.”

The variety of tastes and interests is exactly what Town Hall is striving to appeal to as they bring acts to the A&M campus, Rose said.

“We think about different types of events to put on,” Rose said.

“Obviously, music is number one.

But we think about all kinds of events. In the survey we sent out, we said ‘What else would you want to see?’ A comedian was number two. That’s definitely something that we talked about — anything that we think the students would really enjoy.”

Boyd said students can gain a lot by attending the concerts held by Town Hall.

“People can go to broaden their horizons,” Boyd said. “You never know whether or not you’re going to like a certain kind of music until you listen to it. Because even if you say ‘Oh, this band is alternative and rock ’n’ roll,’ that doesn’t mean that they’re going to fit into that stigma and that they’re going to be exactly what you think they are.”

Driver Friendly will perform from 12-1 p.m. Thursday in Rudder Plaza. Admission is free.

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thebattalion 2.6.2014 page4

SIGNING Otaro Alaka Houston, TX | LB

@battsports

DAY

Kyle Allen Scottsdale, AZ | QB

Cedric Collins Dallas, TX | DB

Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION

Head coach Kevin Sumlin speaks to the media Wednesday after signing his second consecutive top-10 signing class.

Qualen Cunningham Chandler, AZ | DE

Sumlin, A&M ink consensus top five batch of signees Sean Lester The Battalion

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Kealvin “Tank” Davis Garland, TX | OL

Jermaine Eluemunor Denville, NJ | OL

Myles Garrett Arlington, TX | DE

Avery Gennesy Southaven, MS | OL

JJ Gustafson Dallas, TX | OL

evin Sumlin and his coaching staff inked 22 players to National Letters of Intent Wednesday to play football at Texas A&M, leading to a consensus topfive signing class.

On national signing day the class lacked any surprises and instead addressed weaknesses on both sides of the ball.

The group is balanced with 11 offensive signees and 11 defensive signees, something Sumlin joked about looking planned.

Among the 22 signees, 10 players were ranked among the ESPN 300 and 16 were ranked four or five-star recruits by ESPN. “This is a class that I think addresses our needs across the board,” Sumlin said in a Wednesday press conference. “We have a plan of how we want to do things.

We’ve lost some very talented players offensively this year and we’ve got to replace those. We had a depth issue last year on defense and I think the first attempt for us this year was to address those needs from an offensive line standpoint and the complete defense.”

The Aggies not only signed the top quarterback in the country as they seek a replacement for Johnny Manziel, but they also ventured out of their comfort zone to get him.

Kyle Allen from Scottsdale, Ariz., enters as a 6-foot-3, pro-style quarterback that will have a shot at the starting quarterback job immediately.

“Kyle Allen was coming whether Johnny was coming back or not,” Sumlin said. “His commitment was before that, which I think

says something about Kyle Allen.”

The Aggie offense also got a boost at the receiver position for a second-straight year by signing Devante “Speedy” Noil, who is the nation’s top wide receiver prospect.

Both Noil and Allen signed early and are already enrolled in classes at A&M. Both players, along with three others, will participate in spring drills, which will begin Feb. 28, Sumlin announced Wednesday.

“Kyle [Allen’s] graduating early, making a statement that he wants to compete for the starting role, and Speedy also. Those guys made a decision to do that a while ago during the recruiting process,” Sumlin said. “It didn’t matter where they were going to school, they had that mindset that they were going to go there early and be ready to compete to play. It helps a lot.”

On defense, the Aggies addressed concerns about the pass rush by adding a player some are considering the top talent in the country at any position.

Listed at 6-foot-5, 250-pounds, Myles Garrett brings a pass rushing presence to the A&M defense that ranked No. 90 of 123 teams in the nation in sacks last season. What he also possesses is an intimidation factor that Sumlin could attest to when asked what he thought about Garrett upon watching him play and meeting him for the first time.

“As a football player? Really good,” Sumlin said. “I was even more impressed when I went to watch him play basketball two weeks ago. He took off his shirt after the game and he looks

like a Batman costume.

He’s put together like crazy.

There’s a reason he’s ranked where he is.”

Garrett joined current freshman receiver Ricky Seals-Jones among the few players who Sumlin visited via the Swagcopter during their recruitment.

“The helicopter is still undefeated,” Sumlin said when reminded of it Wednesday.

“We may need to use it more based on the way it’s going.”

To some, A&M’s biggest victory of the recruiting season came in recent weeks when Sumlin was able to flip two players committed to play for the Texas Longhorns. By swinging linebacker Otaro Alaka and defensive tackle Zaycoven Henderson from new Longhorn head coach Charlie Strong, Sumlin and the Aggies were a popular topic in the state on signing day.

When asked Wednesday about Sumlin and A&M’s “coolness” within the state, including the use of the Swagcopter, Strong responded.

“The university speaks for itself,” Strong said. “We don’t need gadgets. We’re not going to be a gadget program.”

But regardless of gadgets, Sumlin said he is certain the Aggies still have a long way to go to catch up to Alabama and LSU who finished ahead of A&M in the class rankings.

“This is a place to start,” Sumlin said. “I saw somewhere today we were [ranked] fourth … We’re third in our own division. Not our league, our division. Are we gaining ground? I hope so. We’re doing the best we can right now.”

A&M honors injured player’s scholarship Rare condition ended Cedric Collins’ career Clay Koepke The Battalion

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eciding on where to play football and, more importantly, where to continue one’s education is a long process that came to an end on Wednesday when players across the country sent their national letter of intent to the school of their choice.

However, for Cedric Collins — the footballsavvy defensive back out of Skyline High School in Dallas — signing a letter of intent was more than his ticket to play football. It was his ticket to an education. “[Collins’] family … [was] really looking forward to not only him playing football but most of all getting an education at Texas A&M,” said head coach Kevin Sumlin. “I thought it was important to put that family at ease and say, ‘Whatever happens, Ced is going to be with us and he is going to go to school here.’ And that’s just kind of how we do that.”

Collins, who committed to A&M in August 2012

and was A&M’s first class of 2014 commit, felt numbness in his legs during a high school playoff game in 2012. What doctors found were congenital cervical abnormalities that made football too dangerous to continue. Collins was diagnosed with Klippel-Feil Syndrome, which is an exceptionally rare congenital fusion of the vertebrae.

Despite Collins’ injury and the non-binding commitment A&M made to Collins in August 2012, Sumlin and the Aggie coaching staff honored the four-star recruit’s commitment.

“Commitment is a twoway street,” Sumlin said.

“There have been a number of instances where guys have had [scholarships] pulled on them. His family believed in us early in his career and I just thought that it was important that we showed them the same type of commitment that they showed us from the beginning.”

With his injury restraining him from playing a contact sport, Collins will trade in his shoulder pads and cleats for a visor and clipboard this season to become the only A&M student coach on scholarship.

William Guerra — THE BATTALION

Nick Harvey Richmond, TX | DB

Zaycoven Henderson Longview, TX | DT Player photos courtesy of AggieAthletics

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2/5/14 11:01 PM

thebattalion 2.6.2014 page5

SIGNING

DAY

@battsports

#NSD2014

thebattalion asks

Q:

Which 2014 signee do you think shows the most promise?

Frank Iheanacho Houston, TX | WR

Mark Doré: Signing day is a weird, creepy, wonderful cesspool

N

ational Signing Day is the second-creepiest holiday celebrated in America. The creepiest is Columbus Day, and it’s not even close. It’s 2014 and this country still celebrates the guy who tortured and killed natives. That’s weird, America. Time to bump that one from the calendar.

“Miles Garrett. If you watch his tape and the film of his senior year you can’t really deny the potential that he has and the upswing of what he can bring to our school.”

Gretchen Gerken, junior economics major

“Speedy Noil. I watched him verbally commit at the all-American game and he looks like a total stud.”

Bridget Weiss, freshman psychology major

“Kyle Allen definitely has the most promise coming in for the 2014 season because he is one heck of a quarterback.”

Ryan McDonald, sophomore construction science major Photo feature by Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION

Signees refuel inexperienced front seven 7 linebackers, defensive linemen among signing haul Clay Koepke

The Battalion fter allowing 5,072 yards of total offense to end the season at a No. 57 overall defensive ranking last year, the Aggies headed into the offseason with a need — the front seven.

The young and inexperienced front seven surrendered 222.3 yards per game last season and came in as the No. 110 rushing defense. “[We] had a depth issue last year on defense,” said head coach Kevin Sumlin. “The first attempt for us this year was to address those needs from an offensive line standpoint, and our defensive front seven — really our complete defense.”

The Aggies addressed their front seven vulnerabilities Wednesday by signing seven new faces

A

BAT_02-06-14_A5.indd 1

— Myles Garrett, Qualen Cunningham, Otaro Alaka, Josh Walker, Deshawn Washington, Jarrett Johnson and Zaycoven Henderson.

Sumlin added depth to the class by swinging Otaro Alaka and Zaycovan Henderson from the Texas Longhorns in recent weeks, which improved the class to a consensus No. 5 ranking.

Myles Garrett, the top-ranked defensive lineman and No. 4 overall prospect, headlined this year’s class. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound signee from Arlington racked up 81 tackles, 19.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and four blocked kicks during his senior season.

Joining Garrett on the defensive line are defensive ends Qualen Cunningham and Jarrett

Don’t misunderstand me as equating colonial genocide with angry tweets directed at 17 and 18 year olds. But on the hierarchy of oddest things to celebrate, the day high school kids decide the school at which they want to play football sits near the top of the list. It’s hard not to write about the messy side of recruiting, the under-the-surface stuff people don’t like to talk about, but if I do that I also have to address my hypocrisy.

With sports, I tend to take the road most pessimistic. (That’s the title of a poem, probably.)

This pessimism stems from a childhood spent watching the lost generation of athletes. The baseball players on my bedroom posters: dopers.

The cyclists I watched every July in the Tour de France: juicers. When dollars and bodies are peddled in large quantities, things get gross and fans get burned. Those of you who believe in a nation of squeaky-clean college football programs think I’m crazy. You might be right. But so much money hinges on these high schoolers that it’s naive to think Cam Newton is the only high-profile athlete in the last few years to play for pay. It’s a symptom of crowbarring years of the most marketable (and perishable) skills from these athletes and making them do it for free.

But here’s the bottom line: If America gets to celebrate a guy like Christopher Columbus for 100-plus years, I get to revel in signing day with a guilt-free conscience. It’s much more fun this way. To decry football recruiting would be to imply that I don’t get swept up in every “YESSIR!” tweet, that I don’t squint at the poor video quality of some student’s broadcasted college announcement. That would be untrue.

When Kevin Sumlin filched a pair of defensive playmakers — tackle Zaycoven Henderson and linebacker Otaro Alaka — from the heir to the Iron Throne in Austin, Charlie Strong, I lost my mind.

When receiver Speedy Noil, a consensus top10 national talent from New Orleans, passed up Les “Mad Hatter” Miles to be a part of Sumlin’s offensive engine, I literally beat my chest. I was alone in my room. Recruiting does that to people.

My friend said a week or so ago, “Is it bad if I’m not impressed anymore?”

He wasn’t speaking in reference to this recruiting class. No one could. There’s no more than a blemish or two in this crop of signees.

Sumlin would have loved another linebacker, another safety. He might have been happier had

Dylan Sumner-Gardner and Varshaun Nixon not flipped their commitments. But anyone who complains about this class probably complains when the hero in an action movie shoots too many times without reloading.

He wasn’t speaking in reference to any specific signee. Noil, quarterback Kyle Allen, defensive end Myles Garrett, defensive back Nick Harvey — the group speaks for itself.

No, his comment came at the news that Sumlin’s swag-and-bag system (my door is open, Texas A&M, if you want to talk trademarks) snared another recruit, a consensus four-star for 2016. And he wasn’t impressed.

Four-star recruits are mundane in this iteration of Texas A&M. The recruiting riches in the Sumlin saga’s second act makes desensitization inevitable. The flip to the SEC brought about the narrative that the only SEC school in the hotbed of Texas talent should be a recruiting giant. Whether the conference, location or media coverage actually makes athletes more draft-ready matters not at all. So many fans, players, media and coaches have agreed College Station is a football-friendly place, and that establishes collective meaning. It went like this: Sumlin said A&M is cool; football players decided Sumlin is cool; A&M is cool.

Don’t think about it too hard or it’ll topple over. It’s okay to say Santa Sumlin brought Christmas early on signing day. But don’t tweet at recruits. Eighteen-year-old, hyper-talented athletes don’t care what you have to say and you’re probably being a jerk. Don’t be one of those message board people. You’ll make it less fun for all of us.

Recruiting is creepy, signing day slightly less so, and as long as you recognize it’s weird that you have the heights and weights of high school football players memorized, it’s perfectly acceptable to love that you have to scroll to the late teens in signing class rankings to find our friends in Austin.

Mark Doré is a senior English major and managing editor for The Battalion

NEXT MAN UP

With key cogs on the way out, we look at the Wednesday signees who could replace lost production Johnny Manziel

Kyle Allen

Mike Evans

Frank Iheanacho

Jake Matthews

Jermaine Eluemunor

WR

Travis Labhart

Speedy Noil

LB

Steven Jenkins

Otaro Alaka

DT

Kirby Ennis

Zaycoven Henderson

QB WR OT

Jamal Jeffery Lufkin, TX | WR

Jarrett Johnson Katy, TX | DE

Zach Ledwik La Grange, TX | OL

Koda Martin Manvel, TX | OL

Devante “Speedy” Noil New Orleans, LA | WR

Josh Reynolds San Antonio, TX | WR

Josh Walker Gilmer, TX | LB

Deshawn Washington Nederland, TX | DT

Armani Watts Forney, TX | DB

William Guerra — THE BATTALION

Johnson and defensive tackles Zaycoven Henderson and DeShawn Washington.

Cunningham, the 6-foot3, 220-pound son of former A&M offensive tackle Rick Cunningham, was one of two players Sumlin added

from Arizona, expanding the program’s recruiting boundaries.

“Across the board we have branched out a little bit, probably for the first time since we’ve been here, going out of state obviously to Arizona, Louisiana,

junior college situation in Pennsylvania and a number of other states we probably haven’t been to before,” Sumlin said. “I think that speaks to our brand expanding east and west and the television exposure over the last couple of years.”

The Aggies added talent to last year’s linebacking corps with Alaka and Walker. Alaka, a two-time first team linebacker out of Houston, compiled 88 tackles, 9 tackles-for-loss and 11 sacks his senior season.

Donovan Wilson Shreveport, LA | DB

2/5/14 11:00 PM

page 6

opinion

thursday 2.6.2014

thebattalion

IN SPITE OF IT ALL Jessica Smarr: Vengeance is mine, probably

A

s the product of a good ol’ Southern Baptist hell-andbrimstone kind of upbringing, I internalized about three times the recommended dose of crippling guilt, shame and self-loathing. I don’t want to brag or anything, but I’m probably better at completely despising my entire being than anyone else in the whole wide world.

This causes issues, obviously, because I end up using all this hate on myself and I barely have any left to direct toward other people. Jed and Cindy Smock’s campus visits mark particularly trying times in my life because they start yelling about fornication or fishmongers or something and students start yelling back and I just don’t have enough hate in my heart to join in on what appears to be a rollicking good time.

I am constantly impressed by the amount of active prejudice and hatred people can muster up. And then they just use it all willy-nilly, going about bad-mouthing people of different religions or cultures or economic classes. I’ve even seen some people hate these other people they’ve never even met before.

What a time to be alive.

It truly is wildly admirable. I’ll never have that kind of strength.

That is why I must carefully allocate my hate resources to ensure I’m using all my scorn in the most efficient way possible. I’ve actually drawn up a list of people I direct most of my contempt toward and decided to share it, just so anyone else suffering

from low hostility levels can properly direct their hate as well.

Those who borrow writing utensils and never return them Why do the people who borrow pencils always seem to be asking for them all the time? I gave you a pencil last week, and the week before that and the week before that. What could you possibly need all those pencils for? Unless you’re passing my pencils off to underprivileged squirrels or something, you need to stop taking them from me. For all I know, you might be making practice prison shanks out of those suckers and I refuse to fund violence.

People who pet my hair and end up violating me.

Yes, I know. I have long hair and it probably looks real soft. That by no means gives you permission to touch it. Because when you reach out to pet me, you usually run your hand just right on down my torso and I end up getting felt-up by a stranger for the third time that week.

If you’re going to cop a feel, at least tell me your name, okay? It makes me feel dirty when you walk away knowing my cup size and hair soft-

ness and I don’t even know your last name.

People who respond to “I’m a psychology major” with “Stop reading my mind!”

When you tell people you’re a psychology major, they respond in one of two ways. If they’re related to you, they will tell you they are disappointed in your life choices. If they aren’t, they’ll usually scream something about how you need to stop it with your psychic abilities. Look, I’m not psychic. And if I were, yelling at me to stop reading your mind would not deter me.

Please, just stop shouting at me. It’s not nice.

Whoever provides junior high children with cologne.

I understand kids. They smell bad. I went through that phase too and it’s not their fault. But whoever is giving them what, judging by these chemical burns in my nostrils appears to be buckets of cologne, needs to be punished — especially since they just dropped those kids off at an R-rated movie so they can sit directly in front of me to laugh at every instance of nudity. Whoever is dealing to these children seriously needs to stop.

Jessica Smarr is a senior psychology major and copy chief for The Battalion

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