12th Man Trademark Lawsuit Helps Aggies Land Punter

Beergut — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 10:41:51 -0000

Who new a lawsuit could help the football program acquire players? Montana punter Ken Wood, who is a native of Washington state and an avid Seattle Seahawks fan, first learned about Texas A&M when the University sued the Seattle Seahawks three years ago over their use of the '12th Man' trademark. A&M won their lawsuit, and the Seahawks currently pay A&M for their continued use of the trademark.

The lawsuit also drew the attention of Ken Wood, who began following A&M's sports teams online though the Aggie athletic department website. It was through the webiste that Wood learned that A&M needed a new punter after the graduation of Justin Brantly. Wood averaged 41 yds per punt on 57 punts last season while playing for Division I-AA University of Montana. Wood decided to transfer to A&M, and will be competing for the starting job at punter during Fall Camp. Fall Camp begins Monday, and the Ags first game is on September 5.

Wood's story is another anecdote to support the notion that any publicity is good publicity. I'm sure the coverage of A&M in the Washington news media wasn't positive when the lawsuit with the Seahawks was going on, but it still put A&M's name front and center, and helped convert a youngester into a fan. That fan is now going to be trying to live his dream beginning on Monday.

Two More Ags Sign Free Agent Contracts

miketag — Thu, 07 May 2009 06:00:25 -0000

Just saw an update on Billy Liucci's bbs on Texags stating that Justin Brantly and Arkeith Brown have inked free agent contracts with NFL teams. Brantly has signed with the Houston Texans and Brown has signed with the New Orleans Saints. Good luck to both of them as they pursue their NFL dreams.

Four Aggies Named To All-Big 12 Team

Beergut — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:20:25 -0000

Four Texas A&M football players were voted onto the Big 12 coaches all-conference team. Conference coaches are not allowed to vote for players on their own team, so to make the team usually means you have gained the respect of opposing coaches.

Punter Justin Brantly was named first team All-Big 12 after leading the conference with a 45.7 yards per punt average. Brantly finishes his career with a 44.4 yard average, which ranks second in school history to current NFL All-Pro Shane Lechler.

The surprise on the all-conference team has to be the inclusion of Jorvorskie Lane at FB on the second team. I think Lane's past history of excellence as a short-yardage tailback has helped him here. Even I freely admit that Lane is mediocre at best as a blocker, which is the primary job of a fullback. However, Lane is outstanding in short yardage, an area he has always excelled at. I think the coaches around the conference chose to recognize him for his past excellence, despite his diminished role in the Texas A&M offense this season. I also think the complete lack of teams using 11 personnel helped us, as true FBs are a rarity on most Big 12 teams with the predominance of the spread offense this season. The first team FB was Matt Clapp from Oklahoma. Who? Exactly. Clapp had 7 carries for 23 yards, 0 TDs rushing, 8 receptions for 81 yds, 3 TDs receiving, while Lane had 35 carries for 93 yds, 5 TDs rushing, and 4 receptions for 26 yds and no TDs receiving. Looking at the stats, maybe Lane's inclusion isn't such a surprise after all.

Jeff Fuller and Trent Hunter both made All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, respectively. I'm disappointed Hunter didn't receive the Freshman Defensive Player of the Year, which went to Travis Lewis of Oklahoma. I think it is asinine that McKinner Dixon of Texas Tech received Defensive Newcomer of the Year, simply because Dixon played at Tech two years ago as a true freshman. I don't think you should be considered a newcomer when you've played in this conference in a previous season.

I am also disappointed that Ryan Tannehill didn't receive at least Honorable Mention, because he was an outstanding receiver for us this season. I think the exclusion of any Aggie player from the all-conference offensive and defensive line listings tells you all you need to know about the performance of both of our lines this season.

Big 12 All-Conference Teams & Players of the Year

irish1611 — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:44:22 -0000

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR	DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Sam Bradford, Oklahoma, So., QB	Brian Orakpo, Texas, Sr., DL,
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE YEAR	COACHES OF THE YEAR
Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State, So., PR/KR	Bob Stoops, Oklahoma, 10th season
Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State, So., PR/KR	Mike Leach, Texas Tech, 9th season
OFFENSIVE FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR	DEFENSIVE FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Robert Griffin, Baylor, Fr., QB	Travis Lewis, Oklahoma, Fr., LB,
OFFENSIVE NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR	DEFENSIVE NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Brandon Banks, Kansas State, Jr., WR	McKinner Dixon, Texas Tech, Jr., DE
OFFENSIVE LINEMAN OF THE YEAR	DEFENSIVE LINEMAN OF THE YEAR
Jon Cooper, Oklahoma, Sr.	Brian Orakpo, Texas, Sr., DL

Click after the jump to see the first, second and honorable mention teams along with some commentary...in my opinion, Josh Smith got screwed.

2008 ALL-BIG 12 FOOTBALL FIRST TEAM OFFENSE
Pos.	Player	School	Class	Hometown/Previous School(s)
QB	Sam Bradford	Oklahoma	So.	Oklahoma City, Okla./Putnam City North
RB	DeMarco Murray	Oklahoma	So.	Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman
RB	Kendall Hunter	Oklahoma State	So.	Tyler, Texas/John Tyler
FB	Matt Clapp	Oklahoma	Jr.	Phoenix, Ariz./Paradise Valley
WR	Jeremy Maclin [r1]	Missouri	So.	Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood
WR	Dez Bryant	Oklahoma State	So.	Lufkin, Texas/Lufkin
WR	Michael Crabtree** [r1]	Texas Tech	So.	Dallas, Texas/Carter
TE	Jermaine Gresham	Oklahoma	Jr.	Ardmore, Okla./Ardmore
OL	Jason Smith	Baylor	Sr.	Dallas, Texas/W.T. White
OL	Phil Loadholt	Oklahoma	Sr.	Fountain, Colo./Garden City CC
OL	Duke Robinson [r1]	Oklahoma	Sr.	Atlanta, Ga./Washington
OL	Trent Williams	Oklahoma	Jr.	Longview, Texas/Longview
OL	Russell Okung	Oklahoma State	Jr.	Fort Bend, Texas/Bush
OL	Adam Ulatoski	Texas	Jr.	Southlake, Texas/Carroll
PK	Jeff Wolfert	Missouri	Sr.	Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West
KR/PR	Dez Bryant	Oklahoma State	So.	Lufkin, Texas/Lufkin

2008 ALL-BIG 12 FOOTBALL FIRST TEAM DEFENSE
Pos.	Player	School	Class	Hometown/Previous School(s)
DL	Ziggy Hood	Missouri	Sr.	Amarillo, Texas/Palo Duro
DL	Gerald McCoy	Oklahoma	So.	Oklahoma City, Okla./Southeast
DL	Roy Miller	Texas	Sr.	Killeen, Texas/Shoemaker
DL	Brian Orakpo	Texas	Sr.	Houston, Texas/Lamar
DL	Brandon Williams	Texas Tech	Jr.	Fort Worth, Texas/South Hills
LB	Joe Pawelek	Baylor	Jr.	San Antonio, Texas/Smithson Valley
LB	Sean Weatherspoon	Missouri	Jr.	Jasper, Texas/Jasper
LB	Sergio Kindle	Texas	Jr.	Dallas, Texas/Woodrow Wilson
DB	Jordan Lake	Baylor	Jr.	Houston, Texas/Memorial
DB	Darrell Stuckey	Kansas	Jr.	Kansas City, Kan./Washington
DB	William Moore**	Missouri	Sr.	Hayti, Mo./Hayti
DB	Nic Harris [r1]	Oklahoma	Sr.	Alexandria, La./Alexandria
DB	Darcel McBath	Texas Tech	Sr.	Gainesville, Texas/Gainesville
P	Justin Brantly	Texas A&M	Sr.	Sealy, Texas/Sealy
A tie in voting created an additional offensive line spot on the first- and second-teams.
[r1] - Repeat first team selection from last season
**Unanimous Selection

2008 ALL-BIG 12 FOOTBALL SECOND TEAM OFFENSE
Pos.	Player	School	Class	Hometown/Previous School(s)
QB	Colt McCoy	Texas	Jr.	Tuscola, Texas/Jim Ned
RB	Derrick Washington	Missouri	So.	Peculiar, Mo./Raymore-Peculiar
RB	Shannon Woods	Texas Tech	Sr.	McKinney, Texas/North
FB	Jorvorskie Lane	Texas A&M	Sr.	Lufkin, Texas/Lufkin
WR	Dezmon Briscoe	Kansas	So.	Dallas, Texas/Cedar Hill
WR	Juaquin Iglesias	Oklahoma	Sr.	Killeen, Texas/Killeen
WR	Jordan Shipley	Texas	Sr.	Burnet, Texas/Burnet
TE	Chase Coffman	Missouri	Sr.	Peculiar, Mo./Raymore-Peculiar
OL	Kurtis Gregory	Missouri	Jr.	Blackburn, Mo./Santa Fe
OL	Matt Slauson	Nebraska	Sr.	Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Force Prep
OL	Jon Cooper	Oklahoma	Sr.	Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins
OL	Chris Hall	Texas	Jr.	Irving, Texas/Irving
OL	Louis Vasquez	Texas Tech	Sr.	Corsicana, Texas/Corsicana
OL	Rylan Reed	Texas Tech	Sr.	Dallas, Texas/Crossett (Ark.)
PK	Hunter Lawrence	Texas	Jr.	Boerne, Texas/Boerne
KR/PR	Jordan Shipley	Texas	Jr.	Burnet, Texas/Burnet

2008 ALL-BIG 12 FOOTBALL SECOND TEAM DEFENSE
Pos.	Player	School	Class	Hometown/Previous School(s)
DL	George Hypolite	Colorado	Sr.	Los Angeles, Calif./Loyola
DL	Ian Campbell	Kansas State	Sr.	Cimarron, Kan./Cimarron
DL	Stryker Sulak [r2]	Missouri	Sr.	Rockdale, Texas/Rockdale
DL	Ndamukong Suh	Nebraska	Jr.	Portland, Ore./Grant
DL	Jeremy Beal	Oklahoma	So.	Carrollton, Texas/Creekview
LB	James Holt	Kansas	Sr.	Altus, Okla./Altus
LB	Travis Lewis	Oklahoma	Fr.	San Antonio, Texas/Robert E. Lee
LB	Andre Sexton	Oklahoma State	Jr.	Houston, Texas/Cypress Falls
DB	Dominique Franks	Oklahoma	So.	Tulsa, Okla./Union
DB	Lendy Holmes	Oklahoma	Sr.	Dallas, Texas/South Oak Cliff
DB	Jacob Lacey	Oklahoma State	Sr.	Garland, Texas/Naaman Forest
DB	Ryan Palmer	Texas	Sr.	Arlington, Texas/Bowie
DB	Daniel Charbonnet	Texas Tech	Sr.	The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands
P	Matt Fodge	Oklahoma State	Sr.	Garland, Texas/Garland
[r2] - Repeat second team selection from last season

2008 ALL-BIG 12 HONORABLE MENTION
Baylor:	Derek Epperson, P; Dan Gay, OL
Colorado:	Cha'pelle Brown, DB; Brad Jones, LB; Daniel Sanders, OL
Iowa State:	Mike Brandtner, P; Leonard Johnson, DB/KR/PR; Rashawn Parker, DL; James Smith, DB; Jesse Smith, LB; Reggie Stephens, OL; Kurtis Taylor, DL
Kansas:	Caleb Blakesley, DL; Ryan Cantrell, OL; Jake Laptad, DL; Adrian Mayes, OL; Kerry Meier, WR; Mike Rivera, LB; Jake Sharp, RB
Kansas State:	Brandon Banks, KR/PR/WR; Jordan Bedore, OL; Eric Childs, DL; Brandon Harold, DL; Joshua Moore, DB; Brooks Rossman, PK; Nick Stringer, OL
Missouri:	Tim Barnes, OL; Jaron Baston, DL; Castine Bridges, DB; Colin Brown, OL; Brock Christopher, LB; Chase Daniel, QB; Justin Garrett, DB; Jeremy Maclin, KR/PR; Tommy Saunders, WR
Nebraska:	Larry Asante, DB; Roy Helu Jr., RB; Alex Henery, PK; Jacob Hickman, OL; Zach Potter, DL; Ty Steinkuhler, DL; Nate Swift, KR/PR/WR
Oklahoma:	Chris Brown, RB; Keenan Clayton, LB; Brandon Walker, OL
Oklahoma State:	Jeray Chatham, DL; Perrish Cox, KR/PR; Orie Lemon, LB; Ricky Price, DB; Tonga Tea, DL
Texas:	Quan Cosby, KR/PR/WR; Cedric Dockery, OL; Blake Gideon, DB; Aaron Lewis, DL; Henry Melton, DL; Roddrick Muckelroy, LB; Chris Ogbonnaya, RB; Charlie Tanner, OL; Earl Thomas, DB
Texas A&M:	Jeff Fuller, WR; Trent Hunter, DB
Texas Tech:	Baron Batch, RB; Brandon Carter, OL; McKinner Dixon, DL; Brian Duncan, LB; Stephen Hamby, OL; Graham Harrell, QB; Jamar Wall, DB; Colby Whitlock, DL; Marlon Williams, LB; Marlon Winn, OL

Some early commentary regarding these selections. The biggest disappointment to me is the fact that Cha'pelle Brown wasn't a first team selection. He had a great year on the #1 pass defense in the Big 12.
The Buffs only had 4 players selected to any team, tied for last with Iowa State. Yes, Texas A&M, Baylor and Kansas State placed more players than the Buffs. Motivation boys, motivation! Do they deserve huge numbers? No but for a defense that was pretty consistent all year, not to have more on that side of the ball in such a bad defensive conference is crazy. Call me a homer.
LB's Shaun Mohler and Jeff Smart were 5th and 4th in the conference respectively in tackles? Not to pick on a player or team by Iowa State's Jessie Smith was eighteen in the Big 12 in tackles, had the same amount of tackles for loss as Shaun Mohler and had one less sack...he got honorable mention? Orie Lemon from Oklahoma State, same thing?
Josh Smith led the conference in punt return and kick return yardage by a pretty big amount with 1,568 yards. Not honorable mention. First team PR/KR Dez Bryant had 405 yards return yards. thats almost four times less than Smith. Bryant also made first team offense so its not like it was a charity give for his all around work. Josh Smith was the only player to rank in the top 5 of both kick off returns and punt return average this year. Other players who got awarded instead of Smith were Leonard Johnson from Iowa State, Jeremy Maclin, Jordan Shipley from Texas, Perris Cox from OSU, Nate Swift from Nebraska and Quan Cosby from Texas. Josh Smith ranked ahead of all these players in all purpose yards except for Maclin who was already named a first team receiver? Smith got the shaft in a big way.
Rodney Stewart was on pace for a second team selection until he got hurt. His yards/game is still 7th in the conference.
How can Oklahoma center Jon Cooper be selected as the "Lineman of the Year" in the Big 12 but not make the first team unit. Cooper made the second team?
How can anyone in their right mind select Javorskie Lane to any team, let alone second team fullback? I guess being overweight to a point of confusion gets you enough publicity to trick people into thinking you are good?

Here is the release from the Big 12 site:

Sam Bradford is the third Oklahoma player to be named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Former Sooners Jason White (2003 and 2004) and Josh Heupel (2000) previously won the award. OU is now tied with Texas for the most Offensive Player of the Year winners in conference history with four.

Brian Orakpo of Texas is the third Longhorn to receive Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors. He was also named the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2005. Orakpo is the fourth player in Big 12 history to receive both the defensive freshman and player of the year awards (Mark Simoneau, Kansas State - 1996, 2000; Derrick Johnson, Texas - 2000, 2004; Jordan Dizon, Colorado - 2004, 2007).

Bob Stoops was tabbed Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career (2000, 2003, 2006), while Mike Leach was honored for the first time. No other coach has matched Stoops' four coaching awards in 13 years of Big 12 conference play.

Robert Griffin was named Offensive Freshman of the Year, marking Baylor's second individual award winner. Griffin joins Daniel Sepulveda, who was named Special Teams Player of the Year in 2006.

Dez Bryant of Oklahoma State, the Special Teams Player of the Year, gives the Cowboys their third individual Big 12 award in program history. Previously, Adarius Bowman was honored as Offensive Newcomer of the Year in 2006, and Bob Simmons earned Coach of the Year accolades in 1997.

Kansas State's Brandon Banks gave the Wildcats their second straight Offensive Newcomer of the Year award winner and league-leading third overall. Deon Murphy was honored in 2007, joining KSU's first honoree, Michael Bishop (1997).

Oklahoma has won the most major awards in the 13-year history of the Big 12 with 23. Texas is next with 20 winners, followed by Kansas State (14), Nebraska (9), Texas Tech (7), Colorado (6), Iowa State (6), Kansas (6) and Missouri (5).

SB Nation - Justin Brantly

12th Man Trademark Lawsuit Helps Aggies Land Punter

Two More Ags Sign Free Agent Contracts

Four Aggies Named To All-Big 12 Team

Big 12 All-Conference Teams & Players of the Year