The 2007 Texas A&M Aggies football team (often referred to as "A&M" or the "Aggies") represented Texas A&M University in the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Dennis Franchione, who had coached at A&M since the 2003 season, but resigned at the conclusion of the annual game with the Texas Longhorns. The Aggies were led on offense by junior quarterback Stephen McGee. The team played their home games at Kyle Field, an 82,600-person capacity stadium on A&M's campus in College Station, Texas. The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band performs at all home games and select away games during half-time.
The 2006 Aggie team finished with 9 wins and 4 losses, including a loss in the 2006 Holiday Bowl. In a 2007 preseason ranking, ESPN sports columnist Mark Schlabach ranked the Aggies 15th. In their preseason polls, both the Coaches Poll and the AP Poll ranked the Aggies 25th. A Rivals.com writer ranked A&M as having the 9th toughest road schedule.
The Aggies completed the 2007 season with a 7–6 record, with their final game resulting in a 24–17 loss to Penn State in the 2007 Alamo Bowl.
Schedule
Coaching staff Name Position Yearsat A&M* Alma mater (Year) Dennis Franchione Head coach 5 Pittsburg (Kan.) State (1973) Kenith Pope Associate head coach;Running Backs 5 Oklahoma (1976) Gary Darnell Defensive coordinator, Interim head coach 2 Oklahoma State (1969) Les Koenning, Jr. Offensive coordinator;Quarterbacks 5 Texas (1981) Bill Clay Safeties 2 Arkansas (1963) Bob DeBesse Wide receivers 2 Southwest Texas State (1982) Stan Eggen Defensive line 5 Moorhead (MN) State (1977) Jim Bob Helduser Offensive line 5 Texas Lutheran (1979) Van Malone Cornerbacks 2 Texas (1993) Mark Tommerdahl Tight ends/special teams coordinator 5 Concordia College (1983) *Includes the 2007 season Brad Davis (graduate assistant)
Head coach controversy
Call for dismissal After the Aggies' 34–17 loss at Miami, head coach Dennis Franchione's coaching has been bought into question by some members of the media. An ESPN writer gave honorable mention to the A&M coaches' play-calling in the Miami game in his weekly Bottom 10 college football game rankings. As of Tuesday, September 25, the website firefranpetition.com has received over 15,000 hits after A&M's loss to Miami. 300 people had signed the online petition that Monday, bringing the total to 2,600. The website has also sold nearly 200 "Can Fran" shirts. The Bryan-College Station Eagle, the area's local newspaper, included a front page picture of A&M's Pi Kappa Phi chapter members hanging a "Fire Fran" sign from their fraternity house.
Secret newsletter On September 27, 2007, Franchione discontinued selling a secret email newsletter to athletic boosters who paid US$1,200 annually for team information that Franchione has refused to release to the public. The newsletter, called "VIP Connection", had been written by Franchione's personal assistant, Mike McKenzie, and included specific injury reports and Franchione's critical assessments of players. The newsletter attracted 27 recipients, 6 of whom received the newsletter for free. 20 of the recipients have been disclosed. The boosters were asked to sign a confidentiality statement to assure the information in the newsletter was not used for gambling. Though Franchione and McKenzie denied gaining profit from the newsletter, Franchione stated that proceeds went to the company that managed his now-defunct website, coachfran.com. The newsletter was discovered by athletic director Bill Byrne after it was presented to him by a San Antonio Express-News reporter, who had received it through a third-party source. Byrne immediately instructed Franchione to discontinue the newsletter, at which time Franchione complied. Refunds have been offered to the subscribers, though it is uncertain how many asked for one. In a press conference the following Tuesday, October 2, Franchione apologized in front of A&M football players and expressed his love for the job and the university, and his desire to "elevate the program to its highest level". A&M players also expressed their support for Franchione as a coach. Shortly after, an investigation had been launched to look into the matter, conducted by Bill Byrne and A&M's NCAA compliance officer, David Batson.
On Thursday, October 11, Texas A&M officials issued a "letter of admonishment" and ordered that the website CoachFran.com be shut down. Additionally, Franchione was instructed to no longer employ "any staff members that could be construed as representing Texas A&M or providing information or reports relative to his position as head coach at Texas A&M". Consequently, the writer of the newsletter, Mike McKenzie, was fired. Byrne stated that the incident would be included in Franchione's "performance review" at the end of the season.
Resignation After Franchione led the Aggies to a 38–30 victory over the 13th-ranked Texas Longhorns, he announced his resignation in the post-game press conference. In the press conference, after he discussed the game, he read out loud a farewell letter that he had prepared beforehand. His last words were "Thank you, and gig 'em." Franchione immediately left the press conference as A&M athletic director Bill Byrne started to speak, with friends and family members following him. The following day, Byrne named defensive coordinator Gary Darnell as interim head coach. Darnell will coach the Aggies' bowl game. On November 26, 2007, three days after Franchione resigned, former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman was announced as the new head football coach.
Jobs after the season After the season, cornerbacks coach Van Malone was retained by new head coach Mike Sherman, and offensive coordinator Les Koenning move to the same position at South Alabama. Running backs coach Kenith Pope was hired at UNLV. Tight ends and special teams coach Mark Tommerdahl moved to Louisiana–Monroe, while defensive line coach Stan Eggen was hired at Louisiana Tech. Safeties coach Bill Clay moved to Samford. Offensive line coach Jim Bob Helduser was hired at Bryan High School, and wide receivers coach Bob DeBesse was hired at A&M Consolidated High School. Gary Darnell was the only assistant that has not found a coaching job.
Players
Roster The roster consists of 47 freshmen, 37 sophomores, 30 juniors, and 20 seniors. Scholarship players include 18 true freshmen, 9 redshirt freshmen, 23 sophomores, 17 juniors, and 16 seniors.
(as of September 14, 2007) Quarterbacks 1 Jerrod Johnson -Fr.-RS 7 Stephen McGee** -Jr.-2L 9 Jeff Wood -So.-SQ 14 Kevin Westerman -Fr.-HS 18 T.J. Sanders -Sr.-SQ 19 Ryan Tannehill -Fr.-HS
Running backs 3 Mike Goodson -So.-1L 11 Jorvorskie Lane -Jr.-2L 22 Latrael Cooper -Fr.-RS 23 Cornell Tarrant -Fr.-RS 26 Keondra Smith -So.-SQ 28 Bradley Stephens -Fr.-HS 34 Colton Haverda -Fr.-HS 43 Jodie Richardson -So.-SQ
Full backs 24 Chris Alexander** -Sr.-3L 44 Nick LaMantia** -Jr.-1L
Wide receivers 2 Earvin Taylor** -Sr.-3L 4 Jamie McCoy -So.-SQ 5 Howard Morrow -Jr.-2L 6 Pierre Brown -Jr.-2L 8 Kerry Franks** -Sr.-3L 10 E.J. Shankle -So.-1L 15 Colin Marburger -Fr.-RS 17 Jeremy Brown -So.-SQ 20 Michael Corey -Sr.-SQ 20 Randle Taylor -Fr.-HS 21 Roger Holland -Fr.-HS 25 Randle Jackson -So.-SQ 30 Don Bishop -So.-HS 80 Lorenzo Calloway -Jr.-SQ 82 Antonio Perry -So.-SQ 83 Terrence McCoy -Fr.-RS 84 Drew Williamson -Jr.-SQ 86 Nick Trice -Fr.-HS 87 Chris Caflisch -Fr.-RS 88 Cody Beyer -So.-SQ Tight ends 13 Martellus Bennett -Jr.-2L 81 Joey Thomas** -Sr.-3L 89 Frank Avery -Fr.-HS 90 Harold Turnage -Fr.-HS 91 Ryan Vaughn -Jr.-SQ 94 Cory Multer -So.-SQ 98 Andrew Key -So.-SQ 99 Travis Reynolds -Jr.-HS
Offensive line 51 Chris Yoder Sr.-3L 54 Corey Clark Sr.-3L 55 Danny Baker Fr.-HS 56 Matt Rankin Fr.-RS 58 Ryan Whitmer Fr.-RS 59 Brandon Lewis Fr.-HS 60 Josh Russell So.-SQ 61 Vincent Williams So.-SQ 63 Kevin Matthews So.-SQ 64 Kirk Elder** Sr.-3L 65 Evan Eike Fr.-HS 66 Philip Walter Fr.-RS 68 Eric Pennington Fr.-RS 69 Craig Raschke Fr.-RS 70 Cody Wallace** Sr.-2L 71 Yemi Babalola Jr.-2L 73 Price Ferguson Fr.-RS 74 Lee Grimes So.-SQ 75 Travis Schneider Jr.-2L 76 Michael Shumard So.-1L 79 Robbie Frost So.-SQ
Linebackers 34 Derrick Stephens -Jr.-SQ 36 Anthony Lewis -So.-1L 37 Misi Tupe** -Sr.-1L 43 Gary Randall -Fr.-RS 44 Cody Renfro -Jr.-TR 46 Matt Featherston -So.-1L 48 Michael Weeks -Fr.-HS 50 Mark Dodge** -Sr.-1L 53 Derek Dumas -So.-SQ 57 Dustin Riewe -Jr.-SQ 99 Travis Reynolds -Jr.-HS Defensive backs 1 Johnathan Batson Sr.-1L 2 Marcus Gold So.-SQ 3 Ben Bitner Sr.-SQ 4 Danny Gorrer Jr.-2L 8 Matt Almaraz Jr.-SQ 9 Alton Dixon Jr.-2L 10 Billy Chavis Fr.-HS 13 Marquis Carpenter Sr.-2L 14 Charles Roy Fr.-RS 15 Kenny Brown Fr.-RS 18 Arkeith Brown Jr.-2L 19 Charles Hewitt So.-SQ 21 David Latham Jr.-SQ 22 Jeff Karr Jr.-SQ 24 Tyler Kociuba So.-SQ 25 Jordan Pugh So.-1L 26 Devin Gregg** Jr.-2L 27 Jordan Peterson** So.-1L 28 Kevin Smith Fr.-HS 29 Stephen Hodge Sr.-3L 30 Chevar Bryson So.-1L 31 Will Harris So.-RS 32 Garrick Williams Fr.-HS 33 Lionel Smith Fr.-HS 39 Charles Young Fr.-HS 41 DeMaurier Thompson Fr.-RS 42 Johnathan Haynes Jr.-RS 45 Rawley Farrell Sr.-SQ 47 Justin McQueen Fr.-HS
Defensive ends 35 Brandon Joiner -Fr.-HS Defensive line
11 Michael Bennett.-2L 40 Von Miller Fr.-HS 49 Cyril Obiozor Jr.-2L 65 Spencer Robnett Fr.-RS 67 Sam Giesselmann Jr.-SQ 72 Ben Bass Fr.-HS 76 Andrew Engram So.-HS 77 Lucas Patterson Fr.-RS 78 Burl Jordan So.-HS 84 Chris Smith Jr.-1L 85 Red Bryant** Sr.-3L 86 Amos Gbunblee Jr.-2L 87 John Nienhiser So.-HS 89 Jarret Cantu So.-SQ 91 Kellen Heard So.-1L 92 Chris Harrington** Sr.-3L 93 Paul Freeney So.-SQ 95 Henry Smith Sr.-1L 96 Michael Ebbitt Fr.-HS 96 Nick Fusco Fr.-RS 98 Thomas Jones Jr.-HS 99 David Tufuga So.-TR
Deep snappers 47 Cory Davis -Jr.-1L 52 Corey Gibas -So.-1L Kickoff 7 Matt Szymanski -So.-1L
Punters 7 Matt Szymanski -So.-1L 16 Justin Brantly -Jr.-2L 27 Richie Bean -Jr.-1L
Key The abbreviations indicate amount of experience: Fr.-HS = True freshman Fr.-RS = Redshirt freshman So. = Sophomore Jr. = Junior Sr. = Senior 1L, 2L, 3L means the player has lettered for 1, 2, or 3 years, respectively. SQ indicates that the player has not lettered.
**Indicates that the player is a member of the2007 Aggie Leadership Council
Watch lists Aggies named to pre-season award watch lists include:
Martellus Bennett John Mackey Award watch list Justin Brantly Ray Guy Award watch list Red Bryant Chuck Bednarik Award watch list Kirk Elder Lombardi Award watch list
Mike Goodson Doak Walker Award watch list Maxwell Award watch list Chris Harrington Chuck Bednarik Award watch list Hendricks Award watch list Lombardi Award watch list Lott Trophy watch list
Jorvorskie Lane Doak Walker Award watch list Stephen McGee Maxwell Award watch list Cody Wallace Lombardi Award watch list Outland Trophy watch list Rimington Trophy watch list
Postseason honors Cody Wallace was named the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year and made the All-Big 12 Football First Team. Chris Alexander, Chris Harrington, and Misi Tupe, as well as Justin Brantly, made the All-Big 12 Football Second Team. Michael Bennett, Martellus Bennett, Red Bryant, Marquis Carpenter, Corey Clark, Mark Dodge, Kirk Elder, Jorvorskie Lane, and Stephen McGee received an all-Big 12 Honorable Mention. Additionally, five players made the all-Big 12 Academic First Team, which requires a 3.20 GPA or above. Of those players are David Latham, Stephen McGee, Jordan Peterson, T.J. Sanders (who was one of seven Big 12 players to have a 4.00 GPA), and Cody Wallace. Two players made the all-Big 12 Academic Second Team, which requires a 3.00–3.19 GPA, including Andrew Key and Chris Yoder.
Cody Wallace is a Rimington Trophy finalist.
Arrests