Field goal
Down on the grass of Texas A&M’s Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, freshman Courtney Roland took a break from pacing the sidelines and listening in on play calls to reflect on what was literally a life long goal achieved.
Roland, who one day wants to be a football sideline reporter, was one of two students selected by Texas A&M head football coach Mike Sherman to be honorary coaches for the Texas A&M Aggie’s annual spring, Maroon and White Scrimmage.
‘It was pretty amazing to be able to be down there,’ Roland said. ‘After sitting on the alumni side since I was like two and then going to the student section, being down on the field was really a big thing for me.’
Roland’s father played football for Texas A&M back in the early 1970s.
Junior Joseph Delgado, who was selected along with Roland, said they found out about this opportunity after they saw an advertisement placed by Sherman in the A&M student paper. The ad challenged the Aggie fan base to send in their best two-minute YouTube style video clip explaining why they should be coach for the day.
Delgado’s video featured the smashing of a computer monitor with a baseball bat, which was supposed to symbolize how he responds to criticism from one of several anti-A&M blogs.
The clip also showed football team’s current starting center enthusiastically thanking him for being such a great coach and ultimately ended with Delgado smashing a giant cake with ‘victory’ written across it into his face.
The A&M football team watched all of the student submissions and voted for its favorites. Roland and Delgado were then announced to the public and fielded questions from the media, in a press conference with coach Sherman.
In an article on Texas A&M’s Web site, Sherman said the new addition to the spring game would ultimately bring the student body closer to the football team, which is, as it is as many colleges, such a large part of campus life for the Aggie faithful.
‘One of the things I wanted to accomplish early this spring was to integrate our football team with the student body and the student body with our football team,’ Sherman said. ‘We wanted to let the 12th Man feel that they were a huge part of what we are trying to accomplish.’
The 2008 Maroon and White game marked Sherman’s first as head football coach at Texas A&M, replacing former head coach Dennis Franchione. Sherman was the coach of the Green Bay Packers from 2000 until 2005.
The game, which drew in 32,000 fans, ended in a score of 14-3 with quarterbacks Stephen McGee and Tommy Dorman defeating the opposing team, headed by quarterbacks Jerrod Johnson and Ryan Tannehill.
The students at Texas A&M certainly appreciated the opportunity they were given, Delgado said.
‘Down here in Texas, football is a big deal, so to be able to stand on the sidelines facing the (student section) with the A&M band blaring at my back was a dream come true,’ he said.
Published on April 23, 2008 at 12:00 pm
