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Freshman impact: Which of the young Aggies are primed to step up?

Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione recently singled out a few true freshmen who've caught his eye so far in fall camp.

The standouts include strong safety Billy Chavis, receiver Roger Holland (Cy Falls), defensive end Von Miller and linebacker Derrick Stephens (Cy Falls).

So which of them are most ready for action this fall?

"It's too early to identify who will play and how much yet," Franchione said. "But those are the guys that did some things the first week that everybody took notice of."

By most accounts, < a href="http://www.fannation.com/blogs/show/76006">Chavis has been the talk of the camp. The 6-foot-5, 231-pound standout from Beaumont's West Brook High School has delievered several jaw-dropping hits that have earned him respect among his older teammates.

He's been so impressive at strong safety that he is running plays with the first- and second-team defenses.

"He loves to play," Franchione said. "He's been a pretty quick learner, and he's been in the right place at the right time, and he's played pretty physical in the short amount of time.

"Probably one of our best hits we've had in our Aggie Drill was by Billy Chavis. He destroyed the blocker, hit the back and caused a fumble. That's a pretty exceptional play in that drill for a freshman to make. Everybody stood up and took notice of that."

Physically at this point, Chavis looks as though he could be a junior on the Aggies' roster. But the interesting thing is if as his body matures he might find himself closer and closer to the defensive line of scrimmage.

That shouldn't be a big deal for a guy who played six different positions during his three years as a starter at West Brook.

"Billy has so many positive things physically working for him, height, decent speed and good feet," Franchione said. "I don't know exactly what position he will play. We're looking at him at strong safety right now; we had him playing weak safety early in camp. We feel like he might be a good blitzer off the edge or maybe playing him a little closer to the ball will be better for him.

"But Coach Clay has liked him at just about every position and I know Coach Darnell has his eye on him every now and then, too."

Posted

This guy has always had tons of talent. I remember watching him as a soph at QB for the Brook against Nederland. Also, I remember seeing him at WR and RB the last time they beat us at their place. I do not recall him playing much defense back then. But, it is good to hear that he is catching the coaches eyes no matter where he is on the field.

Posted

He'll be playing linebacker real soon. With his frame( '6"5, 230 ) he'll get bigger weight wise and be too big to play safety. I look for him to be another great Wrecking Crew linebacker.

Posted

I'm pretty sure the strong safety and the Whip in A&M's 4-2-5 are pretty close to what some would call outside linebackers anyway.

Without a doubt, though, the Ags could use this type of attitude to bring back the Wreckin Crew mystique that has been gone for a loooooooong time now.  When I was in school we cheered louder when the defense came on the field than when the O did.

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