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Wednesday, September 04, 2002

By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Texas A&M, like Pitt, has a bit of a quarterback controversy these days. Maybe more than Pitt.

The No. 20 Aggies, who play Pitt Saturday at Heinz Field, have someone who was supposed to be the clear-cut starter, Mark Farris, a 27-year-old who was the Pirates' first-round pick in the 1994 amateur baseball draft and has started the past two seasons for Texas A&M. They also have a highly regarded freshman, Reggie McNeal, and that's where the clamoring begins.

Farris was pulled in the second quarter of the opener Saturday when Texas A&M was leading 3-0 against Louisiana-Lafayette. He came back in the second half and helped the Aggies win, 31-7, completing 13 of 32 passes for 171 yards.

One of the three other quarterbacks who played was McNeal, who completed his only two pass attempts, for 19 and 9 yards. Since the game, many A&M fans have been calling talk shows in Texas to push for McNeal to take over as the starter.

Aggies Coach R.C. Slocum has said he had planned to redshirt McNeal until realizing he might be as good as sophomores Dustin Long, who was the backup last year, and Jason Carter.

While Coach Walt Harris has done everything he can to quell the situation at Pitt, Slocum might have fed the fire when he told reporters earlier this week about McNeal, "After seeing him practice, I thought he should be in competition for the backup spot and, who knows, maybe at some point for the starting spot."

Strength in numbers

With the Panthers having four former players reaching the NFL this fall, Harris hopes it will be the beginning of a new pipeline between Pitt and the pros. He also took a minute to give first-year strength and conditioning coach Dave Kennedy a pat on the back.

Most of the Pitt players with draft potential went away to train with specialists after last season. Harris doesn't want that to happen anymore.

"I think we'll find that a lot of our football players that will have a chance [at the NFL] this year won't be going to Atlanta, won't be going to Arizona," Harris said. "They'll be training right here with Dave."

In February, Kennedy replaced Buddy Morris, who was fired. Morris is the Cleveland Browns' strength coach.

Competition still on

Harris still wants to see David Abdul or J.B. Gibboney earn the starting place-kicker job.

Abdul, a scholarship freshman, kicked off and made his only field goal attempt, a 40-yarder, against Ohio. Gibboney, a redshirt sophomore and a walk-on, made all three extra points and his only field goal try, a 37-yarder.

"We'd like to have one kicker," Harris said. "Until that materializes, we're going to try to make do with our talent level."

Quick hits

Freshman tailback Jawan Walker, who had ligament damage to his left knee in training camp, will have arthroscopic surgery Friday to determine the extent of the damage. ... Sophomore nose tackle Tyre Young, who did not play against Ohio after his two-week suspension ended a week ago, practiced with the first-team defense and is expected to play and perhaps start Saturday.