Mr. Fix-it hammering home success at Texas A&M
National feature | Notebook
As a quarterback, Reggie McNeal is a nice science project. One that his coach Dennis Franchione could lug to class and say, "See, this is how it's done."
Texas A&M's Franchione has been a master rebuilder in his 22-year career. The difference is that McNeal, a Texas A&M junior, was never wrecked enough to be reconstructed. He just never was, mostly underachieving in college after being the prep phenom from Lufkin, Texas, everybody wanted.
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| Year Two is the year for Dennis Franchione, whose teams are 29-13 in that season. (Getty Images) |
In the opener against Utah, McNeal couldn't be counted on to take a snap cleanly. This week he is the best quarterback in the Big 12, the conference's offensive player of the week after getting 386 yards in total offense against Oklahoma State.
Somewhere along the line, McNeal has gotten it in his third season in Aggieland. McNeal is one of two quarterbacks in the nation without an interception. More than that, he is the biggest reason the Aggies (5-1) have won five in a row, vaulting themselves into the Big 12 title picture.
McNeal and the Aggies getting it is more tribute to Franchione. The man can at once be a hero in College Station and the most reviled person in Alabama. That's how he has set up his job-hopping career.
Really, though, who can blame him? Better and higher-paying jobs have awaited Fran at each stop and he has responded.
McNeal is his latest experiment. Since the 20-point loss to Utah, the Aggies have outscored opponents 166-59. Meanwhile, McNeal is the country's only quarterback to average 200 yards passing and 70 yards rushing.
"I think the biggest reason is that he is a junior and has played in more games," Franchione said. "He has been in the same offense for his second year in a row ... If I had to say just one, it would be his maturity."
What Franchione hasn't been, necessarily, is a developer of quarterbacks. Part of the reason is that he hasn't been around long enough to develop them at his many stops.
Before McNeal, a case can be made that Fran's best quarterbacks had been Casey Printers at TCU and Stoney Case at New Mexico. Case played in the NFL but was inherited by Franchione's staff. So were Andrew Zow and Tyler Watts at Alabama. Fran recruited and signed blue-chipper Brodie Croyle, then left after the 2002 season.
To begin the season, McNeal was bunched together with the Big 12's other run-pass quarterbacks. Texas' Vince Young and Missouri's Brad Smith got more ink mostly because their teams hadn't gone 4-8 with questionable quarterback play last season.
