Luke Joeckel graduated from Arlington High School in December, and by the end of April he was the starting left offensive tackle for the Texas A&M football team. Toney Hurd Jr., joined the Aggies 13 days ago, and Friday morning he was playing strong safety with the first unit.

Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman has never been shy about playing freshmen, though sometimes he's had to play some out of necessity.

Sherman had seven true freshmen combine for 40 starts in 2008 led by wide receiver Jeff Fuller, running back Cyrus Gray, lineman Tony Jerod-Eddie and strong safety Trent Hunter. That paled in comparison to last year when he played 18 true freshmen, 11 of them starting at least one game (excluding kickers), the most in the nation. Eastern Michigan was second with eight. No other BCS school started more than five.

True freshmen combined to start 57 games for the Aggies last year, helping A&M reach the Independence Bowl.

That was good and bad.

Established programs have the luxury of redshirting players, allowing them to develop behind more experienced players. A&M hasn't won enough games recently to do that. Sherman is the third coach in the last decade trying to turn around a program that's had four losing seasons in the last seven years.

"We haven't been able to redshirt very many guys since we've been here at any position," Sherman said. "This year, we'll probably redshirt more than we have in the past, but I always challenge them. We don't know who it's going to be.

"Heck, one guys goes down, the other guy has to step up. Then the other guy now is the backup. You never know going into the season exactly who it's going to be."

This year A&M appears to have more options with players because of what the true freshmen did in the last two seasons.

Fuller, Gray, Eddie and Hunter are valuable starters who cut their teeth during Sherman's 4-8 inaugural season. Offensive guard Patrick Lewis, running back Christine Michael, wide receivers Uzoma Nwachukwu and Ryan Swope, linebacker Sean Porter, and safeties Steven Campbell and Steven Terrell are freshmen from last year who are either penciled in as starters or will be key reserves.

That leaves less holes for A&M to fill with the newcomers.

"I came into this season [thinking] I'd be happy if we played nine and redshirted the rest," Sherman said. "We haven't had the luxury of redshirting anybody other than a handful of guys. So, I'm anxious to be in a position where we can do that."

Sherman, who also serves as offensive coordinator, was able to redshirt tight end Hutson Prioleau last year. The 6-foot-4, 251-pounder looks like a big-time player this fall.

"He looks so much further ahead than he was a year ago," Sherman said. "Thankfully, we didn't have to play him last year. He's a freshman again. So he has four years to play his position."

For several freshmen in rivals.com's 17th-ranked class, redshirting won't be in their best interest or the team's.

"I think it's a great freshman class," Sherman said. "I think we have a lot of talent at positions that we need help."

Sherman said Demontre Moore (6-4, 248) will help at outside linebacker. Moore has great size with speed, and the Aggies need more linebackers after switching to a 3-4 defensive alignment.

Joeckel (6-6, 304) and Jake Matthews (6-5, 295) will bolster the offensive line.

"I think all those linemen have a chance to help us at some point -- we won't use all of them this year, but they are all talented enough for us to use them," Sherman said. "I envision that we will probably use at least two, maybe three of them."

Defensive linemen were another priority for this class.

"Because we do have some depth there, we are just going to see who steps up," Sherman said. "We haven't had one just step up just yet and be the guy. So we're kinda waiting on that."

Many freshmen are on the path to playing right away.

Hurd was impressive at cornerback before moving to safety on Friday because A&M has some players in the secondary missing with injuries. Wide receiver Nate Askew (6-4, 223) has turned heads but also has missed time with an injury.

"We're hopeful that Askew can help us return punts and be a fourth receiver," Sherman said. "So we're anxious to get him on the field full time. He's had some groin strains that he's had also when he ran track this past spring."

Sherman was pleased that many of A&M's freshmen ran track in high school, but he was even happier to see Joeckel in camp this spring, where he was blocking All-American Von Miller.

"I think a lot of the best linemen in the Big 12 will struggle against Von Miller, so I take that into consideration," Sherman said. "I was watching Luke Joeckel [last week]. He was taking a perfect set and he did everything right, but Von got the sack.

"As I told Luke, as frustrating as it is, the game is going to be a heck of a lot easier than his practices. The speed of the game will be slow to him overall compared to what he's going against every day, which I think is one of the best players in the country."

Sherman doesn't allow freshmen to talk to the media until after they play a game, but Joeckel's teammates have had no problem talking for him.

"He came in in the spring and he didn't start slow," junior starting guard Evan Eike said "He knew he had a shot at playing. He had a great spring and that's really carried over into the summer and now fall camp. He continues to push. He never gets complacent with himself, he's always looking to get better."

Eike, who has the most starts of any offensive lineman with 20, redshirted as a freshman, as did senior center Matt Allen.

"The first and best way [to learn] would be repetitions in practice, having them see it over and over again," Eike said.

Eike and Allen are the exceptions at A&M, which listed only 16 players on its two-deep chart coming out of spring practice who had redshirted. For many programs, redshirting is almost considered a must for offensive linemen.

Texas, by contrast, has 22 upperclassmen who redshirted along with 13 redshirt freshmen, according to InsideTexas.com. The Longhorns also have 20 players on the roster who graduated high school early to take part in spring drills.

Starting quickly

Here are the true freshmen who have played for Texas A&M under coach Mike Sherman:

2009

OL Stephen Barrera (9 games, 3 starts); WR Brandal Jackson (11 games, 7 starts; 16 catches-272 yards, TD); OL Patrick Lewis (12 games, 9 starts); P Ryan Epperson (6 games; 35.2 avg. on 25 kicks); WR Kenric McNeal (10 games; 6 catches for 97 yards, TD); RB Christine Michael (12 games, 4 starts; 166 carries for 844 yards,10 TDs); WR Ryan Swope (12 games, 1 start; 19 catches-172 yards, TD); WR Uzoma Nwachukwu (13 games, 12 starts; 40 catches-708 yards, 6 TDs); LB Aaron Arterburn (5 games; 6 tackles); DB Steven Campbell (13 games, 1 start; 25 tackles); DL Kirby Ennis (12 games; 13 tackles); LB Michael Lamothe (12 games; 1 tackle); DL Spencer Nealy (13 games; 19 tackles); LB Sean Porter (13 games, 2 starts; 42 tackles); LB Jonathan Stewart (13 games, 7 starts; 28 tackles); DB Steven Terrell (13 games; 8 tackles); DB Colton Valencia (13 games; 3 tackles); DB Dustin Harris (12 games, 11 starts; 40 tackles).

2008

OL Joe Villavisencio (2 games, 1 start); WR Jeff Fuller (11 games, 8 starts, 50 catches for 630 yards, 9 TDs); DL Eddie Brown (12 games, 2 starts, 25 tackles); PK Randy Bullock (6-7 FGs); LB Ricky Cavanaugh (5 games, 7 tackles); DB Terrence Frederick (11 games, 6 starts, 33 tackles); RB Cyrus Gray (12 games, 8 starts; 75 carries-363 yards, TD); DB Trent Hunter (11 games, 8 starts, 65 tackles); DL Tony Jerod-Eddie (12 games, 7 starts, 20 tackles); TE K.J. Williams (7 games)

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