Two weeks from now we'll be putting the finishing touches on how the Aggies looked against Stephen F. Austin in their opener and be looking ahead to the game against Louisiana Tech.
Maybe it's me, but it just seems that the first two weeks of fall camp for the Texas A&M football team have flown by. Sure, the heat has been a problem at times. And almost daily there's another key player watching practice with an injury, which can't be good. Still, the optimism for this team remains much higher than in recent years.
Why is that?
Some answers are obvious. This is head coach Mike Sherman's third year. He's gone from 4-8 to 6-7, so 8-5 or better seems in order. Sherman has revamped his staff, topped by defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter and the installation of his attacking 3-4 defense.
Yet the most buzz around this team is coming from the best possible source -- the fans.
Sherman's A&M program is one of the few left that has open fall practices. The invitation is limited to Aggies, but the media is allowed as well. That's a lot of eyes reporting every move.
Nebraska was in the news last week when head coach Bo Pelini gave the media the boot for three days because a few outlets reported injuries after being told they couldn't. It's also tough to iron out a gentlemen's agreement if neither side considers the other a gentleman.
Thus far, open practices have gone well under Sherman, even in that first year when smiles -- and good news -- often were hard to come by.
Aggies attending workouts the last two years had to be wearing heavily tinted maroon sunglasses not to see that A&M would struggle to win games, but this team is light years ahead of Sherman's first squad. And, of course, seeing is believing. It's one thing to read or hear encouraging comments by Sherman and DeRuyter, but two senses are better than one.
It would be easy for Sherman to close practices. It's getting harder and harder for coaches to satisfy the media's demands. Someone seems to want a five-minute exclusive interview every five minutes. It's a tough juggling act for any coach, because no program ever has enough coverage. And if you're not winning, do they really want the coverage?
Many schools allow spring practices to be open to the media and even fans. It's just not very intense. Key performers with even the slightest injuries don't practice. And since the next game is at least five months away, what harm can there be in opening it up?
That attitude changes for most coaches in the fall. They realize open practices mean injuries, fights and coaches' tirades are just a mouse click away from the scrutiny of the world.
Sherman affords the media the luxury of deciding what's important and what's not. He allows fans to see him and his coaches at work. That means we can report that quarterback Jerrod Johnson looked like a Heisman Trophy candidate or that he threw wounded ducks.
And when you can ask what you want and report what you see, time flies by.
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Back to work: After taking Sunday off, A&M practices once Monday (8:25 a.m. at the Coolidge practice fields) before holding its final two-a-day session Tuesday (8:25 a.m. at the Coolidge practice fields and 4 p.m. inside at McFerrin, which is closed to the public), a change from the previously reported schedule. The tentative schedule for the rest of the week is 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (inside), 12:20 p.m. Thursday (outside) and 9:15 a.m. Friday (outside).
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