Sternberger makes playing tight end cool again in Texas A&M’s new offense
COLLEGE STATION — David Beaty hasn’t coached at Texas A&M in four years, but the Kansas coach is a smidgen responsible for the Aggies’ success so far this season at tight end.
“He would actually talk a lot about A&M,” Aggies tight end Jace Sternberger said of his former college coach in Lawrence, Kan. “It was kind of like he was promoting it the whole time. … (But) it’s not like I was secretly planning on leaving or anything.”
When Sternberger chose to transfer from KU in the spring of 2017, the Aggies were on his mind, thanks in part to Beaty, a former A&M receivers coach, chatting up College Station.
“I thought, ‘That would be cool some-
day,’ ” Sternberger said of perhaps suiting up at A&M.
That someday is now, and Sternberger already has made a name for himself at Kyle Field after snagging two touchdown passes in the Aggies’ season-opening victory over Northwestern State — or two more than an A&M tight end had all last season under a different coaching staff.
“I had never really noticed that A&M (didn’t use) a tight end that much, but I’m very aware now,” Sternberger said with a chuckle of the crowd’s raucous response to his receptions. “I’m not complaining.”
A year ago, new Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher was at Florida State, and Sternberger was plying his trade at a much smaller A&M: Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. The Seminoles began recruiting Sternberger when then-FSU receivers coach Dameyune Craig told Fisher he needed to check into the long, lean tight end who had played in 10 games for Kansas in 2016.
Fisher accepted the A&M job in December, and his new Aggies staff (including Craig) kept right on recruiting Sternberger, who had 21 catches for 336 yards and six touchdowns at Northeastern Oklahoma. Sternberger was a two-star prospect out of Kingfisher (Okla.) High, and Fisher said his development is a good reminder that a high school senior is far from a finished product.
“We want to judge them when they’re 18. Well, they change when they’re 19, 20, 21 sometimes and get better,” Fisher said.
Tight end was not a priority under former A&M coach Kevin Sumlin, who spread out things on offense and often relied on four wide receivers in trying to overwhelm SEC defenses with speed and space.
One of Sumlin’s former tight ends at A&M, Cameron Clear, kiddingly posted to Twitter following Sternberger’s impressive debut a week ago: “Can I squeeze in a year of eligibility and go play for Jimbo Fisher?”
The Aggies will need Sternberger’s contributions more than ever on Saturday, when they host No. 2 Clemson at Kyle Field. The Tigers have four potential NFL draft first-round selections on their defensive line.
“Week in and week out when we practice, I try to approach the teams we play as everybody is a first-round pick,” Sternberger said with a shrug. “Because that’s my dream to be one day.”
Sternberger’s five catches in the Aggies’ 59-7 romp over the Demons were two fewer than A&M tight ends had in all of 2017, but his most impressive play didn’t involve hauling in a pass.
“I was running and looking to my left, and I saw two guys closing in on me,” A&M running back Trayveon Williams said of his 73-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter. “And then I saw Jace coming to save the day.”
A&M receiver Jhamon Ausbon already had been downfield blocking and wound up a casualty of Sternberger’s hard shove of a Demons defender creating a domino effect.
“He got them both, and he knocked down Jhamon, too,” Williams said of Sternberger taking out three players with one block, helping to spring Williams into the end zone. “He came in and cleaned everybody up.”
Sternberger (6-4, 250) said he just appreciates the opportunity after spending last year in Miami, Okla.
“I’m grateful for being under-recruited out of high school, because it’s helped me become who I am today,” Sternberger said.
So did that year of junior college ball, he added.
“It makes you take a step back from that Division I lifestyle with its … sense of entitlement,” Sternberger said. “Being at a junior college, you see kids who are in a completely different story. They’re there because that’s all they have left.”