Carson carrying the load
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M senior running back Tra Carson needs 136 yards to become only the 11th Aggie to reach 1,000 yards rushing in a season. The Aggies need a victory Saturday night at Vanderbilt to match their win total from last season, with a game at LSU and a bowl to go.
Carson thinks that first part — the 1,000-yard milestone — is neat. He believes that second part is a necessity.
“I’d trade 1,000 yards rushing for a win any day,” Carson said this week.
He means it — at least based on his actions in his final season as a quiet, humble workhorse who hoped to be a part of a Southeastern Conference title team at Texas A&M. That won’t happen, but it might have if every player had adopted Carson’s approach: going about his business of using every bit of talent and energy toward helping the team.
“He’s done a fantastic job for us,” offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said. “He’s set the tone for us offensively.”
Has he ever. While Spavital and coach Kevin Sumlin are trying to peg a starting quarterback late in the season, while a fleet of highly recruited receivers hasn’t produced as expected, while the Aggies have had an offensive line that’s been pushed back against tougher SEC West foes, Carson has plowed forward.
“I’ve been more patient, and letting plays develop a little more,” Carson said of how he’s gotten to 864 yards in 10 games this season. “It comes with reps in a game, and getting into a rhythm. Last year, we were in a rotation. You couldn’t really get into a good rhythm.”
Still, the coaches would gladly take last year’s options, because Carson (6-0, 237) has been about the only option out of the backfield. A&M has missed a change-of-pace back, what Trey Williams would’ve been had he not exited A&M for the pros before his senior season.
He went undrafted, signed a free-agent deal with Washington and recently was signed off the practice squad by Dallas. Freshman Jay Bradford of Splendora was supposed to serve as a decent replica of Williams, but an undisclosed health issue has sidelined Bradford for the season, and his future in the sport is uncertain.
Little depth
A&M, in what’s turned out to be a solid move, also shifted Brandon Williams to cornerback for his senior year, in an attempt to fill out a position hurting for depth more than running back. Meanwhile, freshman Kendall Bussey is redshirting after recuperating from a knee injury long before the season started.
Sophomore James White recently returned to the lineup after a couple of injuries had sidelined him for most of the season, but he’s built much like Carson and hasn’t shown the bursts of speed he did on occasion last season.
It all leaves Carson shouldering the load, and his 181 carries are 143 more than the next pure running back (former walk-on Brice Dolezal) on the roster. Sumlin figured Carson wouldn’t shrink from the heavy duty, based on his first impressions of the Liberty-Eylau graduate. Carson started his career at Oregon, where he played as a freshman, but grew homesick for Texas.
When Sumlin was hired in December 2011, Carson placed a call to the former Houston Cougars coach. One day after Brandon
Williams, then a freshman running back at Oklahoma, had done the same.
“They knew each other and had come out of high school the same year,” Sumlin said. “I wanted to make sure they both knew the other was coming here. They said, ‘That’s fine, coach, it will work out.’ ”
Although Williams had beaten him to the transfer request punch, Carson shrugged and figured there was room for both.
“Once coach told me there was room even with Brandon coming … he’s just a different kind of back than I am,” Carson said. “I knew I’d be the only big back, so I’d have a chance to play.”
Working out
He’s earned more than a chance, and the Aggies might not have seven wins without him.
“He’s got a real chance to be a 1,000-yard rusher, and that’s nothing to sneeze at in the SEC,” Sumlin said. “It’s worked out for everybody. We’re happy, he’s happy and he’s about to have a degree from Texas A&M. Four years ago, that wasn’t even in the cards.”
Carson is scheduled to graduate in December with a parks and recreation degree and hopes to give the NFL a shot. He’ll be glad to first clutch that diploma.
“I’ll be the first in my immediate family to graduate from college,” he said. “They’re proud.”