San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Dual role twice as nice for Achane, Aggies
COLLEGE STATION — Lost in the hubbub of Texas A&M’s hire of Jimbo Fisher nearly four years ago was a fun reunion between two old friends from their LSU days: Fisher and A&M track coach Pat Henry.
That longtime relationship is now back in the spotlight thanks to the national-title winning duo doing what they did two decades ago in Baton Rouge, La. — forming a formidable one-two punch in recruiting dual-sport athletes, this time to both sides of Wellborn Road.
The most striking example to date is freshman tailback/sprinter Devon Achane, who qualified for this week’s NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., in three events: the 100 meters, the 200 meters and as part of the 400-meter relay team.
Achane did so less than five months after earning the Orange Bowl MVP nod in rushing for 140 yards and two touchdowns on a dozen carries in the Aggies’ 41-27 victory over North Carolina. Tar Heels coach Mack Brown labeled Achane’s 76-yard sprint down the left sideline for a fourth quarter score a “tough thing” for North Carolina to overcome — meantime Fisher and Henry are grinning at their renewed good fortune.
“He’s just scratching the surface of what he can do,” Fisher said of Achane, a former Fort Bend Marshall star. “I truly believe he’s a football player who runs track — I don’t think he’s a track guy who plays football. He has a natural ability to play the game of football. A lot of guys who are really fast have a tendency to do everything fast, but he doesn’t.
“He’s under control and has a good pace to himself, and he understands he’s a natural runner.”
Fisher was then-LSU coach Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator in the early 2000s when Fisher and Henry began comparing notes on recruits. When Saban took over at LSU in 2000, thenTigers quarterback Craig Nall immediately approached Fisher about throwing the javelin for Henry in the spring.
Nall had not been allowed to compete in track under previous LSU football coach Gerry DiNardo. Nall told the New Orleans Times-Picayune he was greeted with a hearty approval from Fisher.
“It was the complete opposite of what I (was) used to,” Nall said.
A&M’s revived football-track pipeline has received another boost this summer, too, with the arrival of offensive lineman/ thrower Bryce Foster of Katy Taylor. Fisher said parents should encourage their children to play multiple sports — that pre-teens and even kids in their early teens should not “specialize” in one sport.
“That drives me nuts,” Fisher said. “… I love two-sport athletes.”
He added that Foster looks forward to blocking SEC defensive lineman in the fall and chunking heavy objects in the spring, for instance.
“That’s one of his dreams, and I’m not going to stand in his way,” Fisher said of Foster perhaps competing in the Olympics in track and field.
Fisher, who won a national title at Florida State in 2013, added
of Foster and Achane competing in both football and track at A&M: “How many chances do you get to maybe be a part of a national championship football team and a national championship track team? How many guys have a chance to win two national championships (in two sports) at one school?”
When A&M hired the iconic Henry from LSU in 2004, thenA&M football coach Dennis Franchione said he looked forward to perhaps “combining on” dual athletes with Henry. That never came to pass of any note, and it also did not with ensuing A&M football coaches Mike Sherman and Kevin Sumlin.
Late last century A&M earned plenty of attention under thenfootball coach R.C. Slocum and then-track coach Ted Nelson for having crossover athletes, in fact three of the four competitors on A&M’s 1997 national title-winning 400-meter relay team were at one time or another A&M football players: Danny McCray, Toya Jones and Micheal Price.
Two decades before that trio’s success, standout running back Curtis Dickey also was a multiple NCAA national champion in 60yard sprints from 1978-1980. Achane now is next in line for the Aggies, with the NCAA Outdoor Championships starting Wednesday at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.
Track fans this week will witness a standout who qualified for NCAA track’s grandest week by clocking 10.26 seconds in the 100 meters and 20.40 seconds in the 200 meters. Henry, who owns 36 NCAA national team titles between LSU and A&M, has said Achane continues refining the technicalities of succinctly sprinting the 100 and 200 meter events early in his already-decorated college career.
Along the way plenty of A&M football fans will take in Achane’s sprints in the Pacific Northwest, while especially looking forward to his sophomore season at Kyle Field.
“Everybody sees me as a speed guy, but I can do both,” Achane said specifically of his football ability to run fast and break tackles. “It’s not just about being fast — you’ve got to be physical at some point.”
Fisher said Achane has that part down, too, although it’s not a necessity in track.
“He’s much stronger than he’s given credit for,” Fisher said. “That sucker will block you — he’ll put his nose on you, now. He’ll put it right in the middle of you.”