Texas A&M Football: The 10 Most Important People in the Program

Who is more important to a football program, the players or the coaches?

Does a great coach make a quarterback great, or does a great QB make the coach look better than he is?

Is the star running back more important than the star linebacker? Is anyone as important as the offense line?

Does it matter to a football team who the athletic director is?

This is a look at the 10 most important people in the Texas A&M football program.

10. Defensive Coordinator

For the most part, you win in the Southeastern Conference with excellent defenses. LSU and Alabama are playing for the national title because they have the two best defenses in the country.

Kevin Sumlin has not hired a defensive coordinator yet, but in many ways this hire may define his legacy at A&M. Hire the right guy and the Aggies will have a competitive defense in 2012 and will have a chance to win most of their conference games.

Hire the wrong guy and the Ags will spend the next two years putting up mediocre results on the field before they replace that defensive coordinator with someone who can get the job done.

The defensive coordinators in the SEC tend to become head coaches at other schools. This is easily one of the most important positions in the program.

9. Quarterback

No one knows who the starting quarterback will be for the Aggies in 2012.

Jameill Showers is the backup right now and has the most game experience. With the Ags switching to a new system, Showers, Matt Joeckel, Johny Manziel and Matt Davis are all in the same boat.

They will all be learning the system together and starting fresh.

Whoever the quarterback is will automatically become a de facto leader of the team. He is probably the most important player on the offense because they touch the ball on every play.

The quarterback in 2012 should have a nice stable of running backs lining up behind him and a very good offensive line returning.

The quarterback needs to limit mistakes in the conference games because teams like LSU and Alabama will turn your turnovers into points.

The Ags are going to need their QB to be a play maker next year because they have the wide receivers to make big plays in the SEC. They can probably run the ball behind that offensive line and win some games, but they will need the QB to be more than a game manager if they want to beat the top teams in the West. 

8. OLB Damontre Moore

Damontre Moore will be a junior OLB when the Ags begin the 2012 season.

He took over as a full-time starter a few games into the 2011 campaign and turned into one of the Big 12's most dominant pass rushers.

Teams decided to double team Sean Porter, and Moore responded by posting 7.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss.

At 6'4" 245 lbs., Moore is physically ready to compete in the SEC right now.

Moore ran into some trouble off the field in the offseason between his freshman and sophomore years. He appeared to mature on and off the field in 2011. If he can continue to mature, he should be a force for the Aggies in the SEC in 2012.

7. DL Coach Terrell Williams

The Southeastern Conference is the best football conference in all of college football. The reason the SEC is so great is because in that conference everyone has a great defensive line.

Terrell Williams will be tasked with rebuilding the Aggies defensive line after they lose senior starters Eddie Brown, Tony Jerod-Eddie and possibly Jonathan Mathis. The Aggies return Spencer Nealy who took over after Mathis' injury and Kirby Ennis who has seen extensive action during his during his three years in the program.

The Ags are seeking a medical red-shirt on behalf of Mathis, but there are no guarantees.

Even if Mathis returns, Williams will still have an uphill battle to turn the DL into a force in the new conference.

The SEC features big, powerful running backs and mainly ground-bound offenses. The Ags did a good job stopping the run in 2011 by allowing less than three yards per carry. This is a different conference, and it will be a tougher challenge to stop the run in the SEC.

Williams is widely viewed as the Aggies best recruiter on the coaching staff. He can go a long way towards helping the 2012 team by living up to his reputation and bringing in some quality juco defensive linemen.

6. WR Ryan Swope

Ryan Swope will enter the 2012 season in the SEC as the conference leader in receptions, yards and receiving touchdowns. He accumulated all those numbers in the Big 12, but he should still be a formidable receiver in the SEC.

Swope will lead a senior-laden WR corps into the new conference. He will be counted on to be an offensive leader while the Ags break in a new quarterback.

In Kevin Sumlin's system, look for the Ags to move Swope around a lot and for them to get him the ball on the move through slants and WR screens.

Even though he will be playing with a new QB in a tougher conference, you should expect Swope to put up similar numbers to 2011 in Sumlin's offense.

5. OLB Sean Porter

Sean Porter will be a senior in 2012 and will be counted on to be a leader on the defense and the team.

He is a first team All Big 12 linebacker in 2011 and will play on Sundays.

His speed and ability to get to the quarterback will be a tremendous asset as the Aggies adjust to Southeastern Conference play.

The 2011 team was devoid of senior leadership. It would crumble when faced with adversity. Porter is a player that teammates look up to because of how he performs on the field. He needs to take a leadership role on the 2012 football team so what happened this year does not happen again.

4. Strength Coach

The strength and conditioning coach spends more time with the football players than any other coach.

Dave Kennedy was instrumental in helping transform the A&M program from the depths of the Franchione years to its current state where future NFL players dot the roster.

Kennedy helped make the team faster and stronger.

It appears that Kevin Sumlin is going to hire Larry Jackson over from Houston to run the strength and conditioning program at A&M.

He will be tasked with preparing A&M for the rough-and-tumble world of the SEC.

3. Christine Michael

Christine Michael is recovering from ACL surgery. He tore his ACL against Oklahoma after rushing for 899 yards and eight touchdowns.

It generally takes a year to recover 100 percent from ACL surgery. Michael should be effective next year but will likely not be fully recovered until his rookie year in the NFL.

Michael will be a senior and will need to give the Aggies a power running option between the tackles in the SEC. At his best, he is an All SEC-caliber running back who is a top two round draft pick. We will have to wait till the fall to see how how close he is to playing at that level again.

2. LT Luke Joeckel

Michael Lewis' book The Blind Side showed everyone how important the left tackle is in football today.

Luke Joeckel is an all conference left tackle who will compete for All America honors in 2012. He allowed one sack in 2011 when a KSU defender was being blocked, but managed to kick the ball out of Ryan Tannehill's hand.

He was dominant in 2011 and enters 2012 as one of the best left tackles in the country. He is definitely a candidate to leave for the NFL early.

Joeckel leads an offensive line that returns seven players who started in 2011. Joeckel and that line will have to be great in 2012 while the Aggies break in a new quarterback.

1. Head Coach Kevin Sumlin

Kevin Sumlin is the face of the program. For better or worse, it all ends at his feet.

He is responsible for finding a way to win. If he does his job, then the program looks great. People buy tickets, donations go up, recruits come calling and the program gets stronger. The national image of the football team and university goes up.

If the team does not win games, then interest wanes and the program gets weaker.

A football coach can affect how the entire country views a university. The general public will see Sumlin on television a lot more than they will see A&M president R. Bowen Loftin, which makes him the most important person in the program.