The skinny: Practice 8, Tuesday -- In the morning, A&M worked out inside for 70 minutes in helmets and shorts, and in the afternoon the Aggies worked outside for 90 minutes in pads.
"I thought we had a great morning, and executed extremely well," A&M head coach Mike Sherman said.
The afternoon was split with the offense efficient during the running scrimmage, but the defense dominated the passing.
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Several position changes: Sophomore Danny Baker (6-5, 296), who was working at center, moved to tackle on the first unit.
Baker played in nine games last year. He often was used as a blocking tight end, where he started against Miami. His other start was at tackle in the regular-season finale against Texas.
Sherman said Baker did just about as good as anyone in containing junior linebacker Von Miller, who has been one of the spring's most consistent players with his pass-rushing ability from A&M's "jack" position, which is a hybrid of linebacker and end.
Miller had one sack Tuesday and had other pressures as the defensive line and linebackers had a good day.
"I think athletically, Baker is one of the better tackles we have," Sherman said.
A&M swapped Baker with redshirt freshman Brian Thomas (6-3, 270).
Sherman said the plan all along had been to see each player for two weeks, then switch.
"I don't like moving guys around inside like that, but we really don't have a choice," Sherman said. "I think we have only six scholarship players out here who are healthy."
Sophomore defensive back Lionel Smith (6-0, 174) moved to wide receiver, redshirt freshman defensive Keon Furtch (6-2, 190) moved to tight end and junior linebacker Cole Graybill (6-3, 236) moved to fullback.
Smith played wide receiver in high school at Houston Bellaire after moving to Texas from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
"We have a fair amount of guys coming in at that position," Sherman said. "He was a heck of a receiver in high school. So we wanted to give him an opportunity to show what he could do.
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Next up: A&M will practice at 6:10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday before breaking for Easter. Practice is open to current A&M students, former students (wearing an Aggie ring) and A&M faculty or staff with a current ID.
The Maroon & White Game will be April 18 at 2 p.m.
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It wasn't a snap: A&M's first-team defense had three straight sacks and a tackle for a loss in the afternoon. Then a series later, junior quarterback Jerrod Johnson was intercepted by sophomore Justin McQueen, who was covering sophomore wide receiver Jeff Fuller. The play started with Johnson having trouble taking the snap.
"He made a bad decision, he was scrambling and he threw a ball downfield he shouldn't have thrown downfield," Sherman said. "He was trying to take a shot and it was too high a risk. That wasn't good, but overall, he's been doing a good job, and he did a very good job today."
Johnson and redshirt freshman Tommy Dorman were at times handicapped before the play every got under way.
"We're struggling with our snaps," Sherman said. "When we're in the shotgun [formation], it's inconsistent. They're having to pick the football up off the ground and the defense is on them, so they're running around and it kinda takes them off their rhythm. So we gotta get our snaps fixed before we do anything."
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Brown returns: Junior wide receiver Kenny Brown returned after slightly separating his left shoulder making a catch March 31.
"He's gonna take a little while to get going," Sherman said. "He's a rep guy, once he gets his reps, he's pretty good. But it's going to take him a couple days to get in sync."
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Et cetera: The defense claimed a 81-62 intrasquad victory. ... The morning's best catch was Fuller grabbing a long pass from Johnson with tight coverage from sophomore safety Trent Hunter. Fuller managed to harmlessly flip Hunter as he bounced up from the turf. ... The afternoon session had the largest media turnout of the spring, with several television crews and ESPN.com's Tim Griffin along with the usual locals. ... Waco High senior defensive end Andrew Weaver, who has signed with A&M, watched practice. Navasota head football coach Lee Fedora watched practice before heading to Olsen Field to throw out the first pitch at the A&M baseball game.