His high school coach says that defensive lineman Brian Patrick has an initial personal goal when he comes to A&M this summer. It’s a big goal, even for a big senior in high school.

"He wants to be the strongest freshman ever to play at there," said Pasadena Sam Rayburn Coach Denny Swenson.

At 6-4, 294, Patrick has a 33-inch vertical jump, benches over 400 and squats 525. And at the R.C. Slocum Football Camp in June of 2001, Patrick wowed the Aggie coaches with his raw strength.

"Usually at semester time, we cut loose of our seniors because there’s no reason for them to be in offseason," Swenson said. "Brian came back to me and said, ‘Coach, do you mind if I participate in your offseason because you guys are going to push me harder than I’ll push myself.’ He simply wanted to get stronger."

Thus is the commitment from the two-way starter, who as a tight end caught five balls for 64 yards and a touchdown as a senior, and 10 for 215 yards as a junior. Slocum sees Patrick as a youngster who could play offense but plans to start him working in the defensive line, where the Aggies lost two seniors in Rocky Bernard and Evan Perroni.

"Patrick is another guy we have had in our camps," Slocum said. "He could be one of the strongest players we’ve had coming out of high school."

At a Nike camp, Patrick broke the previous record for reps on a 185-pound bench with 42. Put that with 4.9 speed, and Swenson thinks the Aggies have a four-year player.

And the Aggies have secured a player who is familiar with the goings-on in Aggieland, as he has a sister who also attends A&M.

"I know that as soon as he graduates from here, he’s going to be in College Station working out with those strength coaches and the other athletes there," Swenson said.

Swenson calls Patrick a self-motivated athlete. You can maybe even call him a gym rat.

"He’s not one of those guy who’s going to go play Nintendo games. He’d just as soon spend his time in the weight room. He’d rather go to a 24-hour gym on the weekend instead of watching TV. Now he does like to hunt some, but he surely doesn’t waste his time."

Known for his non-stop motor on the football field, Patrick was rankedas high as 36th nationally among defensive linemen by some recruitingexperts. He was included on every major top 100 watchlist and was a thirdteamer in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.

"We first noticed Brian as a freshman," Swenson recalled. "Even back then, he was not intimidated by anyone. He was all over the field, sideline to sideline. Every time you look at the video, he’s in it running." Swenson said Patrick has all the tools to make it off the field, as well.

"He has good character and he’s a good citizen and a good student," Swenson said. "He’s a very unassuming young man who’s a real pleasure to have around. We tell the kids that you need to be like a ‘Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde’. You need to be just a mean sucker, getting after it and ripping folks on the football field, and then be a model citizen off the field. Brian really epitomizes that in many ways."

While the Sam Rayburn squad had a difficult season, Patrick filled in several spots over his last three years of high school. He played strictly along the defensive line as a freshman and sophomore, but played on both the defensive and offensive line as an upperclassman.

"I really can’t recall when we discovered that he had great hands," Swenson said. "He played basketball, and we had graduated a big tight end after Brian’s sophomore year. So we moved him to tight end as a junior and also found that he was a devastating blocker. We’d run the counter sweep and he’ll take out two or three defensive guys all the way down to the center. Then we utilized the tight end in the offense catching the ball and found that he could run well after the catch."

– Tom B. Turbiville