Sponsored by Brent Campbell, Fighting Texas Aggie Class of 1998. Brent is a Commercial Real Estate Broker, serving all of Central Texas and specializing in sales, leasing & development. He leads a retail acquisition and sales team and was recognized by the Austin Business Journal as a Commercial Real Estate Heavy Hitter in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 & 2023.

In the last 22 years, he has closed deals with a total transactional value of over $375 million and has leased more than 4.5 million square feet. Brent currently serves as the president of the board of directors for Habitat Homes, Inc. and Pathways Youth and Family Services. He is a former president of the Heart of Round Rock Neighborhood Association and a former member of the Round Rock Zoning Advisory Committee, the Round Rock Business and Retention Committee, and the City of Round Rock Ethics Commission, which has led him to begin developing in Williamson and Travis County.

An Austin native, Brent lives in Round Rock where he and his wife have raised four boys. Brent works for Don Quick and Associates, Inc. in Round Rock, TX and can be reached at brent@donquick.com.

1. It would be wrong not to start this week’s TTFT with a salute to Brian Williams, a former Aggie football safety and class of ’24, who passed away over the weekend. Williams was the number 84 player in the nation in the class of 2019, and I thought he and Demani Richardson would be the next great safety duo. But he had his career shortened by injuries and never had the chance to be an impact player. But he made the best of his situation by graduating with an engineering degree and was on a rapid rise. He was just 24, and a good one is gone much too soon.

Here.

2. If there’s a reason why it seems like Aggie athletics is being a little hesitant with certain…expenditures (read: firing coaches), this may have something to do with it: according to the Knight Commission, A&M’s athletic department has taken on $252.3 million in new debt since 2013. Overall, the department has a net debt of $279 million, and only four public schools in the nation have more. If you were curious, Texas has $218 million in debt, while LSU has $194 million — but they’ve been paying theirs down. A lot of this debt has to do with renovations to Kyle Field, the new field house and other facilities, but shelling out $70-something million to get a coach to go away certainly hasn’t helped matters.

3. I’m going to say something that is not overly controversial — or, at least, it shouldn’t be. If Le’Veon Moss enters the season healthy, which is a very distinct possibility, A&M will have one of the best running back rooms in the nation. Moss averaged 6.3 yards a carry last year, and Amari Daniels averaged 4.8. Reuben Owens, who may have the most natural talent of the three, is back and healthy. A lot depends on the offensive line, of course, but if Moss can run for 765 yards in eight games behind a banged up line, what can he do if he’s healthy and what could be a very experienced O-line is also ready to go?

4. One player that I’m really wondering about is Terry Bussey. The former 5-star showed some flashes of excellence last year, but we didn’t see much of him this spring after he was banged up almost all of last season. So, can he stay healthy and will he be ready to be a quality wideout? If he is, then teams are going to have problem dealing with him, KC Concepcion and Mario Craver at the same time. So we get to wait and see if he can live up to his potential.

5. One area where I think the Aggies are quietly effective is at nickel. Jordan Shaw, who transferred in from Washington, wowed this spring and they have Tyreek Chappell, who is as valuable as any defensive back, will be ready for the season. But if Shaw keeps playing at the level he did this spring, Chappell will be able to imitate BJ Mayes from last season and roam from nickel to playing corner outside. Considering I’m not sold on either Julian Humphrey or Dezz Ricks opposite of Will Lee, that may be an unexpected blessing.

6. For those of you worrying about Bucky McMillan filling out his roster, I would like to point out two things: one, the NBA Combine ended Sunday and players have until May 28 to announce their decisions on whether they’ll stay in the draft or get out (that’s actually one point); two, there are still well over 1,000 players still in the transfer portal. They’ll get theirs.

7. Since we’re getting close to the dull days of summer, I’ve noticed that the national hype for Aggie football is starting to pick up. I’m going to refrain from making any predictions (even though I'm clearly optimistic about some position groups), because I still have a lot of questions I need to see answered. Maybe I’m a nitpicker, but I’m still concerned about that other corner spot, the backups at defensive tackle, the cohesion of the offensive line and stuff like that.

8. Aggie baseball will not play tonight due to a rainout in Hoover, Ala. Again. This just shows how the SEC reverts to “just because” on some things. Why do you insist on playing in this little piddly stadium when you have two domed stadiums in major metropolitan areas that are a reasonable drive for at least one quarter of the teams in your conference? To boot, both the Astros and Rangers are on the road right now! But no, it stays in Hoover. Why? Just because.

9. One thing to watch closely — the Power 4 conferences are looking at the possibility of creating their own set of regulations with respect to NIL. These regulations would supersede any rules set in place by individual states, with the threat of conference expulsion for those schools who violate it. That could be very big for schools like Tennessee and Vanderbilt, as the state of Tennessee now has a law on the books that would allow in-state schools to ignore the House v. NCAA settlement (should there be one) and ignore the new College Sports Commission. In other words, an already ugly situation could get much uglier.

10. Something that everyone needs today, as we raise a toast to Ol’ Norm, George Wendt, who passed away today at 76.