Former QB Mark Farris recalls his favorite memories in Aggieland

A quarterback at Texas A&M from 1999-2002, Mark Farris joined TexAgs Live to speak on his fascinating journey from the minor leagues to college football. Farris reminisced on his time in Aggieland and provided some thoughts on the Maroon & White's upcoming season.

Key notes from Mark Farris interview

• I signed with Texas A&M in February and ended up a top draft pick in June. Back then, the baseball draft had changed, too. It was June 2 or 3. I ended up as a high pick where I was drafted. It wasn't much of a choice. I had to play baseball. My problem with it is that I had one eye on football. I got into Double-A the last year, hit .280 and had a chance to probably make it with the Pirates organization. From there, my last year, I played with a few guys who were maybe 25 and had to get jobs in the offseason, and it kind of got me to go back and get an education, if something happened. I talked to R.C Slocum and started in January of 1999 and finished in 2002.
   
• Funny story: I was never on scholarship at A&M. Once you're a professional athlete in any sport, you can't be a scholarship athlete. That's changed. It was kind of a unique thing, and when the scholarship guys went to do something, I wasn't included. I was a starting quarterback at a major Big 12 university, not on scholarship. The way it was back then was that the MLB provided scholarships when going back to school. Every dollar I got was from education from both of my parents, and it worked out well. Overall, technically, I was a walk-on football player.
   
• Baseball definitely gave me a leg up, the way it set up. When you play pro baseball, it's every day. In the minors, you have fewer off days, and you have a game every day for two to three weeks. Every day counts, and when I came back, I purposely started in spring in 1999 because I wanted my feet under me and to get used to football.
   
• You learn that every day counts, and some young guys don't know that practice matters. You find it real quick in baseball that every day matters. You compete every day, and if not, you are going home. I was competing with many freshmen, and it gave me a leg up, competing for four to five years.
   
• I was basically the same age as guys like Randy McCown and senior guys like Matt Bumgardner. I was around them more, but I was married with a kid. It was different for me, but I did fit in. I've been in a lot of buses and locker rooms with 18 to 23-year-old guys. Social life afterwards was different because I was going home, and they were going to the Tap or the Chicken. As far as the locker room, I fit because I've been doing that for so long. So it was no adjustment, except instead of a few semi-out-of-shape baseball guys, I was doing it with in-shape football guys.
   
• Dustin Long played a lot of football at A&M before transferring. McCown was the first guy when I came in as a senior. I worked my way into becoming the backup. It was funny how life worked out, and we were the same age. He was a fifth-year senior close to me in age. I learned a bunch from him. Colby Freeman came in, and at the end, it was Reggie McNeal and Long combo. Those are the times I wouldn't trade for anything. The quarterback coach when I was there was Ray Dorr, who ended up dying from lung cancer a year after I got there. I had nothing but good things to say about him. My success comes from him. Aggies know he passed away from ALS. Steve Kragthorpe passed away last year from Parkinson's disease. There are a lot of coaches who took me under their wings. Lots of memories.
   
• Robert Ferguson, in my first year, was a freaking beast. He had injuries in the NFL, but he was a great player. I met a bunch of great guys who I played with. My center, the first year or two, was Seth McKinney, and Bethel Johnson was a real speedster. Dwayne Goins, we had a good receiver corps. From high school, you have a guy or two you can trust, and then you get to a place like A&M, and every guy like that you can then trust. You throw it out there and let it work. We had a lot of good memories with the guys I played with. McKinney comes to mind. We got pretty close. On defense, there were too many good names and memories, Roylin Bradley and Terrence Kiel, who passed away... Too many guys to mention.
   
• One of my favorite games was Iowa State on the road. They had it going. It was their homecoming, and the news showed how big of a game it was going to be. We came in and got a great game. Gions was a track speedster guy and had a long touchdown pass. I remember running down the field and having fun playing that game. For a quarterback, catching a touchdown pass, I'm thinking, “Please God. Don't drop this.” Good memories. Life gets busy raising a family, having kids and working. It's nice to think back on those times.
   
• I've really enjoyed watching it, and last year, it got away at the end. There was a time I was telling my buddies, “A&M will go to the SEC Championship game.” It's been a while since we got to that talk, being in the conference championship. I think it's going in the right direction, like I said, the way sports work in college football, you get to the final record and forget how the year went. Even in the bowl game against USC, they should have won. Two to three plays in a game here or there, they are winning 10-11 games. I think Marcel Reed has matured, and the defense did fall off, but that's not going to be the case with Mike Elko this year. They will be fine. The schedule isn't too tough, but they got them in the right direction.