COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M quarterbacks Jerrod Johnson and Ryan Tannehill were asked on Monday if they knew coach Mike Sherman's plan heading into the Aggies' home game against Big 12 rival Texas Tech.
Their answers, given at different times, were the same — only with Johnson a bit more verbose.
“No clue,” Tannehill said.
“Absolutely no clue,” Johnson offered.
Sherman, too, kept his strategy tight to his vest, after playing both quarterbacks equally in last Saturday's 45-10 victory at Kansas. The Aggies (4-3, 1-2) had lost their three previous games behind Johnson, prompting Sherman to shake up things against the Jayhawks.
Now, based on the junior Tannehill outperforming the senior Johnson against KU, Sherman owns a full-blown quarterback controversy.
“What's the controversy?” Sherman countered Monday. “We have two good quarterbacks. The controversy is when you don't have a quarterback. There's absolutely, positively no friction.”
Johnson, the Big 12's offensive preseason player of the year who has been reduced to fighting for his job against Tannehill, wasn't as upbeat.
“If I told you I was happy with the way this season has gone, in more ways than one, I'd be lying to you,” Johnson said. “It's definitely frustrating, but at the end of the day, it is what it is. There's no point in complaining about it. I don't have any ill words for Coach Sherman or Ryan or anything.
“We're all great friends — it's just the business that we're in. ... I just have to adapt.”
For the first time, too, Johnson, alluded to the idea that his arm might not be 100 percent healthy. He had offseason shoulder surgery, and his passes have less velocity than those of Tannehill.
“If I choose to put myself out there, I'm fine, and I'm choosing to do that,” Johnson said, when asked about his arm. “If there was any harm to me as far as long term ... I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't be out there. So I'm fine.”
Johnson led the Aggies on three scoring drives before giving way to Tannehill at KU. Tannehill, in turning in a more efficient game, threw three TD passes and ran for another, as the duo, for the most part, alternated quarters.
“It was surprising,” Johnson said of the timing of his first removal. “Coach Sherman didn't really tell me exactly how (the plan to play both) was going to go. I thought I was moving the ball pretty well and that we were in a pretty good rhythm.”
Sherman said he didn't expect Johnson to be cheery about the shakeup.
“I would not want my quarterback to be happy about it, and I'm sure in his own way he wasn't,” Sherman said. “But he didn't display that on the sidelines. He was very supportive of Ryan.”
Asked if he expected to start Saturday against Tech, Johnson said, “I don't see why I wouldn't, but at the same time it's not up to me.”
Meanwhile, Tannehill will prepare as if he's starting against Tech (4-3, 2-3) — the program his father played for in the 1980s.
“We're just trying to win games,” Tannehill said of the quarterback situation.
As for the plan against the Red Raiders?
“There's really no need to get into that right now,” Sherman said. “We're going to need both quarterbacks.”
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