news-record.com

GREENSBORO — On the practice field, the red jersey is a red light. The red jersey means hands off. The red jersey means no contact.

The red jersey is no guarantee.

Lewis Kindle, the sophomore projected as N.C. A&T's starting quarterback, wore a red jersey when he tore up a knee in the waning days of a hot August training camp.

And so the Aggies start the second season of coach Alonzo Lee's rebuilding project Saturday with a quarterback who has never handled a snap in a college game.

Terrence Webb, a redshirt sophomore, played sparingly and made two tackles in four games as a defensive back last year.

Now he's the quarterback.

"We're going with the best athlete on our team," Lee said. "In the weight room, in practice, in everything we do, Terrence Webb is pound-for-pound the best athlete on our team."

The Aggies were counting on Kindle, who played in four games as a freshman last year and started the last two. He came to camp bigger, stronger and more confident.

He ended camp hurt.

A few days before A&T's last intrasquad scrimmage — and with the opener against Winston-Salem State on the horizon — Kindle injured an anterior cruciate ligament tackling a linebacker who had recovered a running back's fumble.

"It's unbelievable," Lee said, shaking his head, "just unbelievable. But that's just his aggressive nature, and you don't want to coach that out of him. We tried to get him to understand the reason behind that red jersey, that it means no contact. But as soon as his man fumbled the ball, he reacted. He ran over there and tried to make the tackle, just like he would in a game. It's a reaction play."

Lee said it's up to the team's doctors whether Kindle plays this season.

"He was jogging just the other day," Lee said, "but I'm no doctor, and I don't know if that's a good sign or if it's a sign he still needs to work before he can run and cut. If surgery has to be done, he'll be gone for the year. If rehab is enough, he may be back. We just don't know."

So now it's Webb's offense. Shelton Morgan, a senior who didn't get in a game last year but made seven starts in the two seasons before Lee's arrival, is No. 2 on the depth chart. Ricky Lewis, a News & Record high school player of the year at Dudley who sat out last season, is No. 3.

Whoever plays quarterback will work behind a veteran offensive line. A&T returns eight linemen who rotated playing time last season. Seven of them have started games.

Enoch Cohen, the senior right tackle and a team captain, said the group understands its role — especially with a rookie quarterback.

"We can't just be average anymore," Cohen said. "Before, if we messed up, Lewis could still make us look good. But now Terrence is going to start for the first time, so we have to be outstanding. Terrence is going to be fine."

After the closed scrimmage on the final Saturday of A&T's camp, those linemen took Webb aside.

"We told him, 'It's your show now.' Nothing's different," Cohen said. "We're not closing up the playbook."

Before Kindle's injury, the Aggies' biggest question mark was on the defensive line, where A&T lost three of its four starters — and best players — from last year. Micah Stanfield, a sophomore from Reidsville, is the only returning starter.

Even so, A&T should again be strong on defense.

All-MEAC defensive backs Justin Ferrell and Quay Long lead a secondary among the league's best. And middle linebacker Brandon Jackson is a hitting machine who led the team with 69 tackles last year.

But it's one tackle, made on a practice field by a quarterback wearing a red jersey, that creates the most worry for the Aggies moving forward.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com