Wrecking Crew (Texas A&M football defense)

“Wrecking Crew” was the nickname of the Texas A&M Aggies football team’s defense in the late 1980s. The nickname was coined by then-Aggie safety Chet Brooks, based on how he thought the acclaimed defense played. The “Wrecking Crew” nickname is still used at Texas A&M whenever the defense plays up to the original Wrecking Crew’s high standards.
 
In July 2008, the nickname “Wrecking Crew” was voted as one of the top 12 greatest college football nicknames of all time.
 
 
Wikipedia: Texas A&M Aggies football
The Texas A&M Aggies football team represents Texas A&M University in Division I FBS college football. The team is also referred to as the Texas Aggies, indicating the state in which the school is located rather than the university the players attend. The Aggies have competed in the South Division of Big 12 Conference since the conference’s inception in 1996. Texas A&M football has earned one national title and 19 conference titles since becoming a charter member in the Southwest Conference in 1915. The team plays all home games at Kyle Field, an 82,600-person capacity outdoor stadium on the university campus. Mike Sherman, a former NFL coach, currently coaches the team.
     
23 September 1987, Galveston (TX) Daily News, “Brooks: demolition expert,” pg. 4B, col. 3:
Texas A&M’s rowdy defense is calling itself “The Wrecking Crew” and the head demolition expert is safety Terrance “Chet” Brooks.
 
25 November 1987, Kerrville (TX) Times, “A&M Not Overlooking Texas’ Metcalf,” pg. 9A, col. 2:
Metcalf has not escaped the attention of A&M’s “Wrecking Crew” defense. Aggie safety Chet Brooks says Metcalf should be a Heisman Trophy candidate.
     
Bryan-College Station (TX) Eagle
Updated 7:13 AM on Sunday, September 16, 2007
The old crew returns
Members of Texas A&M’s legendary defensive squad recall heyday
By APRIL AVISON
Eagle Staff Writer
Chet Brooks won two Super Bowl rings during his career with the San Francisco 49ers, but the former Texas A&M defensive back said Saturday there’s no place like Kyle Field.
 
Brooks joined other former A&M football players at their old college stadium, a place they said holds some of the best memories of their lives - from a time in the mid-1980s when Brooks coined the term “The Wrecking Crew.”
 
Original Wrecking Crew members Basil Jackson, Lance Jackson, Larry Kelm, Alex Morris, Jay Mueller, Lafayette Turner and Aaron Wallace appeared with Brooks for an introduction to fans before A&M’s 54-14 victory Saturday over the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
 
Brooks, 41, now lives in Frisco and said he thought up “The Wrecking Crew” to describe A&M’s defense when he watching a game tape in the 1980s.
 
“That was just the way we played then,” he said. “We said we were wrecking them.”
 
Bleacher Report
The 12 Greatest College Football Nicknames of All Time
July 28, 2008
(...)
11. Wrecking Crew— Moniker offered by defensive player Chet Brooks and promoted by 1980s Texas A&M defense. Still in use.
 
ESPN.com
Revisiting the ‘Wrecking Crew’ and ‘Blackshirts’
July 28, 2008 5:06 PM
Posted by ESPN.com’s Tim Griffin
The guys at Bleacher Report have gone into the way-back machine to highlight two great nicknames from Big 12 schools.
 
Texas A&M’s “Wrecking Crew” and Nebraska’s “Blackshirts” both were included in a list of top 12 nicknames that was topped by Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen at No. 1 and Fordham’s Seven Blocks of Granite at No. 2.
 
Some of the nicknames on the list might be a little politically incorrect, but the two Big 12 additions remain among the most cherished in the history of both schools.
 
Texas A&M’s “Wrecking Crew” was coined by defensive back Chet Brooks in the 1980s to describe the defense coached by R.C. Slocum and then Bob Davie. It remains in use today, although maybe not in the wide public vernacular as when the Aggies were one of the nation’s power teams. But a big performance or two by Joe Kines’ unit will get the nickname popping up again.