Texas A&M Aggies

The drives home from college were rather lengthy for Shane Huhn. So he opted for a change of scenery to be closer to his family.

The UTEP safety indicated on Thursday that he is transferring to Texas A&M and will walk on to the team when he enrolls this summer. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Huhn said location played a role in his decision.

"I wanted to be closer to home," Huhn said. "I want to spend off weekends and go hang out with [my brother] Erik. It'll be great, because it's only an hour and a half away. El Paso is eight hours away, so I wasn't able to see him as much as I wanted to. It's a good change. It's closer to home and everything's better now."

His brother, class of 2013 safety Erik Huhn (Cibolo, Texas/Steele), signed a letter of intent with Texas in February and will join the Longhorns this summer.

Shane, also a product of Cibolo Steele High, will have to sit out the 2013 season at Texas A&M per NCAA transfer rules. He'll be eligible to compete in games in the 2014 season and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Huhn played in all 12 UTEP games last fall and started the final eight of the season at strong safety. He finished with 49 tackles (sixth on the team), two interceptions, four pass breakups, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick.

He said he left the Miners on good terms.

"I left on a good note," Huhn said. "I just told them that it had nothing to do with the coaching staff ... it has nothing to do with the football team, I just think it's time for me to have a little change in scenery. They were cool with it, they understood. There were no hard feelings."

Huhn does know a current A&M coach -- special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Jeff Banks was an assistant at UTEP last season.

"I gave him a call to find out what his thoughts were about A&M," Huhn said. "He just told me that it's a great school. It's a great education for starters. I think everyone knows that. He said it's a great opportunity to play football there, with them joining the SEC and everything that's happened with them. He said 'If you want to come here, it's a great opportunity and I think you'll enjoy it a lot.' I took that to heart and thought about it and the possibilities."

"It's a great place to play," Huhn said. "High level competition in the SEC and a great football atmosphere so I'm excited to be a part of it."

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- When attempting to diagnose what contributed to the inconsistency of Texas A&M place-kicker Taylor Bertolet in the 2012 season, new special teams coordinator Jeff Banks decided he would go straight to the video for his own, uninfluenced, unbiased opinions.

So he set out to watch Bertolet's performance from every game, from the season opener against Florida to the season finale in the AT&T Cotton Bowl, without asking for opinions from current or previous coaches, including head coach Kevin Sumlin.

One thing stood out to Banks, and it's one thing that few have doubted about Bertolet -- and it's why there's plenty of hope that his redshirt sophomore season is much better than the last one.

"I made my whole opinion based off that," Banks said of his film study. "He's an unbelievable talent and he has a great leg. But there were some fundamental things from the first game of the season against Florida to the last game of the season [that he struggled with]."

In 2012, Bertolet was 13-of-22 on field goal attempts, a 59.1 percent success rate. On extra-point kicks, he was 67-of-74. His talent level has never appeared to be a question. He was an Under Armour All-American in high school and was ranked among the best kickers in the nation coming out of Reading (Pa.) Exeter Township. Despite his struggles, he has a strong enough leg to hit from long distances (his longest field goal last year was 54 yards and he was 3-of-4 on attempts from 50 yards or further).

So this spring for Banks and Bertolet has been about correcting or eliminating those fundamental errors any way possible.

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For newcomers or players who are stepping into new roles, spring football is an important time to develop and get acclimated to their surroundings.

The same can be said for new coaches.

Texas A&M has three new position coaches this spring -- special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Jeff Banks, linebackers coach Mark Hagen and quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator Jake Spavital.

Banks, who filled the void left by new Nevada head coach Brian Polian, brings plenty of experience to the table, especially since Banks was an all-conference punter himself at Washington State.

"We talked about replacing Brian with a guy who's just as capable, and Jeff is that," Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin said. "He's got a wealth of experience, he's a former kicker/punter. He can be a technician and can help our guys. I think he's brought a different kind of scheme in all four phases. He's had the ability to keep their interests. Sometimes, change is good."

Sumlin said through the first nine practices, he is seeing some improvement from kicker Taylor Bertolet, who showed inconsistency during his redshirt freshman season in 2012. Bertolet was 13-of-22 on field goals (59.1 percent) and 67-of-74 on point-after-touchdown kicks last year.

"Just like quarterbacks and receivers, they have the opportunity to continue their craft all summer," Sumlin said. "So that will be an ongoing work. But definitely there's been some improvement, particularly with Taylor."

Plenty on Hagen's plate: Hagen has a unique challenge. None of the linebackers who has taken snaps with the first team this spring were regular starters last year. The one returning starter of the group -- weakside linebacker Steven Jenkins -- is out this spring with a torn labrum.

"He's got a bunch of young guys," Sumlin said. "He's got Donnie Baggs, who has not played a whole lot of football around here at Texas A&M. He's got two guys who should be going to the prom next month at linebacker in Brett Wade and Reggie [Chevis]. And then he's got a junior college transfer [Tommy Sanders], who just got here. I don't talk to him much because he's busy. His plate's full; he's running around, he's meeting, he's chasing guys all over the place."

"You throw Shaun Ward in there and guys who haven't played a bunch. With Jenkins out, that's given all those guys a lot of turns, [including] Nate Askew, who we moved from wide receiver."

Sumlin said he's seen some positive signs from Hagen and his young linebackers.

"It's really good for a new coach because those guys aren't used to doing a lot of things," Sumlin said. "He has a lot of energy and obviously those guys have made really good strides during the course of spring."

Askew making progress: One of the many new faces at linebacker is one that was on offense last year: Nate Askew.

Before the spring, Askew moved to linebacker from receiver. Sumlin said he's seen Askew make improvement during the spring.

"It's going good," Sumlin said. "Some good, some bad. He's been over there nine practices in pads and the great thing about it has been his attitude and how he's approached the position, how he wants to get better, how he hasn't shied away from contact."

At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Askew brings size and athleticism to the position.

"He's one of the top athletes on this whole team," Sumlin said. "He can really, really help us if he continues to get better the way he's gotten better the last couple of weeks."