Cornerback season

Read newspapers enough and you'll begin to notice story patterns.

Such as, here we are in the fourth week of the college football season. Most college beat writers have already done a story on the quarterback, plus a story on the team's best running back or receiver. Followed by a feature on a star that has surprisingly emerged.

This week? The reporters ran out of ideas and just started going* with positions in alphabetical order.

So in today's Star-Telegram, you can read about Texas A&M cornerback Marquis Carpenter and how he's matured on the field this season.

Not interested? Then on the next page, try Jimmy Burch's column about Oklahoma State cornerback Martel Van Zant, who is deaf and a source of inspiration.

Don't care? Then try the story right next to it, about Texas Tech cornerback Chris Parker and how he's matured on the field this season (My personal favorite).

*Unless they cover the Longhorns, in which case they go directly to the Travis County prison. Ha!