Marcel Yates
De'Vante Harris
Texas A&M Football
“It’s still too early to tell, we still have a long way to go. We have a bunch of young guys that, every day, are starting to improve, but you won’t know for at least two or three weeks.”
Fall Camp Day 3: Yates, Harris cover secondary's progress
Marcel Yates
On how good the secondary can be…
On whether any young guys are making big strides…
“It’s hard to tell right now, because we don’t have everything in. So right now, it’s all going so fast for them that they’ll make a play here and then a mistake there. Just give them a week or two, like I said, and we’ll have a better feel for it.”On the difference in De’Vante Harris from a year ago…
“He’s a lot stronger. He’s been here for a year and he has a good feel for what we’re trying to do. He just understands everything. He works his butt off now, that’s the one thing I will say. He knows for him, being 180 pounds, that he’s going to have to tackle. That’s one thing he knows he has to do and he’s been doing it every day.”On Harris’ tackling skills being a weakness compared to his coverage skills…
“Pretty much. I wouldn’t say he’s quite where he needs to be as far as that. That wasn’t a strength of his game, but in this conference you have to tackle as a corner. He needs to understand that, in order to play in the SEC, you have to tackle.”On Harris as a leader…
“Yeah, he’s a leader. At the corner spot they need to be leaders and they need to be confident. That’s one thing he did have. That, of course, is one thing I don’t ever want him to stop having.”On who he feels comfortable with for the second team…
“Otis Jacobs is a guy, and then freshmen. Victor Davis, Tavares Garner has been getting a lot of reps. Those two need to be like that fourth guy for us so we need to see who that is soon.”On whether the young guys have a chip on their shoulder…
“I’m sure they do — I hope so. What’s tough is that it’s so early in camp. We still haven’t been in full pads so to get a full gauge on what they can do is hard for me to tell right now. They move well, they’re athletic, they’re fast, but I can’t gauge on what type of football players they really are yet. We’ll see in the next two or three weeks.”On what he’s seeing from the veteran safeties…
“Leadership. They understand it and they understand what we’re trying to do. They know the system now being in it for over a year. So now, we’re a little bit ahead of the curve at this point because they know what they’re doing and they understand it, they understand my coaching, Coach Snyder, they understand what we’re trying to do as a staff. We’re just ahead of the curve when it comes to understanding the defense at this point.”On what he wants to see from Floyd Raven…
“Just to be the quarterback, to understand what we’re trying to do. The one thing about (Steven Terrell) last year was he knew exactly what we wanted as a safety. He was the quarterback of it. He was the one guy who started every game. We need to get that safety back there who understands it and can make checks and stuff like that. (Raven) needs to make that next step and be that guy.”On where their tempo is…
“Well, today, like I said, every day is a different step. Today was our first day in half-pads and uppers. I’m sure that weight with the speed we’re going was a little bit hard for them. They’ll get there. They probably aren’t where they need to be, but as we keep going and they get a better feel for what we want and expect, we’ll be fine.”On the importance of Toney Hurd…
“Toney Hurd, he’s the leader of my group, to be honest with you. Because he’s a guy that can do it on and off of the field. He’s a smart guy, he works hard, he’s a senior, he’s played, he’s made plays, so he kind of is that guy that’s done it all and he’s our true leader. For me, he kind of helps me a little bit because if a guy has a question and I’m over off with another guy, he can kind of help out whomever."He’s played it all. He’s played corner, nickel and safety. He knows the defense well and he’s a student of the game. He’s like having another coach on the field, which is what you want as a coach. The more you can get him to be like you, then you can be pretty good as a group.”
“We’ll switch up. You know we play it all, so we might have four, we might have 5, we might have six sometimes.”
“We can be great. We can be as good as we want to be. With Coach Yates and a new addition in Coach Ward, coming from my hometown, Mesquite. He’s a great coach, Coach Yates is a great coach, and they’re just going to be profession on our technique and take us to the next level.”
On whether Hurd really wants to prove he belongs on the field…
“Yeah, he does. I know he’s a guy that wants to play pro, so what I told him is give it all you got and at least you can say, if you don’t make it, "I gave it all I got." If you do make it, then great.”On the rarity of having players like Steven Terrell and Hurd…
“You hope as a coach that you have more than less. I’m trying to get it where we have four or five of those types of guys on the field. It’s going to take some time. The longer I’m here as a coach and the more guys I have in my room year after year, the more they’ll understand what I’m doing as a coach."On whether he can keep guys like Hurd off of the field…
“Hopefully not, because he does everything right. I’m not trying to find out if we can keep him off the field because he’s making plays right now. Hopefully he does stay on the field.On playing with five DBs…
De'Vante Harris
On his spring development at corner…
“I’ve worked on my aggressiveness. Coming up, trying to balance, tagging off, and Coach Yates has been really working with me; and bringing to my feet, because we all know I had trouble tackling last year. I’m just going to come this year and just try and become more of a complete corner.”On technique, mental, and physical game…
“It’s about 80% mental, 20% physicality and technique. Coach Yates, he’s a perfectionist, and he is going to get me right. He just wants me to be the complete corner and do things I can do to help the team, and as well as help myself and become a top corner in this league.”On team’s focus amidst this years expectations…
“We know we have a target on our back and we’re going to work like we have a target on our back. But the sky’s the limit for this team. We have a lot of talent this year, and we’re just going to utilize that talent and utilize the great coaching that we have to try and take ourselves top.”On secondary being overlooked despite the team's expectations…
“Yeah, but we have a Heisman quarterback, so that’s to be expected. We just want to do our job and keep Coach Yates off our butt.”On how good the secondary can be this year…
On Manziel’s growth since beginning of practice…
“Oh yes, his quick reads are quicker, his balls are a lot quicker and his arm has gotten stronger. He is just becoming more of a complete quarterback. He’s better in the pocket than he was last year, in my opinion. Hopefully he’ll win the Heisman again.”On practicing against Johnny…
“It’s great. We’re going against the best quarterback in the country, in my opinion, as well as great receivers. We get a test every single day. All our receivers push us to be the best we want to be.”On losing confidence as the season went along…
“I didn’t. I had trouble tacking, that’s obvious. I’m just going to come back this year, not really focus on last year, and just build and become a more mature player.”On takeaways from last year…
“I learned that in this league, you have to tackle and you have to be physical. I’m a small guy, so I just worked on gaining weight and working on keeping my head up, tackling techniques, everything Coach Snyder talked to us about.”On weight gain from last year…
“I’m 175 right now, and I played last year at 161.”On importance of being a great A&M player, like his father…
“It’s very important. It’s a legacy in my family. Even though my father played wide receiver and I play corner, it’s still a rivalry. Every time I go home he always talks about, ‘You can’t cover me, you can’t do this, and you’re too small.’ Well hopefully I’ll do my thing and he won’t be able to say that anymore.”On whether or not Dad can still hold him…
“Oh no — and please let him see this.”Never miss the latest news from TexAgs!
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