Chief Talks: John Chavis in-studio

Quotes from John Chavis interview

On his golf tournament...

"I think this was about 12, 14 years, I'm not exactly sure, but the Tennessee Children's Home is a program that's been run by churches across the state and hasn't really done a lot in terms of fundraising. They asked me years ago, because my family is Church of Christ, and I'd do anything for the Tennessee Children's Home. They've got four tournaments they play across the state and the one I'm associated with is in east Tennessee. It's to raise money for kids that don't have an opportunity to be placed anywhere else. The State is backed up and doesn't have anywhere to place them. They do great work there and it's in a Christian setting; the kids leave with good values and become good citizens and God-loving and God-fearing people.

"You can make a donation at the Tennessee Children's Home website. We're finding out there's a lot of Aggies in east Tennessee. My son's been working with some individuals there and we're looking forward to having a great turnout. However you can get involved even just prayers."

**More information on the John Chavis Golf Classic benefiting the Tennessee Children's Home can be found by emailing chavisgolf@gmail.com, on Twitter @ChavisGolf, or on Facebook at 'John Chavis Golf Classic'.**

On the spring...

"I think spring went well. We've got some things we did well and some things we need to work on. Not ready to single out individuals, but up front, that's the most important part of our defense. I'm excited about the defensive end position. You know the names. They were really good this spring and that's a good starting place. Probably the most improvement happened in the secondary, with what was happening at corner back and at safety. Getting the junior college transfer in at safety was big, people are going to be surprised about the level he's going to be able to play at. Linebacker, we had four guys that were injured and it's going to be big to get those guys up to speed.

"We have a chance to have the two best defensive ends in college football. There's talent there and it shows. We're going to be good enough in the secondary to win. What we've got to develop is depth. Coaches like Coach Sumlin have pushed playing so fast and depth is a big part. It used to be you could have 11 guys and go play. You need 22 now because you have to rest them. So it'll be important to develop depth and we've got to get those linebackers ready to play."

How did the injured guys impress you off the field?

"Mentally, I have worked with them. They're sitting in the meeting and they knew, 'Coach is gonna call on me and ask me things in here.' When they can give you the same verbiage back that you've been giving them, then you feel good about what they know."

On flexibility in the secondary...

"Certainly, we do. That goes into recruiting as well. Obviously when you start breaking down numbers in the secondary total, you'd like to have 15, 16 guys. That number's going to be more heavy with corners because of what you see today. It's easy to take a corner and convert him to a safety; usually if you're converting a safety to a corner there's things lacking - flexibility, speed, that's why he was at safety to begin with. So you recruit guys who can play that style of corner, but also physical guys."

On A&M's Wrecking Crew tradition...

"Obviously the history is there. I know a good bit about Texas A&M football before I came here. Certainly we want to reach that level where the fans can say, 'Hey, the Wrecking crew is back.' We're not going to talk a lot about it publicly, we'll let the fans decide. When they decide the wrecking Crew is back, the Wrecking Crew will be back. The opportunity to do that at Texas A&M is here. Our plan is to be the very best defense in the country."

On the response on the recruiting trail to his hiring...

"It's been great. I've been fortunate to be at programs in the past that when you walked in, you had an opportunity. That opportunity is there at Texas A&M. When you walk in and you have that Texas A&M logo on, there's respect. Kids respect that and kids want to know more."

On the one player that's gotten him most excited...

"You have to start with Myles, and everybody knew that in the beginning. He's even better than I envisioned. He's a great young man, he's growing into a great leader.

"He really is (more vocal). That's important. It's important, one, that you do it, and also that you're able to say it as well. He's grown in that area and I think he's going to be a great leader for us. Everybody already knows he's a great football player."

On the linebacker unit...

They're getting healthy and some of them are already healthy now. They'll be cleared and coming back next week. There's a phase that we go through in the weight room that's going to be very important to gain strength with those injuries. They were around and they didn't play every day but they heaard that verbiage. They've played football before, and that helps a lot too."

On Daylon Mack...

"Excited for a lot of reasons. Certainly he has the potential to be a great football player and we certainly expect that out of him. He's a great young man and that's what you look for. Talent gives you a chance to win, doesn't mean you're going to win. You have to work that talent. You have to have great leaders and you have to have great character. That's probably what I was impressed with most this spring was we have a lot of great young men. The talent's there, the character's there, and Daylon just adds to that. I'm excited to be on the field with him when he gets here.

"You love him as a 3-technique because of that burst and get-off, tremendous athletic ability, but he's also so powerful that when you line him up on the center, he's going to be special as well."

On A&M to the SEC and his prior impressions of the school and Coach Sumlin...

"In terms of the Aggie program, we played in a couple bowl games and certainly you saw the talent. Played them in the Cotton Bowl when I was at Tennessee, then again when I was at LSU, and as a young guy when Texas A&M probably had some of their best football years, it was a program that had to be reckoned with.

"Then coming to College Staiton and seeing the fans and support they had, that made a difference too. Texas A&M fans are classy, there's no question about that; it was all intriguing. Then when Coach Sumlin took over the program you see an offensive team that you have to prepare for they know how to move the ball and they know how to score. So you say, 'It'd be neat to coach there and be a part of that program.' Then when they moved to the SEC and Sumlin took over that program, it gave people fits. They had three great years and you say, 'If we can make that defense better, this can be a championship program.'

"What Coach Sumlin has done here in recruiting, you have a chance to work for a man who is committed to not only this program but to the student-athletes. All the things that go into being a student-athlete, Coach Sumlin is totally committed. If you come here to play, you're going to leave with a degree. The Aggie Ring, that is truly special. It gives you chills. And graduating 15,000 students a year, that is truly, truly amazing. I couldn't ask to be around a better man that's going to care about the kids we're recruting to Texas A&M. And he's going to push them to be the best. We're going to coach them hard. He wants us to get everything out of them on and off the field; it's exciting."

Was LSU offsides?

"You get asked that question and I always say, 'You know what the answer is.'"

On the Aggies' offensive tempo argument against having a good defense at A&M...

"We've got to get ourselves off the field defensively. That's what we've got to do. Because the game goes so fast, there's going to be more plays and you'll play more plays. But it doesn't matter. Whatever offense you play with, the defense has to get off the field without giving up points."

On Brandon Williams move to corner...

"We went through spring and talked about depth what do we need to get across the hump? We needed help at the cornerback position. He's as talented an athlete as we have on the football field. Coach Sumlin is committed to doing what he has to do to make us the best defense in the nation. So he called him in, talked to him, and he (Williams) was all-in, which says a lot about him. He's a team-first guy."

On the SEC West...

"The way the West has changed, many years ago I was on the other side and most of the strong teams were Tennessee, Florida and Georgia. You move to the West and now you're talking Texas A&M, LSU, Alabama and even Arkansas. The last game of the '11 season when we played Arkansas, it was LSU 1, Alabama 2, Arkansas 3 in the West, and nationally ranked. It's the strongest division in the strongest conference in the country."

On having fun in football...

"I think (having fun) is a must. There's no question about it. As coaches you want to enjoy it. Sometimes you have so much fun that you say, 'Why do I get paid to do this?' It's got to be fun for the players. When they're having fun and enjoying each other, you don't get tired. Those things that are negatives suddenly go away. We're having too much fun to be tired or be worried about other things. They've got to embrace their teammates and have fun for them."

On developing A&M-LSU rivalry...

"Even before Texas A&M was in the SEC, I think it was looked upon that way when they played every year. All the ingredients were there. You talk about states that border each other, programs that can and will compete for national championships, all the pieces are there for this to be one of the greatest games in college football."

How-To: Success in the SEC and in football

"It's simple: you put God first, you put family second, you put football third. There's a mix there that you have, because you can't do what we do without having a strong wife at home that raised two kids for us; you can't do it without faith. I don't think you can personally, I couldn't. We have an opportunity to make a difference in young men's lives by the way we coach them, the way we interact with them, how we help them off the field, support what they're doing academically. I go in there, and I coach a small part of them, but it's like having 105 kids of your own. What you do with those kids will help them become men the rest of their lives.

"When a parent says to Coach Sumlin, 'I trust you with my son,' that's a big statement. Then we as assistants get involved if I weren't in this business, I don't know what I'd do. It gets tougher, but it gets better because of the relationship you have with the student-athletes. The most gratifying thing, I had this happen a couple years ago, I get a call from a guy who says, 'Coach, you saved my life in Afghanistan. The things you and the program taught me helped me survive.' It makes my skin crawl. That's what we want to do, we want to have that kind of impact on young people's lives."

Have you had any conversations with R.C. Slocum?

"A couple. I'm going to sit down with him sometime this summer. There's power in knowledge, and Coach Slocum has a lot of knowledge about football and about Texas A&M. I'm looking forward to sitting down with him."