Texas A&M Football weekly press conference: Fall Camp

Kevin Sumlin

On any point last season where he decided more physicality was needed...

"Just in general, as the head coach you're always assessing the program and where you are. Whatever you're doing well, you need to continue to work on that to stay ahead of the curve, and when you're not where you need to be, you need to make adjustments. Coming into year four in this league, it's a line of scrimmage and depth league. We've recruited to that, but also schematically we needed to make some changes to help us try to move into the top tier in this league, particularly the West.

"Those are things we've made changes, obviously, in December from a coaching standpoint and then implemented those changes. Those things work hand in hand. It's hard to be physical on one side of the ball and a finesse team the other way. It's helped us. The running game style has helped, practicing against that with our defense. It changes our attitude up front."

On comparisons between Kyler Murray and Johnny Manziel...

"You know, that's going to happen. Just because of stature and his style. Anybody who's watched highlight tapes, he can run around, he can throw it, extends plays. That's kind of the standard comparison across the country now for a guy who can move around and extend plays."

On what he'd like to see from Kyler...

"We've been meeting since the first week in June, so our young players, that's helped a lot of our young guys on campus. Now we've got to go out and do it. We've set this thing up, today's our last day in just shoulder pads. We'll have a substantial scrimmage Saturday. What we've tried to do is give all our newcomers, young guys, the majority of the playbook for this scrimmage. Next week we'll have a mini-scrimmage on Wednesday, then the following Saturday we'll have another scrimmage.

"We'll have two-a-days next week Monday and Wednesday, but aside from that you'll have three live opportunities where guys will get evaluated. We want guys to have a grasp of what we're doing for that."

On Aaron Moorehead's impact on WR blocking...

"Aaron's brought a lot of experience, what we were looking for. He's kind of a self-made guy. He wasn't very highly recruited, goes to Illinois, starts for them, goes to the Colts and wins a Super Bowl. He understands technique, understands toughness, and he worked himself into being a great player and pro. He's been able to teach technique and also teach guys how to become a pro. That gets a lot of people's attention in that room.

"We've got a lot of talent on the perimeter but a lot of those guys never played receiver in high school. Christian was more of a running back than anything. To be able to take these guys and teach them their craft, footwork, spacing, we've put a lot of work in in the offseason. We've spent more time on individual technique work this week than we've ever done before because we've got some things that are a little bit different offensively and defensively. The emphasis on individual technique has really gone up across the board. And he's done a great job with those guys."

On Myles Garrett...

"I think he's taken a step. We visited with him in the offseason about, 'You're a really good player, but what's it going to take to be great?' What are the goals you have, and the goals we have as a team? To step outside yourself and become a leader — when you speak, people are going to listen to you. It's hard to do that as a freshman, you're worried more about what you're doing. But I think he's made those strides in the offseason. You have to remember, he missed three games last year.

"All these freshmen understand a lot more now about what it takes to go through a season in the SEC West. It's more to do with Sunday through Friday than it is Saturday. How you do things during the week has a lot to do with your performance through the year. ... That's where leadership comes from. We've talked to him about that and he's embraced that. We've worked a lot throughout the offseason on leadership, developing leaders within the team, and he's one of those guys.

"We had a situation the other night where things weren't going  right at the end of practice and I was happy to see him speak up leaving the practice field. He's a guy that because of his ability, when he talks guys are going to listen. And he's just a sophomore."

On Daeshon Hall...

"He's, physically, you look out there at him and he looks great. We've got a bunch of guys out there that look the part. Daeshon was 211 on his visit and a basketball guy, committed a couple different places, but now he's 255-260. This is his first real offseason, you know he had shoulder surgery on both shoulders since he's been here. This is the first real offseason he's had in the weight room; from a nutritional standpoint he's strong. And he's going to have to be, because everyone's talking about Myles and we'll need someone else to rush the passer.

"If things go right for him, he could have a big year. We need him to."

On expectations for the receivers...

(Pause.) "I expect them to play well. They're good players. I just talked about them and their coach. Whoever the quarterback is, it's not about him, it's about the other 10 guys on the field. The receivers can't play without the line or without a quarterback. It takes everybody for this offense to go. They're going to continue — it's not as if they've been bad since we've been here. We've always had talent on the perimeter, we have it now, and they're going to have to play well for this offense to go."

On John Chavis' impact and the biggest difference he's brought...

"I think John's done a really great job of communicating since he's been here. If anything I think we simplified things a lot at first, and now we're in the evaluation process of how guys are going to fit in the two-deep and who those guys are going to be in the next 10 days. Getting the right pieces on the field and really kind of melding our talent level to what we're doing, he's got a great feel for that. We're still evaluating guys across the board, but he's brought a style of defense our guys have confidence in.

"First you're going to have to develop that confidence in practice and these scrimmages; you don't really know what you have until you play, but I've been pleased with the progress so far. The buy-in has been almost immediate. He's got a proven track record and when he talks, guys understand the reason why we're doing things. There's a confidence level there out of our coaching staff and out of the players. That's probably the biggest difference there is now."

On whether he feels this team has what it takes to make it through camp as a group...

"That happens everywhere. We don't recruit them to come stand next to me. That does nobody any good. We want guys to play. That light comes on for some guys sooner than later, for some it never comes on. You get to this level, it's difficult. You leave wherever you are, usually the best player on the team, sometimes the best player in the district, sometimes the best player in the state, and you come to a program that's recruiting like we are right now — and you have to compete. Some guys like that, some don't.

"That's the toughest part of recruiting, how much does a guy really love the game and how much is he willing to compete when things get tough? That's what practice is all about. We've worked hard to create a competitive environment so guys know what it takes to win in this league and be successful. Some guys embrace that and get better, some guys ultimately, just like life, it's not for them.

"Football is not easy in this day and age. I've got four kids, a couple boys, and it's a heck of a lot easier to sit in the air conditioning and play video games than it is to go out and run into people for two and a half hours with nobody around. We've got 28 practices until we get to the first game. During that time, I look over and there's guys having meetings with themselves — 'Is this really worth all that?' But that competitive environment and that stress level becomes important because we're trying to put guys in a situation that duplicates the stress level and competition of Saturdays. And that's not for everybody."

On whether the changes he made this offseason were to address the inconsistency...

"Yes." (Laughter.) "Good analysis. It's about staying on the field on offense and getting off the field on defense. It has everything to do with third downs. If your third-down conversion rate is down, your explosive play ratio needs to go up; we had enough explosive plays, but not enough to make up 40 percent. You have to be multi-dimensional and I thought we lacked the ability to do that last year. That's why we made some changes offensively and defensively.

"Third-down conversion rate is a big stat for us. You've heard me say that."

On who his effort guys are thus far through camp...

"We haven't had a scrimmage situation. We haven't had a lot of tackles to the ground or full pads. We've got guys who look great through the first two days because there's no tackling or hitting. Yesterday was the first day with shoulder pads and we had two or three guys that disappeared already, and it'll be more today. We'll be able to evaluate more on Saturday when coaches get off the field and guys have to adjust to formations and run and hit and tackle without being told where to line up.

"I don't put much in the first couple days. Around here we say, 'Effort is the price of admission.' If I'm yelling at you to give effort, you're in the wrong place."

On Otaro Alaka...

"Very talented. Very talented guy. And had a great offseason. You don't leave as the bowl game's defensive MVP and not be expected to have a great offseason and be confident. He and Kyle Allen leave a bowl game as true freshmen with trophies and all that did was propel them into the offseason. We look forward to a lot of good things out of those guys."

On how he's evolved philosophically in the SEC...

"I don't know, I think we've made some adjustments. We've had guys leave to become head coaches, we've made some adjustments as we've been in this league with style of play and trying to develop and recruit to what we think our program needs to get to the top of the West. That's probably changed the most — recruiting profiles based on who we play and not just the best player. The profile of that player by position.

"It's always interesting, you go different places in the country and from where we are right now — three years ago if you'd said we'd win 28 games, people would say you're crazy — and now people say we should be winning more. Going into year four, we've got a roster that has good depth. We don't have huge holes in the whole place. We've got some places where we're a little thin, but we've eliminated the holes in our roster, I'll put it that way. Athletically and size-physically, we're comparable to the teams we're going to play.

"So, we've got a chance to be good. We've got to wait and see how the leadership plays out with the young guys. You take a guy like Josh (Reynolds) who is a junior college guy but was a first-year guy last year. A lot of guys were. We have a lot of seniors who've been through the good times, bad times, and take a lot of pride in what they're doing. We've got some guys with talent who, to see them mature and grow up, it's the fun part of coaching. We've got a real chance."

On Josh Reynolds' accomplishments last year and current development...

"It's kind of funny, everybody's talking about these five-star guys. Josh Reynolds, the guy who really tipped us off was Pat Henry. In high school he was close to being a track guy. Big high-jumper, real athletic. He doesn't look that fast, but I've never seen anybody catch him. Wasn't recruited, goes to Tyler, plays one season, we're there watching guys play and he's running around. We talk to the coaches and they said, 'He's been here one season.' We said, 'We'll take him, right now.' He scored 13 touchdowns. He's got a lot of football ahead of him.

"It goes back to the evaluation process. We're going to have guys who were highly recruited, guys you've never heard of, but our evaluation process is about who is going to help this team be successful. About the first scrimmage he came off with a shoulder that we sat him down and said, 'We can have surgery,' and he said, 'No, I'll do it after the season.' So he played the whole season with a shoulder like that. Now he's had a full offseason and can lift. Maybe we can get 26 touchdowns out of him this year."

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John Chavis

On how he feels like the corners are responding to him...

"Really, really well. They're going to be challenged every play, in practice against some of the best receivers in the league, and they've taken to it. That's the style they want to play. And it'll certainly help their career. The entire back end, from the first spring practice to where we are now, it's amazing the progress they've made."

On the buy-in from the retained assistants when he arrived...

"It's a process that will continue. The longer you've been together the easier it is to go in and operate. Let me tell you, we've got outstanding men on this staff. They want to be a big part of Texas A&M and of us doing things the right way, which means winning. The buy-in was phenomenal. The first 10 days we met, we didn't talk football. We talked philosophy and how we were going to coach our guys. All three of the guys I'm working with on defense, we've got a great room. I couldn't ask for it to be any better."

On De'Vante Harris...

"In our system, what do you have to have to be great? We start with two corners, then two defensive ends. And obviously, a safety that can play. If you're going to start with good corners, you'd better have more than one. As the season goes on, you'd better have more than two. But he's a good start. He's more comfortable than he was in the spring and he's grown tremendously since the spring. We're excited where he is with leadership and the ability to play."

On how quickly he watched all of last season's snaps and his impressions...

"It took a little while because obviously we were recruiting and doing other things too, but I did it over the course of about two weeks and we did it again and we did it again. What you saw is a team that had a lot of young, very good talent. That's one of the reasons, to be quite honest with you, that I'm so optimistic. We've got to grow and mature, but we've got talent. We've just got to do it consistently."

On Myles Garrett...

"Let me just say this, to come in and play that position as a true freshman, because of the physicality and the things you have to do, he had a tremendous year for a freshman. And he will. He needs to stay hungry and put in the effort to get better. And he will. He'll be better, because he's bigger, he's stronger, he's faster.

"I look at where we were at the end of spring practice and the cycle we had in the weight room at the end of the spring, and we're much stronger than we were at the end of spring practice. That's our kids taking coaching well in the weight room and our training staff doing a tremendous job."

On the Garrett-Hall tandem...

"And you throw Cunningham in there, who's another defensive end. I would take those guys and play anywhere in the country, all three of them. I don't think they mind me saying, we have two of the best defensive ends in college football. It's a big statement, but I'm not afraid to make that statement."

On any tweaks in his philosophy playing with Kevin Sumlin's offense...

"Not really. What's happening in college football is you play against offenses that play that way; now we have the luxury of practicing against an offense that plays that way. We'll be more prepared for offenses that play that way because of the offense we're practicing against."

On why he chose to come to A&M and its relation to the offense...

"There was a lot of factors. It's the commitment that you could see. Obviously very impressed with Coach Sumlin — and I want to make this statement: I'm as excited as I could be to be a part of his staff and the Aggie Family. That was big part of it: Coach Sumlin. I had the opportunity to play in this stadium two of the last three years and there were classy fans and I was impressed. I left both times thinking that if I ever had a chance to coach at Texas A&M, that'd be a great place to coach. And you see the commitment they've made to the facilities.

"We have to get it done on the field. But I came here because I think we can win championships here. You can win championships with Coach Sumlin and this staff, and I'm excited to be here."

On improving the run defense...

"I didn't study the scheme as much as I did the players. The scheme that we're bringing in is a scheme that's been tested in the SEC for a long time. It was about players and how they're going to fit into our scheme, where we're going to use this guy to get the most of his ability."

On how having good corners allows him to bring pressure...

"Football has changed a good bit and we've had to tweak things, but we have a simple philosophy: we're going to play the run with numbers, and we're going to rush the passer with speed. So you need corners that can handle those one-on-one situations, and we've tried to recruit to that."

On Riley Garner being a redshirt candidate...

"No. We're anticipating right now getting him ready to play. There's a lot of opportunities on defense, special teams. We've got a lot of depth at linebacker when we get them out there and those guys will have to make a strong contribution to special teams as well as defense. He is healthy, he's full-tilt and we expect to get him ready to play this year."

On how far A&M has come talent-wise since joining the SEC...

"The third year of me being the coordinator at Tennessee, we won an SEC championship, the fourth year we played for and won a national championship. LSU, the fourth year, we played for a national championship. We are as talented now as when I was at Tennessee or when I went to LSU. We will be improved, there's no question about that. It's not a lack of talent. We have work to do, but we have talent that fits places in our scheme."

On the defensive tackles...

"It's even more physical inside than it is for the defensive ends. I feel good about the depth. We've got some players that will play at both tackle and end, but I feel good about the depth there."

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Jake Spavital

On the quarterback race...

"I'm repping Kyle and Kyler more now. On Saturday we're just going to throw it all out there, split it up, not go with Kyle as much but let Jake and Kyler go out there and see how they do."

On the scrimmage...

"It's the first test. Everything we do is scripted, so they can memorize it before we go out there. In the scrimmage you can throw more at them. They'll have to find where the ball is going and move with it and stuff. It's a huge test. I rank by production in terms of what they're doing, and you have to be honest with them. If they're repping with the ones, they've got better receivers and a better group and you have to factor that in when ranking them."

On the crop of converted quarterbacks at wide receiver...

"It's different, and especially with this defense Coach Chavis has brought, they're aggressive and in your face the whole time. It's easy to run vertical on paper, but it's a bit different because of what you see out there. Speedy is a talented kid who got some of those reps in the all-star games, then had an entire spring with us. It was very beneficial for him. Ricky, it took him a good year to understand the concepts and last year he just kept getting better. He's probably made the most progress. What's interesting with him is he's such a big body that he'll run a five-yard out and it'll take some people three steps, but it takes him two. He's learning the proper technique.

"What they've done the past two years for Ricky and the past year for Speedy, they've just used their athletic ability to make plays. Now we're really focusing on technique, and Coach Moorehead has been great with that. Christian Kirk ... you can tell he's been running a lot and is  a pretty polished receiver for a kid coming into the college ranks."

On how to utilize the different skill sets the receivers present...

"Right now you've got Speedy, Josh, Ricky and Christian running out there. Our two inside guys, Christian and Ricky, they're two different body types. Christian is smaller and can stretch the field differently, Ricky is a big guy at 6-5. You can move them around and utilize them differently. You can flip those guys against different corners and in the red zone to the open field. We've been working those guys all over the field and they're all capable of playing every single position."

On the depth at running back and Brandon Williams' place...

"Right now with Bussey we're just throwing him to the fire. He's going through the installations; we've got to test that kid. But Tra Carson and James White, those two have been great. We have Brandon Williams on defense the whole time because he got a lot of quality reps in the spring and we know what he's capable of doing. He's trying to learn that craft on that side of the ball. The depth right now is three guys, but in the long run it's four guys."

On Speedy Noil's maturity...

"He's becoming more familiar with everything around here and he's comfortable with all of us. Coming from New Orleans and then in the spring getting thrown into the college schedule, he's adjusted and he has a more open mind going into workouts. He's come along great so far."

On how his offense will evolve this year with the changes...

"We were looking for an offensive line coach and (physicality) was something I wanted to get established. I've watched Dave for a long time now and he's been in this system and he knows how to protect it. He's brought creative, unique, innovative ideas for the run game. He also has an attitude and believes in toughness."

On other receivers they're confident in...

"There's a lot of them. If you look last year, we probably had around 10 guys catch a ball. There's probably eight or nine of those guys that played significant time. We really lose one receiver after this upcoming season – Sabian Holmes — but Sabo's in the mix, Boone Niederhofer, Jeremy Tabuyo has matured, and we're moving them around to different positions. You want to keep the (starting) four out there, but with Ed Pope and Boone and Sabo and Jeremy, those guys are going to consistently come in and give us a couple plays."

On whether he fears losing the finesse part of the offense...

"No, I don't think so. Up front I've always thought we've been physical, but we've changed some of the schemes and that's going to help them out. But my concern is the perimeter — we have to get more physical on the perimeter. We do a lot of stuff where we try to get the ball on the perimeter and make plays in space, we've always prided ourselves on getting the ball to our playmakers, but if you can't block for each other it's not going to do much. We need to dig down and help each other whether it's in the run game or the spring game."