Texas A&M Football weekly press conference: Arizona State

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Kevin Sumlin

"Good afternoon. Just like everybody else, we're excited about this season. I think we've had an excellent camp, it's been a bit different for us. New feel, different energy from the players who arrived this summer, new coaches who have blended in well, we're practicing different concepts — from a coaching standpoint, there's a new energy. A team that finished up with a bowl win last year with a number of freshmen starting, coming into the season this year with their own expectations.

"The combination of some new schemes, new ideas, new players, this camp has been highly competitive and our guys are at the point right now where they're tired of running into each other and they're ready to play somebody else. That being said, Arizona State is a fine football team. Todd Graham continues to do a great job and has won everywhere he's been. ... A lot of familiarity in this game. Shawn Slocum is coaching special teams, co-DC Chris Ball and I lived together at Washington State. Coach Graham is very familiar with the state of Texas, has coached and competed collegiately in the state, and will have a lot of pride coming back to Houston.

"That we have a number of players from the Phoenix area becomes particularly important when the two teams have never played each other. ... Playing in NRG, which is as fine of a stadium as there is in the country, if you can't be excited to play in this game, you're probably doing the wrong thing."

On how Kyle Allen has responded to being the starter...

"You've heard me say this before: this season started for us December 31 of last year. Well, it started for him when they handed out that MVP trophy. We challenged him in January to become a better leader and increase his knowledge not only of our offense but the defense, football knowledge, overall IQ. He had an excellent spring, and part of that spring was him being the only scholarship quarterback we had. He got a number of quality reps, probably too many, then Kyler shows up and he's got great competition, and he's accepted that.

"He likes where he is right now from a growth standpoint; his growth has been mentally, but also physically. He was playing the bowl game at 190, 195 — he's 215 now. I think he's come along just fine."

On ASU WR D.J. Foster...

"He's electric. He's dynamic. They do a great job ... creating schemes that benefit the players. This guy is a nightmare. They line him up outside, hand it to him in the backfield, they're going to give it to him 'til his tongue hangs out. It's not the issue of finding him, because they're going to hand him the ball. He's going to touch it. We've just got to be aware. Those space tackles happen — you're going to have to make tackles in space.

"The big thing is going to be how we run to the ball. A guy like that is very hard to tackle 1-on-1, it's going to take team tackling and team pursuit. Chief has brought that, working really hard on getting to the ball. That being said, we have to be disciplined with our eyes, because if you do that they're going to stick it in his belly and then try and throw it over your head.

"Arizona State has really good team speed, always has, and a good scheme. They're going to try to get it to him as soon as they can. He's done it against a lot of people; we're going to see where we are right off the bat."

On Todd Graham...

"He's had a philosophy, defensively, that he's stuck with. They've always been, even at Tulsa, a team that's created negative-yardage plays defensively to get you off-schedule and get you behind the chains. I think they were top-five in the country last year in doing that, negative-yardage plays, tackles for loss. Always been dynamic offensively and defensively, scored a lot of points and played fast. The similarities are still there. There are some tweaks, but the philosophical aggressiveness of their play has remained. And that's why he's been successful."

On the linebackers...

"I think that we've got a couple young guys that played really well at the end of the year. Josh Walker had some flashes; in the offseason, he's had a really productive offseason. A.J. (Hilliard), we've got to get him back going. Alaka, same thing. Shaan Washington had an excellent camp, first full (healthy) offseason since he's been here. He's the Shaan Washington that we recruited, 230-something pounds, not a safety that was in there playing linebacker and getting his collarbone broken and shoulders operated on.

"We've added three freshmen who are going to play special teams in this game. That takes some stress off these guys having to play both defense and special teams. All three freshmen linebackers will see time on kickoff. Riley Garner is going to start on that. Those guys are playing because game 5, 6, 8, 9, guys get beat up and we can get them out of the game and get in these guys that have experience and help with depth up front."

On Taylor Bertolet...

"Taylor, as we all know, is gifted. He's kind of like me, two years ago, as a golfer. He can go for a drive and hit it a mile. He's been one of the best kickoff guys in the country. But we're moving from the driving range back to the first tee and we've got some narrow fairways out there for him. We've gone to goalposts that are narrower than the regulation goalposts to help him with that. He's had an excellent camp.

"So much of it is mental. Until those situations come up, we really don't know. He's grown physically, grown mentally ... (mic fizzles out, after it's replaced...) What were we talking about? (Laughter.) Oh yeah, Taylor. He's grown.

"Daniel LaCamera is a kid with a big future. He's made some 55s out here at practice. He's a guy that does nothing but get better. (mic fizzles again...) I hope our first game goes better than this." (Laughter)

On Avery Gennesy...

"He was one of the top junior college offensive tackles in the country, and we were able to redshirt him. He really took the year to get stronger — he's always been athletic — and understand our scheme and do what he really wanted to do, which was start at left tackle at Texas A&M. Which, based on history, is a good job to have.

"What's really helped him is playing against Myles Garrett on every snap. It can be frustrating at first, but getting to block him ... he and Germain Ifedi have really thrived in a competitive environment going against Daeshon Hall and Myles Garrett. And that's where you want to be as a team. He's seeing about as good a player as he can see every day, and that ought to give him some confidence going into Saturday night.

"Mike Matthews has been playing center here for nine years, so he knows what we do. Joe Cheek has been here forever, so he's a leader. We'll rotate some guys at that left guard spot Saturday night, but for the most part we have three returning starters — because Cheek played a lot last year — and then guys that are very talented and need to go out and get battle-tested and get into the flow of the game."

On Otaro Alaka and A.J. Hilliard's availability...

"I don't know that they will be. The injury report won't come from here. This is not pro football."

On Sam Moeller...

"He's a guy that has a chance, all you need to know is he has a chance to set a record for most games started as the 12th Man. There's been a lot of quality young men in this program be the 12th Man at some point or another, but for a guy to be in here and be consistently that, it says a lot about him as a person, a football player, and the respect his teammates have for him. For him to be voted special teams captain, that says a lot.

"You've got a whole team that's voting on that. That cuts across everything. The specialists respect what he does, and I respect how he does his business, and that's what's brought him to where he is now. Everyone's told him no his whole life, and all he does is run down and make plays, block punts. He's been involved in some big plays. He's set the standard since we've been here for what the 12th Man is all about. There's a reason this guy is about to set a record for starts."

On comparing last season's opener to this one...

"Any time you play an opener like this, it's easier to get your team's attention in the offseason. You'd like to say that about everybody, but that's not the case. These guys watch television, they understand what's at stake, they see the rankings. It's a good football team we're playing. You're on national TV, so you need to have your act together when you hit the field. That being said, I think there's more than just the first game that we're talking about.

"We did this at Houston with UCLA, big-time opponents in the opener. Whatever happens in this game is not going to define us. It's just not. We learned that last year. It doesn't mean anything, win or lose. Especially in the non-conference. How we approach the game doesn't change regardless of opponent. The change will come down the line in terms of how we do things the rest of the year. A lot of that has to do with things from the offseason, being mentally tougher, physically stronger, being able to handle adversity, putting guys in those types of situations where things are going well and it's swept under the rug and then when things go bad, how you handle it, those things come to like.

"Our preparation for opening ball games has been pretty solid, here and at Houston. That's sort of how we do things, it doesn't change. I think the big thing is how we handle adversity (from then on)."

On Myles Garrett being team captain as a sophomore...

"I used to be a senior-led team guy. You want that. But when you've got a young guy who's taking every snap, like a quarterback, you're saying as a football team that you're trusting this guy with the football every snap, like Kyle. When you've got one of the most dynamic players in the country in Myles Garrett, you're kidding yourself if you think that when he speaks, people don't listen. And they'll look for him to make plays when it counts.

"We took restrictions off who can be captain and it was interesting as a coach to look at who got the votes. There were a number of votes spread out, but obviously the consensus was that our team thinks he's a leader — and that's important to me. If they think he's a leader, like I told him, whether you think you're a leader or not, you're a leader. You need to step outside yourself and become that. And he's made strides this offseason to do that."

On Christian Kirk...

"Just keep handling business. It's hard for freshmen. You can't get caught up in all that (playing a home-state team). The big thing is we're playing a top-20 opponent, at a neutral site, on national television. How a freshman's going to handle that might be a bit different than Kyle Allen. Christian played in some big games but I don't think he's ever played in NRG with the roof closed. Those young guys, I've told them all the time, first time I stepped on the field as a freshman things were happening so fast that I didn't know what was going on.

"So, the quicker we can get him calmed down, the better he'll be. Because talent-wise, physically and knowing what he's doing, he's ready. He's good to go at this level. So we just have to keep him focused and try to get him the ball early."

On being eager to see John Chavis on his sideline...

"I'm eager to see our whole team. We've got a number of players that had success at the end of the year and are looking to play, we have some new schemes offensively and defensively. We're excited to see that. We've got young players that are excited to play. Right now, they understand exactly who they are; last year, maybe they didn't understand who they were. Thought they were pretty good and then found out the hard way what big-time college football is like in the middle of the season, ended on a good note with the  bowl game and then came into this offseason understanding what it takes, then come in here with a chip on their shoulder based off what people are saying about them.

"Being able to make a statement about that on national TV, that's what we're excited about. I'm excited to see these guys play."

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On Donovan Wilson's development since his arrival...

"He's come a long ways. Obviously Terry Joseph has done a great job with the entire back end in terms of getting progress. We're pleased with the progress he's made. We'll find out more in the game but we like where he's at right now."

On what he's anticipating the most on Saturday...

"It's the total process, playing the game. We've had a physical fall practice and we're tired of hitting each other; we want to compete with somebody else. We've got a feel for where we are and we'll find out a lot about our team Saturday night."

On the adjustments he's made...

"Not very many at all, to be honest with you. We don't have everything in yet, to be honest with you, we'll continue to grow, but we've got most of it end. We've got the athletes to run our system. I'm being honest with you. We've got two ends, we've got corners who can play outside and the nickel."

On Arizona State...

"They want to run the football and they'll get it on the perimeter. They've got three interior linemen who've seen a lot of football and they're athletic enough to get out on the perimeter and block. They've got a quarterback we had the opportunity to see in four or five ball games last year who's a very talented young man. You're going to see a team a lot of people are picking to win the league out there. They're very explosive offensively, they score a lot of points; we'll have a challenge. But we're looking forward to it."

On the linebackers...

"We've got work to do. We're getting there. I feel very good, to be honest with you. What concerns me is experience. In terms of playing time we're more experienced at end and corner than linebacker, but it's time for them to step up and play big-boy football. Because that's what's going to happen on Saturday."

On how much the corners have developed and Brandon Williams specifically...

"Brandon brought not just talent, but leadership. He's got expectations over there. That's made the room better, no doubt. It's a system where we'll play press-man, and we've got guys who can run and hit and have the hips to turn and run and do what we want them to do, and Brandon's one of those guys."

On his excitement level...

"It's going to be, in my opinion, outstanding. That's the way I feel about coaching. I get asked, 'How long can you do this, you've done it for 37 years?' I'll do it as long as someone will have me or until the butterflies aren't there anymore. And if you're asking me if I still have butterflies, I do still have butterflies. It's game week. I'm excited to be a part of the Aggie Football team going down there on Saturday.

"Is that a good one? That's a good one." (Exits.) (Laughter.)

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On his expectations for Christian Kirk in Game 1...

"You don't want to put too high of expectations on him just being a freshman, but the poise and maturity this kid has shown at such a young age is pretty impressive to me right now. Part of the reason he's come along so fast is he got here in the spring and got to go against the scheme Coach Chavis has. It's prepared him for the scheme of a quality opponent. You don't want to put too high of expectations on him, but if he approaches it the way he's been, I think he'll do well."

On the new-look O-line against ASU's blitzes...

"I worked for Coach Graham in 2008 and I know how multiple he's going to be with his scheme. He's going to bring somehting we haven't seen yet, so we just have to be ready for that. Mike Matthews at center has seen a lot of football and a lot of schemes, so I'm comfortable with that. Coach Christensen, what he brings to the run game and protection, I think you'll see improvement in some areas."

On Kyle Allen's maturation...

"Off the field, you can tell. Just the difference in when you watch the bowl replay, you can tell how much weight he's put on. On the field, I'm just impressed with his poise and where he's at. His familiarity with the offense, he doesn't look sideways at me anymore on the sideline; he understands what I'm trying to do. The game is really starting to slow down for him."

On Kyler Murray...

"You've got to play at least two quarterbacks, is what ends up happening. Kyle was named our starter; how we've handled the quarterback situation in the past, we like to announce the starter two weeks early to see how everyone reacts to it. Kyler is a very dynamic kid and we're going to keep evaluating him this week. We know his talent, but we want to see his maturity. We've told the quarterbacks that we know where they all are and they'll have a chance to play based on how they approach game week. Just have to strive to get better."