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Texas A&M Football
“One thing that stands out is the difference of the maturity of Mississippi State compared to A&M. There are no freshmen on the Mississippi two-deep. Now, there are two redshirt freshmen, but there are no true freshmen. They have eight seniors, 14 juniors and a lot of those have been redshirted. So, there are a lot of four year and five year guys that are going to play. I think it’s something like 12 freshmen that will be playing for A&M.”
“When you look at Dak Prescott, talking to quite a few scouts, he’s developed into a pro prospect. But then you throw in his size – he’s 6’2, 230 – then you throw in his ability to run. You know, he owns 22 school records. And he’s thrown 191 passes without an interception in 17 quarters … And that’s pretty good. Now, he has not run much this year so far, but I think that’s going to change against A&M. That’s where the pressure is put on – you want to play pass defense and all of the sudden now, you have to account for the quarterback. You have to keep one more guy in the box than you would normally have to keep. Their running game is very similar to A&M. Their receivers, as a group are good, but they don’t have a Christian Kirk. The offensive line is mature, I don’t know if they have the same talent, but they’re mature. In their formation, they will run a true tight end and I just feel like they will put the ball in Dak’s hands to make A&M keep one more man in the box.”
“Well, their corners are good. One is really good – Will Redmond, out of Memphis. And Taveze Calhoun is a good player. But, where they are really solid is at linebacker and their two inside defensive linemen – [Nick] James and Chris Jones. Chris Jones will be a first round draft choice. So defensively, the scheme is one that gives you tons of problems. They’re going to come from everywhere and all of sudden it puts so much pressure on your center to be able to set the protection and set it correctly. And also on the quarterback, he is not going to be able to sit in there. They have done a great job on blitzing this year, putting pressure on the quarterback. So, the ball has to get out of Kyle’s hands and you also have to offset some of that with the running game. They do an awful lot of run blitz that they are going to have some negative plays. You just can’t turn the ball over and give them the opportunity to beat you. Last week, that was the biggest plus in A&M beating Arkansas, Arkansas turned the ball over twice, but A&M didn’t turn the ball over and that’s a big, big plus.”
“Oh, I think A&M will play very well. But it’s not going to be an easy game. In fact, Mississippi State matches up a lot better against A&M than Arkansas did. Meaning, defensively they see this offense everyday in practice and they have linebackers that can run from sideline to sideline. They have two linebackers that are really good, they’ve intercepted a lot of passes. It’s probably going to come down to two things ... It's going to come down to how both quarterbacks perform. If Dak performs better than Kyle, then Mississippi State will probably win the game. And then kicking game. There’s no question how important how Drew Kaser is becoming. It’s really important to continue to get out of trouble and swap ends of the field. There’s no question that Devon Bell, their punter, is not what Drew Kaser is.”
“I think A&M is going to continue to use both quarterbacks. There are goals for both. You know, don’t sell Kyler short with throwing the football. I think what’s going to happen is people are going to see Kyler come in, they go to a run defense and all of a sudden they’re going to be short in the secondary. He’ll make some big plays throwing the football.”
“This game is extremely important because if you win this game, you become a serious contender to win the SEC West. If you lose, then you’re going down two games. You know, this could really increase the odds or decrease the odds. When they’re playing in Kyle Field, you just have to give the advantage to Texas A&M.”
The Jackie Bowl: Coach Sherrill previews Mississippi State contest
Key quotes from Jackie Sherrill interview
"Being a part of both the Texas A&M and Mississippi State football programs, there’s no question that you want one of them to have the chance to move on and go to Atlanta. You’re pulling for both of them to get there, so you’re kind of torn between the two. There’s no question that this is going to be a great game.”“One thing that stands out is the difference of the maturity of Mississippi State compared to A&M. There are no freshmen on the Mississippi two-deep. Now, there are two redshirt freshmen, but there are no true freshmen. They have eight seniors, 14 juniors and a lot of those have been redshirted. So, there are a lot of four year and five year guys that are going to play. I think it’s something like 12 freshmen that will be playing for A&M.”
“When you look at Dak Prescott, talking to quite a few scouts, he’s developed into a pro prospect. But then you throw in his size – he’s 6’2, 230 – then you throw in his ability to run. You know, he owns 22 school records. And he’s thrown 191 passes without an interception in 17 quarters … And that’s pretty good. Now, he has not run much this year so far, but I think that’s going to change against A&M. That’s where the pressure is put on – you want to play pass defense and all of the sudden now, you have to account for the quarterback. You have to keep one more guy in the box than you would normally have to keep. Their running game is very similar to A&M. Their receivers, as a group are good, but they don’t have a Christian Kirk. The offensive line is mature, I don’t know if they have the same talent, but they’re mature. In their formation, they will run a true tight end and I just feel like they will put the ball in Dak’s hands to make A&M keep one more man in the box.”
“Well, their corners are good. One is really good – Will Redmond, out of Memphis. And Taveze Calhoun is a good player. But, where they are really solid is at linebacker and their two inside defensive linemen – [Nick] James and Chris Jones. Chris Jones will be a first round draft choice. So defensively, the scheme is one that gives you tons of problems. They’re going to come from everywhere and all of sudden it puts so much pressure on your center to be able to set the protection and set it correctly. And also on the quarterback, he is not going to be able to sit in there. They have done a great job on blitzing this year, putting pressure on the quarterback. So, the ball has to get out of Kyle’s hands and you also have to offset some of that with the running game. They do an awful lot of run blitz that they are going to have some negative plays. You just can’t turn the ball over and give them the opportunity to beat you. Last week, that was the biggest plus in A&M beating Arkansas, Arkansas turned the ball over twice, but A&M didn’t turn the ball over and that’s a big, big plus.”
“Oh, I think A&M will play very well. But it’s not going to be an easy game. In fact, Mississippi State matches up a lot better against A&M than Arkansas did. Meaning, defensively they see this offense everyday in practice and they have linebackers that can run from sideline to sideline. They have two linebackers that are really good, they’ve intercepted a lot of passes. It’s probably going to come down to two things ... It's going to come down to how both quarterbacks perform. If Dak performs better than Kyle, then Mississippi State will probably win the game. And then kicking game. There’s no question how important how Drew Kaser is becoming. It’s really important to continue to get out of trouble and swap ends of the field. There’s no question that Devon Bell, their punter, is not what Drew Kaser is.”
“I think A&M is going to continue to use both quarterbacks. There are goals for both. You know, don’t sell Kyler short with throwing the football. I think what’s going to happen is people are going to see Kyler come in, they go to a run defense and all of a sudden they’re going to be short in the secondary. He’ll make some big plays throwing the football.”
“This game is extremely important because if you win this game, you become a serious contender to win the SEC West. If you lose, then you’re going down two games. You know, this could really increase the odds or decrease the odds. When they’re playing in Kyle Field, you just have to give the advantage to Texas A&M.”
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