Photo by 12th MKOT Foundation
Texas A&M Football
It’s kind of like in the Alabama and LSU game, you know, I think (Leonard) Fournette’s longest carry was about four yards until late in the game when he burst outside for 14. Well, that 14 was a result of a defensive end playing with his wrong shoulder and getting hooked. So, you come back and assess the personnel, and that’s something you really need to focus on – we have two outside guys who are really outstanding, we have three safeties who are really, really good. But, then, we have a really young nose guard that probably has a chance to be good when he really develops more in fundamentals and technique.
As we have seen in the last three games, people are going to want to run the football. Going into the Auburn game, Auburn wanted to run the football and that’s what we knew going in. You know, to beat Auburn, you have to be able to shut down the running game. We were not able to do that. You have got to go back and plug the holes where your deficits are. If you don’t have the personnel to plug in, then all of a sudden, you have to change some of the things that you are doing to try to offset it or protect it.”
“Certainly scoring more is the quicker fix for A&M than slowing down the run. Chavis is very smart and as you have seen, those three safeties have been involved in the run game a bunch. You go back and look at the teams around the country and you break down the defensive stats, then you break down the individual stats – out of the Top 25 players, as of two weeks ago in the SEC, 17 were linebackers. Myles Garrett was the only one that showed up in that Top 25 other than Armani Watts. So, when you look at that, that tells you pretty quickly where the mismatches are. You have to fix them somehow. But, if you don’t have the personnel to fix them, then you have to do some things and take some risks.
There’s no question that you see that in every game, that in the second half, Chavis changes his defense or does some different things. Offensively, it comes back to being in a rhythm, being able to exploit your opponent’s weaknesses – whether it’s a deep ball or a certain blocking scheme. Fortunately, in the red zone, it comes down to individual performance. If you throw the ball in the corner, it’s a jump ball. You either out jump him, or he out jumps you. It comes down to the same thing up front. I am becoming a fan of our running back, Tra Carson, every snap – he plays 100%. He’s going to have a lot of options at the next level, because he’s really what pro ball looks for in a fullback. He can run, he can block, but also he can catch."
“Anytime you have a young quarterback, they are good until they find out differently. I’ve always said, even going back to Johnny [Manziel], I said, 'Johnny is good until he learns the difference.' The difference is being sacked, is throwing the interception, the difference is maybe you’re not as indestructible as you thought you were. Kyler is a young man, we’re going to see how tough he is. When you lose a game, we can’t say we lost it just for this one specific reason, because that’s not true. When you lose a game, you lose it for a bunch of reasons. And everybody has to have ownership. That goes, on a football staff, from the head coach all the way to equipment managers. Everybody in that room, or in that building has to take ownership and certainly the players do as well. We know where the deficits are, you have to overcome those. What I like in this football team, is that we play for 60 minutes. I haven’t seen them shut down anywhere at all. That’s a tribute to the coaches because they have been able to keep them playing for 60 minutes.”
“I think my top three in the playoff rankings were the same. Notre Dame, I got to see them in person, Notre Dame is a good football team. However, they don’t have a dominating player. I didn’t see a dominating player on their team. I didn’t see a defensive lineman or a linebacker or a secondary guy or a receiver. Matter of fact, the best player on the field was a receiver from Pittsburgh, and if Pittsburgh would have caught the football, Pittsburgh would probably have beaten Notre Dame. I don’t think Notre Dame is better than Baylor, I don’t think they’re better than Oklahoma State. They'll tilt the field when they come on the field because they are awful big and they're athletic. I don’t think Notre Dame will beat Stanford, but if they do, well they’re in. That’s the only game they have. It they beat Stanford, it doesn’t matter what Baylor or Oklahoma or what anyone else does -- they’re in.”
Jackie Sherrill addresses A&M's struggles, Murray's second start
Key quotes from Jackie Sherrill interview
“It’s hard to explain the midyear downturn again unless you’re on the practice field and understand the personnel and depth and what the players are being asked to do. In football, it doesn’t matter, from pee wee all the way up – you’re trying to find that mismatch. If you’re on the other side, you want to disguise all of your deficits or weaknesses. Unfortunately, when an opponent exposes you then all of a sudden it’s on tape. So, your next opponent gets to zero-in and build on it. And if you don’t have the personnel to alter or fix it, then you have problems.It’s kind of like in the Alabama and LSU game, you know, I think (Leonard) Fournette’s longest carry was about four yards until late in the game when he burst outside for 14. Well, that 14 was a result of a defensive end playing with his wrong shoulder and getting hooked. So, you come back and assess the personnel, and that’s something you really need to focus on – we have two outside guys who are really outstanding, we have three safeties who are really, really good. But, then, we have a really young nose guard that probably has a chance to be good when he really develops more in fundamentals and technique.
As we have seen in the last three games, people are going to want to run the football. Going into the Auburn game, Auburn wanted to run the football and that’s what we knew going in. You know, to beat Auburn, you have to be able to shut down the running game. We were not able to do that. You have got to go back and plug the holes where your deficits are. If you don’t have the personnel to plug in, then all of a sudden, you have to change some of the things that you are doing to try to offset it or protect it.”
“Certainly scoring more is the quicker fix for A&M than slowing down the run. Chavis is very smart and as you have seen, those three safeties have been involved in the run game a bunch. You go back and look at the teams around the country and you break down the defensive stats, then you break down the individual stats – out of the Top 25 players, as of two weeks ago in the SEC, 17 were linebackers. Myles Garrett was the only one that showed up in that Top 25 other than Armani Watts. So, when you look at that, that tells you pretty quickly where the mismatches are. You have to fix them somehow. But, if you don’t have the personnel to fix them, then you have to do some things and take some risks.
There’s no question that you see that in every game, that in the second half, Chavis changes his defense or does some different things. Offensively, it comes back to being in a rhythm, being able to exploit your opponent’s weaknesses – whether it’s a deep ball or a certain blocking scheme. Fortunately, in the red zone, it comes down to individual performance. If you throw the ball in the corner, it’s a jump ball. You either out jump him, or he out jumps you. It comes down to the same thing up front. I am becoming a fan of our running back, Tra Carson, every snap – he plays 100%. He’s going to have a lot of options at the next level, because he’s really what pro ball looks for in a fullback. He can run, he can block, but also he can catch."
“Anytime you have a young quarterback, they are good until they find out differently. I’ve always said, even going back to Johnny [Manziel], I said, 'Johnny is good until he learns the difference.' The difference is being sacked, is throwing the interception, the difference is maybe you’re not as indestructible as you thought you were. Kyler is a young man, we’re going to see how tough he is. When you lose a game, we can’t say we lost it just for this one specific reason, because that’s not true. When you lose a game, you lose it for a bunch of reasons. And everybody has to have ownership. That goes, on a football staff, from the head coach all the way to equipment managers. Everybody in that room, or in that building has to take ownership and certainly the players do as well. We know where the deficits are, you have to overcome those. What I like in this football team, is that we play for 60 minutes. I haven’t seen them shut down anywhere at all. That’s a tribute to the coaches because they have been able to keep them playing for 60 minutes.”
“I think my top three in the playoff rankings were the same. Notre Dame, I got to see them in person, Notre Dame is a good football team. However, they don’t have a dominating player. I didn’t see a dominating player on their team. I didn’t see a defensive lineman or a linebacker or a secondary guy or a receiver. Matter of fact, the best player on the field was a receiver from Pittsburgh, and if Pittsburgh would have caught the football, Pittsburgh would probably have beaten Notre Dame. I don’t think Notre Dame is better than Baylor, I don’t think they’re better than Oklahoma State. They'll tilt the field when they come on the field because they are awful big and they're athletic. I don’t think Notre Dame will beat Stanford, but if they do, well they’re in. That’s the only game they have. It they beat Stanford, it doesn’t matter what Baylor or Oklahoma or what anyone else does -- they’re in.”
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