Chavis is our only coach that talks about being great and winning championships.
All my hope is in Jesus, thank God my yesterday's gone.
Kevin Sumlin
John Chavis
Noel Mazzone
Trevor Knight
Christian Kirk
Ricky Seals-Jones
Josh Reynolds
James White
Avery Gennesy
Myles Garrett
Armani Watts
Daeshon Hall
Donovan Wilson
Otaro Alaka
Texas A&M Football
Texas A&M weekly press conference: Fall Camp
The following are live notes from Texas A&M's Thursday press conference. Videos of the players and coaches will be added when they have rendered.
HC Kevin Sumlin
• We were happy to get Rakeem Boyd into the program. He's been at practice the last couple days. James White is the experienced leader of the running back group. Keith Ford has been good after missing the end of spring. Kwame Etwi has some real tools. We're fortunate to get him as a walk-on. He had some offers. Kendall Bussey is getting his strength back after being injured. Trayveon Williams has shown flashes as an early enrollee. He's got great speed.
We haven't had depth there before, but we do now. Today is our last day of shoulder pads. We get full pads tomorrow. Saturday will be our first major scrimmage. It'll be a chance for guys to see where they are. We can see what they really know and how they react in live situations.
We don't know who will lead us in carries this year. That's what we're trying to figure out in practice. We'll do what's best for the team. We'll have a scrimmage this Saturday, next Saturday and a mini-scrimmage next Wednesday. I'll be able to talk more about it then.
• Christian Kirk logs a lot of yards, so we have to watch how much we use him in practice. We have a better understanding of what he can do this year. A lot of his yards last year came after the catch. He was a hybrid running back in high school. He's comfortable with the ball in his hands. He's proven what he can do.
He's become a better route-runner. We'd like to get him involved down the field.
• We made big strides on defense last year. Coach Chavis will be the first to tell you we have to get better. We look to improve on defense, especially against the run. I think chemistry is a big part of that. Coach Chavis has been a great team guy and knows what he wants to do. He has been as advertised. He's made a real impact on the program as a whole. I've respected him for a long time, and he has a lot of good experience. He continues to do a great job and get better.
• Otaro Alaka wasn't even in town at this point last year. He had a separated elbow, and it was very painful. The way he got hurt stunned the team a little bit. The arm was bending the wrong way, and it scared some guys. His father nearly had a fatal stroke. It was time for him to be with his family. He needed that time.
He took his time coming back, and he is having a great offseason. For all that to happen at the beginning of Fall Camp was a lot to handle. His father was recovering, and he had to trust his body after the injury.
He's ready to go. He's 240. He looks great. He has a completely different attitude right now, and he's ready to go. He and Shaan Washington have become interchangeable at the linebacker spot. They have some confidence.
• All of the members of the offensive line practiced in the spring. We're inexperienced from a start standpoint, but the only guy that hasn't played college football is Erick McCoy. We need to have it all figured out before September 3rd.
McCoy has to face tough competition every day in practice, so we've got a good evaluation from him. He faces Daylon Mack every day. All of these new guys came in at the same time Coach Mazzone, Trevor Knight and the new offensive system did. That has helped. The growth has not been staggered.
• Wherever Coach Mazzone has been, he's been able to fit his offense to his personnel. We have an experienced quarterback. He's more mature and can tell you what he does and doesn't like. We don't have to force anything. We have some pretty good pieces. The key will be how we utilize the. Coach Mazzone has doen that wherever he's been.
• I don't know if people are sleeping on us. You can answer that.
DC John Chavis
• I think it's well-documented that our defensive ends are very good. I think they've improved tremendously from last year. Qualen Cunningham, Jarrett Johnson and James Lockhart will see a lot of snaps. We'll play five or six guys there.
Inside, we'll play a few guys there. Zaycoven Henderson has transformed his body. Mack, Keke, Walker, Henderson and Chevis will all play. We're looking to plug a sixth guy in there too.
We couldn't be happier at safety and nickelback. Donovan Wilson will play more safety and nickel. We feel great about Evans and Watts. We lost two good players at corner. They might both end up starting in the NFL this year. We've had great defensive backs everywhere we've been. They won't help us win this year, however.
We're excited about our options at corner. Nick Harvey has been good. You can never have enough corners. We want to have nine corners that can play and maybe a tenth that can play safety these days.
Linebacker was difficult for me last year, but we feel better about it now. Everyone is bigger, faster and stronger, and they will be a lot better. There's no doubt about that. We've got some freshman that we will put in, but it's too early to tell how much football they can play. It was a really good recruiting class – better than most think. We've got names on the depth chart. There's competition, and it has to make us better. We've got four or five guys that we know will start for us.
We've got older guys that are now teaching younger guys. We didn't have that last year.
• Wilson can play safety and nickel. We may see him at another position. We're going to find ways to get him on the field because he's one of our eleven best players.
• Kingsley Keke has continued to grow and mature. His work ethic is great, and he feels the pressure from the others at the position. I think he has the potential to be a bigtime player. He's got to continue to grow, and I think he's willing to do that.
• We've got some guys that are still trying to take it all in. Their heads are swimming with all the new information. A concept isn't installed just because you've introduced it once. You have to work it in. We're not going to give them more than they can handle. You have to give them the right amount of information to process.
• If you're going to talk about winning championships, you have to be great on defense. Name a school with a bad defense that won a national championship. We want to be great. Last year we were pretty good. We want to be great, and that means getting into the top 20 and beyond.
• Last year we had the athletes. It was about understanding the scheme and the complex offenses we were seeing. Coach Sumlin gives us everything we need. It's about us being able to execute. I feel good about that because we are bigger and stronger than we were a year ago.
• Myles can play the run and rush the passer. He needs to continue growing in every area to be an elite player, and I think he's close to that already. I'm not talking about physical maturity. He's there. Mentally, he needs to continue to sharpen himself on the field. He's almost there.
• You're going to have starters that are on special teams. I like that. You have to be good there to win games. When a guy gets knicked up or hurt, you need depth. It's about keeping the best players healthy, and I think we've done a good job of that. If it comes down to a late-game situation, we want to be able to put our best guys out there. We want to keep them fresh. If we can get 35-40 plays a game out of our guys up front, that's enough.
Ideally, you want your starter to play 35 snaps. Some guys will play more than that, including Myles.
• It was hard for Otaro Alaka to really be focused during Fall Camp last year. That was a stressful situation for him. He's grown more in the classroom than anywhere else. He's back, and he's ready. He's like a sponge. He soaks up information and wants it to be detailed. He's bigger and stronger than he's ever been. He was always talented.
OC Noel Mazzone
• After three days, we've got a bunch of running backs. What you try to do in Fall Camp is see how much they retained from spring ball. I'm pleased with the work they did over the summer. There's good depth there. I'm really happy with them as a group.
• I like Trevor Knight. He's a good kid. His progress since the first day of spring ball to this point has been great. He's embraced this program and team. He's a leader for us and is one of the hardest workers we have. He had a great summer. He's built a bond with his teammates, and now he can fine-tune his skills within the offense. He doesn't need to show everyone how good he is. He has great tools around him.
• UCLA coach Jim Mora and I are really good friends. He's a great football coach, and I loved working with him. It's not the first time I've lined up against someone that used to be in my organization or with my team.
• Everyone wants tempo these days. It's kind of like "shots on goal." The more we can have, the more we can score. Historically, if we're in the high 70s to 80s – as far as snaps go – we'll be having a good day.
• We're always looking for ways to get the ball in Kirk's hands. I started recruiting him at UCLA, and I thought I was going to get him until he came here. He's a really talented, athletic kid. He's got a pro mentality. He's obviously one of our strengths. We are always looking for opportunities for guys like that. He's going to draw a lot of attention, which will create opportunities for other guys.
• To me, you can never score quick enough. My job is to protect the football and get it in the endzone. We don't concern ourselves with tiring out the defense. Situationally – like at the end of games – that can be different.
• We want to play fast, create tempo and space. We're not going to change a lot of things at the line. We're going to be simple. We'll change the play, but not the presentation, a lot of times. We want guys that play with enthusiasm and passion. Tempo lends itself to that. Repetition is the key to making it all work.
• I'm really happy we have Kalvin Cline and Tanner Schorp. Contrary to the common narrative on the spread offense, we want to run the ball. You have to be able to do that to win games. Those guys are really important to what we want to do there. I'm really happy with that group. Eventually, we want some more in-line tight ends. These guys are more off-the-ball tight ends.
• Speedy Noil is taking everything very seriously. I've been really happy with him. He's doing the work and is engaged. He's doing work in the classroom as well. I'm really excited about him and that whole group of kids. This is important to them.
• I grew up on one-back offenses. Coach Sumlin and I go way back. We're both from that school of thought. He, Mike Leach and a few others helped develop the spread and things like that. I was the old guy that was hanging out in that group.
Key notes from Texas A&M press conference
HC Kevin Sumlin
• We were happy to get Rakeem Boyd into the program. He's been at practice the last couple days. James White is the experienced leader of the running back group. Keith Ford has been good after missing the end of spring. Kwame Etwi has some real tools. We're fortunate to get him as a walk-on. He had some offers. Kendall Bussey is getting his strength back after being injured. Trayveon Williams has shown flashes as an early enrollee. He's got great speed.
We haven't had depth there before, but we do now. Today is our last day of shoulder pads. We get full pads tomorrow. Saturday will be our first major scrimmage. It'll be a chance for guys to see where they are. We can see what they really know and how they react in live situations.
We don't know who will lead us in carries this year. That's what we're trying to figure out in practice. We'll do what's best for the team. We'll have a scrimmage this Saturday, next Saturday and a mini-scrimmage next Wednesday. I'll be able to talk more about it then.
• Christian Kirk logs a lot of yards, so we have to watch how much we use him in practice. We have a better understanding of what he can do this year. A lot of his yards last year came after the catch. He was a hybrid running back in high school. He's comfortable with the ball in his hands. He's proven what he can do.
He's become a better route-runner. We'd like to get him involved down the field.
• We made big strides on defense last year. Coach Chavis will be the first to tell you we have to get better. We look to improve on defense, especially against the run. I think chemistry is a big part of that. Coach Chavis has been a great team guy and knows what he wants to do. He has been as advertised. He's made a real impact on the program as a whole. I've respected him for a long time, and he has a lot of good experience. He continues to do a great job and get better.
• Otaro Alaka wasn't even in town at this point last year. He had a separated elbow, and it was very painful. The way he got hurt stunned the team a little bit. The arm was bending the wrong way, and it scared some guys. His father nearly had a fatal stroke. It was time for him to be with his family. He needed that time.
He took his time coming back, and he is having a great offseason. For all that to happen at the beginning of Fall Camp was a lot to handle. His father was recovering, and he had to trust his body after the injury.
He's ready to go. He's 240. He looks great. He has a completely different attitude right now, and he's ready to go. He and Shaan Washington have become interchangeable at the linebacker spot. They have some confidence.
• All of the members of the offensive line practiced in the spring. We're inexperienced from a start standpoint, but the only guy that hasn't played college football is Erick McCoy. We need to have it all figured out before September 3rd.
McCoy has to face tough competition every day in practice, so we've got a good evaluation from him. He faces Daylon Mack every day. All of these new guys came in at the same time Coach Mazzone, Trevor Knight and the new offensive system did. That has helped. The growth has not been staggered.
• Wherever Coach Mazzone has been, he's been able to fit his offense to his personnel. We have an experienced quarterback. He's more mature and can tell you what he does and doesn't like. We don't have to force anything. We have some pretty good pieces. The key will be how we utilize the. Coach Mazzone has doen that wherever he's been.
• I don't know if people are sleeping on us. You can answer that.
DC John Chavis
• I think it's well-documented that our defensive ends are very good. I think they've improved tremendously from last year. Qualen Cunningham, Jarrett Johnson and James Lockhart will see a lot of snaps. We'll play five or six guys there.
Inside, we'll play a few guys there. Zaycoven Henderson has transformed his body. Mack, Keke, Walker, Henderson and Chevis will all play. We're looking to plug a sixth guy in there too.
We couldn't be happier at safety and nickelback. Donovan Wilson will play more safety and nickel. We feel great about Evans and Watts. We lost two good players at corner. They might both end up starting in the NFL this year. We've had great defensive backs everywhere we've been. They won't help us win this year, however.
We're excited about our options at corner. Nick Harvey has been good. You can never have enough corners. We want to have nine corners that can play and maybe a tenth that can play safety these days.
Linebacker was difficult for me last year, but we feel better about it now. Everyone is bigger, faster and stronger, and they will be a lot better. There's no doubt about that. We've got some freshman that we will put in, but it's too early to tell how much football they can play. It was a really good recruiting class – better than most think. We've got names on the depth chart. There's competition, and it has to make us better. We've got four or five guys that we know will start for us.
We've got older guys that are now teaching younger guys. We didn't have that last year.
• Wilson can play safety and nickel. We may see him at another position. We're going to find ways to get him on the field because he's one of our eleven best players.
• Kingsley Keke has continued to grow and mature. His work ethic is great, and he feels the pressure from the others at the position. I think he has the potential to be a bigtime player. He's got to continue to grow, and I think he's willing to do that.
• We've got some guys that are still trying to take it all in. Their heads are swimming with all the new information. A concept isn't installed just because you've introduced it once. You have to work it in. We're not going to give them more than they can handle. You have to give them the right amount of information to process.
• If you're going to talk about winning championships, you have to be great on defense. Name a school with a bad defense that won a national championship. We want to be great. Last year we were pretty good. We want to be great, and that means getting into the top 20 and beyond.
• Last year we had the athletes. It was about understanding the scheme and the complex offenses we were seeing. Coach Sumlin gives us everything we need. It's about us being able to execute. I feel good about that because we are bigger and stronger than we were a year ago.
• Myles can play the run and rush the passer. He needs to continue growing in every area to be an elite player, and I think he's close to that already. I'm not talking about physical maturity. He's there. Mentally, he needs to continue to sharpen himself on the field. He's almost there.
• You're going to have starters that are on special teams. I like that. You have to be good there to win games. When a guy gets knicked up or hurt, you need depth. It's about keeping the best players healthy, and I think we've done a good job of that. If it comes down to a late-game situation, we want to be able to put our best guys out there. We want to keep them fresh. If we can get 35-40 plays a game out of our guys up front, that's enough.
Ideally, you want your starter to play 35 snaps. Some guys will play more than that, including Myles.
• It was hard for Otaro Alaka to really be focused during Fall Camp last year. That was a stressful situation for him. He's grown more in the classroom than anywhere else. He's back, and he's ready. He's like a sponge. He soaks up information and wants it to be detailed. He's bigger and stronger than he's ever been. He was always talented.
OC Noel Mazzone
• After three days, we've got a bunch of running backs. What you try to do in Fall Camp is see how much they retained from spring ball. I'm pleased with the work they did over the summer. There's good depth there. I'm really happy with them as a group.
• I like Trevor Knight. He's a good kid. His progress since the first day of spring ball to this point has been great. He's embraced this program and team. He's a leader for us and is one of the hardest workers we have. He had a great summer. He's built a bond with his teammates, and now he can fine-tune his skills within the offense. He doesn't need to show everyone how good he is. He has great tools around him.
• UCLA coach Jim Mora and I are really good friends. He's a great football coach, and I loved working with him. It's not the first time I've lined up against someone that used to be in my organization or with my team.
• Everyone wants tempo these days. It's kind of like "shots on goal." The more we can have, the more we can score. Historically, if we're in the high 70s to 80s – as far as snaps go – we'll be having a good day.
• We're always looking for ways to get the ball in Kirk's hands. I started recruiting him at UCLA, and I thought I was going to get him until he came here. He's a really talented, athletic kid. He's got a pro mentality. He's obviously one of our strengths. We are always looking for opportunities for guys like that. He's going to draw a lot of attention, which will create opportunities for other guys.
• To me, you can never score quick enough. My job is to protect the football and get it in the endzone. We don't concern ourselves with tiring out the defense. Situationally – like at the end of games – that can be different.
• We want to play fast, create tempo and space. We're not going to change a lot of things at the line. We're going to be simple. We'll change the play, but not the presentation, a lot of times. We want guys that play with enthusiasm and passion. Tempo lends itself to that. Repetition is the key to making it all work.
• I'm really happy we have Kalvin Cline and Tanner Schorp. Contrary to the common narrative on the spread offense, we want to run the ball. You have to be able to do that to win games. Those guys are really important to what we want to do there. I'm really happy with that group. Eventually, we want some more in-line tight ends. These guys are more off-the-ball tight ends.
• Speedy Noil is taking everything very seriously. I've been really happy with him. He's doing the work and is engaged. He's doing work in the classroom as well. I'm really excited about him and that whole group of kids. This is important to them.
• I grew up on one-back offenses. Coach Sumlin and I go way back. We're both from that school of thought. He, Mike Leach and a few others helped develop the spread and things like that. I was the old guy that was hanging out in that group.
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