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Jimbo Fisher
Carson Green
Ainias Smith
DeMarvin Leal
Texas A&M Football

Press Conference: Fisher, Aggies hope to bounce back against No. 4 Florida

October 5, 2020
10,753

Texas A&M will be back inside the friendly confines of Kyle Field to face another daunting task with the No. 4 Florida Gators this weekend. Ahead of the big-time conference bout, Jimbo Fisher and a trio of Texas A&M players addressed the media.

NOTE: The interviews are currently audio-only. Video will be added when it becomes available.


The following are live, paraphrased notes from head coach Jimbo Fisher's press conference on Monday.

  • After evaluating the film from the Alabama film, we’re disappointed with the outcome and somethings on both sides. We should’ve scored more times in the first half and kept it to a one-score game at the break. We have to capitalize on those opportunities. We gave up big plays in the passing game. We have to be better and play better in those situations. I think we covered punt and kick return well. We didn’t do that last year, but we didn’t give Waddle any opportunities this year. Disappointed because I thought we had the chance to capitalize. Our players are too. We’re not discouraged. We’re going to get better and play a better game this week against an outstanding Florida team.
     
  • Kyle Pitts is so unique. He’s a tight end, but he’s a wideout because he has such vertical skills. He makes so many contested catches. He gets open, but even when he’s covered, he’s still not covered. Kyle Trask does a great job of throwing the ball to where only his receivers can get it. Our tight ends really run well, but Pitts runs like a wideout. There are so many ways he gets the ball. You have to know where he’s at and what’s going on. He’s an extremely tough matchup.
     
  • Go watch some of their plays in the red zone. Those guys are covered, but they’re still making catches and making plays. Big bodies, guys who can make contested catches and break tackles. Pitts does that. So does Kadarius Toney. He’s so quick. He can change directions and accelerate. There are matchup problems across the board.
     
  • We had ten big plays. Through the air, getting the ball out and running with it is something we have to get better at. We have to get off. Our angles coming out of routes have eaten up space. Those are technique things that we can correct. As far as taking more shots, we want to do that. We’re going to keep trying to throw it down the field. In this game, the intermediate game was so successful that we didn’t really need to throw it down the field. We checked it down a lot for success. Kellen Mond made a lot of good decisions, and he only had one poor throw on the corner route. We’ve got to keep doing that.
     
  • Pitts has more versatility than I might’ve ever had in a guy because of his size. A lot of guys will bang him off the ball, but they can split him out. Do you roll coverage? His quarterback is also very smart. We’ve already had conversations between Mike Elko and I about how to play him. We’ve also talked about how we can use our guys similar to how Florida uses Pitts. We’re looking for those answers.
     
  • We expect to win those games with Alabama. Our defensive line was excellent. Our secondary has to get much better. We’ve got size and youth coming in. Our offense is going to get much better. We ran pretty well. Our offensive line played really well. We didn’t have any sacks. We should’ve scored at least four out of seven drives in the first half. We went to the red zone four consecutive times. We’re making great progress, and the guys making those contributions are very young football players.
     
  • At the end of three years, we will look at where we are and what changes we need to make. We feel like a recruiting class is coming in. We have great players here. Until you win them all, you’re never satisfied. Even then. We won 29 in a row at Florida State, and I still wasn’t happy. We had that game where we wanted, but we let it slip away. We need to fix that. I’m not satisfied with anything going on, and it’s going to be that way until we win them all.
     
  • Our young players are great, and I love them. We need to get them on the field. We have depth. Those guys are going to be good players here.
     
  • Kellen had one critical mistake, and he actually made the right decision. The throw can’t be left inside. His decision making was very good throughout the day. He played a good football game, but if you don’t win, that doesn’t matter. As a quarterback, you have to take more responsibility. We wanted to get Haynes King sometime on the field. I’m definitely not disappointed with Zach Calzada, and he’s still getting reps with Haynes. Alabama kept their ones in the game. Haynes made a mistake, but he came off and immediately told me he didn’t make the throw he needed to. I was very impressed with his composure.
     
  • Sometimes, how you look at somebody is different. The schemes may be different. We need to evaluate the film. You see that in whatever sport you’re in: Matchups become big in sports. We tried to take Waddle away, and all of a sudden, there are some other ones. We’ll see what matchup we want to take away against Florida, but I’m sure they’ll try some things that Alabama did. That’s a game plan kind of deal.
     
  • Those mistakes deep are things we can correct. One was on a double coverage. We were in bracket coverage, and we didn’t squeeze as well on a dig. Another one, we were in man. Myles Jones was covering well, but his feet got tangled, and he tripped. That can’t happen. Just some experience and technique things. We can work through it and correct it.
     
  • We have run that option play really well. If it’s at the right time and the right look, we’ll run it. Some defenses and techniques don’t allow it. It allows linemen to make better blocks, and it forces defenses to make decisions. It’s a good play to run with Kellen, who is a good athlete. Ainias Smith and Isaiah Spiller can run it. It’s a good play to get to the edge.
     
  • We did blitz on one of the touchdowns. Mac Jones threw it off his back foot. We have to be able to blitz. We played the run well, but we have to get more pressure on the quarterback. We will run some different looks, schemes and stunts.
     
  • Erick Young should just be a week-to-week deal. It’s too early in the week to know if he’s going to play.
     
  • Grayson Reed hurt his lower body, and it will be a year-ending deal for him. It’s very disappointing.
     
  • We had about 11 deep passes called, but only had about four or seven go well. Most of them hit check downs. We’re going to continue to work downfield and work in these young guys. There were some plays where the young guys ate some space up. They’re continuing to get better. We have to keep throwing the ball deep.
     
  • Demond Demas keeps developing. He’s doing well. He’s learning every day in practice. We’re going to play him more as he keeps developing. He’s going to be a great player.
     
  • We had to call timeouts because a young skill guy missed signals multiple times. They froze. It’s something we do every day. It’s that simple.
     
  • Anytime you lose a good football player, it’s hard. That’s something that would happen if it was an injury. Whether it’s COVID or social justice things, it’s just something you have to deal with. There’s no doubt that we’d love to have them here.
     
  • I was pleased with our running game. I thought we ran well against Alabama. I was not disappointed at all. I thought our linemen played very well. We had a couple of plays where we could’ve had big runs if we had one more inch on a block. That’s something we have to be able to do every week.
     
  • We can get to 30 and 40 points. The opportunities are there, that’s why we’re disappointed. The chances are right there to make. We’re moving the ball. We should’ve been in the 38-42 point total in both games. We have to finish. We haven’t done it.
     
  • The guys know what to do. It’s the technique of doing it in critical times. Our receivers know what to do and how to do it. It’s about not slipping up. We’ll do it more and more as their mental toughness and maturity grow. Our big plays will grow. We can’t have mental lapses.
     
  • We have to keep working hard and recruiting hard to narrow the gap between us an Alabama. We have to get good classes back to back. We’ve had excellent classes, and we’re on pace for another one. We’ve been on the field with them as good as Alabama is now. I think we can do it. You can’t always see that on the scoreboard, but I think we can get there. You have to keep recruiting well and developing our players.
     
  • Dan Mullen is a smart guy who knows how to pass the football, but he also knows how to run the quarterback. That’s similar to what we want to do. Dan is a great offensive mind. I actually called him once — he was at Mississippi State, and I was at Florida State — for an idea. He’s a great guy and a great football coach.
     
  • Trask’s story just shows you how some of these recruiting things go. That happens. He’s a great success story. I didn’t realize until I got here that he never started or did anything in football. For Florida to get him, that’s amazing. There’s always guys who continue to work and grind in college for their opportunities. He has done a great job.
     
  • Turnovers and big plays are huge. We’ve been able to do both in both games. Big plays hurt us in both games. Until you understand who you play and what you want to do, those are massive. Ideally, we would’ve liked longer drives like we had early so we could control the clock. Those all factor in game-by-game in how you try to control the ball.
Discussion from...

Press Conference: Fisher, Aggies hope to bounce back against No. 4 Florida

6,941 Views | 3 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by zooguy96
oldfart79
How long do you want to ignore this user?
three yrs into the your system shouldnt have to go back and do basics. were being told for three yrs got to get that cleaned up. if wed have done this and if wed cone that, time for all that to stop. no more weve had 20 yrs of that here.
oldfart79
GumboMaverick
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well most of our starters were not here 3 years ago... especially those playing skill positions.. so yeah, you need to clean those up.
zooguy96
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Another expected ass-kicking awaiting.
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