Texas A&M Football
Sumlin reveals process behind quarterback choice
“What battle? Oh quarterback.” (Laughter)
“I thought that both guys really competed in a great way. I think there are a lot of things, there is never one thing when we evaluate quarterbacks before the season. There’s percentages, there turnovers, there’s attempts there about equal in number of attempts that we charted and the percentages were close, there’s a lot of different things. We put a lot more emphasis on situational football in this camp and put guys in situations to see how they would perform and what their learning curve is and not just playing 7-on-7. There’s not really one deciding factor, I think it’s a body of work that and a feel you have through practice and with your team.
"Coach Spav and I sat both of them down and talked to them today about what the situation was. It’s not like DB or O-line or linebacker or any other position. You can move a guy at WILL linebacker and play them both. You can play a couple safeties, you can play a couple receivers, but there’s only one quarterback in the game at one time. We talked about that today and both guys are gonna still keep the competition going. I think that’s the way to approach it.
"Kyle is going to continue to get better; I think he is going to continue to work. Kenny is going to have to continue to work also just like every other position on this team. Competition is a coach’s best friend. From that standpoint, I know the release said something about competition and that’s what I mean. Kyle needs to keep competing and Kenny needs to keep competing at the level he is competing to stay where he is.”
“I told those guys at about 4:20-4:30 but we made the decision this morning.”
“(Allen took the news) really maturely. What else is he going to do? He’s doing well. Is that what he wanted? Probably not. But it was a discussion and he came out today and practiced very well with the 2s.”
“We talked about the situation today and the situation going forward. His (Allen's) approach to every day practice, everyday preparation and the fact that you are one snap away from playing whether it’s from subpar play in front of you or injury. Your preparation can’t slack off and that competition is going to keep both guys getting better. I think he understands that. He did today. Whenever you tell someone that the initial reaction is one of being let down and that’s understandable. He is one heck of a competitor. I think as he has had some time and came out to practice today; he has bounced around and done his job and performing. I’d be disappointed if he didn’t react in a disappointed manner.”
“No, never was (on the option of redshirting Allen). For any of them. Could have been an option for Kenny. He has a redshirt year.”
“We put both the guys in the same situation over the period of 14 practices and three scrimmages. They took an equal number of snaps with the 1s and 2s. It actually wasn’t equal; one guy had four less snaps. It was 200 snaps a piece which is basically three games worth of what we call live competition. We put them in the situation where there with the 1s and the 2s and there is some significant challenges to both. You are playing with the good guys but you are also playing with the good guys on defense, but you get a little bit better protection and you get guys who know what they are doing and get the tempo.
“I thought that both guys really competed in a great way. I think there are a lot of things, there is never one thing when we evaluate quarterbacks before the season. There’s percentages, there turnovers, there’s attempts there about equal in number of attempts that we charted and the percentages were close, there’s a lot of different things. We put a lot more emphasis on situational football in this camp and put guys in situations to see how they would perform and what their learning curve is and not just playing 7-on-7. There’s not really one deciding factor, I think it’s a body of work that and a feel you have through practice and with your team.
"Coach Spav and I sat both of them down and talked to them today about what the situation was. It’s not like DB or O-line or linebacker or any other position. You can move a guy at WILL linebacker and play them both. You can play a couple safeties, you can play a couple receivers, but there’s only one quarterback in the game at one time. We talked about that today and both guys are gonna still keep the competition going. I think that’s the way to approach it.
"Kyle is going to continue to get better; I think he is going to continue to work. Kenny is going to have to continue to work also just like every other position on this team. Competition is a coach’s best friend. From that standpoint, I know the release said something about competition and that’s what I mean. Kyle needs to keep competing and Kenny needs to keep competing at the level he is competing to stay where he is.”
“I told those guys at about 4:20-4:30 but we made the decision this morning.”
“(Allen took the news) really maturely. What else is he going to do? He’s doing well. Is that what he wanted? Probably not. But it was a discussion and he came out today and practiced very well with the 2s.”
“We talked about the situation today and the situation going forward. His (Allen's) approach to every day practice, everyday preparation and the fact that you are one snap away from playing whether it’s from subpar play in front of you or injury. Your preparation can’t slack off and that competition is going to keep both guys getting better. I think he understands that. He did today. Whenever you tell someone that the initial reaction is one of being let down and that’s understandable. He is one heck of a competitor. I think as he has had some time and came out to practice today; he has bounced around and done his job and performing. I’d be disappointed if he didn’t react in a disappointed manner.”
“No, never was (on the option of redshirting Allen). For any of them. Could have been an option for Kenny. He has a redshirt year.”
“We put both the guys in the same situation over the period of 14 practices and three scrimmages. They took an equal number of snaps with the 1s and 2s. It actually wasn’t equal; one guy had four less snaps. It was 200 snaps a piece which is basically three games worth of what we call live competition. We put them in the situation where there with the 1s and the 2s and there is some significant challenges to both. You are playing with the good guys but you are also playing with the good guys on defense, but you get a little bit better protection and you get guys who know what they are doing and get the tempo.
"Then playing with the 2s, you get younger guys who don’t know what they are doing on the perimeter receiver not as experienced ad probably a little less protection and stresses you out a little bit more. Every day, just like you guys saw, in the fast start deal, we rotate 1s and 2s with the quarterbacks during our team situations and during our scrimmages. The thinking being the evaluation process, guys are having the same amount of turns with the same amount of difficulties they are facing. You get a little better evaluation that way and that was the result.”
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