WATCH: Kevin Sumlin's Signing Day 2015 press conference

"It's kind of funny, 128 programs now, I don't think there's going to be one guy that gets up this time of day and says they have a bad class. There's a lot of work put into it; we've addressed our needs as a program.

"What we set out to do this year was really add athleticism and depth. What we've learned in this league is it's more than just a talent league, it's a talent and depth league. Last year we were able to sign a class that we played — signed 22, played 14. Of those 14 freshmen that saw the field this year, there'll be 14 sophomores next year (chuckle).

"This group, we set out to address needs across the board. At the quarterback position we did that, a couple running backs, which we needed. The only loss there is Trey Williams, who decided to turn pro, so we signed two good running backs. Four outstanding offensive linemen that were highly recruited and come in and add to a class from last year that was excellent. We were able to sign the top two junior college linemen in the country and redshirt those guys, then back it up with these four. You start looking at classes of guys as a coach, it's not just the guys you were able to play but the guys that you were able to redshirt who will give us depth.

"Receivers, we did well; defensively, everybody knows what we did there. Some of the guys we're talking about here got overshadowed because they've been committed for a long time, the Justin Dunnings of the world, Roney Elam could've gone anywhere he wanted to, been committed for a long time, no drama but excellent players.

"With that being said, I think this class again is a stabilizing class. It's got some excellent players in there; we've signed as many as 29 in one year, we've signed as low as 19 — that was kind of the first-year gimme. This one was right in the middle of the road at 25. As your program starts to stabilize with numbers across the board, that's probably where you want to be. If we'd signed more guys it may be higher from a ratings standpoint, but we're extremely pleased with the quality of this class."

On Kyler Murray...

"He's good, and we need a quarterback. ... There's been a lot said about unofficial visits, but what happened is this: schools use the depth chart as a recruiting tool. Schools got in and pointed that out, some maybe even said he'd start, and for a guy who's won so much that starts to sound (appealing). But he understands competition and what this program is built on, but that conversation is something that needed to be had, which we had, and after that things got back to normal. He's an Aggie for all the right reasons."

On the new assistants' recruiting impact...

"It's obvious John's done a great job since he's been here; Twitter has pretty much documented our travel the last couple weeks. Some guys we got in late and some guys we got in-homes and had a chance. We were able to solidify things with other players. He's already had an impact on recruiting and I look for that to continue.

"There's been a lot going on since I saw you guys last. Recruiting coaches, recruiting players. I'm going to let these guys get a few days off, particularly John and Dave (Christensen) and Coach (Aaron) Moorehead, then get into some schemes and start preparing with our team and getting ready for spring football — which, ironically, starts in less than a month. These guys have hit the ground running and been able to get involved in recruiting. Dave was able to go around early and solidify those guys; that's a great class. Coach Moorehead was able to get in some people's homes and calm things down.

"Those guys have had an impact in recruiting already and I don't look for that to change. Matter of fact, as they get more comfortable in their areas I expect it to improve."

On Daylon Mack...

"Daylon, similar to Kyler, was an early commitment and things changed throughout the season. I had to make some tough decisions, then during that time Daylon and his family wanted to see what happened. The addition of John did nothing but help solidify his commitment. He came on his official visit and when he left that Sunday, it's out now, he told me he was coming. I kept my end of the bargain — by now you know I keep secrets pretty well.

"Those are decisions that have to be made with the family, again for all the right reasons, the same reasons he decided to come here earlier. In his situation, defensively, schematically, from a coach who has a track record of playing not good defense but great defense and placing guys in the National Football League, he saw where the situation at Texas A&M got better for him personally. Again, he came here for all the right reasons."

On Kyler and baseball...

"That was part of the conversation Thursday night also. He's very, very talented and I think he's the only player that's been an Under Armour All-American in both baseball and football. He's going to have some draft opportunities, it's just a matter of how high and what that's going to be. Like most families they'll probably set a number and if they get to that number they'll have to make decisions. Kenny Hill was involved in that, Kohl Stewart was on the other side of that; there's different scenarios, but that's a family decision.

"We did discuss playing baseball in the spring here. We've also discussed summer league baseball and different ways to keep things alive. Baseball has been part of the conversation and all we've asked — we've got pretty good intel here, I told Kohl Stewart where he was going to get drafted and I was right — from a communication standpoint, that's what's going to happen and we'll figure it out then."

On discussing the competition for starting QB with Murray...

"We've only got two quarterbacks, so he's going to play. We're not going to play one guy the entire time. That, I could promise him. This program is built on competition and there's no better example of that (at quarterback) than last year. We didn't even promise Myles Garrett he would start, which was hard for me to bite my tongue on. With Kyler it was the same conversation we had with Kyle Allen — if you win the starting job against Arizona State you've got to keep competing, because the other guy isn't going to give in; if you don't win it, you've got to keep competing because you're only one play away.

"When I say 'for all the right reasons,' that's what I'm getting at. Kyler's a guy that isn't afraid of competition. You don't win 43 games in a row and be afraid of not playing. He won three state championships. That was never a situation. The conversations were all about competing. You've got one less guy to compete with now than when you committed here. That made sense to him and to everybody."

On Riley Garner's injury...

"You know our record here. A year ago we had a young man here that we signed who broke a vertebrae in his neck, missed most of his senior season and we stayed committed. Commitment is a two-way street. As juniors going into their senior year, if you're committed to us and you're going to come to our school and play, we're going to stand behind the commitment. If it's egregious or against the law or a grade issue, that's the only way we're going to pull (an offer). We've had players come here and be injured, some of whom could never play again.

"When that happened we had a bit more information because he was here in town. We were able to get information to make sure everything was going to be OK. We were able to communicate with the family about whether he was going to play or not — we didn't have anything to do with it, just wanted to be kept abreast of the situation. He's all healed up and I think he's going to be a great fit for us. He's bigger than people think and he's a lot more athletic than people think. He was across the street with a 4.0 GPA.

"Before the accident we were flying all around the country looking for a guy who's 6-3, 220 and runs a 4.6 and he was right here."

On the defensive back haul...

"We finished the bowl game with two true freshmen playing safety after Howard Matthews was ejected from the game. I thought Armani Watts had a good freshman season; Donovan Wilson came on at the end. Those are two young guys that, the good news is they're going to be sophomores next year. Justin Evans was the No. 2 junior college free safety in the country and could have an immediate impact; Justin Dunning is a 6-4, 205-pound guy that's what you're looking for. He's got real skills that can do a lot of things for us. Really the big, big prototypical safety you're looking for.

"Roney Elam doesn't get a lot of hype, but if you look at his recruitment it was us and LSU. He's a 6-2 guy that can play both, has range, can play corner; Larry Pryor, like Justin Dunning, was extremely highly recruited but made his commitment early, never wavered. A lot of these guys that came down to the end get a lot of attention, but we need to go back and look at the guys that stuck to their commitment because everyone was recruiting them and they stuck to it. They could've gone anywhere they wanted, but because they (made their choice) early, they didn't get a lot of pub — but I think they will when they hit campus."

On the linebackers...

"We've already got Claude George here, a guy who was rated pretty high, a guy we looked for as an immediate need. He's here working out, a 235-pound guy, long, rangy. We caught a break — he's a guy I met when we were at Houston, he came for a camp. At the time he was maybe 190 pounds, a tall, skinny guy. We kept watching this video and I said, 'I've heard this name before. This can't be the same guy.' We got on the phone one night and he said, 'Hey Coach, good to hear from you. Do you remember me from the camp?' It was one of those things where things started clicking and he was happy to be here. ... He's going to have an impact on us early.

"Richard Moore, another mid-year signee, just a tremendous football player. Being here mid-year will help him because he's a 210-pound guy now. He makes tackles all over the place, play after play after play, high-motor, high-intensity. Landis Durham is a big body we need at linebacker; these guys are coming in here 230-something, so they can get in the 240s during their career here. We talked about Riley.

"The two guys who got in here at mid-year, particularly Claude, will have an opportunity to see where they fit in during spring football."

On the running backs...

"You look at Jay, he's an unbelievably explosive guy. He long-jumped 24 feet last year at the state meet. He's almost a 48-foot triple jumper, which, I don't know if anybody in this room can do that. I know I can't. He's just a tremendously explosive guy. He's into the 10.3s as a 100-meter guy. Just an explosive, gifted guy. He's all of about 5-11 and averages about three dunks a game and likes to rebound. He can't shoot at all and he's the only 5-11 guy I know who they put in to play defense and rebound. So we eliminated basketball as a possibility, but he is a great track guy.

"Kendall Bussey is a shorter, stockier, strong guy, 5-9, 205 when he was on his visit. He had a lot of choices and committed to Nebraska first, then Tennessee. Those guys have had a few good running backs in both those places. We jumped in there and Coach Terry Joseph had a relationship with the family and the school and we just kept it going; he came out and he liked it. He's a guy we were really fortunate to get here at the end, understands the depth chart, understands how we use him.

"Those guys, particularly Bussey, physically he's a pure running back. Jay Bradford we'll figure out how to use physically, he's not going to be as ready as Bussey for an everyday-pounding situation, but he's so gifted and so explosive and we'll see where he fits."

On the idea of an early signing period...

"I think it'd eliminate some of the drama we had this last month, so I'm all for it. As coaches, we get to meet. I've been for an early signing period for a long time, for a couple reasons. No. 1, there's a higher percentage of kids who've committed early than there ever has been. The process has sped up, the information has sped up. Shoot, the information you guys have on juniors and seniors early is more than it's ever been. We have that information and the process has really picked up.

"You couple that with kids being on your campus for unofficial visits and they're going around seeing people and making decisions earlier and earlier and it just makes sense. It gets to a point where you look around in January and 80 percent of everybody knew what was happening. You have a whole month where we're either flying around babysitting and trying to keep guys off the guys you have committed, or you're flying trying to flip somebody from another guy. It's really a waste of money, because if you don't see a guy, somebody else will. These guys have already made up their minds. It's a cost-saving measure coupled with a common-sense measure, to me.

"The other thing is, when should this happen? I think after the high school season, in mid-December, is a good time for that. To me, it just makes sense. The other thing is this: what if they don't sign then? You don't have to. What that'd tell me is, you're not committed. If you don't sign at that point and go to the regular signing day, you're letting everybody know you're not committed. I think that needs to happen too."

On Johnny Manziel seeking treatment...

"He's part of our family and we're going to support him like we supported him here. We support him and his family at this point. I'm not going to get into any conversations we've had at this point, but it's a step he's decided to take and a step his family's decided to take and something I personally support and, as a university, we support."

On old rivalries living on through recruiting...

"I think it's good. It's kind of interesting, a few years ago there were seven or eight Division I schools in the state. Now we're up to 11, 12? And in four, five different conferences. It used to be the Southwest Conference and now you've got the Big 12, the SEC, the AAC, Conference-USA, all kinds of conferences in here. The thing that's interesting, though, is you've had some teams that have had on-field success like TCU and Baylor that have created some more buzz for their institutions, and I think that's good. Obviously us and Texas, from a recruiting standpoint, as much as it was a hassle for a lot of different people, that competition's good.

"When you have that many schools in one state recruiting against each other, it's great for the fans and great for college football. We've got a lot of kids in this state that are tremendous student-athletes and a lot of great coaches. That creates opportunities for kids in this state to not have to leave (Texas) to go play. It creates trouble for us, but for student-athletes it couldn't be a better time to go a lot of different places and play at a high level. Today you saw a lot of guys stay in-state."

On whether he gets to step back and breathe or recruiting never ends...

"We do it through the entire year. We had our junior day the 25th and had a lot of juniors here, and some sophomores, and with any luck we'll get our first commitment for '16 (from that) maybe tomorrow. That tells you how often I'm doing it. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't be here."