WATCH: Christensen, Ifedi break down O-line's new outlook

Dave Christensen

“We have a lot of talent, but we aren’t as deep as we need to be, so we’re developing some depth right now we’re going to count on. We’ve got one freshman right now who’s in the mix to play and we’ve got three more coming in. So we’re getting better but we lost some experienced guys and Mike is out for the spring, so we’re missing him. We really only have two guys with a bunch of experience that are playing right now.

"We’re trying to get five guys, playing together, doing the same things. Communicating has to get better. Our center makes a lot of calls and with a new guy in there we’re struggling a little bit. We’re making progress and are certainly farther ahead than we were when we started. From a technique standpoint, we’ve adjusted a few things from a technical standpoint and I like the improvement we’ve made in those areas.

On how his run game coordinator position meshes with the other offensive coaches…

“I think the title is more important than what actually goes on. I’ve been some different places and done some different things offensively, so I’m able to interject some ideas. AS you watch practice, obviously we haven’t made wholesale changes, but we’ve made some adjustments in the things that we’re doing. We’ve got really good coaches on the offensive side and I think a few adjustments can help us develop a little better in the run game than we were in the past.”

On the characteristics he wants in his group…

“I think mental and physical toughness is the first thing. You have to understand that in a spread offense, you still have to have a physical presence. We’re putting a lot of emphasis on coming off the ball, sustaining blocks and blocking through the whistle. Just being more physical up front. Accountability is a big thing and group unity is huge, because with what we do, we need five guys on the same page every play because there could potentially seven guys to block and we need to get the five most dangerous on every snap so communication is vital.

On what he has seen from the tackles…

“I feel good. GI has played both sides. Avery Gennesy has played both sides. They have improved their technique, they’re playing with better hands and feet. We’re still working on some things with speed rush and our sets, but they have made good progress up to this point. Again, It is hard because we do some different things schematically and it is not just in the tackles. We have some young guards in there playing. Two kids, neither one of them took a snap this year. Joe was out of practice so we played two guys that haven’t played at this level yet and a center that has not taken a snap yet at this level, so we’re working through some growing pains right now.

On whether his finished running style will resemble other spread offenses…

“There will be some similarities in zone plays but there will some unique characteristics in what we do and how we block some plays than some things I have done in the past at Missouri and we started running a spread offense there and added some wrinkles at Wyoming and utilized a few things at Utah, so a few elements from each of those areas will make it somewhat unique. Now for the normal fan, they might not understand what we’re doing, but there will be some adjustments to what we’re doing.

On how he plans to utilize the quarterback in the run game…

“The quarterback everywhere I have been, for the most part, has not been a great dynamic runner. What he has been able to do is when they don’t honor him, he can get some positive yards, so you can utilize the quarterback as a blocker by carrying out the fake and pulling it down and running it once in a while. We had a lot of success running the ball at Missouri and Chase Daniel didn’t carry it a lot. Same thing at Wyoming, we ran the ball pretty well. Quarterback didn’t run it a ton, but the threat of him pulling it and keeping it certainly adds a dimension to what you’re doing offensively.

On adjustments and changes he’s had to make…

“We had to balance up some stances and work on our hand placement, tighten that up. We were really wide with our hands and have made a conscious effort to work on that, getting better inside hand placement and pad level. Those are the main things we have tried t emphasize.

On how often we will see a three point stance…

“Inside guys will be in a three point most of the time and the outside guys will have the option to get into it at certain times during the game but for the most part they will be up.”

On his impressions of Sumlin’s offense from a distance…

“Very impressed. I’ve watched over the years and remember specifically I had no idea id ever be at Texas A&M and watching them on television going, “Wow, wouldn’t it be nice to coach those guys. Pretty special.” I liked a lot of the things they did and know a lot of the guys here. I stole a few concepts from them, as I have a from a ton of people. Very impressed with them. They were very explosive in the Johnny Manziel days and when I had an opportunity to see them.”

On whether it was tough to leave Utah for A&M…

“No. This is an elite job. Probably one of the top five jobs in the country. My goal as a coach is to coach at the highest level in college football and have an opportunity to coach and recruit the best players and be at a place where you can legitimately compete for a national championship. In order to do that, you have to have the commitment from the administration and we had it here, so it was a simple decision to come here.

On how he is enjoying the heat…

“It’s great. I love it. I’m tired of snow, so I can take the heat.”

On which young or inexperienced guys have stood out so far…

“We have made a lot of progress because we have so many young guys. Gennesy has done a nice job, Sutherland is playing at guard and doing a nice job. Really happy with Stuckey moving in to center. I got here and was told Mike Matthews was injured and JJ was injured and nobody on the team had snapped the ball, so I was like, 'I think in a spread offense you have to get a snap back there to practice.'

"So we have two guys, Koda Martin and Stuckey are snapping and have never snapped before spring. Really pleased with the effort they have made to step in and help the team. Cheek is making progress and playing better, GI is doing a great job from a leadership standpoint. London is doing a great job for us at Guard and is another young guy, junior college guy that sat out last year and is making good improvement also.”

On whether he has a feel for who his group will be come fall…

“I don’t know if I am quite there yet. I am getting some ideas on what some guy’s strengths and weaknesses are and what we need to continue to work on. I would hate to put a label on a starting five at this point in time. I think we have a lot of competition ahead of us still and a lot of development. There may be a player that is second or third team guy right now that may start in the fall. I certainly want to give them every opportunity to develop. We have a long summer of training and training camp to develop. We have good competition and when you have players, you have competition and that is what gives you a chance to be good.”

On how Mike Matthews has helped from the mental side…

“Phenomenal. He got in today for a walkthrough and made every call, never missed a beat. Was right on every single one and was right on all the new terminology, I mean he was spot on. I’m really looking forward to getting him out there because he can communicate and control all five guys.”

On his impressions of College Station…

“I love it. I’ve been down here before but we’ve got a house and moved in and really enjoy the community. I haven’t gotten a chance to do a lot of things focusing on football but it has been great.”

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Germain Ifedi

On how he is liking working with a new offensive line coach…

“It’s been good. It is definitely different. He pays a lot more attention to detail and we have just been improving small things, small things that we weren’t doing before and we really like it. We like being pushed and he definitely gets the most out of us.”

On specifically what they are working on now that the weren’t before…

“Just working our hands and working on our feet. Everything, run game, pass game and just small things you probably wouldn’t notice just looking at it before, but you go back and look at it now and think, 'Oh, their hands are a few inches tighter,' or 'They're keeping a good base in the run game,' things like that.”

“Pre-Spring Break I was all left and more than likely post-Spring Break I will be all right. The left was good, Myles was out so I didn’t really get much experience or much crazy experience, but it was good on both sides. I played a lot of right, so right is very natural to me — but left was a new experience and I definitely did some things over there that I liked. I am very comfortable on both sides.”

On how he thinks Avery Gennesy is doing handling his duties on the left side…

“He is doing good. He has quick feet, he does a lot of good things out there, very athletic, so he has handled both sides well. We can both flip on both sides, so that is just good as far as depth for us. Depending on where we end up playing, if any of us go down we are good to flip sides at anytime.”

On which side he prefers playing…

“I will play anywhere. I really don’t mind, just want to play somewhere and play well.”

On what Christensen’s personality is like wile coaching…

“He is going to get mad at you. We love him to death still but he is going to get it out of you. He wants you to do everything right and we expect him to wan us to do everything right. We listen to him and he has 30 years of experience so having coach out there like that we appreciate everything he brings to the table.”

On whether or not last year's O-line lived up to its potential…

“As far as last year it was kind of mixed bag, just so many injuries and so many things that went wrong, as far as living up to the potential you have a lot of moving parts in and out, injuries and things like that. So once you start getting all those moving pieces it's hard to get a good rhythm and camaraderie on the O-line. Under the circumstances I think we played well, definitely if we could have had all five of the guys all healthy at once all year you probably would have seen what everybody was expecting. But you have guys in and out, by the end of the year we had three or four guys playing with different things. It’s football, so it's never going to be picture perfect like everyone expects.”

On how much better the team is equipped this year to handle injuries as far as depth…

“We have guys that can play up and down the line and we have guys that can flip sides easily with no difficulty. I think definitely, this year, if a guy goes down another guy can flip and go here and there and be just as comfortable and effective at whatever he is playing.”

On his excitement in regard to the added running game…

“We love it. I'm as comfortable as I've felt in the run and the pass game, actually. I'm as comfortable as I have felt. Just balancing out my stance and just things like that. Small stuff that definitely made the run game so much easier and so much more effective. You just never think if you change one small thing that all of a sudden you are moving people off the ball easily, where it was a struggle before because you were doing small things wrong.

"We definitely enjoy the run game much more than we used to because it's just small things were being done wrong before and we are doing a good job of shoring those things up now.”

On how his leadership role has developed over the spring…

“Definitely this offseason I made it my mission to take young guys under my wing and really become that leadership style because last year I was switching positions and unsure so I kind of faded back and was just worried about myself. Now I am older and more experienced and I feel like I can handle the responsibility of handling myself and getting myself better while bringing other guys along.”

On whether or not he is viewing this year as his senior year even though technically he has two years left…

“I just take it day by day, because you start looking down the road and you starting saying, 'Okay, I am out of here after this,' and your game will start to suffer. You take it day by day and just work like you are a freshman trying to win a spot still and good things will happen. But when you start looking down the road, that's when things just start going bad for you.”

On what impression Christensen made on him the first time they met…

“I met him when I was hosting a recruit and I just remember there was some good food that day. If you associate good food with the first time you meet somebody it is automatically a good first impression. But he just seemed ecstatic to get to work with us and I met his wife and they were just lovely people, and he just seemed excited to get to work with us.”

On what the food was that day…

“Chicken strips, we had some brownies and ice cream we had some good stuff that day.”