WATCH: Chavis, Spavital assess spring ball's results

John Chavis

On the state of the team…

“Well, we’re getting better. You a lot of progress, and (I’m) excited about that, excited about them having a little fun with practice and excited about the progress that they’re making. I think they feel good about it. You know, we’ve still got a lot of work to do, but we’re making progress.”
 

On the defensive line…

“The thing that we talk about as a team – certainly, we like where we are, but I don’t mind talking about a position in terms of defensive end. We feel like that could end up being, you know, our strong point. Not only just at end, but up front. We’ve got some really talented guys up there. They’ve come to work every day, and Coach Price and Coach Hagen have done a great job, you know, preparing those guys for practice; and they’ve done a great job responding. I think we’ve made some big improvements up front.”
 

On whether the corners have impressed him…

“Oh, no doubt. Like I said, we’re getting better, but again, there’s still work to do. We’ve got several corners that I feel good about. It’s a matter of them to continue to grow and grow in confidence. It’s a position that you’ve got to have talent to play, but you’ve got to have a short memory. You’re not going to make every play. Sometimes you’re going to have balls thrown over your head. Hopefully that won’t happen very often. You’ve got to be able to forget those, and you’ve got to be ready to rack it up and go play again.

"We’ve got some talent at corner. We’ve got some guys that are nicked up right now, and that’s what happens in spring practice. You know, (if) you practice a good, physical, tough style of football, you’re going to get some guys that are nicked up. Yeah, there’s been a couple of guys that have shown really well there.”
 

On players that stand out, particularly Myles Garrett…

“I’m not ready to talk about individuals. Like I said, we’ll talk about the position, and I think defensive end is going to be a strong position for us. There’s no question about that.”
 

On his attack drill…

“I think probably 26, 27 years. They’ve responded well. It’s a tough drill; there’s nowhere to hide. You’ve got to be a man, and you’ve got to go through it. You’ve got to work, and like I said, there’s nowhere to hide. After we’ve done it a couple times, we’ve got guys who want to do it. They look forward to it. They’re not running away from the drill. That’s the response that you want to get. To be honest with you, everywhere I’ve been, that’s been the response. Because they understand it’s football, and that drill is all about football. If there’s just one drill that you’ve got that’s going to help you with defensive football, in my opinion, that’s as good as it gets.”
 

On the defense’s improvement…

“I think they’ve learned a new scheme, a new style up front — and again, starting with the front again – a more attacking style. And I think they like it. I think they enjoy it. We’re giving them some opportunities to really get off the ball, and with the pressures that we employ, that gives them an opportunity as defensive linemen to draw some one-on-one blocks. And they enjoy that part of it too. It’s no secret about what we do. We’re pressure defense –have been for a long time – and that’s what we’re going to continue to do. What we’ve found is that most guys that are in this system love it, because it gives them the opportunity to make big plays.”
 

On whether the Aggie offense’s tempo affected his decision to come to Aggieland…

“Not really. You look, and – I don’t know – 80 percent, 90 percent of the teams that you play, they run a fast-paced offense. So you’re playing against it all the time, and to be quite honest with you, we practiced against it a good bit, even before. So it’s kind of where football is taking us. It’s a different style, but no, that didn’t have anything to do with it at all. To be quite honest with you -- like I said -- when you look at the commitment that Texas A&M has made, it’s easy to see that this can be and is a great place to be.

"There’s no question about that, and (it’s) certainly a school that’s made the commitment to play on a championship level. You look at all the things that are going on with the buildings and what they’re doing and the kind of support that this program’s getting. So you’ve got to have that, and then you’ve got to be able to go recruit. It’s in a state where there’s a lot of talent. You’re able to recruit here. Those were the main things, and as coaches, that’s what you’re looking for is an opportunity to win and win big; and it’s here at Texas A&M.”
 

On how well the defense has adjusted to his scheme…

“Coaches won’t tell you that they’re completely pleased. You wish you had 13 more days or 14 or 15 more days, but everybody’s got the same amount. We’ve made progress, and listen, that can’t stop when we quit practicing. Okay?  Hopefully we’ve given them a base that they can go out and work on some things on their own and continue to grow and actually be better when we start fall practice. And certainly, they’ll be stronger because they’ll have some cycles in the weight room that they can do.

"You want it to be an ongoing process, and once you get that established, then it happens year round. The older guys are teaching the younger guys, and they’re out working on stuff on their own. And they’re getting better because the older guys will have known and been in the system long enough. So I think we’ve got enough of that going on that they’ll be able to do some things on their own that’ll help make them better in the offseason.”
 

On the injured players…

“They’re doing a good job, but it’s not like practicing; but those are things that you can’t control. If you’re going to stay happy in this business, you find the things that you can control and work on them and make them better. The ones that you can’t, you can’t worry about, but certainly, we’ve put some time in the classroom with those young men – and they know –they just haven’t been able to practice. When we get here in the fall, we’re going to have to take off with those guys, because there are several of those guys that are going to be playing a lot for us in the fall, and we’re going to have to count on them. Fall practice will be big for them.”
 

On what he’d like to see on Saturday…

“Again, another day of improvement. I got asked this earlier, and this is really in a nutshell, what we want to see – not only on Saturday, but from here on out until the end of the season – we want to see how much this team can improve daily. Certainly, we anticipate we’ll have to play really good football –looking at the schedule –really good football early on, but we expect this team to keep getting better. That’s going to have to be our focus:  to improve daily. If we do that, we will be a really good football team at the end of the season.”
 

On whether the defense’s confidence is growing…

“I think we’ve seen some of that – absolutely. Not every day, but yeah, we’ve seen a good bit of it. We talked about it as a unit. Certainly, we want them to feel good about accomplishing certain things. I think they understand that. Listen, these guys are talented, and they want to be good. They’re working hard at it, and the confidence is growing. There’s no doubt about that. I think they’re enjoying practicing football. You’re going to find out that the guys that are really great players have a love and a passion for the game. It’s hard to show when you’re not having the success that you feel like you need to have, but it’s there. It’s there. We’ve seen it some this spring, and we want to continue to grow in that area, as well as what we’re doing physically.”

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Jake Spavital

On working with Dave Christensen…

"Dave’s been great. The experience that he brings the game is helping everybody out. He’s got a lot of good ideas. He’s been there and he’s seen just about every imaginable situation possible. It’s been great working with him. He’s added more to the offense. We’re starting to really click and get things going so it’s been great so far."
 

On whether he is starting to see clarity on the O-line…

"Kind of. With having Mike Matthews out this spring it’s been great having other people step up and showcase what they’re capable of doing. It’s still wide open. There’s about four or five people really competing for the starting positions but once Mike (Matthews) gets back it’ll be pretty good."
 

On how Kyle Allen is leading on the field…

"Kyle (Allen), He knows he’s out there. You’ve got Connor McQueen in the back ups and you know that Kyler Murray is going to come here in the fall so he’s got an increase in his competition. The competition will increase once he gets here, so he’s got to personally compete with himself. He’s a very prideful kid.  You see him go out there and compete. He probably gets a little too emotional at times but I like to see that and to see the desire in his eyes to get out there and get better each day."
 

On Allen's decision-making and taking the lead…

"He’s getting better each day. This is our fourteenth practice today, We’ve been through the insulation four times. So, he’s gotten four opportunities to rep every single play in our play book right now and even additional ones that we’ve added with Coach Moorehead and Coach Christensen. So far he’s getting better at it each day, especially going up against an aggressive scheme like what Coach Chavis brings which is a little different than what we’ve seen in the past spring balls and fall practices. So, it’s been good for him just to see different looks out there, go out there and compete, and try to get the continuity and the timing with the receivers."
 

On whether the offense has improved since going up against Coach Chavis…

"A lot. If you go from the first practice … we had a new offensive line coach, we had a new receiver coach, so just traditionally you’re going to improve over that but both sides of the ball are competing with each other and I like that. There’s some times they get after us and we get after them so the competition is great. Just that added factor, the fact that we’re out there competing against each other has been great so far."
 

On whether there is any chance of Speedy Noil at quarterback…

"Not yet. That’s definitely something that we’re going to talk about in the fall. We had a certain package built in for him right now but you know hopefully we don’t have to get to that point."
 

On what he wants to see from his guys on Saturday wrapping up spring…

"I want them to compete. You know, it’s your last time to go out there and none of the coaches are going to be out there on field so it’s time to let it loose. No one is going to be out there helping you so you’ve got to compete, take some pride in it, and see if we can move the ball. We’re going to put them in a lot of tough situations. They’re going to be backed up. There’s going to be more two-minute situations for them.

"So, I want them to focus up and take the most out of this practice leading into to the summer. We’re still a ways away and if we get some good momentum going into the summer time and for fall camp, that’s going to be good for us."
 

On Ricky Seals-Jones progressing and benefiting from Moorehead…

"He’s benefited greatly. The joke is Coach Moorehead’s pretty big so we think that Coach Moorehead and Ricky are pretty similar. So I see that he tends to work with Ricky a lot, because they’re pretty similar in how they are used to playing. I see Ricky improving drastically each day. Again, this is his second full year of being a receiver so he’s out there working on the little things, working on the ball skills. Things that he used to struggle with was pushing the depths, getting to the right depths, and working on timing with the quarterback. He’s really taken pride in that and you can see great steps that he’s taken so far this spring."
 

On newcomers Christian Kirk and Damion Ratley…

"Christian and Ratley, they’ve gotten great from day one. Especially when you see Ratley at the beginning of spring practices his head was spinning. You can see it starting to slow down these past couple of practices. He’s a big physical guy. He’s got great ball skills and hopefully he can continue on and hopefully you can see him out there on the field next year.

"Kirk, he keeps getting better each day as well. The thing is like about him is, he’s a professional. He’s here on business. He goes out there and he’s got the right mindset. That kid’s naturally going to keep getting better for us but over all as a unit those kids are out there competing. That’s the good thing that you’re returning everybody. We were a very young team last year. Just by having all those kids back and having more reps added I think they’re going to naturally get better as a unit."
 

On Aaron Moorehead’s work with the receivers…

"Technique. He’s very good at technique. He’s going up against an aggressive scheme like Coach Chavis. Those kids have got to be able to get off press coverage. He has brought that added dimension. He was an NFL player. He’s been up against press coverage before a lot. He knows the ins and outs, the little nuances, how to get in and out of press coverage so he’s been great with technique and his knowledge of the game. He’s seen it all as well so he can actually get out there and relate with the kids."
 

On whether the receivers act like they like that physical game up front…

"Yeah. Coach Moorehead always reminds them every single day this is the closest thing that you’re going to get to the NFL so you better get used to doing it now. The teams that go out there and play zone make it easier on you. It’s naturally going to be easier for the kids that have success, but when you get somebody up in your face you better be good and ready to get open because that’s pretty much 90 percent of the NFL."
 

On whether he’s had a chance to compare with Chavis…

"Not as much yet. Over the time since it’s starting to slow down we have had some discussions. I’ve asked him why he does certain things and certain techniques. Then, I go out there and try to scheme up the next practice. He’s been great just to sit down there and learn from him and from a defensive perspective."
 

On whether Brandon Williams and James White are taking advantage of Tra Carson being out…

"They’ve been taking the advantage great. I think James White’s had the best spring so far. They way he is, he’s a big body. He’s getting better each day. Just with Trey being out he’s gotten that opportunity to get better. B Will, he’s on a mission right now. You can tell he’s put on a lot of weight. He’s gotten bigger. He looks good out there. He’s still got the same amount of speed and a bigger body right now so having Trey Carson out those two have gotten a lot of reps so far this spring."
 

On the MLB draft and Kyler Murray…

"I’m talking to Kyler about every other day. We still keep in contact. I know he’s DH’ing for the team right now and hopefully he keeps continuing with his success there but you know it’s definitely going to be on the calendar to keep an eye out."