Fall Day 3: Dave Christensen, Jeff Banks break down early returns

Dave Christensen

On how he would access the line play for the first three days…

“I’m pleased at where we’re at. I’ll find a little bit more out after watching the video today, cause we put the shoulder pads on today and it’s, you know, you can’t really learn a lot other than assignment wise, prior to putting on some pads. So, today will be a good indicator for a little bit to where we are at. And I thought we were physical in some run courses at practice. We need to continue to push it through the end of practice. But that will come with time.”

On who he thinks are the seven that are still battling for the starting spots…

“No, you know, I wouldn’t want to, you know come up with seven now and there’s, ten other guys that are ‘what the heck am I doing here,’ you know.  But we’ll let them compete. We have some really talented freshman that came in. We have some players that were obviously not there in the spring, some players that were bumped up in the spring. Our first line is a little bit different than it was in the spring, but our second line is completely different than it was in the spring. So, we just have a lot of evaluation and fairness to all them and do the right thing for us. We want to see all these guys perform.”

On whether Mike Matthews is 100 percent now and ready to go throughout the season…

“Yeah, Mike is good to go. He’s practicing real well and as big as he’s ever been and has an awesome use of his quickness. He’s having a good camp.”

On Avery Gennesy redshirting last year and how that benefited him…

“I think it’s big anytime a junior college player comes in. Once he redshirted, it’s going to help him develop, get him a year further ahead, closer and ready to play. I think it helped him a lot, he had a good spring, but, he’s playing a lot better right now than he did in spring for me. So, he’s taken great advantage of the summer.”
 

On how he changes the mentality to be more physical…

“I think there’s a number of things that play into that. First, it’s an attitude, you know, and it starts in the weight room, in the offseason program, it carries into the summer. And you know, we’re only going to be with them 20 hours a week during the season. So, we’re giving them training camp and spring ball and obviously make an emphasis there. But you’ve got to be able to develop that toughness that mind set, that physical-ness, and not beat them all up either.  Because you got to have them on Saturdays.

"So, there’s a lot of things that play into it. I’d say it starts with the staff who’s with them so much in the weight room, and then what we’re able to do with them on the field and the time that we get there. And just the mind-set and the mentality, harping on it, and pointing it out when it happens and also making a big point of it when it isn’t physical enough.”

On whether or not he feels on-schedule for the opener, where the team is at…

“I feel like we’re about three days into fall camp. We have a long time until we play. I mean, one day in shoulder pads and I haven’t seen the video yet, it’s hard for me to make any real judgements yet. But, I know from an assignment standpoint, I’m pleased with what we’ve done.  But, we’ll get after it a bit on Saturday and I’ll have a lot better feel, a lot better idea at where we’re at.”

On when he was first hired, whether Kevin Sumlin tasked him with physicality or the schematics on preparing the guys to run when they needed to…

“It was a little bit of both, certainly, Kevin talked to me about what he wanted and it fit into what I want to do, philosophically, both from a physical standpoint and a schematic standpoint. So, it was a combination of both things.”

On whether or not he senses if the players have taken on his personality…

“You know, in some ways — hopefully not in all ways. But, yeah, and that’s what you want as a coach – the players are repeating the things that you’re talking about. So, they can go out and it becomes second nature to them. And then you know you’re making some progress with them.”
 

On whether he was accustomed to every player from last year on his offensive line…

“No, I watched some of the film, I've only got three guys coming back to play significantly. They’re good football players. We didn’t make wholesale changes with the three guys that have experience. We’ve made some adjustments and tried to give them some tools to work with, hopefully play a little bit better.

"But, we had a bunch of young guys that need to get experience, so we started from ground zero. It’s about competing every single day, shuffle the deck when we have to and keep the competition going.”

On how locked-in and motivated Germain Ifedi is right now…

“He’s always locked-in. He’s had a good camp, he’s had a great summer, he’s worked extremely hard, and he’s really done a nice job. I’m giving all these guys the weights that I wanted them at. Every single day I was within two pounds at the weights I wanted them at. You know, he’s a big guy and we talked about him being a certain weight and playing better at that weight. He’s gotten to that weight and is doing pretty well out there.

"He’s very driven, he’s got a bright future even after this year. His focus is on, obviously, our first football game and having successes on offense this year as a team.”

On whether Ifedi’s weight was way off last year…

“No, I just didn’t want — you get to table and some guys are looking to gain weight. I just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t one of those guys. We certainly didn’t need him playing at 360 pounds or something. He’s done a nice job staying in shape and is moving well.”
 

On how his first golf season was as an Aggie coach and what his best score was…

“It was good.  I won some tournaments and played on some good courses. I had a lot of fun. My best score was 82 at Bearmont with three putts, one in the water and five other missed putts. So, it was a pretty good round.”
 

On whether or not Germain Ifedi will stay at right…

“He’s going to stay right. Avery is going to play on the left side and a number of young guys competing for backup spots at both.”

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Jeff Banks

On the kicking competition…

“(The kickers) look good. Taylor (Bertolet) has a really strong leg. I think the biggest part is accuracy with him. He’s back there launching 50-, 55-yarders, so I had to kind of calm him down a little bit. We’ll rev it up. We just had pads on for the first day, so we were able to actually get some rush into the line of scrimmage and let them feel it a little bit. (Daniel) LaCamera is really talented. It’ll be good.

"I think Taylor obviously has the upper hand, because he’s been around for a long time. He’s experienced. He’s been out there in big moments, whether it was early in his career or just kicking off and doing well. I think you always lean on that as a coach, but the best players play. We’ll have a great chart of kicks in the next 17 to 21 days, and going into that first week, the week before the game, we’ll know who’s going to come out there. We also know they’re both very talented.

"I don’t think, kickoff-wise, we’ll do much. Taylor’s really good at that. We’ll just keep developing Daniel, but he’s hit some big kickoffs in practice, so we know the future’s bright for him.”
 

On simulating the pressure of a college game…

“When we go to Kyle (Field), when we get in Kyle — I think we’ve got two scrimmages and three practices before the first game, hat will help a lot. Then, like Saturday, anytime we’re out there and there are fans – whether it’s 500 or 5,000 – it’s still something for a high school kid like Daniel to have to go through. It’s still something for Taylor to continue to gain the trust and confidence of his teammates.”
 

On Bertolet’s freshman struggles…

“Sometimes it can be a snow-over confidence deal. You miss one, and it’s like, ‘Uh-oh. The pressure’s on me.’ As you mature, you get over that. I just think the biggest thing is seeing him have success in training camp. What have you done for me lately? We don’t really harp too much on what happened a long time ago. What we try to do is look at how he is right now, and he’s had a great offseason, a great summer. He’s talented. We’ll just see. The best guy’s going to play. In two weeks, we’ll know."
 

On his expectations for Speedy Noil on punt returns…

“Hopefully, touchdowns. We got so close last year. He’s really talented. He grew up throughout the season – catching punts, communicating with the rest of the team. It’s a harder job than you think. Kickoff return’s a little easier, because it’s like, ‘I either take it out, or I take a knee.’ You’ve got plenty of time to catch it. In punts at this level, there are a lot of guys in your face. Speedy just needs to finish. I think he’s seen that. He knows that. He’s really worked on it.

"He’s explosive. We’re going to put him in space, and we’ve got a good unit coming back, so we’re excited for him. It’s fair to say (that he’ll be better). He had a chance to score two touchdowns, and he was inside the 10. Certainly, he could have scored. I think one year of experience at receiver, at traveling in the SEC, at going to class every day – the whole package for Speedy – for any college kid coming in as a true freshman, it kind of mounts up on you in the middle of the season. Then they kind of regroup and have a nice end to the season. He’s going to have a big year.

"We’ve got Justin Evans and we’ve got Christian Kirk who are two newcomers in that return game that are going to push him and also help him, because he’s going to play so much at receiver that you want to have some fresh legs back there that have some explosiveness. We have a great contingent – as deep a contingent since I’ve been here of returners. Those other two need game experience, but those three guys together at any one time have a chance.”
 

On Speedy’s physical condition…

“He’s in great shape. He had a great summer. You have to look at that as a coach when it’s a dynamic, major portion of your offense. That’s what he’s become. You have to look at – especially in-game, like he comes back from a deep post route for a touchdown and all of a sudden we get a three-and-out and it’s a punt return. That’s what’s so great about having Justin Evans, Christian Kirk, Nick Harvey, De'Vante Harris. We’ve got skill guys that we can put in there that are just as explosive. Maybe they don’t have the experience all the time, but it’s going to be interesting to see some of these guys in the first four weeks before we get into SEC play.

"We have to look at that. I have to do a good job. Coach Moorehead’s got to do a good job, and Speedy’s got to do a good job of communicating. ‘Coach, I’m gassed.’ Without being selfish about it like, ‘I want to score, but I’m not the best guy.’ I think he gets that. We’ve sat down and talked about that. We’ll see how this training camp progresses at receiver, and we’ll judge it from there. “
 

On Myles Garrett’s special teams impact…

“Myles is obviously a big-time player, a dynamic playmaker in any phase – you could put him at tightend and he’d probably score touchdowns. He’s just that gifted. Anytime you have that in a special teams guy, you want to keep him playing well on offense or defense – just like Speedy. Myles is very similar. You also want to say, ‘How can he help us change the game?’ When you block punts and field goals like he can, that’s where you’ll see Myles Garrett help us the most.

"Other than that, we’ve got a great contingent of young defensive ends that come back for their second season and James Lockhart added to that. You’ve got enough guys that can fill in those type of spots.”
 

On the special teams unit…

“We have our goals in our room as a special teams unit. We obviously want to be the best in the conference. There’s other good special teams units in the conference, but we’re going to hold ourselves to that standard. We just know the way we practice and prepare is going to be the way we go, because we’ve got enough guys. We’ve got enough other guys – Sam Mueller and Devonte Burns and Armani Watts and all these other guys that block for these guys and cover kicks for these guys.

"With the specialists, we want to solidify the kicker position, because that’s a major part of it. We have a new snapper who’s done a nice job so far in training camp in Austin Fry. Then figuring out the other portions of that – a lot of freshman might come from that. There’s some talented freshmen in this group. We won’t really know that until we start going full-speed and avoiding people and blocking.”
 

On Brandon Williams’ special teams role…

“Same thing with Myles. That’s the one thing that you can use him for. What’s the one thing that Brandon Williams can do that can help us without taxing him on any other specialty? (Gunning on punt returns) is the one thing that he’s dynamic at. It’s like, ‘Hey, Brandon, we’re going to take care of the other ones, but that’s the one you have to start on.’ Then maybe you look at kickoff and say, ‘He started all year on that, but we’ve got another guy now that’s grown up, that’s matured, or maybe we have a freshman that we really, really like, and we’re going to put him in that spot.’

"As a coordinator, because Coach Sumlin is so great at letting us use the best players, I have a responsibility to make sure we don’t wear these dudes out, and Brandon’s one of those guys – especially our group of dynamic players.”
 

On the kick returners…

“In two weeks, I’ll let you know. Obviously, Christian Kirk and Justin Evans. We use another off-returner, Tra Carson and James White and a host of those guys, but they’re mostly blockers. As far as the actual returners that we’re looking to be at the point of attack — Speedy, Justin, Christian, Nick Harvey. There are some other guys that will be back there. Someone’s got to step up for Trey Williams. He was a really good player.”
 

On the special teams practice schedule…

“We do two 10-minute segments. We start the practice for 10 minutes, then we come back after pretty much all the individuals are done and do another 10-minute segment. We usually do two separate special teams. We try to get as many reps in 10 minutes as possible with as many guys right now. We’re running four-deep. Here in about a week or two, we’ll be two-deep. We’re running all these freshmen through. We’re not making early decisions. We’re just trying to get them trained up. Then we’ll go out there on Saturday and the next Tuesday and the other scrimmage days, and we’re just going to let it rip – watch the film and evaluate who needs to go in that two-deep and make some hard decisions after two weeks.”
 

On Ricky Seals-Jones’ role and the tight end position…

“When you have a guy like Rick, you have to find out what he’s best at. Something we found out a little bit was that he’s really good matched up in intermediate routes. He can get open. Then after he caught it, he made some big plays in the redzone. Obviously, we’ve kind of scaled our offense to that this offseason with him as far as his packages. As far as the box and the tight end position with Rick, we just hadn’t seen him as that body type that really gives us an advantage in the SEC. He’s awesome. He’s willing to do it. He’s selfless. He’s as unselfish as can be, but I think he’s probably more suited to the outside.

"Brandon Alexander has had a couple great days. Kaden Smith has had a couple great days. I think as long as you do enough play-action and you do enough things off of it, you’ll have an opportunity to do that. At the same time, you have to look at playing the best eleven. Coach Spav, Coach Sumlin, Coach Christensen, our staff – we’re always going to play the best eleven on offense. Sometimes that might be taking that position out and putting another receiver in, taking the receiver out and putting another running back in. We’ve got some talented running backs. I think you can expect some of that, and we’ve evaluated that all spring.”