Fall Day 10: Clarence McKinney, Terry Joseph detail A&M's changes

Clarence McKinney

On how he feels his guys are responding the new style of run game…

“I think they’re responding pretty good. You know, they’re excited about the new things that we’re doing within the offense. More emphasis on running the ball, so as a running back, you get more carries, you get excited about that.”
 

On how James White is continuing to develop…

“He’s getting better every day. You know, he’s actually the reason we were able to move Brandon to the other side of the ball, because of his progress. And he’s shown us that he could be the number one guy if we needed him to be the lead, as well as the next guy up.”
 

On how comfortable he is with the depth of his guys with Brandon moving over…

“Oh, we’re pretty comfortable with it, because we will always have the ability to bring Brandon back if we need him. He still can be a third guy and if we need him in a game, he knows the system. That’s not a lot of change in within on what we’re doing, there is just more of an emphasis on running the ball.”

On how much of an adjustment there will be with time being split between three or four guys, assuming that Carson and White gets the lion's share of the carries, and how beneficial it could be…

“I think, you know, you got the opportunity to see us in the bowl game with two guys, with Tra. It gives those guys a chance to get in the rhythm. And Tra sees he gets better the more carries he gets. I think that’s going to help him out a lot.”

On whether Brandon Williams has taken any snaps so far at running back…

“Not so far. He’s still trying to learn on how to play corner and we don’t want to interrupt that.”
 

On how Kendall Bussey is responding to working with them…

“He’s responding well. We’re trying to see what he can do, trying to see if he’s the guy who can be the third guy. We try to give him those opportunities to see if he can step up and be a guy if we needed him to go out there and carry the ball.”

On what he has seen from the spring until now from Carson…

“Maturity. You know, he has the same skill set. He is just a much more mature player, he understands exactly what we want. From a protection standpoint, he runs hard, he understands what his weapon is — he’s 240 pounds. He’s excited about this year.”

On the kind of progress he has seen on the offensive line with Dave Christensen…

“I just think, really, that they feel like we’re running the ball. They get a chance to dominate the line when we’re running the ball, as opposed to somethings we’ve done before. I think they’re excited about just being able to come out the stance and be dominate.”

“It’s been good. Coach Christensen has bought us a different philosophy. He like to run the ball. Me, being the running back coach, I want to see my guys with the ball in their hands. So, we’ve meshed pretty good.”

On how he likes the tweaks and use of the zone reads, and back to more of those…

“I think it’s going to help our offense. It gives us a chance to run the ball into some different looks that we haven’t done in the past. So, I think it’s going to really improve our running game.”

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Terry Joseph

On Brandon Williams’ move to cornerback…

“Brandon is progressing well. One thing that he is competitive. He’s passionate. The hardest part now is teaching him the little details of being a defensive player and also a cornerback. It’s worked out perfectly, because De'Vante (Harris) has played so many snaps that he’s a sounding board for him. By the luck of the draw, we were able to get Priest Willis — who’s not eligible, but he’s a student of the game — to sit next to him in the meetings and kind of tell him what he’s seeing from a guy who’s played a lot of games in a big conference.”
 

On Williams’ day one contribution…

“Our plan (is for him to be a strong contributor). When we made the move that was what we thought would happen. He came in the summer and did as much as he could do. Obviously, we couldn’t see that, but we got a lot of reports from other players. In this first week-and-a-half to two weeks, he’s really been everything that we’ve wanted and more. So, we’re just excited. He gets a little bit better every day, and now it’s just about fine-tuning everything as we get into the season.”
 

On the starting corners…

“I think (Williams) is in the mix, but Nick Harvey has really had a tremendous camp. He’s come in and really competed and made it a tough deal for Brandon to come in and take snaps away from him. So, Nick’s hung in there well. Alex Sezer’s had a good camp at that position. Then we still have — at the safety position — we still have some guys who we feel like can cover. At the end of the day, as me and Coach Chavis talk about it as we get closer to the game, we want to get the best five or six defensive backs on the field no matter what their position is.”
 

On Nick Harvey…

“Nick was a guy who you knew had great ability. One thing when you go from high school to college, especially a big conference like the SEC, the guys that you’re going against have just as much athletic ability as you have. Nick had to be more consistent with the speed of the game, and I think coming into training camp he’s done a good job of that.”
 

On De'Vante Harris’ adjustment to the new defensive scheme…

“I think a lot of it is kind of probably blown out of proportion a little bit. Playing defense is making sure you catch and tackle when they’re running and getting some turnovers. You can do that in any defense. I think, yes, are we going to align more aggressively? Yeah, we’ll be a lot more press man. If he wants to say that’s going to help his season, yeah. Our alignments will be a lot more aggressive. We want to force them to throw into a tight window and for them to block (Daeshon Hall), Myles (Garrett), Qualen (Cunningham), Daylon (Mack) — and to get the ball out quick. So, hopefully we can be in position to do that.

"I think the big thing with De'Vante is that he’s bigger and stronger than he’s ever been. Hopefully if things go well here over the next couple weeks, he’ll be over 180 playing a game for the first time in his career. When you look back at it, it’s kind of amazing to say that about a guy that’s been here for four years. He’s stronger. He’s more confident. It fits what he likes to do. We’ll see if it fits his skill set as the season goes.”
 

On Donovan Wilson…

“Strong, physical, hungry kid who just gets better over time. He was a kid who last year at this time we were saying we were going to redshirt him, but he kept getting better and better. We played him on some special teams early. Finally, I got brave enough to start him in the bowl game and sure enough he had nine tackles with two tackles for loss. The tough thing was the day after the bowl game he had shoulder surgery, so he missed the spring. But he’s bigger, stronger, faster. It goes back to that five or six defensive backs at the same time deal — the best five.”
 

On Justin Evans…

“Justin’s obviously a fabulous player. When you mix him and (Armani) Watts and Donovan back there, you’ve got a trio of guys who can go in and play and not have a lot of drop-off. I think the thing about Justin is he’s equally as good against the run as he is against the pass. He can cover, but he can also drop down in the box. He’s not a regular, typical junior college guy. He was a qualifier, a baseball player. He’s so mature, and he has great instincts. I’m excited to see him play, and he’s really going to help us out with as many different personnel as Arizona State is going to give us.”
 

On the freshman defensive backs…

“Justin Dunning is probably the biggest defensive back I’ve ever coached. He’s done a great job. He’s caused a lot of turnovers in these first two weeks. The guy has — when you talk about range and wingspan — the guy has it. He doesn’t have to be in the perfect position to make a tackle or an interception, and he can go get the ball. He runs better than a lot of people think he does, and he’s done a great job.

"Larry Pryor has gotten better every day. Again, he’s one of those guys who played quarterback a lot during his senior year, so we’re just getting him to start thinking defensively.

"(DeShawn) Capers-Smith from New Orleans, a guy who scores that many touchdowns, you’ve got to think he’s a pretty decent player. Seventy-nine touchdowns in one season, that’s crazy numbers, but the one thing about him is he hasn’t gotten overwhelmed. He’s been fine through everything that we’ve done.

"Then Roney Elam – another quarterback who is probably going to be more like Donovan Wilson. He’s long, rangy, fast. We’ve just got to get him stronger where he can hold up in this league.”
 

On the 'Mustang' package…

“I can see a situation where it’s four safeties. I can see a situation where it’s four corners. Again, it’s a daily evaluation. I tell them all the time — the more versatile you are, the better the chances are of you getting on the field. You’ve got a lot of guys who are asking questions about this position and that position, because they know at the end of the day when we do go Mustang, we’ll put the top six guys out there and we’ll let them go hunting.”