Texas A&M Football weekly press conference: Nevada

Kevin Sumlin

On where Speedy Noil is in his developent…

"Are you saying he's not playing as well as he should be? Well, he has been — out of the 28 practices in fall camp, I bet he practiced six of them. He's been nursing an injury, came into the first game a little bit and practiced more that week of the game. You saw a better version of him last week as he's getting healthier. He's coming along, health-wise, and that's why you saw the preseason SEC first-team or second-team kick returner not back there on the first play of the year.

"Christian has done a fine job back there and last week, you saw the plan going forward: putting both guys back there. Call them Thing 2 and Thing 3 back there. It benefits us to have him healthy back there and as he gets healthy, you saw him accelerate on the kickoff return. In the long run, it wasn't as impressive as the two blocks he made on the punt return beforehand. His effort has been really, I think, without getting the ball, improved from last year. Particularly last week as he's gotten healthier."

On Brian Polian and his own coaching tree…

"It's something we take pride in. I've only been a head coach eight years, and to have guys that are head coaches in different programs helps attract quality people to your program. Assistant coaches. It creates an atmosphere conducive to that. That's something I got from working for Bob Stoops for years, because of the number of guys in that program over the years that moved on to become head coaches. Creating a culture that allows you to do that.

"That's something we take pride in, and we've got guys here now as assistant coaches that that's going to continue to happen. The challenge is to replace talent with talent, just like on your team. You don't like playing those guys (former assistants), but that's part of it. You start playing guys that are your friends and that's never easy. In this game there's always a winner and a loser. But this game wasn't scheduled when he was here, I'm sure. Coaches don't really have anything to do with it. I'm sure he looked up at the schedule and saw he was playing us. (Laughs.)

"He texted me the other night and said, 'I'll huddle if you huddle.' (Laughter.) I said, 'We'll huddle on kickoffs and punts.' I don't think there was much of a response after that."

On what he'd like to see from his starters against Nevada before the SEC opener...

"That's a pretty general question. I think I'd want to see what everybody wants to see, I'd like to see them play well.

"You've got to respect your opponent every week. You can't ever, ever just expect — people get caught up in that, and that's disrespectful, to say, 'I only want my guys to play a half' and for people to expect that. I expect our ones to play well."

On his confidence level in the offense right now...

(Pause; smirk.) "What is my confidence level? I'm pretty confident. Are you saying you're not confident? I had confidence in our offense after Game 1, going into Game 1. What we're doing is trying to set a standard for play on both sides. We were not perfect on third down in the first half offensively and not perfect on third down defensively.

"We played a lot of people, played two quarterbacks in the first half, Jordan Davis caught a touchdown, we got a lot of people involved. Koda Martin got in at tight end. We were a little more creative than in the first game, played younger guys, got more blocking surfaces. The offense is expanding week by week. To play well and have that expansion with that many different players in there (is pretty good)."

On A.J. Hilliard and Zaycoven Henderson being in good standing...

"A.J. is back and we'll wait and see on Zaycoven."

On the importance of Qualen Cunningham and Jarrett Johnson...

"Right now we've got a good rotation of five defensive ends. Myles and Daeshon get a lot of credit, but I've been very pleased with Jarrett Johnson's activity compared to last year. Qualen's always been that kind of guy, kind of an egg-beater guy that plays with great effort. Didn't always do the right thing as a freshman, but he did it at 100 miles per hour. He's gotten better, Jarrett has gotten a lot better, and James Lockhart, those five guys are good at end.

"Excited to see Julien Obioha back, a few weeks back he had an appendicitis attack and had to have it removed. You never want to see that as a coach. He'll be back this week if not next week, he'll be practicing. Our rotation has been five guys at the defensive end spot, and now we're rotating with Daylon, Alonzo, Julien back, Hardreck Walker, we'll see where Zaycoven fits into that deal, and the big surprise has been Keke. He's down to 310-305 now and has come in and played a lot of snaps in the rotation. The best thing you can say about him is he's made some plays and held his own, and for a young guy on the interior he has really given us the depth to rotate.

"From a depth standpoint, we're finally starting to see that kind of depth available on our defensive line across the board."

On having Alaka back and an update on Josh Walker...

"Those guys will all be available this week. A.J. is coming back. The guy we haven't talked about is Shaan Washington, he's been steady and is playing really well right now. We go from the first game being pretty thin — 'Who is #54?' — to having those guys back. ... What was interesting last week, the young guys who played (week 1), the freshmen who played, played pretty well. The guys who didn't play against Arizona State, they played like it was their first game.

"Justin Dunning had a bunch of tackles on special teams. They weren't as tentative as the new guys that were on the field. That group of freshman linebackers all played special teams for us and we have depth now with Alaka coming back. Right before the game we were kind of holding him a bit to see how he was, and he wanted to go. He played more than I thought he was going to play. He's feeling good.

"You've got three 237-pound guys who can really run and play at that level. We haven't really had that since Sean Porter was here."

On the areas in need of improvement...

"I would say that we need to be more consistent as a football team. What I'm interested to see is improvement from our guys from a consistency standpoint, to see if we can play at the level we did in the first half with the ones again this week. And improvement from the other guys we're counting on from a depth standpoint, so there's not a drop-off. We're going to hold them to the same standard the ones play with, the same intensity level, the same knowledge of the game, same evaluation. We've got to get better there.

"As we continue to develop across the board, the offensive line, from a run game standpoint, we got better last week. We've got to continue to take care of the ball; I was not pleased with the amount of times we put the ball on the ground. ... From a ball security standpoint we need to improve, and we gave up two big plays early in the game and then settled down defensively. We're always looking to eliminate big plays. And see if we can start off at the same level offensively as we did this week and have our guys improve."

On Nevada's offense...

"They're a downhill running team. They're going to get in different formations — two tight ends, two-back, one-back, running quarterback ... they've got a quarterback that's mobile, that can run, and any time you're in the red zone, the reason I think they're good at it is the more people they bring to the line of scrimmage, they'll force you to have eye control and throw play-action off of that. Everything comes off their run game and quarterback run game, flipping it outside or taking it downtown.

"It's going to stress us a little bit more downhill than Arizona State, but the same stress from a run-pass conflict. Our safeties are going to have to have eye control, and going forward in the season. We're going to have to be physical up front, tackle in space in the perimeter, and have good eye control with our safeties in the play-action pass — which is about 80 percent of what defense is these days."

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John Chavis

On having Otaro Alaka back...

"It's big. We needed depth there. We're back to full strength at the position and it's going to be interesting to watch 'em compete today and tomorrow. That's what they're doing: competing for playing time."

On Brandon Williams...

"I think he's in a good place already but he's got to continue to improve on his footwork and gain experience and confidence; that comes from reps in practice, and he's working as hard in practice as anybody I've been around. His game will continue to improve, but the fact that he's there has made us a better secondary already."

On getting Julien Obioha back...

"It gives us some depth. We're talking about a young man that played defensive end last year; he gives us fast-twitch inside. With as many spread teams as we're playing we need a fast guy inside who can get off blocks, and he can do that."

On Nevada...

"They do a great job and they're committed to running the football. ... The backs, both of them, are strong — not real tall — but strong and good runners. We've got to continue to play better in those situations this week."

On instilling confidence in a defense that hadn't had success...

"I've said this before: you put young men in situations where they can have success. You give them the tools and put them in situations where they can have success, then when they have success they get confident.

"You have to be positive. Coaching can be a negative thing ... you have to make sure you're not beating kids down. You hold them accountable, but we don't beat them down. They're somebody's son, they're our football players, and we have to treat them that way. Have high expectations, show them how to get it done, and they'll get it done for you."

On balancing between the starters gelling and getting the backups experience...

"Well, obviously, you've got a 46-point lead, I think that's a pretty good time to do it. But no, you've got to get those guys experience. It's going to be a long season and it's going to be tougher as we go, in terms of playing in the SEC. You balance it by only being concerned with one stat, and that's winning and losing."

On heading into the West with experience all around...

"It's going to be big because as you get to the teams that are going to run the ball right at us, getting those guys out there and getting them game experience, it's going to be a big plus for us. Having fresh legs out there will be big, no question. It's about Saturday after Saturday after Saturday, and if you're not careful managing your personnel, you're going to get beat down in this league. You have to manage guys' reps, particularly inside."

On Cunningham and Johnson behind Garrett and Hall...

"It's been big for us, and those guys have played well. If we didn't have the thought they were going to be able to do that, we never would've moved Obi inside. They've done an adequate job and they'll continue to get better; they've given us solid play."

On De'Vante Harris thriving in his system...

"I can say this about a lot of guys, but obviously he feels comfortable with what we're doing. There's times we have to give guys checks on the field and they have to make them based on formation, based on splits, but we try to keep that to a minimum. Even though we have a package that is multiple, we keep the technique the same. If you can master five techniques in the passing game, you'll play well. We won't ask you to play 15, 20 techniques. They're going to line up confident and put their cleats in the ground and be able to play football."

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Jake Spavital

On the efficiency of Kyle Allen in Game 2...

"I thought he played great. I believe we gave him seven drives and he scored on  six of them. He looks very comfortable back in the pocket and he's composed. He's playing very well right now. He's making good checks ... playing very smart right now. Very comfortable with where he's at right now."

On Avery Gennesy...

"When we were recruiting him we knew we had to fill a void there, and he had the ability to come in and we were fortunate enough to redshirt him. He got to travel to the away games and learn the offense for a year. He's probably the most athletic lineman we've got and every day he gets better, and part of the reason for his success is he goes up against Myles Garrett every day and that'll make you better. He's got great energy, loves the game. The ceiling's pretty high for that kid."

On whether Kyler Murray showed him more in the pocket in Game 2...

"We all know what Kyler is capable of doing, and I really challenged him to stay in the pocket and go through his progressions and I thought the kid did pretty well. ... From the standpoint of just running the offense, he got better in this game and I'm very pleased with how he's starting to operate the system."

On Game 1 to 2 improvement...

"Yeah, we got better. We're still trying to figure out who we are offensively, we've still got one game to figure out which guys are going to help us win vs. SEC teams. We focused on first down efficiency and we did a good job in that; we also focused on ball security and we didn't do a good job of that. The difference between Arizona State and Ball State is that you could see they overcame adversity after the negative plays; they moved on and went out and continued to move the sticks. On third down efficiency, I thought we did a good job of that."

On Brice Dolezal...

"He's earned that right. He does everything right. In the Arizona State game when James got hurt and Tra's helmet popped off and he had to come out, I felt comfortable putting Brice out there because he knows what he's doing. ... It was fun watching him go out there and paly meaningful minutes, and I thought he ran the ball well."

On playing Jake Hubenak and letting him throw...

"I'd love to do that. The main thing going into this game was get the ones into a rhythm and let them get confidence, then start developing the other guys. Kyler got some significant time, got that last drive before the half ended and with the one O-line. I wish I could've gotten  Jake in a little more, because he was put in a situation where it was to run the clock out, slow it down, a lot of running plays. It'd be good to get him in at a fast level."

On Speedy...

"I think he's great. The injuries have nicked him up. He didn't practice much in fall camp, but he also didn't practice much in spring ball. He's still the same old Speedy, we've just got to get him healthy and keep him coming along because he's a special talent ... still very explosive, we've just got to get him more reps and get him playing at a higher level."

On his takeaway from the entire receiving corps on Saturday...

"I think Coach Moorehead does an unbelievable job preaching effort and consistency on every play. This is one of the hardest-playing receiving corps I've ever been around. They go hard on every snap. Speedy is nicked up and coming along, Ricky I thought had a great game and it was great to see him play consistently on every snap.

"Jeremy Tabuyo, that kid had a great fall camp and I look for great things from him in the future. He brings speed to the game and is a physical player. Ratley, still coming along, he's got a lot of upside and a lot of talent. We just have to build more continuity with him. Very intelligent player. ... Jamal Jeffery, it was good to get him touches and see what he's capable of doing. Come SEC play, who's going to step up and get more touches?"

On getting the tight end involved...

"I think Jordan Davis and Caden Smith can help us out. They didn't play much in the Arizona State game, we didn't know where they were at. It was good to see them get out there and run around. Jordan Davis brings that unique body type, 6-5, 250 pounds but can run. We've got to keep developing these guys and see if we can use them come the Arkansas game."

On the running back rotation come SEC play...

"We didn't get very many reps with Brandon Williams, but this was a great game for him to develop on defense. But with James, Tra and Brandon Williams, those are three quality running backs and then Brice and Kwame can get in there and get you reps here and there."