Texas A&M Football weekly press conference: Bye week

Kevin Sumlin

On the impact 59-0 had on the program...

"What, the fact that we were blown out? I don't know it can have any kind of positive impact at all. As I've said before, everyone is trying to compare this season to last season and it's two different teams. What we've done, from a chronological standpoint, immediately after that there were some changes in personnel. That's probably the biggest thing that came out of that. There were guys in starting roles, critical roles, that were replaced.

"The last four games of the season, we won a couple of them and were within a touchdown in the other two and then won the bowl game. The biggest impact coming out of it was the personnel changes."

On whether some teams need a mid-season bye more than others...

"It just depends on your luck during the year. There's teams that have had players done for the year early. This is really the first week I've been able to pay attention to some things around the country and teams like Notre Dame had players out early, Myles Jack is out ... you hope for the best. There's no real way to say, 'What's the best time for a bye week?' Right now, for us, it's good.

"We've played two league opponents, two divisional opponents, and won those games. We played a top-15 team at a netural site, came home to open the new Kyle Field — it comes at a good time for us. We had a lot of rotation early at linebacker due to either suspension or injury. Obviously we've got some guys that have played two pretty tough SEC games. It comes at a good time for us — something we didn't have the luxury of last year. We went eight straight weeks and played I don't know how many top-five or -six opponents. Totally different this year."

On being able to redshirt Avery Gennesy...

"He and Jermaine Eluemunor were two of the top JC tackles in the country. Coming in and redshirting, they weren't happy at first ... but it helped him. So has the guys he's had to practice against. It's been an eye-opening experience for him. It's kind of funny, you get over to East Mississippi where he was, we had a couple players at Houston that we had signed that had gone to school there. You have a picture with the players that are at your place, I walked by the office and said, 'See that, I've had a lot of success with guys from here.' He said, 'Is that you?' So that's what the impact of those photos in the coach's office is. It's overrated.

"He's come the hard way from high school to junior college to here. He works extremely hard at the game and has a tremendous upside. And he's getting better every week."

On what he does to help the players mentally...

"They need time. They need time away from me, they need time away from you, people telling them how good they are or bad they are or that they screwed up. The biggest transition from high school, yeah, you're playing against like players or like talents sometimes, but not everyone has that every week (in high school). Two, you screw up in high school, they may have a picture of you in the paper, but you don't have to watch it over, and over, and over again all Saturday night and then the next day and have people talk about it all day on Overreaction Monday.

"These guys, they're still kids, and I think people forget about that. The level we play at in this league is a really high level but it's not professional football, and people forget that. These guys go to class, too, and this time of year they have mid-term exams and papers to turn in. There are a lot of other things they go through from a mental stress point. That's why this time of year you see some guys not performing well, because there's other things going on. The proverbial hitting the wall for young guys usually comes this time of year. Papers are due, and also defenses are changing for these guys and they're seeing different looks.

"So the expectation now is to play as well as they've played early in the year, whereas before that expectation wasn't there, it was just fun. The mental aspect, you have to be sensitive to — and we're being more sensitive to it this year than last because I think we neglected it some last year."

On Brian Dawkins visiting the team...

"He's a guy we have a lot of respect for, had a tremendous NFL career, analyst on ESPN, a guy we reached out to. Mikado Hinson and a lot of coaches have a lot of respect for him. We got him in to speak to the team. During fall camp we've had a number of guys come and visit with us. We hit it off with him philosophically, the way he game with a passion, and for us it really was kind of a good fit. As he was here he kind of understood, because he hadn't done a lot of that, but really kind of bonded with our team, got to know our guys, stayed in touch and he wanted to come back out here.

"So he was out here for three days this tame. Came on Wednesday, hung around, was on the sideline. He's a guy that, without asking him this, you don't play at the level he played for the length of time he played and not miss football a little bit. So the ability to fill a little of that void for him, be around our guys and be in the locker room and talk, he loved that. And there's no doubt he's had an impact on a lot of our players, individually."

On the Ricky Seals-Jones ejection...

"We'll get that back from them. I usually talk to Steve (Shaw) on Tuesday. We usually send in all our stuff Sunday or Monday and then he gets back to me. I saw the TV copy, and somehow in between doing the commentary of the game Brent Musburger was able to talk to Steve Shaw." (Chuckle.) "We'll see it. There's different angles of that deal. Those are always going to be in it.

"And, you have to remember that the rule has changed dramatically since it's been put in place. It gets back to 'defenseless player.' So it's not necessary a targeting rule. The defenseless player rule applies to, say an interception, and you see it all the time where you have a change of possession and the ball's picked off, uh-oh, a guy peels back around and is chasing the ball-carrier and a guy comes in and just hits him, he doesn't see it. That also applies to the defenseless player part of the targeting rule.

"And not just helmet-to-helmet, but 'above the shoulder.' Combine that with defenseless guys not looking, it can be interpreted that way. The rule has expanded for player safety — which I agree with."

On why this team is different from last year in his opinion...

"We've got different players, and the players that played at the end of the year are a year older. So from a maturity standpoint, the guys who were here are a year older, a year stronger, a year better. And we have guys who aren't here anymore. So the chemistry of our team is totally different. We had a different quarterback. We have three new coaches. We have new kids like Christian Kirk. We have guys who are a year older like Armani Watts and Donovan Wilson."

On the biggest question mark he'd like to address during the bye week...

"We've got plenty of questions. That's why I'm here today. This whole year you've heard me talk about, from day one, what we're trying to do is get better every week across the board. As a coach, my job is to take the things we're doing well and try to accentuate those but also stay ahead of the curve. Because that's what people are trying to scheme against — what you do well. So we're trying to expand on (things they're doing well), and things we're not doing well we're trying to figure out is it scheme, is it personnel, or both?

"When you're 5-0 you're doing a lot of things better than you're doing things poorly. But you'd better pay attention to what you're doing poorly. It's not my job to sit up here and tell people what we're not doing well so they can attack it."

On John Chavis...

"Right from the beginning it was a good fit for both of us. He was ready for a change and we obviously were in the same place. His ability to come in here and communicate with our coaches, with recruiting as it was going on at that point, and with the players, has been a big deal. The buy-in was immediate. We're not great but we've definitely improved, and you see signs that we're getting better. We'll see here coming up, because we're going to get challenged in different ways from different types of teams.

"I like our energy, the pace we play with on defense, our scheme, we're a lot more aggressive on the perimeter — we've got to clean things up from a penalty standpoint as a team — but being +4 the last two weeks in turnover margin is a big deal. We've gotten better at hanging on to the ball but we're also creating turnovers now. We only had 13 last year. We've surpassed that this year already.

"The effort is there, but the attitude (also) has been good and the ability for us to talk throughout the week offensively and defensively about how we'd attack each other has been good. If you look at us schematically right now, we're a completely different team offensively, defensively and special teams-wise than we were last year. We've got more personnel on the field, which we've got to be able to communicate more, but Caden Smith played 50 plays in this game and that never would've happened a year ago. We're playing five D-ends and five or six defensive tackles."

On Taylor Bertolet missing the game-winner against Arkansas but being given a chance on the 55-yarder against State...

"He missed. Do you play golf? Do you miss? I see guys that play Thursday through Sunday that miss. He's gotten better. The week before (Arkansas) we praised him because he was perfect with five touchbacks or whatever it was. The standard right now is being perfect. So, he missed one. Hey, that's OK. We'll be fine. What we've got to worry about is what will happen in overtime.

"You've got to have a certain amount of confidence in people, and what we see is different from what y'all see. You see Saturday for three hours. I see Monday through Friday and then also those three hours on Saturday. I see the look in his eyes. It's easier to make that decision when you see them every day."

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John Chavis

Opening statement...

"Good to be here. About the last game, I think we made some progress. There's some things we've got to clean up. The biggest thing in getting the negatives out of the way is giving up a 52-yard run. That's unacceptable, it shouldn't have happened, it gave us a bit of life. Our defense was improved in that game. We can't eliminate plays after they've happened, we have to own it, but we'll continue to get better.

"It was a physical game — our guys made it physical. It was the way they played. It was impressive to be honest with you. They were flying over the field and forcing turnovers. They set the tone, and again for the second week in a row I thought we played as strong a fourth quarter as we could possibly play. ... I thought they played confident all game and that's impressive to see. They see where we can be better — we haven't played our best football yet. We'll continue to get better every week."

On Donovan Wilson's big-play ability...

"It needs to be contagious, and he's been that catalyst for us. He's made big play after big play. Tyrann Mathieu is a kid I had the opportunity to coach at a different place and he had the it factor, and we're starting to see some of that with Donovan. We need to see that catch on with everyone in terms of attitude and aggressiveness. He's played as well as anybody on our team defensively."

On his favorite part of his first 10 months at A&M...

"You've got to find one? It's been enjoyable. Outside of football, my wife loves it here. That part has been great. But to watch this football team grow from where we started in spring practice, it makes you feel good. In the spring you could tell we were a talented team. To watch this team grow has been special day by day, so I've enjoyed every day I've had here."

On the defense five weeks in...

"There's always different things you have to look at and take into consideration. In a lot of areas we're a long ways ahead of where I thought we'd be, but there's some areas where we're not. I'm not going to sit in here and give anybody a scouting report and talk about those areas, but what's impressive is the way this team plays football. You look at how this team has played in SEC play in the last two fourth quarters, and that's remarkable when you're able to finish games. I thought our defense did a great job in a lot of areas, but those two fourth quarters really stood out to me."

On his evaluation of the defensive tackles...

"It's been very good. The thing that has happened there is they're benefiting from having those ends outside. We've let some runs get out on us that shouldn't have, and that's just part of growing, but we've played fine inside. We've got some different bodies in there at times and we're giving people different looks at times."

On Daeshon Hall's breakthrough and A&M's end tandem...

"That's a good thing to have, there's no question about it. We knew early in spring practice that we had two guys who were special playing defensive end for us. Those guys have stayed steady. Coach Price does a tremendous job preparing them not only physically but mentally for every game. When you've got two guys that talented and they're well-coached, certainly it's going to create problems for opposing offenses.

"We've moved them around. Myles played some more snaps inside in this game so we could stop him getting double- and triple-teamed and then it always seemed like on those downs they'd run the football."

On Qualen Cunningham and Jarrett Johnson...

"They've done well, especially against the run. We feel comfortable playing them anytime. Then on third down we can put our speed guys out on the field. Speaking of Myles, it's been a long time since I've seen a guy who can play the quarterback on the pitch, then turn and get the running back. That's athleticism and you'd like to think you can coach that, but you can't. You've got to recruit it."

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Jake Spavital

On playing Kyle Allen on every snap on Saturday...

"Kyle was great, he started nine for nine and was moving the ball efficiently. We wanted to limit substitutions because Mississippi State's line is so big, they weren't made for sideline-to-sideline. You saw some wildcat deals with Christian Kirk which was part of not subbing — Kyle went out to wide receiver on those plays. That was to avoid substitutions from Mississippi State and play as fast as we could."

On Ricky Seals-Jones' ejection and its impact on the game plan...

"We had three receivers out with Speedy and Jeremy Tabuyo (hurt) and then with We Ricky, and then with James White being out as well, we had some communication deals and we had to try to eliminate part of our game plan. We did slow the game down a bit for that purpose, the injuries and depth, a lot of our packages were gone. That's why you saw a lot of Jordan Davis out there, and Caden Smith. Through the first four games you've gotten to see a lot of different personnel groups, and in case injuries happen we're able to get into other sets."

On Avery Gennesy...

"I think he gets better each week. This is his first time starting in the SEC and he's going to go up against great competition. The kid's got a great demeanor, great attitude, and it's kind of contagious. He has fun, the kids like being around him and you can see he enjoys playing the game. I'm pleased to watch him just progress and you can tell his best game is still ahead of him."

On the O-line gelling...

"They keep getting better each week. We talk about that not just with the O-line but everybody. The best teams in the country improve each week. With the O-line, the first game was a challenge with a different type of team in Arizona State. We had some protection issues early in the season but they've grown more cohesive as it's gone on and that's big heading into the bye week."

On managing the red zone drops without being too hard on anyone...

"The kids are hard on themselves. We did have a few drops but those weren't the only mistakes in the red zone area. We had a couple mental busts and some assignment issues as well. We have to figure out how to get into the red zone more efficiently and that is something they take pride in. The thing I like about this team is there isn't as much finger-pointing when they get to the sidelines. 'The next time that opportunity comes, we're going to make that catch.'"

On the left guard spot...

"You're going to see both (Keaton Sutherland and Jeremiah Stuckey) continue to play and rotate. It allows you to have an extra interior O-lineman be able to come in and help with depth issues."

On Christian Kirk at wildcat...

"It's the first time he's done that and he can definitely improve. A couple times he outran his blocking because he was juiced up to take the ball and get running. I understand, I would be too; I think he's going to continue to improve and I think you'll see that package continue to improve as well, because he's pretty dynamic with the ball in his hands."

On where he wants to improve this week...

"A lot is to get healthy. Christian is beat up a bit, we need to get Speedy back healthy, and take the beating off that offensive line too. It's also a good time to clean up anything that needs to be cleaned up. It's a good opportunity to evaluate yourself and where you are as a unit, make those corrections and move forward."

On whether he considers going under center in the red zone/short yardage...

"It goes down to just exchange problems. You're putting a quarterback and center in a situation you don't practice often. And if you're in a situation where the game's on the line and there's an exchange problem ... that's why you see a lot of teams just stay in shotgun. You even see some teams do the victory formation in the shotgun. We practice it (under center snaps), we do, but sometimes when the game's on the line and you've got a 330-pound nose guard on Mike Matthews, the best thing to do is get in the shotgun and snap it so we have a clean exchange."