Texas A&M Football weekly press conference: Prairie View A&M

The following are live, paraphrased notes from Texas A&M's weekly press conference. Videos of the interviews will be added to the story as they are rendered.

Kevin Sumlin

• Erik McCoy is a work in progress. I talked about him throughout Fall Camp. He traveled to every game last year and was Mike Matthews' backup. He had to prepare to play in big games. There are two scenarios during a redshirt season. You're either just practicing or running the other team's offense or the guy that's a backup plan that you want to redshirt. Mentally he was with the twos all of last season. He knew that if Mike went down, he was our next best chance to win. He wasn't a fan last year. He was ready to go. He's a talented young man. He had a death in the family early last week - his grandfather. We got him back home and told him it was up to him about how he wanted to handle it. He chose to play. He went home after practice and missed most of Friday dealing with the funeral and things. That's difficult for any young man. The way he performed Saturday says a lot about him as a person.

• Avery Gennesy will be available this week. He was out with cramps. That gave us a chance to get Koda Martin in the game at tackle. He's still a fine football player. Jermaine Eluemunor is starting over him, but that's more about the way Jermaine is playing.

• We got up 24-9 and everyone relaxed. Quality football teams make you pay for that. The guys showed real courage to regroup and finish the game. There were lots of examples on both sides of that coin this weekend. We aren't sugarcoating it. We have to be able to close out games. We've got to get more out of our backups in critical games like that. The starters are playing great. We've got to have more guys help out to keep more people fresh in those situations. We learned a lot more about Trevor Knight, and he learned about himself. The RPO concepts were things we executed well in the third quarter. When you're ahead, the clock becomes as important as yardage, and it's not as much of an RPO as usual. It's okay to hand the ball off. It's on us, but we have to learn where he is, as well. We learn from those things. We learn from our team. We were at midfield at 4th-and-one, and in the past we'd have gone for it. We executed well on the punt, then they went 97 yards. We're trying to adjust to our personnel, and we're still learning that. This is a team game. When you have situations like, you should be able to close it out. That was probably the biggest teaching point from Saturday.

• Keith Ford is good to go. He's fine. He was in on the last play of the game. We have depth at running back. We had two guys that didn't play. James White only had two carries. I've talked to him. The way the other two guys were playing on Saturday, it was hard to take them off the field. To get 30 carries out of the running backs and not have one guy doing all the work is different for us. Keith Ford doesn't need a bunch of carries the way he runs. They're all comfortable with how it works. We've got quality running backs, and being able to keep them fresh doesn't hurt us.

• We're not taking Prairie View lightly. We don't take any games lightly. For whatever reason, we need to focus. A lot of upsets happen in early games. We're used to playing later in the day or at night. It's a whole different situation. We get to the stadium two hours before game time. Spirit Walk was awesome last week, but I know it's hard to do that at 8:30 in the morning. This whole change of scenario is not minor from a body clock standpoint. That's why we're challenging the focus of our guys.

• I thought Hardreck Walker had his ups and downs. He's a veteran and helped stabilize the balance of the line with Zaycoven Henderson, Kingsley Keke and Daylon Mack. Zaycoven sometimes expends too much energy before the game out of excitement. We have confidence in all they guys that played. Some guys do some things a little bit better. Getting the backup defensive ends on the field or getting the starters off the field is good. James Lockhart is a good run-defender. He's not as much of a pass-rusher, but the rotation at end is good. We have a two-deep of quality players.

• Shaan Washington and Otaro Alaka were as advertised at linebacker. Claude George had a foolish penalty, and we got him out of there. That was a crucial penalty. We gave them an extra drive after we had them on third down. Tyrel Dodson did some good things. He got a little wide-eyed. UCLA has some speed. Game speed is different, especially against them. It's a great learning experience. I thought the linebackers were steady.

• That was a good football team that we played. If we've learned anything, we don't take that for granted. We don't take anything for granted, but we have another game this week. We're moving on.

• I expect Speedy Noil to pick up where he left off during Fall Camp. Speedy earned the starting spot, but we had to cut his reps last week. For the three weeks of camp, he was fantastic with everything he did. I didn't want that to drop off last week, and it didn't. I expect him to show up and go back to work like he did yesterday. For him, it's about consistency. He's got as much talent as anyone. He's had to work on the other part of the game. He's worked diligently this offseason, and I think he'll be excited to play Saturday.

• We've watched some video of Prairie View, and they do a lot of different things defensively. It's a lot of exotic stuff. It'll be good for our line. It's more than just the quarterback. Everyone needs to be on the same page. We started preparing for that yesterday. They score a lot of points too. This is a good team. They're aggressive on defense and led the FCS in scoring last year. I don't care who you're playing, if you're scoring that many points per game, you're doing something right. Our guys need to maintain focus and grow up a bit. We'll see where we are.

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John Chavis

• I'm excited about the win. We never take that for granted. We played well on defense for three quarters. That's obvious. We didn't play the way we needed to in the fourth. We're going to try to get that fixed. We showed how we're capable of playing. We have to do it for 60 minutes. The positive is that we responded well in a stressful situation. We're going to see a fast-paced offense this week. We'll be prepared for that. I was really proud of the effort. We need to play a little smarter. Nothing happened that we can't fix. We didn't get beat in terms of athleticism or physicality. We have to take things one step at a time. Teams that improve the most as the season goes along are the ones that will be there in the end.

• We were more physical at the point of attack against the run. The linebackers were better. That was one game. We have to be consistent and do it against different styles of offense. I was pleased with the way we played the run. Later in the game, we missed some tackles, but I thought we did a good job overall.

• We take a lot of pride in being a pressure defense. Our scheme is built around pressure. We played a great quarterback. That kid is as good as anybody I've been on the field with. He could have made us miserable if we hadn't gotten pressure. He should be in the NFL next year, but they won't let him. He's a very talented guy.

• I didn't know a lot about Justin Evans before I got here. He's been a great fit. He's very talented. He loves playing the game. Put that together with his talent, work ethic and character, and there's a reason he's playing well.

•Reggie Chevis played some for us last year, and you could see, at times, that he had what it takes to play at this level. He's gotten bigger and stronger. It's been a process, but you could see it all along. We need him now, and we're happy he's playing for us.

• We had some communication problems from the sidelines to the field. We'll fix that as coaches. Mentally, we're playing really well. Now we have to understand that we have to go finish. If you have someone down, don't let them up. UCLA fought back hard. That's about maturity. We will continue to develop that. The players will tell you they weren't happy with that fourth quarter.

• I think a big part of the defensive resurgence was Coach Sumlin getting the team together before overtime. They responded to what he put in front of them and did a tremendous job on both sides of the ball in overtime.

• I don't know that the backup defensive ends struggled. Comparing them to the two starters can be a little unfair. They played up to what we expected. We're not going to judge them by how the two starters played.

• There are a lot of big plays in the game, but Evans' second interception was a big one. I'm not going to think about what would have happened if he didn't make that play. I'm just going to think about how high he jumped.

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Noel Mazzone

• Erik McCoy did a great job in his first start, directing everyone. Koda Martin did a solid job, as well. I think playing offensive line is tough. I've always had a lot of respect for the center. They have to tell everyone where to go. He has to signal everything and get everyone in the right spot. It's a hard position.

• I think Trevor Knight was good. I don't think he's satisfied. We're a work in progress. That was the first time we got to learn how each other worked. It was like a first date. We're just trying to figure each other out so we can play to our strengths. He brings other things to the table than what he does on the field. The most important thing he can do is win, and he made the plays that let us do that.

• Sunday morning, I call the best game ever. My mindset, was that I want us to be a physical team that can run the football. There's going to be times where we have to do that. We have to develop it. The quarterback and the rest of our players need to be in situations like that. It's an invaluable process for our guys to be in positions like that. We didn't do a good job of it this time. We have to do better.

• Tanner Schorp is progressing every week. His position is weird for us. We ask him to do a lot of different things. He's getting better.

• The fourth down touchdown in overtime was a play that hadn't worked earlier in the game. Jim Turner wanted to go back to it, and Trevor made the right decision. He did a super job with it.

• At one point, I thought I'd invented spread offense, but there's a book from forever ago about a guy running it. Football cycles. Most positions are getting bigger and more athletic. That gives guys more roles they can play on your team. Tight end is more of a hybrid position. I don't think it'll ever be phased out.

• This weekend is just the next game. That's how I want my guys to approach it. Who we play is not consequence. We want to be a better football team. I don't talk to the team much about the opponent. Other than the looks they will see, it's about us getting better and executing. We don't want to over-analyze the other team. We want to have a great Tuesday practice.

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LB Cullen Gillaspia

• Being named the 12th Man was a whirlwind of emotions. I'm not sure I've ever had a better week than getting this scholarship and getting to be the 12th Man. It wasn't a goal for me. I wanted to help the team however I could. I wanted to be the 12th Man and be on special teams. I wasn't prepared for the scholarship. Words can't describe it. It was unbelievable.

• Nothing is set in stone. Anything can happen. You have to come to practice every day. Don't take your foot off the gas.

• My mom went to A&M. Her whole side of the family is made up of Aggies. By my sophomore or junior year of high school, I'd visited a couple of times. It just clicked for me. It's home.

• The tackle on special teams was awesome. I'd prepared all week for kickoff, but I never imagined it would be a solo tackle in the middle of the field. Everything I'd worked for came true at that moment. The crowd was crazy.

• Sam Moeller, the previous 12th Man, texted me. He just said, 'Get ready. It's going to be a fun ride.' He challenged me a little bit, and I accepted it.