Jay Arnold discusses life after football, A&M's 2017 defense & more

Key Notes from Jay Arnold Interview

• I’ll graduate in the fall, hopefully, if everything goes according to plan. I wish I could pull a little Van Wilder, but I don’t think they’ll let me stay around that long.
  
  
• I’m not necessarily an inside voice, but I make sure to go to every football game I can get to and I definitely watch most of them. I follow the team pretty closely. I’m still friends with some of the guys from the ’14 class like Armani Watts and Qualen Cunningham.
  
  
• Day one of spring ball is bit of a relief to finally get back on the field. You’ll be doing drills and working against equipment during early workouts. Once you finally get that chance to step back on the field it's such a weight off your shoulders. You’re finally getting back in pads and hitting. It’s a great feeling.
  
  
• I think the talent and the scheme are on par, they are where they need to be. The biggest change the defense needs to make is to be more consistent. You saw how good the defense could be in flashes. It was just momentary mental lapses that led to big plays or one play working. I think its more of a consistency thing than anything in particular with the scheme or personnel.
  
  
• You can only drill tackling so much. You have to get to the point where you make those plays. It’s not something that is concrete, a certain number of tackling drills a day is not going to get you to where you won’t miss a tackle. You just have to go out and do it.
  
  
• I still think we have enough talent to make that leap defensively without Garrett, Hall and Evans. It’s just a matter of being a more cohesive unit, being consistent in play and not giving up mental errors.
  
  
• I think one of the big things with my recruiting class was, it was Sumlin’s first full class. I think there were a lot of gaps they had to fill in. Some of the players worked out, some didn’t. We also had a lot of freak injuries as well. Daeshon Hall had shoulder problems, I had shoulder problems. There was a lot of talented kids in that class, sometimes things don’t work out when you’re taking a huge class of 31.
  
  
• I’m a marketing major. Not quite sure what I want to do with it yet, but I would like to do something with sports. I write a little bit, I haven’t in awhile, but I did write for a few blogs.
  
  
• My bucket list sporting event is the Daytona 500. I grew up watching it. I’m a huge fan. It’s always great racing because everyone wants to win it. It’s the Great American Race for a reason. I also want to see game seven of a World Series, hopefully with the Cubs again. I’d love to see a Stanley Cup Finals.
  
  
• It’s tough seeing some of the guys I still know out there on the field. You bond so much in the locker room, over summer workouts, over two a days, over spring ball. It’s hard to step away from it and just be a fan. I probably have one more year of knowing the people playing on the team then I’ll be able to step away and just be a fan.
  
  
• Reggie Chevis is such a hard worker. He put so much time into making the transition to defensive line. It’s not easy switching from linebacker to defensive line. You have to deal with stuff at the point of attack instead of filling the hole. The fact he was able to make the transition and become a contributor is a testament to his ability to fight through that change.