Texas A&M Football weekly press conference: UCLA

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

• I think some people listened to the radio show last night, and I talked about things close to me and the city of Houston. It's a really tough time. Now that there are pictures and video, I think the world understands what we've known for three days. It's a hard time for Houston and the Gulf coast. We've had meetings as a team about family, friends and loved ones. I relayed some stories about my old neighborhood last night. People are trapped. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people down there. If anyone can help, the American Red Cross is pinned on my Twitter page. If you want to help this area through donations, volunteering and emergency needs, pass that along to them. It'll take you to the links you can use to help in any way you can. As I said, with pictures and videos, it's even more serious than those look. I just really want to make sure that we use this platform to help the people of Houston.

• I think this team is a lot different. We have things in place, and we've anticipated this situation. We had a meeting about what was coming up. We told our players we'd keep them safe. We went through the NCAA and student assistance funds to reassure our student athletes that we would do everything we could for their safety and for their parents and guardians. We wanted to make sure we communicated that. Their families are an extended part of our family, and we will do everything we can through the NCAA to help them out. You can get away from the situation, but you can't replace the memories that are destroyed in something like this. There's a human element, and on an individual basis, things can look bleak. We're doing our best to get parents and guardians out of there. At this point in time, that's really all you can do. We have trouble getting there, and they can't get here, but the administration is doing everything it can.

• You're not going to replace the top pick in the draft. Jarrett Johnson has worked, and it's his time. As I've said before, I've seen guys transition when a great player leaves. Sometimes they don't play as hard when they're a backup. Jarrett played a lot of snaps last year because Myles Garrett was hurt. He's savvy and has gained some weight. He's an every-down guy now. It's his time. He looks different. He's acting different. When you go from a backup to the best player in the country to a starting role, things change for you. He's anxious to play. We can't replace Myles, but that group – Qualen Cunningham, Micheal Clemons, who had a great week. Hopefully that group can shoulder the load.

• This quarterback group was great in the spring. They've communicated with the coaching staff, the players and within their group. We're happy with our plan. We know what we want to do and started to work that plan last week. We're continuing with it as it is. They've all got strengths, and the young guys have some weaknesses. The older guy has more knowledge, and he should. We've got different levels of experience. I've been pleased, and the staff's been pleased. We'll continue down the road we started down a couple weeks ago.

• I don't know that you'll see guys moving around the offensive line. We did that before because of injuries. We've practiced guys all over the place. We're young, but we have some flexibility. We're one of the few teams giving out a real depth chart, even with all the "or's." I would say that we practiced a lot of combinations early in camp, and like the quarterback situation, we have a plan. Prater can play center or tackle. McCoy can play guard or center. We have guys that have played a lot of football. Jim Turner has gotten our best players on the field. You've got to work with other guys as an offensive lineman. We want an nickel, not five pennies. The guys have to communicate. We're trying to create depth without putting a lot of young guys in the lineup.

• I can't offer any more clues about the plan that we have. There are fewer question marks on defense because there are more returning starters there.

• I really don't care about not letting the other team know who our starters are or what it looks like. As long as the team and people in this organization understand what our plan is, I'm going to do what's best for our team. What's important is what's inside this program. Our guys are comfortable with the way it's going. Everything has been really quiet over the last week. We're going to continue with that plan.

• Nick Harvey was running last week. I had a discussion with him about coming off a knee injury like that. I'm going to leave it up to him. We'll see where he is during the season. If he says he's ready to go, we'll let him play. That decision will be made down the road. Priest Willis was banged up early, but he got back to practice last weekend. He knows what he's doing. He understands the defense. He's experienced. It allowed us to give Charles Oliver and some of these young guys some extra reps. The young guys will have a chance to play. They'll definitely play a lot of special teams. Look for Priest and Charles and those guys to play. Capers-Smith will help us out at nickel. Armani can help us out in short-yardage situations. Keldrick Carper was going to be a core special teams player, but he did nice things in the last couple of scrimmages. We're confident in him as the third safety. The goal coming into this season – we have 29 new guys. We're going to play a bunch of them.

• There are new coaches at UCLA. The one common denominator is Josh Rosen, who was extremely impressive here at Kyle Field. He's smart and bigger than you think he his. He threw some great balls and showed great toughness. We hit him and hit him a lot, and he got better. It's not supposed to work that way. I was impressed by him as a player and his arm talent, but when you have a quarterback like that, your hands are full. UCLA has a lot of talent on the perimeter and in the backfield. It's hard to confuse a veteran player like him. It's a big challenge for us playing one of – if not the best – quarterbacks in the nation right off the bat. We have some of the best safeties in the nation, and it'll be a battle.

• Dwaine Thomas was a little frustrated with where he was on the depth chart, and we had a conversation. He was behind a couple of people. He made the decision to transfer.

• It's a great experience to play in the Rose Bowl. Playing home-and-home with UCLA has been a great opportunity. It's going to be hot. We should have a home field advantage in the heat.

• We have a number of affiliates. I've been around a number of different footballs. Big Game has provided footballs under many different brands. You can be consistent because they're independent. There aren't a lot of people out there that do that. The service is quick, and that's what you're looking for. I go with what our players like.

• I think this is a different team. That's why we do it. There's turnover in college football all the time. The better the players are, the quicker the turnover. There weren't many old guys at the draft this year. This team is different because of the way the experienced guys have embraced the new guys. We're relying on these guys as starters and backups that will play. We have a lot more guys that we're getting ready. You have to have a lot more energy to do that. The first year we were here, we played 13 guys on defense. This year we'll have 25 or 30. We've done a lot more things outside the classroom because we have more people to get ready.

• There probably won't be coordinators here next week. I've just decided to change the process. You'll get them sometimes, but the process has changed.