Texas A&M Football weekly press conference: Bye week
The following are live, paraphrased notes from Texas A&M's weekly press conference. A video of the interview will be added to the story after it is rendered.
Kevin Sumlin
• The bye comes at a good time for us. These young guys are a little different. They were here all summer. They had a week off before camp. It's a little different for us. It's not the midway point of the season. We had an extended Fall Camp. The midpoint was a few weeks ago. This comes at a good time to gather our breath. There's a lot going on in school, and these guys don't get to go home for Thanksgiving. We need to utilize it in the right way.
• You know what you've signed up for in this job. You control the narrative in your own space. It doesn't matter what people say. The people in that building across the street have a huge trust in what we've talked about. They've proven that so far.
• Haven't really thought about how much I've grown as a coach in the last couple years. I don't sit down and have a check list about how much I've grown. This job is about a lot of people, travel rosters, recruiting, lives and parents. The only time you have to reflect is a couple of weeks in the summer, and we're in the middle of the season.
• I think Florida's front is really good. They've proven that this year. They play to their strength, which is their defense. Lots of those guys in that defensive front will play on Sundays. I thought we did enough at the end of the game to be effective and grind the clock out. It was a "Keith Ford" kind of game. The Keaton Sutherland situation threw a monkey wrench into things on Friday. He had to have surgery. That's why we played a bunch of young guys earlier in the year. Being on the road and using a silent count is one of the most difficult things as an offensive tackle. Carson Green did a great job. We played a bunch of people and got out of there. It wasn't easy or pretty. We made a bunch of adjustments. We can continue to get better. Noel Mazzone and Jim Turner made adjustments, and it was good enough. This week allows us to look at things and add more to the package.
• I think Kellen Mond understands more of the system now than he did when we started the system. You don't run the same things every week. Adding things is part of football. He can discuss it and work at it. He gets comfortable with it. He's grown. It's a combination of things. You learn about each other. It's a relationship like any other. You get a feel for each other.
• We have a comprehensive walk-on program. We have the 12th Man tryouts. We have another program where we're evaluating players. Some walk-ons have offers at other major schools. Then there's camp. We have a kicking and snapping camp that allows us to evaluate guys. Our relationships across the country, particularly with Jeff Banks and my special teams experience, give us eyes all over the country. Jeff has evaluated all of our specialists. Those guys don't just pop up. There's a method to the madness. There are guys specific to that field that are training guys. Having those relationships allows us to find those guys. The evaluation has been pretty good.
• Starkel wasn't 100%. I thought it was important that he was there. He's been fabulous on the sideline, but there's nothing like having a helmet on. Your mentality changes when you're one play from being in. Things haven't changed since I spoke on last night's radio show. He's the backup now.
• What Daniel LaCamera's success does, with the effective way we're playing football right now – we're controlling clock and playing solid defense – all those things contribute to decision-making. Daniel helps. Our message is once you cross the 30-yard line, we're protecting three points. The ball becomes more important than yardage or chance-taking. That's our message to our guys, to our young quarterback. People can agree with it or not, but it's given us a chance to be successful. He wasn't healthy at UCLA. He's bounced back from that. We can't do anything about that. What you can help with is what's ahead. He's done that.
• I really don't reflect about my growth as a coach. I always look at how I can get better. You talk to friends, colleagues, CEOs, people that face the same challenges you have in running a large company, dealing with media and stress. It depends on who that is. It's not just football coaches. There are a lot of things you do to try and get better. Xs and Os are part of that, but that's a different part of the year. Leadership is another part, the people in those roles that you're friends with. You discuss things and try to get bettter.
• The message to was to take a deep breath this week. He hasn't been able to do that for five weeks. The message for us is not just about physical health but mental health, particularly for guys with midterm exams. They're in a tough league, and six months ago they were going to prom. They were playing high school ball a year ago. We're playing 57 guys per week. They have high stress levels, especially they freshmen. Derrick Tucker, Debione Renfro – every play is important. If the ball gets over their heads, it's a touchdown. Those are just a couple guys. It's a physical and mental health break, which these guys need right now.
• We've gotten better, and we can get better. The rotational depth has helped us in the front. Micheal Clemons was as healthy as he's ever been. The rotation on the edge and in the interior has been the difference. Kingsley Keke has gone three straight weeks of really high-level football. So has Zaycoven Henderson. They're playing close to 50 snaps, but they're not doing it 10 plays at a time. Justin Dunning and Daylon Mack have been playing well. We have to get Peevy in there even more. His production is ridiculous when he's in the game. We have five guys in there right now that are holding their own and then some in this league. Pressure off the edge is helping. Otaro Alaka is more comfortable at WILL. Anthony Hines continues to get better every week. We can move guys around because of that. We have good players but also have depth. I think that's why it's been so productive.
• Those young guys didn't come here to stand on the sideline. They're talented. They're long and can run. They go through their ups and downs, but they like to play. Derrick Tucker continues to get better and see things. You get concerned when they're all out there. It wasn't until Armani Watts got hurt that we had them all out there at once. We always had an older player at safety. Injuries happen. It helped that they were comfortable. That environment is not the place to learn anything. They're playing hard. Every snap is a learning experience. If you put it on tape in this league, they're going to try it and see if you have it fixed. They didn't understand that early, but they get it now. That's part of the learning experience.
• We'll see where Donovan Wilson is.
• You have a lot of different things to deal with stress. Time away, working out, travel. As much time as you can get with your kids, you do that. Fortunately, my family likes to travel a lot. It changes things when you get recognized coming through the door. You have to stop, and that takes time away from them.