On what is different about Texas A&M and his expectations coming in…
“I don’t know if anything is really different except that the people love A&M and it has a big name and meaning among the fanbase. I think the big thing is building that name up within the state of Texas, it never disappeared, but just making sure people know what our new brand is and how we want to do things in our regime. The whole school, and the name itself is a brand name that goes national.”
On where his physical style of play comes from…
“My background in this league, and the background of what it takes to win a championship is where the physical style of play comes from. You have to be strong on both fronts, offense and defense, and you have to have size. Like I say, there are weight classes in boxing for a reason. Big fast guys beat little fast guys all the time. That’s not to say the little guy can’t play a role. How you build your team is with length, size and athleticism. You go back and look at the National Championship teams over the last 25 to 30 years, they’re all a very similar type in how they are built.”
On the transition of implementing tight ends and fullbacks…
“The transition has gone really good. I’m very excited about some of the thing we have going on at those two positions. Because, I think you if you don’t play with tight ends at times, not that you have to all the time, it puts a lot of pressure on your offensive line. The thing that separates southern football from all parts of the country is the defensive lines. Everybody can run all positions, but the guys who put their hand in the dirt on defense, there are just more of them in the south and everybody’s got them. You can’t put that pressure all on the offensive tackles and guards all the time. Then your quarterbacks get hit and they become gun-shy and can’t efficiently run what you want to run. Having those edges to help chip and create things offensively to allow you to run the football, as well as pass protect are critical.”
On recruiting the talent in the state of Texas…
“If you research the talent in this state, there are areas where people know everyone, like Houston. But you still can flip rocks up and find guys everywhere because there are so many players and football is so important in this state. The difference is really digging into the rock, now. As an outsider, you only came in for the guys that everybody knew real well. You tried to cherrypick the state. Now, you’ve got to fully embrace the state and not only get those guys, but also go get the guys that people don’t know about. Find those gems that are hiding in the rough that can really be great football player."
On the importance of going out and finding talent nationally…
“It has to be (important). You have to be able to supplement. I always relate it to crops in the field. Certain years there are tons of one crop, certain years there are not as many of them. You do not have as many at a certain position year in, and year out. Sometimes you have to go to supplemental areas to bring those guys in. Sometimes you may not get the kids and they leave the state and go somewhere else. You have to have a backup plan. There are those kids that you don’t want to have to go get, but you will if you have to.”
On the overall talent currently on the A&M roster…
“First, I’m very happy about the attitude so far. We’ve had great work ethic and they’ve been extremely responsive to the coaching we have brought. I think Schmitty (Jerry Schmidt) has done a tremendous job in the weight room. If you look at the body comps of our players, they’ve changed. Not that the last group did a bad job, you always come back in January a little bit out of shape at the end of the season, but they’ve been really responsive and body fat has dropped and muscle mass has went up. The conditioning and the times have already shown on the GPS trackers that guys are running and changing direction better. Now, we’ve done the combine, and we have to learn how to play football. There are two different worlds, a combine world and a football world. Just because you’re good in the combine world doesn’t mean you can play football. Now they have to learn the schemes, learn to be physical and learn the things that they have to do to be productive on the football field.”
On the what the starting quarterback against Northwestern State will have proven…
“You can be trusted and the guys around you have confidence in you. At the end of the day, quarterbacking is making the other guys around you want to play for you. The thing about leadership is you don’t want to be out front and have people follow you, you want them to join you. Who can get the guys on the team to buy in to everything that were doing, and what we have to see is that we’re playing what we call championship level football. That guy will have great rapport with those guys and be consistent and take care of the football, but at the same time can make plays to put points on the board. Can play in those critical moments and understand field position, down and distance, understand the time on the clock, how plays are managed, when is the smart time to say, “Hey, a punt is a good play.” Sometimes we have to take chances and understand the nuances of the game. Hopefully we’ve gotten that accomplished by then."
On the excitement level of a fresh start in Aggieland…
“I think anytime you go somewhere it’s a fresh start. It does recharge your batteries and make you re-evaluate different things you do. It makes you research yourself and other coaches out there. I think sometimes hitting that restart button is really good, and I think it has reenergized me."
On what made him have to hire Mike Elko as is Defensive Coordinator…
“You had to execute to beat him. They never gave you anything, they never gave you a layup as a like to say, you had to execute. They didn’t always have the greatest players in the world, but I always thought they did a great job of evaluating players and playing to a system. They understood the system and when playing teams that were much more talented than them they were able to and beat them, or taking them to the brink and putting their team in a position to win games. When they had experienced good players, they had dominating defenses in the things they did. He was very diverse."
On Offensive Coordinator Darrell Dickey…
“Darrell and I go back a long ways. We go back to when he was at North Texas coaching, and at El Paso, he won four or five conference championships in a row. He spent a lot of time in the offseason down with us at LSU. Philosophically we have really similar backgrounds, then what they have done at Memphis, and everywhere else, I think they have done a tremendous job. I think it will be a great combination of the things they do and what we do.”
On the way the 2018 recruiting class finished and where there any surprises…
“Yeah, there were some of those 50/50s that you had to get them and it was one of those days where they all started to fall our way. Sometimes, it happens that way. Once they start to go your way, momentum comes and others start joining in. There were three or four where we felt real good, but there’s always three or four where you don’t know and then some in the middle. Fortunately, we hit on 80 to 90 percent of those guys. We were very blessed and fortunate that day. At the end of the day, recruiting is your lifeline. You have to go find the kind of players you want in your systems so you can have the kind of team you want."
On Maurice Linguist and Elijah Robinson as recruiters…
“I think excellent guys. When you talk to them, they are very personable. You can carry on a conversation and they adapt to what is going on. They are very good at articulating their knowledge on whatever they are talking about and make you feel comfortable. Recruiting is all about making people feel comfortable and amking them see the same vision you see in them. Both guys have done that in the past. Think about Elijah, he recruited a first round draft pick to Temple and was able to develop him. People talk about recruiting, but it’s also player evaluation. Evaluating players to me is ten times more important than recruiting. When you meet these guys you can feel the charisma, the intelligence and the communication skills when you interact with them”
