Head coach Jimbo Fisher, Kellen Mond and Jayden Peevy met with the media on Tuesday following Monday night's first official practice of the fall. Fisher and the Aggies discussed being back on the field and the unusual dynamics of the 2020 campaign.
Video provided by Texas A&M Athletics.
The following are live, paraphrased notes from head coach Jimbo Fisher's press conference on Tuesday.
- I am so happy to see the media. It’s great to be back. People ask about what the biggest takeaway from practices was: It was practice. The kids and the coaches were excited to be there. It’s different with the social distancing and the masks, but it was great to be out there. I was very happy with our staff and our organization. This was the first time we have been out there since the bowl season. For our first practice, we had a lot of great energy, but we have some things to clean up. A lot of new young faces, and I’m happy we signed every one of them. I felt a lot of leadership from our upperclassmen. Kellen was outstanding. You felt McCollum, Dan Moore and Green up front. Jhamon was great outside. I felt good about Myles Jones in the secondary. The guys are happy to be out there — a lot of good things to work from.
- Kellen is matured. You’re seeing him growing up. He has turned into a man. I thought he had a really good day yesterday going through his reads. He was grabbing other quarterbacks and other receivers yesterday and talking with them. I was very pleased with his play.
- We’ve had one player opt-out, and that was James Foster, quarterback.
- For the guys that came early, it’s tough. They could’ve made much more improvement. We got extra time to work with them now during the fall. For the guys that didn’t come in early, they’ve gotten more time than they would have during a typical offseason. They’re all going to have to get the reps. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. You have to be ready, especially with 10 SEC games now. Players will get bruised and banged. Everyone will have to be ready.
- Leon O’Neal has had a great offseason, and he looks really good. He played really well yesterday, and we’re going to need him to play well.
- There is always a learning curve when you have instant success and come back with expectations. There is always talk about that “sophomore jinx.” Those young players are going to be counted on heavily. Isaiah Spiller and Jalen Wydermyer are going to get a lot of touches, but they’ll also be in on a lot of blocks. Hopefully, they can expand on their roles.
- We don’t have anybody who is positive right now. We have a couple that are quarantined out of precaution even though they have tested negative.
- Our guys have done a tremendous job during the second half of this summer, learning how to handle the coronavirus protocols. They understand how important it is. When the season starts, we will test two or three times a week. Right now, we are testing once a week, unless there are symptoms.
- Aradious Jones is out for the season with a knee injury.
- Right now, we have Kenyon Green at guard, but we will move him around. He will play tackle. He can do multiple things, and you like that up front.
- Ryan McCollum is the likely starter at center.
- From a practice plan standpoint, the conditioning is very similar. There are fewer people out there because we can’t have any bystanders. They have shields on, and all the coaches have masks on. We’re trying to spread guys around when they’re standing on the sidelines. You have to remind the guys the separate. It makes you talk more amongst each other. The practice still went well. The intensity was still there.
- You’re going to have to play all of the games anyways. Everybody in this league is a good team. We have a heck of a schedule. I like playing Alabama week two. To be the best, you have to beat the best. You have to play them, so you might as well play them from the get-go.
- This league is a line of scrimmage league. You have to be able to allow your quarterbacks, backs, tight ends and receivers time to make plays. We have to develop everything along the line. Our defensive line is very good. You felt all of those guys during practice yesterday. There are guys who can really play along with a good group of freshmen. Everyone is developing, and we have to continue to have depth at those positions.
- Any turnover is a bad turnover. You can’t have turnovers. Kellen has had a couple of fumbles. We work on ball security. As a quarterback, you can play not to have a turnover, but it’ll limit your big plays. You have to take some chances. We talk about playing aggressively and intelligently. You always get better the longer you’re in the league. I think he’ll build on that. I expect him to get better and better. I expect him to play well.
- Kellen and I were talking yesterday with some of the linemen, and we feel like our team speed is getting better. We felt like we were much faster yesterday. And not just our skill guys, but our young guys too. Our guys are in shape.
- All of the new coaches that have come in have all been around me at some point. I have been able to lean on our coaches more and more through this entire process. I made about 40 or 50 season plans with everything changing. It’s been great to know and trust all of the guys in our room. We will really benefit from the consistency of the coaching staff.
- All of the young guys have a chance to play a lot. It’ll be interesting and go back to how they learn. Two things affect the game more than anything: Turnovers and big plays. Those big-play abilities are crucial. Stopping big plays and treating big plays are big. You have to have speed, so hopefully, these young guys will help that.
- Ainias Smith will stay at running back. He’s very versatile, and he’s a natural at running back. When we were recruiting him, I described him as a football player. He has a natural ability to play this game. However, we can create matchups for him. We will get the ball into his hands.
- Right now, we’re the only game in town with so many not playing. To find ball, fans are going to have to watch the SEC. We’re going to have a lot of marquee matchups. They’re all going to be good games with good players against good players and good coaches against good coaches. How we adjust to this COVID world and keeping things in perspective while functioning with this disease is important. If we can still live our lives while following these protocols is huge for our league. If we can operate as a league until we find a cure is important. This will help with recruiting around the league.
- Everybody has their right to stand or kneel during the anthem. The thing about college football is that we are not out there during the national anthem. We do have those discussions among our unity council anyways, though.
- We were one of the schools in the beginning that tested on the heart along with the kidneys and lungs, all of the organs that COVID affects. The thing about A&M is that we have all of the resources to protect our student-athletes. Some guys have come back slower than others, but we’ve had the monitoring and been able to cut back.
