Press Conference: Texas A&M turns attention to No. 2 Alabama

After a 17-12 win over Vanderbilt in the season opener, the Aggies head to Alabama this week to face the second-ranked Tide. Jimbo Fisher, Isaiah Spiller and Jayden Peevy spoke to the media on Monday.

Video courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics

The following are live, paraphrased notes from head coach Jimbo Fisher's press conference on Monday.

Jimbo Fisher

• After evaluating film, there are some good things and some things we have to clean up. We look to see where those issues are. They are fixable. We have to get better with a great opponent coming up. On offense we have to clean up turnovers, two or three of those we were about to score points. We do that and we pull away. We have to clean up poor decisions on special teams. Have a great team coming up. They played very well in their opening game.
• We have to learn to make plays all the way through. Defensive line for the most part was very physical, especially in the run game. We just have to play better.
• Hez Jones and Luke Matthews are injured. Clifford Chattman has opted out.
• The team will travel on Friday instead of Thursday. We have to be safe. We’re staying in our own little world as much as we can.
• On not playing Demas, Achane or Muhammad: We had other guys playing those positions who were playing well. It became a tight game and it wasn’t a great time to break a new guy in. They’re practicing well. It just wasn’t the right time in our opinion. (When asked if he expects them to play this week) … Yeah, hopefully.
• We have to take care of the ball on offense and not give away those opportunities. The battles up front are going to be big against Alabama.
• Kellen’s decision making was fine. There were some throws I wish he would have made (better). Two critical turnovers. We can’t have those. We do mesh handoffs 25-50 times a day. We have to get that ironed out. (Asked if there could be a change at QB if Kellen doesn’t play better) … Kellen has a lot of experience and needs to play better. We’ll keep developing those other guys (QBs).
• Alabama has established a culture of winning and playing great football over a long time. They're very sound. Very sophisticated and complex with a lot of variations. Of course, they have weapons all over the field and know how to use them. They’ve created great competition within their team for depth.
• Kellen’s mistakes are correctable. Ball security, routes he missed. These are things he's done. We also have to play better around him. You have to be perfect as a QB. That’s the way you have to think.
• Ideally, we have 70-80 plays a game. The big thing is we have to convert on third down. They converted third downs. We had some long drives and had mistakes. It’s not just pace on offense. It’s getting stops on defense to get the ball back. There is a tempo you’re going for; we’d like to get 75-80 plays a game.
• Micheal Clemons has had a great camp. Made big plays Saturday. He’s been great, encouraging and challenging other players on the team.
• Re: Leon O’Neal...there are a lot of things going on with kids who are 18-19 years old. Leon came back and did it right. He got his weight down. He got his confidence back. Leon has learned to focus. He’s in tremendous shape and is moving better. He’s locked in and played pretty well. He made some big plays.
• We can (run more two-back offense). Some of it was just not having enough plays and possessions. It shortened the game. We only had about eight possessions, so we couldn’t do as much as we would like.
• Hopefully, we’ll have more downfield shots. We made ten big plays in the game. That’s usually a pretty good number. We had some called that had to be checked down. The first fumble would have been one. We want to do that more and we’ve done it pretty well in camp.
• There are no turnovers that are excusable. We have to be ball secure on offense and create more on defense.
• Mac Jones is well-coached, makes great decisions. He has good wideouts and gets the ball down the field. He sits in there and makes decisions and is very accurate down the field.
• They have dynamic receivers - first-round guys. You’re always worried about that no matter how many good defenders you have. They’re complete receivers. That will be a huge challenge. We have to pressure the QB. We respect them, but we have to go play.
• All their skill guys (can beat you). They’re as good as there is in the country. That’s what makes great teams; when you take one away, they have another guy to go to.
• We have to have a great week of practice. I feel our guys will be up the challenge and compete and play their tails off. I love our guys.
• Demani Richardson has a chance to be in the class of elite safetys. He has all the traits to do that. He’s talented and works really hard. He just continues to learn because he studies. He’s a conscientious young man. He’s doing it so far.