Kevin Sumlin talks Florida, Arlington & moving on

On to Texas A&M's SEC opener, Sumlin says

On his message to the team after the postponement of the game…

“Whenever something like this happens we are notified five minutes before the game is canceled. You go through it as a person first because there is a lot of work that goes into it and there is an emotional bill to every game by coaches, players and everybody, particularly a first game with a new staff, scheme and guys looking forward to going on the road. You have to mentally prepare for that, and that doesn’t start the day you leave.

“There was a real let down, but we went ahead and finished what would be a Thursday type practice before Saturday. Afterwards I said, ‘We are all disappointed. It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you handle it.’ We will take our game plans, put them on the shelf, and break them back out October sixth. When we come back in here, we are moving on to Florida. Ever since then we haven’t talked about it outside of you guys. As a team, we’ve been talking about Florida ever since then. “

On what stands out to him about Florida and their defense…

“Will Muschamp is known for that. Coach Muschamp has done a great job wherever he’s been defensively. They are aggressive in their style, they’ve got excellent athletes that are big and they change things up. You can tell that they’ve been in the SEC and understand what recruiting is about. They are a fast team and a big team, just like a lot of teams we are going to play, so we’ll have a better understanding of where we fit in and where we are.

“I think just looking at the video that it’s obvious that they’ve got some players that are athletic, particularly on defense. They have great punt return and kick return guys and some skilled athletes that are fast on the outside, really fast. We’ll see who comes out of the quarterback situation, but both those guys we are familiar with from the recruiting process. In high school they were both great players.”

On how close he will be monitoring their quarterback situation…

“It depends on if they have two different plans or not. We’ll just watch it and see what happens and if there is more than just a quarterback on the field. They’ve got a bunch of good players and what is going to be important for us is to use the emotion of this weekend, but not get caught up in it. To use the emotion as an advantage but not a disadvantage by not being too caught up in it that we don’t remember what we’re supposed to do. We have a bunch of young guys playing too, so it will be interesting.”

On if the extra time will cause overanalyzing…

“No, we had six months to prepare for Louisiana Tech.”

On what the schedule is for the next three days...

“I’d rather not talk about that. We will be practicing. We practiced today and we will practice sometime this weekend.”

On his decision regarding Steven Jenkins’ and Howard Mathews’ suspensions…

“The decision was made before the Louisiana Tech game  and was explained to both guys. They weren’t involved in any of the preparation for the game. Howard Matthews is playing scout team wide receiver. To go back to back weeks with them being on scout team I didn’t think was right, and they were suspended for that game. With the storm, things changed a lot for everybody. What I told them from the beginning is that they were going to stay suspended for that football game.”

On whether he felt his suspension message was received by the team…

“Yeah, I think our team understands exactly what we’re doing. I think consistency is extremely important and consistency with our football team and how we do things from a punishment stand point is extremely important. From my view of things, that is consistent.”

On his opinion of the College Gameday video…

“I had actually seen a little bit of it before and got to be involved with it. I think it’s great. There are some other videos we shot too during that time but I don’t know if they’ll make it off the cutting room floor. I think it is great exposure for the university, obviously for our tradition of the twelfth man. I’m anxious to see how many times it’ll play, not just because I’m in it but because it’s a big deal for our university. It’s free advertising. I don’t know what something like that would cost us to do in house but whatever it is it’s worth it.”

 On the Arkansas series being played in Arlington for the next while…

“I think I commented on that the other day. Like I said, I think for some of our fans will be disappointed because it’s one less game at Kyle Field. On a positive note, it’s another game guaranteed in the state instead of having to go to Arkansas every other year. And, it’s a game in a venue that if you’re going to leave Kyle Field is one of the finest facilities in the world.

“For our players it is exciting. Any time you play in the state, it’s exciting for our players families because it’s convenient. It guarantees us another game in the state instead of having to leave every other year. Like I said, from a fan standpoint it’s one less game here, but there are some positives to it, too.”

On the energy level of the team after the rescheduling…

“I think our energy level is good. Like I said the first day, including me … we’re walking out to practice less than 48 hours from playing and you’ve been practicing all this time, and now we don’t get to play. We were down. That first practice wasn’t very good and I didn’t expect it to be. I wasn’t very good. None of the coaches were very good.

“After practice, I thought the way we handled it and said we were moving onto Florida was good. As soon as those guys came in, we started watching that Florida video. You better get excited because they have some guys running around out there that can play. Our team has responded very well to that, and I think it’s how we’ve practiced and how we’ve done things and will do things this weekend that will get us to be prepared, but not burnt out with the extra time.”

On the excitement surrounding the Florida game…

“It’ll be a big game. It’s our first SEC game, so it comes in a different way. Either way it’s going to happen, but that excitement is why you play college football. I told the team that’s why you coach, and that’s why I came here. That excitement is hopefully why they are here. You’re here to play at the highest level. The atmosphere surrounding this game, for a first football game of the year, will be an atmosphere that guys will remember for a long time.”