Improving throughout the season, looking ahead to Auburn

Notes from Jackie Sherrill interview

* The 12th Man Kickoff Team dinner honoring Gene Stallings went outstanding. Governor Rick Perry, President Loftin and more were in attendance and the general consensus was that a great time was had by all. There were some of The Junction Boys as well as some of Stallings’ former players were in attendance and it meant a lot to Stallings to be reunited with so many people that he has become friends with over the years.

* There is no question that the players are playing extremely hard every week. A&M started the season thinking that their defensive line wasn’t going to hold up in the SEC, but Coach Price has done an outstanding job of getting his guys ready for every game. If you look at LSU walk on the field and compare them to A&M, there is no question that LSU had the better looking athletes. If you turn the ball over four times, the likelihood of winning the game is not very good, and that’s exactly what happened. Through the first 28 minutes of the game, A&M played extremely well, but then proceeded to turn the ball over twice and give up two touchdowns that they couldn’t get back.

* This A&M team has the chance to get much better before the end of the year. Mike Evans has only played football for one year, Ryan Swope is getting more involved on the field every week and Johnny Manziel is gaining experience which shows that this team has a decent amount of room to grow. While A&M might not be up to the standards of LSU and Alabama just yet, they have a game this week against Auburn that they should be unanimously picked to win.

* From a coach’s perspective, the turnover issue is something that needs to be talked about to the team and is something that needs to be practiced on the practice field this week. You have to get the attention of the players and make it known that it’s not alright to turn the ball over. As a coach, when looking at the box score after a game is over, the first place you want to look at is the turnovers and the difference in rushing yards between you and your opponent. Using those two categories plus how your team did on third downs, you can usually figure out who won the game without even looking at the score.

* A field goal kicker is very similar to a golfer and a golf swing. It’s usually something that is easy to correct, especially if a kid has a good leg. Taylor Bertolet’s issue is that his plant foot is not in the same place every time. If your plant foot is in front of the ball, you’re going to push it. If your plant foot is behind where it should be, you will end up pulling the ball. To correct this, Bertolet needs to kick continuously from the 10 yard line while someone watches him. After he is hitting the ball perfectly, someone needs to paint where his plant foot is and allow him to learn to visualize that spot anywhere on the field.

* If you look at all the statistics, A&M should beat Auburn this weekend. However, Auburn still has good players. When a team has good players, sometimes someone losing a family member or some other similar event can inspire and refocus a team. Auburn isn’t a team that you can just walk out on the field and beat, so A&M will need to play a good game.