Quotes & video from A&M weekly presser

Kevin Sumlin

On the Alabama offense...

Sumlin: "I think they're a complete football team. They've always been known for their defense. But that's a really, really, really big, athletic, strong offensive line. You move Barrett Jones from tackle to center and put bigger guys at tackle, you know what you're dealing with.

"Interestingly enough, they've been more of a one-back team than a 21-personnel type of unit. They've shown the ability to throw downfield off play action because of the running game, which has made them a complete team. Every quarterback has that growing up moment, and the way A.J. McCarron performed to get them downfield to win [against LSU], that was one. They've got weapons and they continue to grow."

On his excitement to play there...

Sumlin: "We play a lot of places. We're not going to change our process. I'll be a lot more excited Saturday than I am now. This is a good time. They're used to how we do things. We'll have to use it all on Saturday to be successful."

On whether the team is more excited than usual...

Sumlin: "Our guys ... this stretch has been something else for them. I think, amazingly enough, the manner in which we've won the last couple weeks has really given an opportunity for our guys to get a break, particularly in the second half of those games. Up front, that LSU game was pretty taxing physically and emotionally. I'm happy to hear [Spencer Nealy] say that, I want to hear other guys say that. I can't tell if he's genuinely excited or just crazy half the time. His excitement is contagious for our whole team.

"It speaks to a group of seniors that have done a great job this year. Transition is hard. And it's hardest on seniors. They didn't sign up for me, new systems across the board, and the sooner you can get buy-in from seniors and experienced players, the sooner you can have success. A lot of younger guys are getting credit, but without the leadership of Ryan Swope, Pat Lewis, Sean Porter, Jonathan Stewart and Steven Terrell, we wouldn't be anywhere.

"We haven't really accomplished anything yet, but they've put us in a position to play meaningful games in November, and that's all you can ask."

On preparing for Bama...

Sumlin: "You look on defense, you've got guys that can run, big guys up front, athletic linebackers and good cover guys. And they've got good returners. They're a complete football team, they're well-coached, and they're talented. There's a reason they're the No. 1 team."

On Nealy...

Sumlin: "He's one of those guys that college football is about. I don't know how he does it, but he does it. You wish he was bigger, you wish he was faster, but don't tell him that. I think he thinks he's King Kong. The other players see that. How important his performance is as a person and for the team. That's contagious."

On the offense's progress...

Sumlin: "We're a different team than we were in Week 1. Ten weeks later, we better be. Particularly with a young quarterback. It's just growth, number one, and number two Johnny being able to handle it. You have answers for the defenses in this league, which are pretty complex. It's not necessarily what you can handle or what you think as a coach but what your players can handle.

"Where we are right now, I think we've progressed pretty well. And Kliff [Kingsbury] has done an excellent job of figuring out what Johnny can handle. And Johnny has a better understanding of what we do. Offensive line, everybody has grown a whole lot since Week 1."

On game planning...

Sumlin: "They're a good football team. Every week as coaches you sit down, develop a game plan and try to figure out what you can do to be successful and limit the damage from the other team. We do that every week."

On consistency...

Sumlin: "It's important, the way we've progressed and won or had the opportunity to win ... it's been because of consistency. One of the things you learn early as a coach, what you want to avoid, is the roller-coaster. We learned that early at Houston, up-and-down, up-and-down.

"You want to develop a team that is consistent in effort and quality of play. That comes from the coaches. You get into a routine and, fortunately, that's been the case. That's one of the pluses of not having a bye week, might be the only plus. You get done with your game and starting Sunday it's consistent."

On when he became enamored with this offense...

Sumlin: "Mike Price gave me my first chance at Washington State, and I was working with the defense. At the time, they had a junior varsity football team. It used to be common in college football. I'm sounding really old. We played the other junior colleges around.

"Mike called me and said, 'You're going to be the head coach of this junior varsity team. Get our GAs and assistants and other guys and assemble that stuff. You don't have a budget or schedule yet, so you need to get that figured out and play some games. You need to move to offense and learn what we're doing. If you learn this offense, you'll have a job the rest of your life somewhere.' That sounded pretty good to me. That's kind of how that happened."

On the parallels between this game/Manziel and OU 2002/Reggie McNeal...

Sumlin: "That's a long time ago. Reggie being back around, finishing his degree, is certainly a good thing. That was an exciting time, exciting game. But my mind is so far moved on to this week that I haven't really thought about it."

On this game being special...

Sumlin: "Going on the road and playing a game like this is exciting. To answer you guys' question from earlier, it's an exciting atmosphere. Being the primetime, 2:30 game is a big deal. But these guys have played enough good football to make this part of the season meaningful. What can't get lost in that is the preparation and what has brought you to this point. Because of that, it's important to not change how you do things."

On Christine Michael...

Sumlin: "You come off a knee injury that really ... it wasn't even a year after surgery. Then you have two-a-days and Fall Camp. There is the physical aspect, but I don't care what anybody says, there's a mental aspect too.

"To run out there with shorts and shoulder pads is one thing, but once you start putting that foot in the ground and people start hitting you, that's a growth process. I think everyone can see how he's gotten stronger and more confident; that's physical and mental development."

On how often he's been to Bryant-Denney...

Sumlin: "Not very often. Shoot, last time I played there as a coach, we had to fake a punt to get out of there at Oklahoma."

On Nick Saban...

Sumlin: "I have a lot of respect for how he's done things. I was an assistant coach at Purdue when he was at Michigan State, then he went to LSU and we played each other in the national championship when I was at Oklahoma. We've crossed paths many times.

"They've always been well-coached wherever he's been. He's got a way of doing things, always starts with defense. The difference now is offensively they're doing some things with a quarterback who can throw it, play-action, they throw on first down. Confidence. There's a reason they're No. 1 in the country."

On enjoying the historical aspect of playing there...

Sumlin: "That comes later. It's something you look back on later in the season. It's hard with preparation, but I'm sure at the end of the year we'll look back at it and see it for what it is."

On what can be taken from the Florida and LSU games to this one...

Sumlin: "Philosophically everybody's a bit different. If there's anything different that we've gotten as a team, even though we were disappointed to lose those two games, there's confidence from our football team for being able to handle the physical nature of those games. Florida and LSU had a lot to do with mistakes we made, but we can be better. And our guys understand that — we haven't played a complete football game yet.

"I'm not talking about a perfect game. We've had starters out and found a way to win. But we haven't played a complete game. If we can do that, we have a chance."

On handling Johnny Manziel this week...

Sumlin: "I just keep him from talking to you guys and I won't have to worry. You coach him like everybody else. I don't know if you remember, but his first game against Florida was a pretty big event. We've been in some big games. The atmosphere on the road will be different. Our guys have put us in a position to make these games. It's not a one-game season. Never has been, never will be."

On Manziel meeting the press...

Sumlin: "I'll stick with 'Soon.' (Smirk.)"

Kliff Kingsbury

On the takeaways from Florida & LSU...

Kingsbury: "We need to get better. We figured out we still had a long way to go in some of those games. The last couple weeks we've played pretty well offensively, scoring points, which is what you're trying to do. This week will be a big test. Every week you get out there and get reps you'll gain some sort of knowledge. I hope we did that this week."

On how Alabama compares to those teams...

Kingsbury: "They're pretty good. We played hard in those games, we just didn't get it done. I don't know what else to to say about that."

On Manziel's reaction to the missed field goal...

Kingsbury: "Yeah, he didn't like the play call. I didn't either after we ... didn't score a touchdown. He wants the ball in his hands, he wants it on him. That's how he is and you like that in your quarterback."

On Nick Saban's comments on up-tempo offenses...

Kingsbury: "I really don't have [a reaction]. We do what we do and he does what he does. They're the golden standard of college football and they have been since he got there. We're honored to play them and it'll be a great challenge for us."

On the Alabama defense...

Kingsbury: "What's remarkable is they lose NFL players last year and they come back and they're No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense. That says a lot about Coach Smart and Coach Saban and what they do in recruiting and schematically."

On takeaways from the Bama-LSU game...

Kingsbury: "Not really. I thought the kid at LSU played well, played his best game. He was playing really well. And LSU has great receivers. So I don't think there's anything to take from that."

On his name being floated for coaching positions...

Kingsbury: "I haven't seen too much of that. I'm just trying to get a first down against Alabama."

On Ryan Swope's emergence of late...

Kingsbury: "I really think it's the quarterback getting more comfortable in the system. The position Ryan plays is kind of the premier position in the offense. He was there earlier in the season but Johnny wasn't getting it to him. The progression has been fun to watch."

Mark Snyder

On playing No. 1...

Snyder: "I've been on both sides of that, and you know everybody is amped and geared toward you when you are No. 1, and when you're playing No. 1 there's a buzz and an excitement. And as coaches ... there's a reason they're No. 1."

On Alabama's offense...

Snyder: "They have no weaknesses on offense."

On the O-line...

Snyder: "They're big all across the board. There's no weaknesses in this offense. They're good across the board. A.J.'s playing really well, the offensive line is huge, they've got good running backs and a ton of speed on the outside."

On whether the Florida and LSU games provide help...

Snyder: "It's going to have to, because this is probably the most physical team we've played based on film. It's going to be a heck of a challenge."

On what he takes from the Bama-LSU game...

Snyder: "There's some similarities there. Along the way, Alabama hurt themselves. Don't want to take anything away from LSU, but Alabama hurt themselves. We've got to be opportunistic and just go out and play our game."

On Spencer Nealy...

Snyder: "He's been great. He's the energizer bunny for us. Every team needs a Spencer Nealy. He's been gold for us. I'm going to go with Summy on [whether he's crazy or excited]. He's an energizer bunny on the field, off the field, on the team bus."

On Damontre Moore against Bama's O-line...

Snyder: "It's good for the whole team. Look at our tackles against their defensive guys. Linebackers against guards. Safeties against their backs. Matchups across the board. That's what you get."

On McCarron...

Snyder: "He moved pretty well in the pocket last week. He's got some mobility to him."

On the team's play on the road...

Snyder: "I think Coach Sumlin's done a great job with our routine. Kids are used to our routine, I like our routine, we're not going to change it. It's helped with the fast starts on both sides of the ball."

On playing a play-action team...

Snyder: "It keeps me up at night. You've got to stop the run. McCarron's done a great job, he's got nice touch. And they've got speedy wideouts."

On how he feels health- and depth-wise...

Snyder: "Good. Real good. Let's go play."

On having talented transfer backs on scout team, whether it helps...

Snyder: "No doubt. [Eddie Lacy] is a spin runner. For a big guy, he's really good at it. He spins out of a lot of tackles. It definitely helps, no doubt about it."

On whether he'll need to sub more...

Snyder: "That hasn't been the case to this point. We don't have a lot of depth. I've said on numerous occasions, [Larry Jackson] has done a great job with these guys. We've been healthy. That hasn't been an issue for us all year."

On McCarron's success...

Snyder: "He's real good, but the key is they can run the ball. That opens up the pass game. Then he can roll back and find the soft spot in your coverage."

On Damontre's chase-down of the receiver...

Snyder: "That was really fun. I told him yesterday, in 22 years of coaching that's one of the more impressive plays I've ever seen from a defensive lineman. Not only did he walk him down, he tried to punch the ball out, missed and still got the tackle. That's really impressive."

Ryan Swope

On beating Bama's defense...

Swope: "What it comes down to is executing and not beating yourself. You can't turn the ball over and have penalties. Know the assignments and play smart football."

On A&M's quick starts...

Swope: "It's great seeing that. We started this summer with our strength coaches, they got us in great condition and it turned over to fall camp and the coaches worked on that tempo with us. Now it's almost natural to run around like that. We've just got to keep working hard and practicing. This week's going to be big in terms of practicing tempo and speed of the game. Tempo and time of possession. We'll work on it this week in practice. I think it's going to be big for us."

On the difference in this offense vs. Mike Sherman's up-tempo...

Swope: "I'd say they're totally different. Sherman's was a spread offense, but this one is all about speed, all about tempo, we get the call from Johnny and we're rolling. It's different, but the same concept. We got the call from the sideline [under Sherman]."

On Oregon...

Swope: "I've watched them play and they've got a similar offense, fast offense. But I'm almost positive it's not the exact same offense."

On his big block against Mississippi State...

Swope: "It was one of those plays where Johnny is back there doing his thing and receivers are running all over the place trying to get open. He tucked it to run and the guy didn't see me, so I came running downhill and earholed him. That guy's a tough sucker though, because he popped right back up.

"Receivers, Coach Beaty really emphasizes blocking. We come in on Monday and watch the effort tape. These receivers feel like every Monday, there's three or four receivers on that tape. We take pride in that. We just try to get on that film. Yes, [the block was on the tape]."

On whether they surprise defenses with their tempo...

Swope: "Not necessarily surprised, but like I said, we practiced this kind of speed in the summer and we've been doing it so long that our bodies are adapted to it. You can't get physically in tune in just a week of football. We're adjusted to it and it almost seems natural to us. The coaches keep us conditioned."

On whether Alabama has played anyone with this tempo...

Swope: "Ole Miss ran some up-tempo plays [against Bama]. We watched them yesterday. But that's all that I know of. We'll see, they've obviously got a great football team, great defenses, great coaches, I'm sure they'll make adjustments and practice it. We'll see on Saturday, I guess."

On enjoying the historical aspect...

Swope: "I for sure want to enjoy the atmosphere, it's one of the reasons I came back, to go to all these venues and be a part of it. We also treat it like a business trip. We have to go up there and take care of business. It's going to be rowdy. Our guys are hungry to win and our football team has a lot of character."

On the team pushing ahead...

Swope: "You've got to keep going and you can't look behind. You've got to play at a speed. If you're playing too slow on the field, that's how you get injured. Everyone's got to play with a motor and speed."

On Mike Evans...

Swope: "THAT's a guy that shows a lot of toughness. He gives us a lot and then he has to come to the sideline and get on the bike, that hamstring is bothering him. He works hard in the weight room. He's just a tough guy."

On what's changed the last few games...

Swope: "Execution. Our offense, those first two quarters ... overall, the offense was clicking, we were executing, our tempo was the best I've seen. If we're executing, there should be three or four receivers producing. Johnny does a great job along with Pat Lewis of running the tempo. We've just got to keep practicing and prepare for a great football team."

On teams making second-half adjustments...

Swope: "All teams are going to get to go strategize at halftime. We're going to make the adjustments we need to make and they're going to make adjustments they need to make. We just need to come out and set the tone of the football game and be ready for those adjustments."

On Nick Saban's comments on spread offenses...

Swope: "I don't get involved in that. I've got to go play football. Coach Sumlin really gets after it in practice and we practice hard and go out and execute and play within the rules. We've just got to do those little things to get the tempo going as fast as possible."

Patrick Lewis

On playing his final road game...

Lewis: "It seems crazy looking at it on the schedule. In the preseason we were like, those are a few tough weeks. But we've been playing well on the road and we're excited to go to Tuscaloosa and play the No. 1 team in the country."

On knowing they'll be facing No. 1...

Lewis: "Playing football in general, this is the Saturday you live to play for. Going up there on the road, their stadium holds well over 100,000 people and it'll probably be packed to capacity. We look forward to the challenge. We're ready to go up there and play a game of football."

On the offensive keys against Bama...

Lewis: "To be honest, it's just us sticking to what we do best. That's tempo and doing things right, not turning the ball over and hurting ourselves with penalties. If we do that, we'll be OK."

On the excitement level...

Lewis: "We treat everything the same whether we're playing Alabama, LSU, South Carolina State. We're not going to change the way we do things. We've been doing a good job of keeping a routine of practicing hard. It starts in practice and having a good, solid week, and when we get to Saturday we just let it all hang out and play a good game.

"It will present itself that it is Alabama and we'll be a little more excited, but it all goes back to us treating it all the same. We want to win football games at Texas A&M and we won't change anything. We plan to keep it like that, winning games by playing hard and working hard to win those games."

On the campus vibe...

Lewis: "Campus is crazy right now. They're really excited. We're playing above expectations of our fans right now. We're getting a real positive vibe from our student body here at Texas A&M. We're putting on a show for them."

On whether he got any more texts on Sunday...

Lewis: "It was pretty much the same for me. But we always get a lot of love here at Texas A&M. The people here are amazing and they'd show love regardless. But it's a bit more excitement as a whole around Texas A&M."

On how far the team has come...

Lewis: "I think about it all the time. This time last year we were scratching and crawling for six wins. To already be bowl-eligible and be in this position, we put ourselves in that position earlier in the year. We can achieve more if we take care of business as a team within the next few weeks."

On the 'Haymaker Offense' term being ascribed to him...

Lewis: (Chuckle) "I was just saying we were trying to come out and start fast."

On Manziel's progress...

Lewis: "He doesn't just take off quickly, he goes through his reads. And if he doesn't like what he sees, then he does what he does best. It's exciting to watch. It's kind of unbelievable that sometimes you're sitting there blocking and you see him blazing past you, shifting down the field and scoring a touchdown. He amazes everybody that watches him play, and sometimes other teams as well. Someone from LSU called him Speedy Gonzales."

Damontre Moore

On whether he made the effort tape this Monday...

Moore: "Yes sir. I was pretty excited to make that again this week. The main one was the play where I chased down the wide receiver. He was running downfield and it just shows the whole play for me running, being close to the quarterback and turning around and running to catch him."

On Bama's offense...

Moore: "Their quarterback is up for the Heisman, they're talking about their great running back corps, Eddie Lacy and a true freshman who's doing great things. I don't think they're being overlooked. It's a defensive league, so they talk about that, but they have a talented offense."

On how close he's come to sacking Manziel in practice...

Moore: "Some plays I get close, and a lot of them he slips out and makes plays. It's one of those hit-or-miss things."

On why A.J. McCarron hasn't thrown any interceptions...

Moore: "He's talented, he's fundamentally sound, he's careful with the ball, and all the mistakes they make are really minor. Either he makes the plays or the guys around him do. They balance each other out. He takes [sacks], but it falls to him being poised and calm and collected in the pocket. He has confidence in his offensive line and in himself and he stays in there."

On Christine Michael and Johnny Manziel's progress...

Moore: "I've seen progression in both of them tremendously. Johnny's making smart throws. He was making freshman mistakes at the beginning of the year, now he's not. He's the first one in there to watch film.

"Same thing with Christine, he's always in there watching film and trying to critique himself. He's always trying to help the team out. I see him being close to the old [C-Mike] and getting better. He's not a person who sits there and relax, he goes hard. They have to pull him off because he's going to hard at times."

On learning from Sean Porter...

Moore: "A lot of things. He's taught me about the game, life in general, being cool, calm and collected, how to handle myself in the game, how to handle myself in life. If he sees me messing up, he's there to correct me. He's like one of those older brothers you have who picks on you all the time but he's doing it for a good reason. He talks, but he doesn't talk excessively. He gets straight to the point. And he leads with his actions. He's a great leader, both ways."

On the idea of A&M's first trip into Tuscaloosa...

Moore: "It's real exciting. You've got another big challenge at hand, the No. 1-ranked team. Who wouldn't get excited to be in that atmosphere? An SEC environment, playing the best of the best."

On neutralizing Bama's physicality up front...

Moore: "We haven't gotten into it yet, but we'll do what the coaches tell us to do. Try to match their intensity so a better team will come out."

Spencer Nealy

On how fired up he is...

Nealy: "Let's just say it's a Tuesday and we usually hate Tuesday practices and I'm pretty amped right now. Don't like taking on those double teams on Tuesday, but got to get out there. I'm jacked."

On Bama's O-line...

Nealy: "They're huge. Normally Coach will give us their weights and star certain players. They're all starred this week."

On how the season has gone...

Nealy: "If you asked me this freshman year, I wouldn't have thought we'd've moved to the SEC. But if you asked me this in Fall Camp, I'd say absolutely. With how close we were in Fall Camp, it didn't feel like prison for us. We had more free time and we had that special feeling like something was in the air."

On having unexpected success as a senior...

Nealy: "It's fun because you can walk around and people actually like you. (Laughter.) It has been a blast. Everyone's a lot closer and we love being up here [in Bright]. It's not like we're up here all day. But we'll stay here until 9:00 eating dinner, just kicking it."

On rattling McCarron...

Nealy: "Blitz a lot. We'll have to do everything in our might to get to him. Rush three-man, four-man. He seems comfortable back there. He seems like he's having fun. But we need to do what we did to Mississippi State and pound him hard, take that smile off his face."

On black uniforms...

Nealy: "Sophomore year, Von customized his jersey. I never thought we'd do it. I never thought we'd even do all-whites. We were all pumped up when that happened against Arkansas. I'm sure they filmed us and we were all jacked. Damontre especially because he actually looked cool for once. I had to wear this Kliff Kingsbury shirt [a black shirt] today. (More laughter.)"

On being underdogs...

Nealy: "We could care less what people think. That's what drives us. We're a bunch of scrappy guys. We're going to go out, play our butts off. It doesn't matter what you look like. We like being underrated and hopefully Alabama looks at us like that and we can hit them in the mouth and prove them wrong."

On the opportunity to play No. 1...

Nealy: "It still hasn't really sunk in. We [players] haven't played a No. 1 team, ever. This is the No. 1 team. We played the No. 5 team, which was cool. But this is big time. We need to go out there and shock the world."

On his final road trip being to Tuscaloosa...

Nealy: "We're about to come up on a lot of lasts. Only three games left. As your last road game ever, in Tuscaloosa, as an Aggie, it's pretty cool to have that."

On being a team player and switching inside...

Nealy: "I was actually talking about it earlier. It's definitely new. The end position ... I actually got to play end a few times last game (smirk) ... but we'll get double-teamed a few times and Kirby [Ennis] and I will look at each other and high five. It's the blue-collar position. You feel pretty accomplished. My neighbor next to me is Damontre. Knowing he got the sack because of me ... it's awesome."

Jonathan Stewart

On the Alabama offense...

Stewart: "They have a very good offense, especially the offensive line. They have plenty of trophy winners, the offensive line and the quarterback, a Heisman Trophy candidate. They have running backs and wide receivers. Offensively they're very stacked and they're a very good team."

On Alabama-LSU...

Stewart: "Everybody watched the game. It was a great game, heck of a game. LSU was dominant for 58 minutes but A.J. McCarron made the plays he needed to make for them to come out with a win."

On what it'll take to beat Bama...

Stewart: "We can't beat ourselves as a defense. LSU tackled well, didn't make stupid plays and didn't give up the long ball. If we do that, we'll be successful."

On Sean Porter...

Stewart: "We were both just young, it was all new to us. We came and played a lot as freshman. Those were tough days, we'd win some and get blown out a lot. We've got a great camaraderie, grown up together and we talk about life. He's grown a lot. He did a lot of pass rushing the last two years and this year he's been more of a stand-up, 4-3 linebacker and adjusted well. He's gained a lot of weight and developed more into a football player."

On playing against Johnny Manziel last year when he was on scout team...

Stewart: "For the most part, he'd do what he needed to do. Sometimes he'd revert to his old self, but he gave us great looks that we saw every week. In the spring, when we were on defense, we'd watch him run around and think this isn't traditional and what you'd expect from a college quarterback. In the spring he'd drop back 15-20 yards to make a play and you realize that's just what he does. 

"He's always been that type of player. I never knew he was that elusive. I always heard them call him Johnny Football and saw he scored like 70 touchdowns his senior year of high school, so I started to believe. He never boasts or brags. He's not cocky or arrogant. He's never too high, never too low, mild-mannered. I was just talking to him a few minutes ago. He's a normal person."

On the historical impact of this game...

Stewart: "This is just one game. We're going to go to Tuscaloosa, play our brand of Aggie football and come back."

On whether anything's different about it...

Stewart: "We know we're playing the No. 1 team in the nation. We can't beat ourselves. We're going against top-10 teams that don't beat themselves, and unfortunately in our other two games we've beat ourselves. But in terms of the national championship or anything like that, we're not looking at that. It's another week."

On what's tough about playing A&M's offense...

Stewart: "Probably the tempo. The communication. Because sometimes Coach Snyder likes to get in long defensive calls. But when you see our offense all spring and in two-a-days, when we see other teams that do it, we've practiced for it. I feel like it makes it tougher on other defenses. You can see them out there getting tired because it's hard for them to replicate the tempo we're using. They see it once or twice max throughout the year. It gives our offense an advantage."