Spring Day 6: Sumlin, Yates, Hurd assess recent developments

Kevin Sumlin

On what he took away from the scrimmage on Saturday…

“We did a little bit of live work the Thursday before we left for Spring Break and there was some dramatic improvement from an effort standpoint. You’ve got some guys out there playing who haven’t played significant minutes, that were in some critical roles. They have to understand, it’s one thing to watch other people play. When you’re put in that position and you have to make decisions and play football, there’s a certain tempo and speed that you have to play with.

“We actually made some strides from an effort standpoint, particularly defensively, from the first week of practice. There were some good things, I think. What we need to do is continue that effort and then look for some consistency out of our players who have been in those roles.”

On some of the guys that have to step up because of injuries…

“That’s what happens. It’s football. You want everybody to practice every day, or play every game. It’s just springtime. Y’all get to see the beginning now. You can do your own injury report.

“We have guys miss practice all the time. It’s how you manage those guys and the ability for them to keep it mentally and to come back and know the difference between pain and injury, and communicate with our staff. We've got a great rehabilitation staff and we don’t do things to put guys in a position until they’re ready to go. The communication that we have with our training staff and our players and coaches has been excellent.

“Things like that are going to happen. We went 100-something plays in a scrimmage without kicking. That’s quite a bit to get done in an hour and fifteen minutes, so the pace was pretty good Saturday. Particularly for a guy like Mike Evans, who has extremely involved in playing different positions. He took some shots in being in the teeth of the defense, instead of being on the perimeter like he was all last year.”

On what he can say about the status of Mike Evans and Tra Carson…

“Nothing.”

On what kind of impact Cameron Clear is going to make on the running game…

“Ask me in the fall. I’m serious. I’m not trying to be funny. We’ve had five padded practices. We’ve got thirty in the fall. We’ve got eight more this spring. He’s got thirty-eight practices before we play Rice. I’ll have a better idea during two-a-days. He just got here.”

On how much of a factor he is in the running game from what they’ve seen…

“He’s a factor in both, as a blocker and as a pass-catcher. He’s athletic. He’s 270. It’s going to take him some time to get into real football shape. A guy like him — he just got here, he’s been in junior college — it’s going to take him through the summer, a bigger bodied guy like that, to get into the type of shape that he wants to be in, because he starts off really well. It’s not his fault. That’s why we do what we do in the offseason, for guys like him to try to catch him up.

“Like I said, I’ll have a better idea — we’ll all have a better idea — about him in fall camp. The whole thing about spring ball is you’ve got fifteen opportunities, as coaches, to be with the players. That’s it. The meeting time and everything else, that’s one thing. We’ve had meetings before that. But an actual practice and playing football, that’s the only time you get, so there’s a lot going on for the seven or eight newcomer guys that are here.

“We’re installing daily. As soon as they figure out what they’re supposed to do today, ‘Here comes Coach with a whole new group of things for me to do tomorrow.’ That’s hard on them, but repetitions make a difference, and looking at defensive fronts and having to change and do things. Like I said, he’s got a lot of tools and we’ll have a better idea in the fall of where he’s going to be because he just got here.”

On his comment on Johnny shoving the GM…

“To be honest with you, I didn’t see it. I heard about it. I don’t know. People make a big deal out of stuff like that. Things happen all the time in football. I don’t think it’s that big of a story. It’s about as big a story as Kliff Kingsbury wearing black all the time. That’s what I think. It has nothing to do with what’s going on around here. That’s all I got. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”

On whether it happens during practice…

“No, we don’t have coaches going around punching coaches and players punching coaches, if that’s what you want. (Laughter) That doesn’t happen all the time. Like I said, of all the things that happened Saturday, for some people, that’s the big story. That’s too bad.”

On what he thinks the big story from Saturday was…

“We had one serious injury, and that was Travis Labhart broke a collarbone. There’s something for you. Have a nice day!”

Marcel Yates

On the improvement of Howard Matthews since this point last year…

“Night and day. We didn’t even have any clue if he was going to start, play for us, or what. So him being the guy that came on at the end of the season, he’s been doing a great job for us.”
 

On Floyd Raven’s move to safety…

“He’s rangy and he’s fast. The one thing that he does have, he’s very physical. So you want that guy to be a guy who hits people, who’s smart, and you know with him he can cover, he can do it all.”
 

On the consistency of personnel in the secondary…

“Definitely. It’s really a big difference for me because I didn’t know what I had last year. I didn’t know those guys as far as in the game, and now I kind of know what they can do. Floyd at free, we got Howard, Floyd, Toney Hurd, Harris, Otis, so we’ve got some guys that we know exactly what they can do in a game.”
 

On the progress of the young corners from last fall into the spring…

“They’re getting better. The one thing I think we need to improve on as a team is tackling. You know, we’re in a league were you have to tackle. Your corners are going to have to make tackles. We’re getting better, we’re going to keep doing it, and keep doing it.”

Toney Hurd

On how the returning members of the secondary might have to lead the defense…

“Coming into the spring this year, we noticed we have to find some leaders early in the spring. We've just basically been trying to find our new leaders, vocal leaders, people that lead by example. We have a couple guys that fall into that role — Donnie Baggs, Howard Matthews, Deshazor Everett ... I also have been one of the people trying to step into this new role. We are just trying to find leaders for defense for the team next year.”

On Howard Matthews' performance…

“Howard is straight taking a big change. When he first got here basically he was one of the guys that were quickly trying to learn because he knew he was going to have to play early. Now he is taking on the leadership role to be one of the leaders for this coming season. Howard has always been very coachable but, slowly but surely, he has become a vocal leader and a person that leads by example.”

On how Floyd Raven is doing with the position change…

“He has picked up the safety spot really well and he’s a natural talent. Very fast guy that likes to tackle, very aggressive, so he’s a pretty good safety for us. He will be making big plays for us this coming season.”

On practicing situations covering Cameron Clear…

“He is a bigger guy, so you've got to kind of ... well I've got to use my tools, which is that I am quicker than him and faster than him, so I have to be a finesse guy with him. Being aggressive with him is almost not good for me. I've got to use my quickness and my speed to be able to cover a bigger guy like him and basically play really finesse.”