Photo by Brandon Jones
Texas A&M Football
As camp begins, Larry Jackson details status of 2014 squad
Key quotes from Larry Jackson interview
"We had some guy’s show up in January and the rest in June, so we take that into the summer. It’s been great watching these guys develop, watching their bodies respond to the training. It’s pretty exciting."
"We’re conditioning for a purpose and, that purpose is to see it correlate onto the field. We get instant feedback because it doesn’t take long for the season to get here. If you’re doing something right, you’ll see it. If you’re doing something wrong, you’ll see that too."
"Whenever we meet with Sumlin, we always discuss ways to make us better at our positions. It isn’t just about the players getting better or developing, it’s about the coaches getting better too."
"Sumlin runs a lot of plays in practice, so he can get a lot done in a short amount of time. So if the guys aren’t ready to go you’ll know pretty quickly. If you’ve got guys that maybe aren’t getting to every work out, we’ll get feedback on that too. You have to go through summer to be able to compete with each other."
"We’ve had some other guys here and there, but Malcome Kennedy is the guy I remember day in and day out he was there. He stepped up and was very vocal. He’s taken ownership of this team and taken a leadership role, he wants to win. It was fun to see because I know he’s been wanting to do so for a while."
"You want your best players to be your hardest workers. When you have real guys who take on real roles and then they’re balling out, then these same guys are real guys off the field, then they take leadership on and off the field."
"Speedy Noil is a freak, there are just a lot of things he can do. He’s gifted. He’s at workouts every day, working hard. He came early for a reason. He wants to play and he’s got that drive."
"When Myles Garrett came in, we were like 'Are you kidding me?' It's all about getting his body and mind prepared. Getting him into the system."
"It's a good problem to have two guys who are really good battling for the quarterback spot. Each single throw means something. They know in the eyes of Sumlin, the best player is going to play."
"In 2012, all we heard was how bad we would be. I remember how upset Sean Porter was. You kind of get that same feeling now. Our players don't like where people say we are going to be. That puts a chip on their shoulders when they train."
"The look I want from my team is one that shows they will never get tired first. We want to keep coming after you and attacking. They’re going to eventually wear you down and if they’re a better athlete than you, you have no shot at all when you start the game. That’s the identity we want to have with our players"
"During the off-season and the summer, everything we do is way worse than anything you will see in the game. So when you get in the game, you think, 'this is nothing compared to what we did that one day in the spring or that one day in the summer.'”
"Because of Sumlin's system, we run plays as fast as anyone. It's so fast, I just have to make them keep up with the offense. Defensively, they’ll come along from practice. If the offense was slower paced, it would make my job harder by having to worry about this team or that team. We’re going to go as fast as anybody, so I don’t have to dot that."
"Coach Sumlin hires good people and expects you to do your job. If you don’t, you’ll be his really good friend who’s working somewhere else."
"We had guys struggling with their weight, but the new nutrition center has helped that. It's so much better than before. The kind of weight these guys can put on, guys like Daeshon Hall, its not fat, it looks great."
"The fastest player on the team is Brandon Williams. He's a real athlete and can cover ground really quick."
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