Texas A&M Football weekly press conference: Ball State

Kevin Sumlin

On what he did with the cowboy hat...

"We've got it. It's part of a trophy, so after the game they came up and said it's customary that the winning coach wear the hat. I put it on, I forgot I had it on after a while. It was comfortable. Everyone's giving me a hard time, but it beats the alternative. I'd rather have the hat than not have it."

On the players who were injured against ASU...

"You know we don't talk about injuries. I knew that was coming. I won my bet."

On his assessment of the offensive line...

"When you're in a game like that, to the naked eye, any time there is a difficulty running the ball it automatically is assumed that it's the offensive line. The way this offense is designed, there are a lot more parts to it than just five guys up front. The execution on the perimeter, the ability of our quarterbacks to change plays and get the ball out, is part of this offense. With a couple young guys, one quarterback started five or six games, the other hadn't played at all, against a very exotic blitzing defense, we were extremely conservative with what we did.

"You can be that way when your defense is playing the way we played. Our style in that game was probably a lot different than it's been since we've been here. Will that change, will it be the case all the time? I don't know. But certainly we have more confidence in where we are defensively. If you can have 400-something yards and 38 points, people will take that every week. It's just a matter of when that was. Was it frustrating? Not for us. You get a turnover and run it three straight times, there were some things in there that could've changed — at the line — but our quarterbacks basically ran the play. We kicked it and took the points.

"Inside the red zone we need to do a better job of protecting that three points and then trying to score a touchdown. When you've got a team blitzing 90 percent of the time, conservative was the way to go."

On the quarterback situation...

"We'll see what goes on, going forward. We had a plan to play Kyler the whole time. He ran out of time in the first half and came out, it was a bit different for him too. He was breathing as hard as he's ever breathed, and I looked at him and he was smiling and he said, 'I can't breathe, and those guys are fast, too.' It was the first time he may have realized he wasn't the fastest guy on the field — although he looked like it to me." (Chuckle.)

"What you saw was a combination of two things: number one, the maturity level of Kyle Allen, in how he was handling the situation, and also the explanation — nobody yanked anybody. The explanation to him was that he was going back in. He was able to handle that on the sideline, they were able to talk to each other, and knowing that he was going to have the opportunity to get back in probably calmed them both down a little bit. The maturity of Kyle Allen this year was a big part of that."

On Daeshon Hall's progression...

"He was 208 on his visit. About 260 now. We said during fall camp it could be a big year for him. This is the first full offseason he's had. In the time he's been here he's had both shoulders operated on, with labrum tears and such. He should've redshirted. This was the first offseason he's had in strength & conditioning, nutrition, everything we put together for them. He's strong and athletic, taller than Myles — he's long. He's got passion and he's extremely athletic. Anybody who's watched the game copy, there's sometimes three guys blocking Myles Garrett. Somebody else better be able to do something on the other side.

"So whether it was Donovan Wilson, who played extremely well — I know our defensive ends got a lot of credit, but Donovan Wilson, Justin Evans and Armani Watts covered a lot of ground and were able to tackle people in space and fill in the run and run to the football and close down some alleys — it'll be really interesting to see how (Hall) progresses this year because he's worked at it and the scheme helps him, and these guys are getting up the field and playing really hard."

On Tra Carson...

"He's been a solid player for us since he's been here. Coming off the bowl game, he had a 100-yard performance there, he's a work horse. I thought James White was going to have a good game, but he got dinged playing special teams, nothing serious. When a running back is hurt that's when they can put the ball on the ground. Tra sucked it (White's injury/absence) up and went and played the rest of the game.

"He can block, he has really good hands, he can do everything else and he's a good leader for us. We rested him a bit yesterday, we'll (bring him  back slowly). But I don't worry about Tra Carson's ability to produce in the game."

On Brandon Williams' first game at corner...

"Good. He's got a lot of size. He's a big corner, he's going to continue to work at his craft, he's got long arms, fastest guy on the team, the sky's the limit for him. He's helping the football team at corner, but he's also helping himself showcase where he can play at the next level. If he can improve his technique, I think he's gone from a free agent, late-round guy to a draft pick playing corner. Size, speed, skill. As he continues to get better, it helps him and it helps us. And that's what it's all about."

On Ball State's Darian Green...

"Little bit like what we faced last week in a guy that they're going to get the ball to. Pete Lembo has done a great job at Ball State tailoring his offense to a bunch of guys they can get the ball to. Look at his record the last few years, they've beaten Indiana twice, beat USF, beat Virginia, had Iowa beat last year. These guys have gone on the road and beaten some Power 5 teams; it's kind of their deal. They'll be fired up to get in here and play. They'll throw it around. They scored 40 points the last two games of last year and last week, threw it 50-something times. They know what they're doing.

"They're not coming here just to play a game, they're going places to beat people. That gets our attention right away. Last Saturday is over with. We need to get our attention as a team and be ready to play Saturday night."

On Christian Kirk...

"Very seldom do you see a guy that comes into a program as a freshman that is a really good receiver already and a return guy that can be a return guy at that level. People that didn't watch the game or really notice, he handled every kickoff and every punt in that environment — which tells you the kind of trust we had in him. Trey Williams was the first guy that we trusted against Florida and I was really nervous on the opening kickoff; Speedy's handled punts and we eased him into it last year; this guy, he handles every punt and kickoff for the game and starts.

"That tells you the talent he has and the trust we have in him as coaches. That didn't come from showing a few flashes, that's from how he practices. ... He'll make a mistake and you just talk to him and that's it. He caught a punt at the six-yard line and before you could say anything he says, 'I screwed that up, Coach. Won't happen again.' Very rarely do you have a guy that mature who can communicate in that environment. Let's see what kind of encore he has. ... I'm glad he's on our team."

On seeing the defense play like it did in a game...

"It was great. It was something that Chief has really preached, running to the ball. We've got good team speed and the big thing that closes down some of those plays is you're amazed at how much better of a tackling team you are when you're not having single open-field tackles all over the place or space that comes from a lack of pursuit, and one guy will miss a tackle and it'll go 30 yards. One guy can miss a tackle when you've got four guys running behind him.

"There are a lot of things schematically that seem very simple, but the biggest thing is where the effort is being placed and knowing where your help is, guys running to the ball and creating help situations. Justin Evans, Armani Watts and Donovan Wilson had some one-on-one opportunities with some good players and got them on the ground. And the team pursuit was the biggest difference. And guys are playing hard. That level of play is the baseline right now; as we start to get some players back, we're really excited about that.

"We had two guys suspended for that game and this game too, Zaycoven Henderson and A.J. Hilliard, we'd like to work Alaka back this week ... walking out of the stadium, Otaro told me, 'Coach, I could've played tonight if I really had to.' We've gotten through a situation where we were thin and now we can get these linebackers back the next two weeks, by Nevada, and that bodes well for us."

On his true freshmen making an impact in their first game...

"It says something that people disagree with sometimes: recruiting services are right." (Laughter.) "How about that?"

On the change at left guard...

"That wasn't a position where you can just put your hand on a guy and run fast. They were blitzing, moving, it wasn't a bull-in-a-china-shop game. Keaton was used to blocking those guys. They were slanting and angling around. So we got Jeremiah Stuckey in and let him settle down a bit. Keaton is going to be a really good player. That doesn't mean he can't play. We do have some guys we can rotate in there. All four of those freshman offensive linemen are going to be really good players for us. Because you can't handle that right away in that environment with a good team doesn't mean you can't play. Germain Ifedi redshirted his first year with us, and he's a pretty good player.

"Getting someone else in there and letting him take a breath is a good thing. He's going to be fine. Fortunately we have some other guys we can get in there going forward. That's what competition is all about."

On Jake Blount's impact on the game...

"He played well. Certain guys, you look out there and say, 'Boy, I hope they don't find him.' But he played well, moved around, made some plays, held his own. He was a walk-on, played well at a lower division. I asked him, 'Two years ago, did you just decide you were a better player? Who did you open with?' He said, 'Midwestern State.' I said, 'After that did you just decide you were going to go play in the SEC and open against the No. 15 team in the country?' He said, 'No, I never expected that.' It was a good experience for him and his family."

On this game compared to South Carolina 2014...

"No, you don't assume anything. We've got four or five guys out there who weren't playing last year. They probably think they're pretty good right now. How is this different from last year? I don't know where we're going to be in the polls today and I don't really care. What's important is how we approach this week of practice, how we approach the next few weeks and how we approach what our team attitude is in terms of where we were last year. All these guys that played very well early, Armani Watts, Myles Garrett, Speedy, Josh Reynolds, Donovan Wilson, guys that played well throughout the first few games and went into Arkansas at 5-0, things were coming pretty easy until that game but we still won. Then the valley after that.

"Let's talk about that. Let's eliminate those types of things from our practice habits and our life, things that brought us to how we played last Saturday and continue on. That takes leadership on the field and off the field. Those younger guys, it's no coincidence it starts around week 5 or 6 when mid-terms come around and people are asking them for interviews. Talking to your teammates about 'Here's where I did well, here's where I screwed up,' yeah, we talk about that.

"This team right now, a lot of those guys that played well Saturday were sophomores and juniors. The challenge is for those guys to say, 'We've been through this before, let's make sure we do what we need to do every week to play as well as we did Saturday night.'

---

John Chavis

On Daylon Mack's first game...

"I think he's made a lot of progress from Day 1 in camp, was really pleased with the way he played. It's got to be growth every day. He's gotten better in practice and he's got to continue to grow, and we need to push him to do that."

On being on the Kyle Field home sideline on Saturday...

"It's exciting, there's no doubt about that. It's an amazing place. We had an opportunity to practice in it a couple weeks ago and wow, there's not a better venue to play college football in in the country. But the fact that we're taking a good football team in there makes it more exciting."

On Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall...

"Not that I've got all the answers — I don't — but we've said we feel we have the two best defensive ends in the country. ... We're really excited about what they bring in terms of their physical play, their speed, we've just got to keep recruiting those guys. They make coaching pretty easy."

On the defense's performance in Game 1...

"It speaks to the quality of players we have and the buy-in for what we're trying to do. It takes them being willing to prepare. We routinely ask them to do difficult things, but they have responded to everything we've asked them to do. I'm not surprised but I'm pleased with the progress. Now we need to see improvement. We can't be satisfied with what we saw in Houston."

On a letter grade for the defense...

"I'll let you guys handle that, but I will say that we had outstanding effort. ... We had a few loafs in the game, not very many, but the exceptional effort plays outweighed the loafs. Our guys played hard; that's what we expected them to do and what we're going to expect them to do."

On Jake Blount going in...

"He was excited, there's no doubt about that. He played more than we anticipated and played well. He's a transfer, played in Division 1-AA and was a good defensive end. He came in and learned to play a new position, came in and played well for us, played 48 snaps. Not to knock him, but hopefully he won't have to play 48 plays in another game. But if he does, he'll be ready. He was ready for Saturday."

On the secondary...

"They played well. What more can you say. They were physical, they tackled well. We didn't get any deep balls thrown on us. They played well and that didn't surprise me. Adding Brandon to that group has been a big plus for us, but we've got several guys that can play. In this league you can't have enough guys at corner; when they get nicked up, it's hard for them to play. If your hamstring is tweaked a bit, you can't play out on that island. I'm excited not with any one group but with our whole football team, but the secondary certainly played well."

On Donovan Wilson's effort...

"It's all over the field. We could single him out and talk about it, but it's all over the field. And that's what's exciting about watching these guys grow. We had some adversity Saturday, and they fought through it. We had 17 possessions and there was (only) one time where we took the field and I didn't like their demeanor, and we addressed it on the sideline and they took care of it. This team has had a terrific, terrific attitude in terms of preparation and willingness to work, and that's the reason I've been so optimistic all along. I've watched them practice and watched them work and they want to get better."

On Ball State's offense...

"They're well-coached and very fundamental in what they do. Big zone team. They'll do some of the things we saw this past week. They'll be improved from their first game, played well in their opener, and it'll be a challenge as always. We certainly respect them, respect their ability to make plays. We've go to worry more about us and make sure our preparation is good. We started that yesterday, we'll continue that today. We need to make sure our preparation is where we want it to be."

On the suspended players...

"It is disappointing, but at the same time, you don't worry about the guys that aren't playing. You focus on who is playing. We had a couple guys who, because of injury, you didn't see in the lineup. We'll get them back in the lineup (too). We've got a chance to get better. And we expect to get better."

On the Wrecking Crew tradition...

"We embrace tradition. If our fans feel strongly about it, I'm all for it. But our players understand it's something that has to be earned. I was asked in the spring where the deficiencies were, and it was confidence. These players have gotten much more confident. Confidence comes from having success. That's what we have to do as coaches is (put them in position to have success). When they have success they get confident, and when they're confident they become a great football team. Our players have to remember what it took from the first day of spring practice and even before that, what it took to grow to where we are."

---

Jake Spavital

On the playbook with Kyler in...

"Still very basic, he was a little wide-eyed in the beginning like any true freshman, but he made plays out there. Scrambled for around 70 yards. Wasn't very comfortable in the pocket, I'm sure y'all could tell, but it was good for him to get that experience in that situation. He handled it well. Still has to keep coming along with the scheme."

On Kyle Allen responding to Kyler coming in...

"We had talked about it prior to the game and I thought he handled it well. He was great on the sidelines, kept the team up ... I was pleased with the maturity and how he handled that process. It can go one of two ways, and it went well."

On the O-line's play...

"That's a very difficult scheme and they're doing some uncharacteristic things schematically from a defensive standpoint. It's tough. You start the drive with Keaton Sutherland and that's the first time he's seen that type of look with that type of speed. It's hard to simulate that with the scout team. You put Stuckey in there and he's inexperienced as well, but he battled it out. I thought Avery Gennesy played lights-out over there. The right side of the line was pretty good."

On corrections they have to make, and what pleased him...

"A lot of the corrections have to be fundamentally and technique-wise. The things we preached all week were effort, toughness and tempo. We did that. I was very pleased with the effort, and if we can increase the fundamentals and the technique of these guys and still play with that effort, I think we're going to be a pretty good unit."

On how the defense affects his calls...

"I knew the defense had their number all night and I can rely on that from a play-calling standpoint. We could lean on Tra Carson and get the running game established. I was disappointed with our turnovers, but the defense got the ball right back. That was probably the most disappointing part of the game was the turnovers, but the defense allowed us to be more conservative and run some clock."

On his impressions from the game...

"Overall, I thought we were OK. We showed signs, we just weren't consistent at all. We three-and-outed six times, and we can't do that. Had a 90-plus yard drive, won it in the fourth quarter. And we turned the ball over three times. We were OK. We were up-and-down. There's a lot of things that we can clean up. A lot of positives from the game, but we know we didn't play close to our potential.

"The play-calling with Kyler down on the goal line, wasn't too fired up about throwing the ball with him, you've got a young quarterback in there and I thought, 'Let's get the ball to Tra Carson and get a touchdown with him.'"

On whether Murray's injury will affect him going forward...

"No. He'll be fine It'll be the same plan as usual."

On the plan after James White, depth at running back...

"We work Brandon Williams every day, just for emergency. Not a huge amount of plays because we want him to develop on defense, but Brandon had the entire spring ball because Tra had surgery and wasn't playing, Brandon had time to get valuable reps. We're comfortable with him flipping over and getting it. We have Dolezal and Kwame Etwi, we're comfortable putting them in for a play or two. Tra's helmet popped off and we put Dolezal in for a play. We are a little thin at that position, but we have answers with people coming over and helping us out at times."

On whether both quarterbacks will be playing come SEC play...

"I think a lot of that has to do with how they progress through these next few weeks. ... We've got to keep getting these questions answered. If they're both playing at a high level, I can see us packaging things in with both of them."