Fall Camp Day 10: Sumlin breaks down latest developments

On the level of talent among the freshmen…

“We don’t recruit anybody that we don’t think can play for us particularly early. We talk to guys about the recruiting stage. 'Am I going to redshirt?' That’s up to you. If you come in here and demonstrate the ability to grasp our scheme and play at a level that we can trust you, you do what we ask you to do and you fit into the two deep, we’ll have that conversation about you playing right away.

"We’ve got a lot of guys that are here, in the next 36 to 72 hours, that will be fighting to try to get in the two deep.”

“Well we’ve had some things. It’s not like we haven’t been practicing for the last two weeks. So yeah, we have done more of that (with coaches off the field) this camp than we’ve done in the past. Just because we’ve got so many — not just young guys, but new players — whenever you have 31 new guys, you’re just trying to get them involved and see where they can fit in. That’s a third of your roster.

"So we have to do more than just drills. We’ve got to let these guys play football and get into the scheme and see what they can do without the coaches on the field. Yeah, Saturday night’s important, but we’ve probably done more of that type of stuff than we have in the past just to get these guys ready."

On what needs to be accomplished on Saturday…

“Stay healthy. I’m being honest with you. We need to come out of there healthy. But I think where those new guys fit and when you have that many open roster spots, you have no depth from last year — you don’t have a team with 54 guys, basically. So these 31 guys are going to play a significant role, a lot of them, maybe the majority of them on this team as backups.

"That’s why we recruited them, to develop the starting lineup but also develop these guys because they are one play away from playing. They are going to be critical to our success on special teams."

On people in the stands seeing that depth…

“Yeah, there’s no doubt. That’s why I tried to get it out early. That it was open. Tried to get it out early in the week. It’s different in the stadium. Julien Obioha started every game last year in the regular season; he practiced great all during the week; every time we went in the stadium he forgot what he was doing. Turn the lights on and people cheering ... I use that example to say that was important for him to able to react, get coaches away and have him think on his own and it helped him to get in there. But he was really, really poor at that for two or three times.

"We were in the stadium last Saturday. We’ve had some scrimmage situations to start practice. We’ve done more live work, I think, this year than in the past just to see what guys can do. There’s some risk to that. But you need to have an idea of what’s going on before August 31."

On a decision regarding Deshazor Everett and Floyd Raven…

“Still pending. That is a decision that Eric Hyman and I will have.”

“I don’t talk about injuries. You haven’t seen him out here, but I’m not sure what’s going on with him specifically. He had a back injury, a medical term. I’m not a doctor. I just know that we’re trying to make sure he’s at 100% before we get him out there.”

“Oh yeah, he’s just been injured. We just checked him out medically to make sure he’s going to be alright before we put him out there.”

On Jake Matthews and the importance of both Matthews brothers…

“Well, according to a report I saw yesterday he’s pretty damn important considering he’s the No. 1 rated guy in the country. He’s a great leader for us. Moving him to left tackle has really helped us. I’ll tell you what’s underrated about him, and to an extent Luke (Joeckel), and yeah they played great in games, but I think people underestimate what competition does in practice and how that helped Damontre (Moore). And how Julien Obioha, as a true freshman, anytime we went 1s-on-1s, which was all year, had to go against Jake Matthews every snap. Getting in the game was sometimes easier than being in practice.

"Our guys, as your team and talent level gets better, your team develops faster. There’s no doubt he’s a veteran guy. You see it in what he does. His pass sets, his moves, his run blocking. He’s just studying and he’s having fun playing football.”

On Matthews being a low maintenance guy like Joeckel…

“Yeah, he’s the exception. He’s what I term the ‘low maintenance grade player’. We’re running out of a bunch of those in the country right now. That’s part of recruiting, that’s part of everything else. Like I said about Pat (Lewis) last year, it wasn’t until game seven or eight until people started talking about him. As an offensive lineman, if they’re not talking about you, then you’re really playing well.

"We’re getting spoiled around here, moving Ced (Ogbuehi) out there. We moved Jarvis (Harrison) out there a little bit. He looked good out there, 320-something pounds, but he’s got to wait his turn and sit in there and deal with things. We’ve got some guys that can move. We’ve got to develop guys behind them and that’s what really this year is about. Making sure we develop the quality depth we need, particularly for the SEC.”

On the backup QB battle…

“I think all the quarterbacks are playing well. We’re giving them all kinds of turns. You guys have been out there at the beginning, you’ve seen different guys. You can make up what you like. You guys did it last year too. You should know by now it doesn’t mean anything. Didn’t you figure that out last year? We’re gonna pick who we’re gonna pick. You guys gotta say something, huh? But you ought to know by now that we’re gonna pick who we’re gonna pick. We’ll run guys out there.

"The plan during practice is some days some guys get more reps. We have to have a contingency plan for what happens at quarterback. Matt (Davis) and Kenny (Hill) have gone different days. One guy gets more reps than the other three, including Johnny (Manziel). We’ve had to do that. This is practice 12. We’re moving along pretty quick here and that’s a lot of practices. That gives us time. We’ve got two practices tomorrow and a scrimmage. By Saturday, we’ll have 14 practices and camp will be half over."

On “Meet the Aggies” autograph session going forward…

“We had a discussion. We do a lot of things here to try to be part of the community. We truly do have a fan appreciation day. You have to be smart in how you handle that. Other people have decided on how they’re going to handle that. I think it’s one of those deals that we do stuff in the spring here with little kids, try to get them around the players. It’s good for our team to see the fans.

"I know the fans are excited to be there, but it’s also good for our guys to see how much people care about the program and them and what real impact they have on the community and the former students and our fan base. It’s a good thing. The way the climate is right now you might have to tweak it a little bit, but it’s good for our guys to be around and it’s good for the community.”