Texas A&M Football weekly press conference: South Carolina

Coach transcripts will be updated in real time as the press conference continues. Coach and player interviews will be added as each video renders.

Kevin Sumlin

"In this meeting, with the quarterbacks, there were five of us in there. Me, Jake and the three quarterbacks. It was the same message: ‘The guys in here are just like me: We get way too much credit when we win and way too much blame when we lose.’ So my job is to move on and evaluate what gives us the best chance to win, period.

On whether Jake Spavital is still the play-caller and how his performance has been…

“Yes. Life pays on results, and up to Week 5 there was no question. Now, it’s not just one guy. That’s why we’re making some changes. … In this business you’re only as good as your one outing. Our last two haven’t been very good. We’ll see where we are in five weeks.”

On the reported issue on the sideline between Kyler Murray and Spavital…

“I’m not going to get into the specifics of what happened on the sideline, but I will say Kyler has done the things necessary that we’ve asked him to do based on what happened on the sideline. Hopefully that’s been a learning experience for him. … He’s come back, practiced and done the right things and that’s why he was part of the discussion yesterday in this wide-open, three-man competition.”

On why they waited to take Kyle Allen out so long…

“If I knew what has led to his struggles the last two games, they would have been fixed.” (Q: Is he hurt?) “He’s fine. Let’s be honest: it’s easy to have 20-hindsight. Game 5, he’s got the highest quarterback rating in the SEC. Game 6, he throws three pick-sixes and we put another guy in and he throws an interception. That has not been him, and us as a team. We go on the road, where he’s played well … and it was a bit of a surprise to everybody. It’s hard to play that position looking over your shoulder all the time. Without confidence, it’s hard to play quarterback.

”Once that confidence starts to go, if that’s the case, that’s where it is. You want a guy to play himself out of it. It just wasn’t happening. And we made the change. It’s easier to say that looking back at it, but if you understand the thought process…”

On any changes on the offensive line and at backup running back…

“That’s another issue. Tra is a good back; he’s not the most explosive back wire-to-wire. He’s a pounder, a guy who’s going to get yards. He’s a sure back. James White got some carries and he’ll continue to get healthy and take some carries off of Tra, because he’s really been carrying the load. There won’t be changes with personnel on the offensive line but there will be some changes in what we’re doing. Maybe we’re trying to do too much up front as far as angles and reads and things like that. Just looking at it, our guys are better coming off the ball and doing things straight that way.

“Without going into specifics, there’ll be some things that’ll change not necessarily from a personnel standpoint but from a schematic standpoint.”

On USC’s Pharaoh Cooper…

“Here’s a guy that I think was on the coaches’ All-SEC preseason time at three positions. As a receiver, he’s dynamic. As a return guy, he’s dynamic. They’re going to find every way they can to get the ball to him. He was a high school quarterback so you’d better watch out when he steps back on that screen or reverse, because he may just pull up and throw it. You have to be aware of him defensively … a threat to go wire-to-wire and score whenever he’s got his hands on the ball.”

On USC LB Skai Moore…

“He does a great job of, he’s a little like a tweener. He’s a linebacker that’s a bit undersized but boy he makes up for it in speed and quickness, has great vision, attacks the line of scrimmage and makes great tackles.”

On what he’s seen in terms of team leadership and the team’s mindset…

“We don’t practice on Sunday. That’s our staff time. We had a diversion and got back here at 6:00 in the morning on Sunday. Then, really, we have here some guys known as the accountability council. It’s two guys voted on by every member of his class, and then our captains are involved in there. Those guys are really the conduit to the team and talk openly. We had a great discussion yesterday about where this team is and that’s why I led off with what I did.

“It’s a frustration. That’s healthy. The healthy part is to be able to discuss it and not complain about it, to be open and as a coaching staff and that leadership group say, ‘Here’s what we need to be able to do. What’s the difference between 14 days ago and today?’ It’s easy to get into a mindset now, or yesterday, or Sunday, or after the game Saturday, that this is a bad football team. It is not. What has to be talked about openly and what we’ve discussed is what has happened the last 14 days and how to change it. That’s a great discussion and it all starts today back on the field in full pads and practicing to get a win Saturday. It’s one win at a time from here on out.

“Two weeks ago there was too much big-picture thinking, by everybody. Now it’s an eye-opening experience and we’ve got to get back to thinking one week at a time.”

On hearing Steve Spurrier was retiring immediately…

“Actually, Eric Hyman texted me that. I texted back, ‘Damn.’ My relationship with coach and Junior and the family there, it’s a guy I’ve always looked up to and still continue to look up to. The SEC now, he’s the guy I always wanted to be — he came into the SEC, won in this league throwing the football, played defense, won national championships and did it his way. He’s had a huge impact on me from outside and then from getting to know him. There are a lot of things football-related that he brings to the table, but there’s also a lot of things from a personal growth standpoint that people won’t ever know that he’s helped me with.

“I’ve said it before, it’ll be a long time — maybe never — that a guy will win a Heisman, coach a Heisman and win a national championship. The same guy. That’s why there’s already statues for him. You know you’re something when you’re still alive and they’ve already got statues for you.”

On USC after the coaching change…

“They’re passionate. Any time there’s a change, it either goes down or goes up. It doesn’t stay the same. There’s some energy there, they’re a little more aggressive on special teams, which’ll be a challenge for us. That coaching staff has to look at it like they’re 1-0 right now. I know they’ve paid tribute to Coach (Spurrier), but you’re back in the bunker and you’ve got to look at it like you’re 1-0 and they’re trying to get win No. 2. And they’ve had a bye week to get rested, study tape and get an extra week of preparation.”

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John Chavis

On the goal line stand by the defense when Ole Miss was trying to score in the last minute…

“That’s what you’ve got to do. That’s the way this team has practiced all the way back to spring practice. They want to do well. They want to win. They’re not going to turn down anything from anybody.”

On Armani Watts…

“He’s played very well for us; both of our safeties have played extremely well for us. I’m glad to look at the stat sheet and see he made those plays, but in my room, my linebacker room, I challenged those guys — they’ve got to keep the ball off the safeties. We’ve got fundamental issues we’re going to keep addressing and keep addressing till we get it right. They’re getting cut, and we work on cut blocks. You’re no good to the defense if you’re on the ground.

“But I’m proud. (Armani) did well.”

On Myles Garrett vs. Laremy Tunsil…

“Myles did more than hold his own. He ended up with seven tackles, a deflected pass, a big holding call because (Tunsil) couldn’t block the speed. I’m prejudiced — I don’t mind admitting it. He won most of the battles, I thought. There’s been talk about CBS, I don’t care about CBS, ABC, whatever. I’m proud of Myles Garrett.

On his reaction to Steve Spurrier retiring…

“Great football coach, one of the best in the business, very competitive. Hall of Fame guy. You hate to see guys that lead the sport leave it, but if he felt like it was time then I respect his decision. We had some battles, we had some good battles, and it was always fun playing against him.”

On his thoughts on the A&M offense’s struggles…

“There’s no doubt (it’ll find its rhythm). There’s no question. We’re going to keep working, there’s issues on defense we’ll keep working on, we’ve got to do a better job creating short fields for our offense. They’re going to get that corrected and I’m not worried about it, because honestly I’ve got my hands full on the other side.”

On anything USC is doing differently on offense…

“I think we’ll see more two-back, they’re running more zone scheme on offense. I think they’ll be more two-back, two-tight end. But we’ve got to prepare for it all.”

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Jake Spavital

“He’s got to show more consistency, take care of the ball. I’m focusing in on timing and precision and leadership and communication — all the ‘it’ factors and what we’re looking for right now.”

On whether the guy who wins the job will hold it or get a quick hook…

“It depends on the flow of the game. If we go out there and he lays an egg at the beginning, obviously we’re going to put in the next guy. We’ve approached it that way with all three of them: ‘You’ve got to be ready to play.’ We’re just going to go off of performance.”

On Jake Hubenak…

“The thing about Jake is he’s done a great job for us ever since he stepped foot on campus, knows how to communicate this offense, throw the ball effectively, had a great career in junior college. He was throwing it around efficiently and I thought he did a great job for us (in Oxford).”

On the blame for the performance at Ole Miss…

“Obviously it begins with me. There’s a lot of things I think we can get better at. We have to do an easier job of finding completions for these quarterbacks. That’s something we take pride in in this offense. It’s been up-and-down but we know we’re going to get this fixed. This offense is based on rhythm and when we get that fixed we’re one of the most dangerous offenses in the country. The QB position is getting amplified the most, but it’s not just the quarterback, it’s very position. We want to find all 11 guys that are going to make this offense (run most efficiently).”

On whether Kyle Allen was hurt and why they didn’t go to Hubenak earlier…

“We had many talks about that on the sidelines. Kyle was fine. There was nothing wrong with him. Going into it, it just wasn’t all Kyle’s fault in the beginning, at times. There were protection breakdowns and dropped balls and missed assignments, and also he wasn’t efficient. There were times he was going out there and executing cleanly and it just wasn’t (getting done as a unit).”

On the reported incident between he and Kyler Murray…

“That’s something that, we’re very close in that quarterback room and we’re great competitors in there. That’s something that’s between the room and I won’t say too much about that.”

On what he learned from last year that will help now…

“We’ve just got to get back in the rhythm of things and get the confidence back. I know this is a good offense and they’ve showed signs of it. We have to get back to the basics of things, pay more attention to detail, and those little things will add up to success for us. It’s just getting back to that and going from there.”

On Skai Moore and the USC defense…

“They’re a talented defense, they really are. You can tell they got new life, new energy coming off of that win and bye week. Skai Moore leads them not only in tackles but in almost all categories. He’s going to be a point of emphasis for us. But we’ve got to get back to what we do, that attention to detail, get some confidence back and play with an edge.”

On the offensive line…

“I need to see improvement with everybody. We have a left guard that we’ve been rotating, a true freshman against a very athletic defensive line that showed different looks and put our guys in difficult situations. The offensive line has to keep gelling together. I’m very confident with Coach Christensen and the game plan we have going into South Carolina. We just have to get back to basics.”

On getting the ball to A&M’s playmakers…

“We try that every week with Christian. They were committed to taking him out of the game, and taking Josh out of the game. They were bracketed on several plays, and we’ve got to have other people step up.”

On Hubenak’s roundabout route to A&M…

“The maturity of him, just when you talk to him, he’s been through it all already. He’s been through a D1 program that had success offensively and not played, then gone to JUCO and worked his way back up here. He knows what goes into being a team … and understands that everybody plays a role. You have to commend him.”