|
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--Head Coach Kevin Sumlin, Sean Porter, Luke Joeckel and Ryan Swope represented Texas A&M at the 2012 Southeastern Conference Football Media Days on Tuesday, July 17 at Birmingham's Wynfrey Hotel, and 12th Man TV was there to catch all the action.
The group met with writers, photographers, television stations, broadcast networks and more in a three-and-a-half hour whirlwind tour. Links to the right provide you with photos, videos and audio clips.
Quotes from the press conference are below, courtesy the SEC (secdigitalnetwork.com) and ASAP Sports.
|
Press Conference Transcript: Kevin Sumlin |
HEAD COACH KEVIN
SUMLIN
THE
MODERATOR: We'll start the 2012 SEC Football Media Days with Texas A&M University.
We'd like to welcome Coach Kevin Sumlin to Media Days. Coach.
COACH
SUMLIN: Thank you. First of all, I'm glad that we're getting started on time.
They can't blame it on the new guy that we screwed this thing up. It was
important we got started on time. The other thing is, just like the other 13 guys
that will get up here and talk, the word 'excited' is going to come out a
bunch. We also at Texas A&M are excited for a lot of different reasons.
Obviously our inaugural season in the SEC, our fans, our former students,
current students, everybody around the program is excited to get this thing
going. Our coaches and players likewise.
For us, it's
a special year. As excited as everybody else is in the country to get football season
started, I think I can speak for Texas A&M and our coaching staff, in our
place we're as excited as anybody to be a part of the SEC, but also for
football season to start. For us coming into this year, it's going to be a
real, real special time for our fans. I was just out in the ESPN bus. They
said, Do you realize you play the playoff six defending national champions?
That's about the fourth time somebody asked me that. We knew that when we took
the job. We understand the challenges that are ahead of us. We understand that
it's going to be a difficult but exciting year.
I think from
our standpoint, from a coach's standpoint, from a player's standpoint, we've
got a lot of things to point to work hard to get to. I think our players have
really utilized the spring, have gone through the summer in a great way. I look
at the three young men we brought with us today that are going to be leaders
for our football team, Sean Porter, Ryan Swope, Luke Joeckel. We got on the
plane this morning, Coach Jackson, our strength coach, worked wonders with our
team, I said, Hey, I think Coach Jackson is looking for you today. All three of
them said, No, coach, we went with the 5:45 group this morning. That says a lot
about the dedication of the guys that are seniors that are buying into what we're
trying to do. The quicker we get that buy-in from the older players in our
program, the quicker we'll be successful. You'll have a chance to visit with
them today and I think you'll get to hear their perspective, which I think is
interesting. With that being said, I guess I'll take a few questions at this
point.
Q. Kevin,
there's been a buildup for months about joining the SEC. When you walk in a
room, see all these people here, considering where you came from, does it make
it real?
COACH
SUMLIN: This makes it real. I tell you what made it real to me, which is
probably quicker than a lot of people, was when we had our first head coaches
meeting back in March or February. When you walk into a room with 13 other head
coaches in the SEC and Mike Slive, they close that door behind you, it's just
you guys in there, that's when you know it's real. For me it's probably been a
little bit quicker there with that. Then walking into this room, first the
other day, Alan Cannon giving me the number of media requests, you know what
kind of league you're involved in, and the size and scope of football in the
SEC. I think for me it's probably been a little bit different than our fans.
The July 1st date was a big date for us to officially move into the league. As
I said, you guys probably saw me at the bowl game wearing my SEC patches. We've
done that the whole time. This is just part of it.
Q. I'd like
to get your thoughts on starting a season like you are fresh at a new college,
but with a quarterback situation that you're going into the year with.
COACH
SUMLIN: That's a good question. Fortunately this is my second time through
this. People forget, moving into Houston there was really a two-quarterback
system that I inherited with Blake Joseph and Case Keenum, who split time
before. We went through spring football. Basically went through the fall camp.
I'm usually pretty comfortable about two weeks away from the first game being
able to name the starter. Having been through this before as a head coach, and
really as a coordinator, too, makes it a little bit easier, I'll put it that
way. But as a coach, you always feel better when you have a starter that kind
of leads your team through spring and goes through the summer and through fall
camp. I will say this: You got to start somewhere. All those guys that become
veteran quarterbacks, they had to figure out a place to get started. So we'll
work through that. Fortunately we've got some guys that are competing for it. I
feel real good about our athletic ability and our talent level at quarterback.
So those guys will compete in two-a-days and we'll figure out who that is and
name a starter a couple weeks, at the latest, before the Louisiana Tech game.
Q. You
obviously have proven to have great offenses from your Oklahoma and Houston
days. Do you have to make any adjustments going against the SEC defenses?
COACH
SUMLIN: Yeah, we need to be bigger and faster - how is that - against the SEC defenses
(smiling)? I don't know. We'll see. We've been able to adapt to do things,
whether we were at Houston, other places I've been, to utilize our personnel. I
think we have gotten -- people say we throw the ball all the time. That's fine.
I'd like for people to think that. That's not necessarily the truth. I think if
you look at the statistics, you look at our ratio, it's a lot closer to 55/45
than 70/30. Our run-game percentages and stats have been pretty effective. So
being called 'pass happy', that's fine with us, as long as people want to defend
the pass all the time. We've been able to utilize our talent. I think we've
been able to develop quarterbacks in what we've tried to do wherever we've
been. You know, as I said before to somebody, we'll have a lot better feel for
our league in February than we do right now. Watching video doesn't do it a lot
of justice. I see a bunch of people smiling. We took a little team from Houston
over to Starkville and won once. So we played some teams in the SEC and have a
lot of respect for the talent level. So we'll see where we are offensively. But
certainly we're comfortable with how we do things in the system that we have in
place.
Q. Everybody
talks about the SEC welcoming you in. But you get to welcome the SEC with the
game with Florida. Talk about how important it is to start your season at home.
And, are we
trending towards the end of the college football kickoff? For safety reasons, they're
moving it up.
COACH
SUMLIN: To answer your question, there's a couple ways. Number one, our most
important game is our first game, and that's Louisiana Tech. We're playing in
Shreveport, 7:30, 6:30 at night. Anybody who has seen them play a year ago
knows that's a good football team. Sonny does a great job. Last year at Houston,
we won on the last play of the game. Mississippi State, Southern Miss, barely
got out of there. We have our plate full the first time. There is no doubt our
fans are extremely excited about the home opener against Florida. All you got
to do is look at our season ticket sales to gauge where we are as a university
and as an athletic program as far as ticket sales and excitement level. That's
going to be a big game for us. For us as a team or as a head coach to have your
home opener at Texas A&M be an SEC game is a big deal, there's no doubt
about that. Like I said, for us, the first game is the biggest game.
Your last
question about the kickoff, there's been a lot of talk about that, concern
about injury. I think moving the kickoff line of scrimmage forward, back,
obviously everybody's talked about it. There's been a little bit of movement
and discussion about eliminating it. I, for one, am not a fan of eliminating the
kickoff. I think it's something that the fans like. I think it's something that
players enjoy. There's an art to it. I'm probably a little bit different than
most people since I just came from a place that a guy tied the NCAA record in
kickoff returns for touchdowns. So for me, I don't want to eliminate the kickoff.
I like that. It's a play for us. First offensive play for the return team, and
a tone-setter if you're the kickoff team. For me that's been a part of football.
Q. To follow
up on the quarterback situation, a lot of your quarterbacks are young, only one
is above a junior. Does that make the process difficult? Does that make the development
more difficult?
COACH
SUMLIN: You know, there's a couple ways to look at it. A lot of times with
young quarterbacks, it's a little bit easier, particularly when you come in
with a new system. To have, as a new coach coming in, as a fourth- or
fifth-year guy starting in a different system, it can be a little bit
difficult. Sometimes they'll reject your coaching, sometimes they've been
taught differently. They haven't really come there to play for you, particularly
if they've had success, if that makes sense. In this situation with the younger
quarterback, fortunately for us, when we walked into the situation, we knew all
those guys. We'd recruited them at Houston. Kliff Kingsbury or myself had
visited them or talked to them on the phone. There was a comfort level with us
with the quarterbacks and with the quarterbacks with us. That's really where
you need to start. When you get a new coach, you don't know what he's going to
run, how it's going to happen, what is going to go on. I think our guys had a
comfort level knowing us, knowing what we're about. For me, looking at the
situation with a younger guy, you probably have a little bit better chance to
mold him into what you're trying to do and have him grow with you and grow the
offense with him, instead of a guy who has been around for four or five years
and is used to a certain system.
Q. What is
your approach to recruiting out of the state of Texas? What emphasis, if any,
are you putting on it? How much do you expect to get from Christine Michael
during pre-season camp, and what do you think he can bring to the offense this
fall?
COACH
SUMLIN: Those are two real different questions (smiling). First of all,
recruiting. I would say there's no doubt we have a real emphasis in the state
of Texas of recruiting. I think our numbers show that right now. We've had
success. But there's no doubt that being in the SEC has increased our footprint
nationally, and particularly moving east. Our ability to really move east into
Louisiana, Mississippi, I think just looking at our recruiting over the last
five or six months, I would say we've probably gotten a few more visits or
return phone calls or campus visits from some guys that may or may not have
looked at us before we were in the SEC. I don't know, people ask me all the
time, How much has that affected your recruiting, how much has that boosted it?
It's hard for me to say because I wasn't here last year. But I do know that our
brand at Texas A&M, our history, our tradition, our location, being part of
the SEC has not hurt us one bit in recruiting in the state and moving east, and
really nationally. To answer your question, our primary state is always going
to be Texas. There's a lot of great players in the state. But in order to be
the program we want to be, we're going to have to have a national recruiting
prowess. I think we've hired coaches that have that background and understand
it. I think our numbers are starting to bear that out.
Q. There's
been a lot of talk about Texas A&M and LSU becoming that the last game of
the season near Thanksgiving. Then the LSU and Texas A&M rivalry being
renewed, your thoughts on that.
COACH
SUMLIN: The one thing I've learned is I don't have anything to do with scheduling
so far, particularly being the new guy. We'll figure out what's going on. I
think from a proximity standpoint, obviously based on what we just talked about
with Edward, as we move into recruiting, you know, Louisiana is a neighboring
state. Obviously they're in Texas recruiting, we're in Louisiana recruiting. Hopefully,
as we become more competitive on the football field, it becomes one of those
games that people look forward to. Everybody is always looking for a replacement
for rivalry games. We're new into this league. You really don't have a set
rival, per se. I know we've talked about and discussed the crossover rival will
be South Carolina. I've coached in every league maybe but this league. You
know, you create your own rivalries and they change. We'll see. I think just
from a proximity standpoint, a neighboring state, the things that go on in
recruiting, the people that know each other, certainly that will be an
extremely important game and could replace a game as a big-time rivalry game.
Q. What is
your assessment of playing in the SEC West this year, especially with this division
producing the last three BCS national championships?
COACH
SUMLIN: What's my assessment? It's a pretty damn hard league. How is that?
That's my assessment (laughter). You look at that, you see the talent level. I think
the combination, somebody we were just talking about, the main difference that
I see is the combination of size and speed. I've been a part of some pretty
fast football teams over the last few years. Our speed level at Texas A&M
is pretty good. I think the combination of size and speed, particularly in the
west, but in the SEC, is the difference-maker, and the depth in the front. You
add up those three things - size, speed and depth - over the course of the 12 ballgames,
injuries and attrition matter. So, you know, just to answer your question, it's
a damn difficult league because of talent, but also because of coaching. You
can argue all you want, but there's some of the best coaches in the country in
the SEC. Combine that with big, fast guys, some of the best players in the
country, it doesn't get any better than that.
Q. What kind
of feel do you have for your team defensively, the kind of defense you can put
on the field? Do you think it can be the type of defense that the SEC is known
for? If not yet, what will y'all have to do to get to that point?
COACH
SUMLIN: It's a great question. It would be difficult for me to say at this point.
We've got a lot of things we've got to overcome. You look at our defense last
year, we led the country in sacks, but we were 106th or 108th in pass defense.
That's a feast or famine type of defense. We've got to be more consistent
across the board as a football team. Defensively we've got to take some
chances, but we can't have that big of a chasm between statistics. The other
thing that we have to do is we've got to develop depth in our front, which we
did not have in the spring. We're going to have some young guys play early in
our defensive line. Our linebackers, starting linebackers, are SEC-like linebacker,
size and speed-wise, with Jay-Stew, 245-, 250-pound Mike in there to try to
help us out. We're moving from a 3-4 to a 4-3, which is a big deal for us
schematically. To answer your question, we've changed the defense, changed the
style of defense obviously with a new coordinator, new scheme. We're going to
have to recruit to the 4-3 to what we're trying to do. Unfortunately for us,
we're going to have to get some young kids on the field early this year. But
from a depth perspective, I think that's going to help us moving forward down
the road, maybe a couple years from now.
Q. Christine
Michael, what do you expect to get out of him? What do you expect him to do
this fall?
COACH
SUMLIN: Christine is a guy who was really ready to go in the spring. About week
two or three, I pulled him off the field. He was doing too much, I thought,
early. Anybody who watched him play last year knows that he's a big, physical
guy. He doesn't have to explain or try to show me how tough he is. I get that. We
wanted to make sure he got through the spring healthy, got through the summer.
We'll work through it during fall camp and make sure that he's ready to go
physically, that he can take a hit, hang on to the ball. To me, he's 100%. I
was looking at him yesterday, he came through the office, he looks great. I
think he's 223 or something like that right now, which is a good weight for
him. And the ability for him to really carry that weight over the last five
months has been a big deal to him just from the pounding on that knee, being
able to run with that weight. He hasn't had much swelling, so he's gone through
all the summer workouts and he's coming along just fine.
Q. Even in
the midst of you playing against Alabama, LSU, Arkansas, this is your first
year in the SEC. What are your realistic expectations this year?
COACH
SUMLIN: What are my realistic expectations this year? My realistic expectations
are to win. I said that from day one. Everybody talks to me and acts like I
didn't know what I was getting into when I took the job. We had already entered
into the SEC under the agreement when I took the job. I know, having been at
Texas A&M 10 years ago, the potential of the university. Now, what we've
got to do is we've got to continue to recruit at a high level. I think we have
everything in place to do that from a game-day experience, from facilities that
are being built down the road. But you owe it to your fans, you owe it to your
seniors, you owe it to the players in your current program to go out there and
put the best product on the field every week and give us an opportunity to be
successful. I'm not a weatherman. I've been on really good teams. I've been on
some bad teams. I'm not a guy that goes out and circles games on the schedule
before the year happens, whether we've won every game or lost one game or lost
them all. It changes. I'll say this, too. It will depend on how quickly, we
talked about it, the buy-in from those three guys, but the other 85 guys to buy
in to what we're doing. The quicker we get that, the quicker we'll have a
chance to be successful in playing some of these games. There's no doubt, when
you're facing a bunch of top-10 football teams, we have a ways to go based on
where we were as a program last year and the things to clean up. We talk to our
team all the time about two things. We don't need to worry about our SEC schedule,
the teams we're playing, Florida, LSU, Alabama yet. We need to worry about us
first. We've got enough things in our own program right now that we got to get
fixed before we start worrying about playing those football games.
Q. Are you
always this laid back, pretty cool guy?
COACH
SUMLIN: Some of you guys have seen me on Saturday. Some of you have been with
me in these question-and-answer sessions, too. It's summertime and we're
undefeated at this point, so you might catch me later with a different attitude
(laughter).
Q. What do
you think are some perceptions or myths about Texas A&M that maybe you'd
like to dispel?
COACH
SUMLIN: You know, I don't know. Perceptions or myths? I wish the perception was
that we were damn good in football. I don't know. You get out there, there's
some things you hear in recruiting. Obviously the more that we have guys on our
campus, the guys that have come to visit us have come around and looked and said,
You know what, this is different than I thought. We have a huge tradition as
far as our student body. I focus more on the positives than the negatives.
Every school's got nothing tiffs. We have the largest student body at any
venue, college football game, in the country. 30,000 students standing, the home
of the '12th Man,' one of the loudest places in the country. It's hard to show
that to a young man in the off-season. For me as a coach, wherever I've coached
or been, there have always been negatives to point out. But I think as you
start to point out what's positive about your school, what sets you apart, what
sets Texas A&M apart, 50,000 students, 20,000 alumni every year, former
students that go out in the world, in the marketplace, create jobs for other
Aggies, it's a big deal. The game-day experience, which ESPN said is second to
none in the country, gives you an opportunity to go out as a coach and recruit
the best and the brightest in the country. Particularly now that we're in the
SEC, I think we've got a venue and a game-day atmosphere that fits right into
our league. Our fans take pride in it. Our former and current students take
pride in it. So do our players. We're looking forward to it.
Q. What did
you think of Coach Miles' statement that Texas A&M and Missouri better
strap it up?
COACH
SUMLIN: Based on the video I watched, he wasn't too far from being right. He's got
a pretty good football team. You got two new teams coming in the league. I
don't think that was any kind of derogatory statement at all based on the fact
that he was the head coach at Oklahoma State and was in the Big 12 for a number
of years. So I think he understands the physical nature of this league. I don't
see that as derogatory at all. I think that's a fair statement. I think he says
that to about everybody he plays, as a matter of fact (smiling).
Q. Speaking
of LSU, Dana Holgorsen at West Virginia racked up 533 yards of offense LSU, one
of the better defenses in the SEC, more, is that a testament to what your
offense can do in the SEC?
COACH
SUMLIN: You know, Dana, having spent two years with us at Houston, obviously
we're pretty close, before he moved on, you know, that was a nice job by West
Virginia. The thing you look at is the turnovers in that game and big plays.
Great players on the field make big plays. The game is not about statistics,
how many yards you have. It's about more points than the other guy. Whether you
hold 'em to 3, whether you give up 30 and score 31, the idea is to win the game.
There's some things obviously fundamentally and structurally that are similar
to what we do, but that game came down to turnovers. Just about every football
game I've ever been a part of, that's the case. You turn the ball over like
that, as many times as they did, against a good or average football team,
you're not going to win. But from a structural and schematic standpoint, I'm
sure LSU has looked at that, too, and they're going to try to shore that up. For
us, that's certainly part of what we do. That's not all of what we do, but
that's certainly part of what we do.
Q. You
mentioned Coach Jackson. What has he done to get the team ready for the SEC?
Have you seen a transformation of the team?
COACH
SUMLIN: You know, it's different. As a coach, you can't be a part of the summer
workouts. Larry Jackson is a guy that has been with me when I was an assistant
coach at Oklahoma, came from Texas A&M, he's been at Houston with me. He
understands what we're trying to get done. Former NFL player. Player at Texas
A&M. For him, I think he told them the right thing. It's not a job for him
anymore, it's personal. He's an Aggie, he played there. He understands what it takes
to play at the next level. I think our players get that. The demands he's
putting on them right now, he's put in the spring, gone through the summer,
will pay off. We don't have a conditioning test at the end. He's never had it
since I've been with him. He's basically told me that, number one, you get out
there and practice. If our team's not where we need it to be, then you fire me.
There's no better résumé than that. We've been together a long time. Our teams
have been in excellent condition, particularly for what we do offensively. I
think the biggest compliment to him is moving from Oklahoma to Houston where we
really had to develop some guys physically to play in some big games, play in a
lot of big games, he was able to do that. He was excited to get to Texas
A&M and really work with some guys, with Luke Joeckel, guys that walk
through the door at 280, 290, 300 pounds. To answer your question again, I'll
know more during two-a-days. Just talking with our guys, you can see them
taking pride in what they do. Looking at their new bodies, being pretty proud
of how they're handling themselves this summer.
Q. The
Arkansas/Texas A&M game has been in Cowboy Stadium the last few years. How
do you feel about it moving onto campus or moving back to Cowboy Stadium?
COACH
SUMLIN: That's another one of those questions that's out of my hands. How I
feel about it really doesn't matter. College football to me, that's really a two-part
question. When it was a Big 12/SEC game, a neutral field is one deal. Now you
have a league game and a division game, so I'm sure that most universities,
most guys would want it home and home. For us, I would think that would be the case.
I enjoy playing in Jerry's world as the next guy, but I would rather it be a
home-and-home deal. Like I said, as a coach, that really doesn't matter. That
contract was put together long before I became the head coach at Texas A&M.
Q. Have you
met with coach and AD Eric Hyman from South Carolina? If so, how do you think
he can help you with that transition?
COACH
SUMLIN: There's no doubt. Eric Hyman coming in as our new athletic director,
I'm excited about it, I'll be honest with you. You look at his last two stops,
what he accomplished, what he did at TCU prior to going to South Carolina, the success
of their athletic programs at South Carolina. For us, for a university, I think
it's the direction, as Bill Byrne retired, you're always going to make a
change, you're worried about who's coming in. When you have a guy like Eric
Hyman who has a proven track record of success, number one, but also brings
something to the table that we needed I think desperately in our administration
was SEC experience, not only SEC experience, but SEC winning experience in a
number of sports. Whenever you have a guy who comes in in an administration, in
a leadership role, who has seen it, knows what it looks like, knows how to put it
together, as a coach I couldn't be more excited about it. We've had a couple
conversations. Obviously he's back tidying up some things in Columbia. We've
had a couple conversations about the direction of the program, what's going on.
Like I said, whenever you have a situation like that, you're always worried.
But I think we hit a home run in Eric Hyman.
|
|
Quoteboard: Sean Porter |
(On how
Texas A&M stacks up against the speed of the SEC): "I think we stack up
well, speedwise. We have a lot of athletic guys on our team and a lot of really
fast guys on our team. I think we'll make some plays in the SEC."
(On the
adjustments they have to make): "There will be a little bit of an adjustment
period. These guys like to run the ball a whole lot, and they use fullbacks and
big, bruising linemen. We haven't seen that so much in the Big 12 over the past
few years that I've been playing, so there will be a little bit of an
adjustment, but we're ready for it. I think we have a good defensive coordinator
who is very aware of what this league is."
(On how it
feels to see Missouri on the schedule): "It's always good to play teams that
you've played before. We have a little bit of a jump ahead on scouting this
team. We know how they're going to try to come at us a little bit. It's good to
see Missouri on the schedule and we'll be ready to play them."
(On the
feeling of bringing SEC teams into Kyle Field and College Station): "I'm
looking forward to it. I'm glad that they get to come and see the Twelfth Man
and see the tradition. We're really excited about our tradition at A&M and
we're excited about the way Kyle Field is, how loud it gets and how good our
student section is. I think it's a good thing that other teams in the SEC get
to come and experience it in year one."
(On what he
thinks of SEC Media Days): "It's intense. There's a lot of people out there and
you are all asking a lot of different questions. It's different; I've never
done anything like this before. There's been a lot of weird questions asked of
me. I'm just trying to get used to all of the excitement."
(On if he's
excited for Texas A&M to be part of the SEC): "It's nice. We feel welcome.
Even though we get a lot of the 'you're from the Big 12; you've never played
football like this before,' we feel like people are excited to have us in the
SEC, just like we're excited to be in it. We can't wait to play."
|
|
Quoteboard: Luke Joeckel |
(On what
Texas A&M brings to the SEC): "We bring the same kind of atmosphere, I
believe. Kyle Field is a lot like the SEC schools and brings the same kind of
excitement to football and it's a great atmosphere. Twelfth Man is certainly
the best fans in the country, so I think we'll fit in really well there and I
think we have a pretty good football team also."
(On what the
biggest style adjustments will be): "Well we'll see speed every single week. In
the Big 12, we saw speed, but the SEC has great defenses every single week.
There's a stacking defense, and the defense will be a little bit different than
the Big 12 had, but I think we're definitely ready for the competition."
(On the
spread offense): "I think it will help us a lot by spreading out the defenses
and putting the ball everywhere on the field. Spreading it out, throwing it
deep, all of those quick passes and running against smaller boxes will help out
a lot, I think. It's a little bit different from last year, but it's definitely
a transition that we're all trying to get used to it right now, but I think
we're almost getting there."
(On how
ready the team is to get on the field after all of the off-season changes):
"I'm so ready. I like all of the off-season and all of the workouts, but I'm
not here to play workouts. I'm here to play football, so I'm definitely really
excited about getting into the season, playing football and hitting people
again. I'm just ready for that week one against Louisiana Tech, for sure."
|
|
Quoteboard: Ryan Swope |
(On Texas
A&M being the new kids on the block): "It's a privilege to join this great
conference. It's the best in the country and to be a part of it is really
great. Coming from Texas, we take pride in it. We take pride at Texas A&M
University and we're looking forward to it. We're very anxious to get this
thing started and we just can't wait for kickoff."
(On if
joining the SEC will bring better talent and better athletes to Texas A&M):
"Most definitely. With all of the recruiting now and how big it's gotten, to be
playing in the best conference in the country is going to for sure excel all of
the recruits and improve the recruiting as a whole. I look forward to seeing how
that develops in the future."
(On what
will be the biggest adjustment for them in the SEC): "The biggest adjustment
is, I think, the speed of the game. The defenses are very fast. The front four
are very big and they've got speed. I think that's a huge adjustment, just
breaking down film and preparing our football team to win games. We've just really
got to take a look at all of their defenses."
(On the
offense and how it will fare against the SEC West defense): "After spring and
going through with Coach Sumlin, I expect a very fast‐paced offense. We
conditioned and Coach Jackson, our strength coach, has us in the best shape
that we've ever been in. He's put us in a really good position to be very successful.
They've pushed us in practice. I've never run as much in my life as in Coach
Sumlin's offense. We just run, run, run. It's going to be interesting to see
how those SEC defenses react to this different kind of scheme that we run.
That's one of the reasons that I came back to be a part of it, because Coach Sumlin
had a great offense. He has so much character and I just wanted to come back
and be a part of it, and play for Texas A&M for one more year."
(On how it
feels to continue playing Missouri): "It'll be fun to play Missouri and keep
that game on our schedule. We've always had great chemistry with that
university; it's been almost like a rivalry game now. We're going to be hungry
to win; it's going to be an exciting game. We're just looking forward to
playing them."
(On the
feelings of the fans and College Station): "Right now College Station is very
excited to be a part of this whole deal. We're excited to kick off in the new
conference; excited to play for Coach Sumlin. We got a new weight room facility
going in. There are a lot of things changing; there's jersey changes, uniform
changes. There's a lot of hype in College Station right now; it's very
electric. There are just so many things that we're just happy to be a part of
and we're looking forward to starting the season. It's just a privilege to play
in this great conference."
|
