Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
Football Weekly Press Conference: Ball State
Sep 08, 2015 | Football
Coach Sumlin along with both coordinators and select players met the press on Tuesday as the Aggies talked Ball State and the home opener at Kyle Field.
Click the link above to watch Coach Sumlin's press conference.
KEVIN SUMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE SUMMARY
Hat. I've got it. Part of a trophy. After the game they came up and said it's customary winning coach wears hat. So I put it on. It was comfortable. Everyone is giving me hard time. But it beats the alternative. Rather have hat that not have it.
Update on defensive guys. We don't talk about injuries.
Assess offensive line after first game. When you're in game like that, to naked eye anytime there's difficulty running the ball it's automatically assumed it's the offensive line. Way this offense is designed a lot more parts to it than just the 5 guys up front. Execution on perimeter, ability for quarterbacks to be able to change plays and get ball out or change the play called is part of this offense. With a couple young guys against an exotic, blitzing defense we were extremely conservative with what we did. Running back played 80 snaps, carried 29 times. Combination of things particularly in first ballgame. Will become more multiple as we move on. QBs were conservative Saturday. Can be that way when defense is playing the way they did. Our style of play for that game a lot different than it has been since we've been here. Will that be case all the time? I don't know. Certainly we have lot more confidence with where we are defensively. When all said and done if you can have 400-some yards and 38 pts, 31 offensive, I think people would take that every week. Is it frustrating sometimes? We get that turnover and run it 3 straight times. Things involved in that that could have been changed at line of scrimmage. Conservative with where we were, our QBs based on looks they saw and things going on basically just ran the play. We kicked the field goal and took points. With our QBs, in the red zone just like last year we need to do better job of protecting that 3 points and trying to score touchdowns. When you have an exotic team like that and team blitzing 90% of the time, conservative way was the way to go particularly with way defense was playing.
Decision to play two quarterbacks on Saturday and how much to expect that moving forward. We'll see what goes on moving forward. The plan last Saturday was to play Kyler the whole time. Able to get him in with 3 minutes to go in first half. Time ran out on him. Moved the ball, ended up throwing an out and ran out of time. Came out of game a little bit different for him too. Breathing as hard as he's ever breathed at halftime. I looked over at him and he started smiling. He said I can't breathe and those guys out there are fast. First time it hit him maybe he's not the fastest guy on the field all the time, although it looked like it to me. But experience was great for him. What an atmosphere. Getting him back in second half was all part of it. What you saw combination of things. 1, the maturity level of Kyle Allen in how he handled the situation. I heard the word 'yanked' – no one yanked anyone. I told him he would be going back in. He was able to handle that on the sideline. They were able to talk to each other. Knowing he would have opportunity to get back in probably calmed them both down a little bit.
Was putting Kyler back in in second half more strategic. Little bit yeah. Settle us down. Give them a change of looks. There were things he did on his own that created some things and were some other things that as younger guy he didn't do. Put himself in positions to have to run. All part of learning experience. As fast as it looked from stands, you stand behind center, Arizona State is a fast football team. Bringing blitzes from everywhere. Tough deal for a young quarterback. But to get him that kind of experience and see the difference between high school and college…(in high school) a lot of things athletically he's able to get away with. Now it's about knowing he needs to be complete quarterback to be successful. Change of pace. Kyle Allen responded in 4th quarter. Great poise, great energy. Extremely accurate. Lot of things we can learn from that game. Ways to go as team. Lot of positives for team to draw from.
Daeshon Hall's progression. Said during fall camp it could be big year for him. First real offseason he's had. Time he's been here has had both shoulders operated on. Should have redshirted as a freshman. This is first offseason he's really had as far as strength and conditioning and nutrition. He's extremely athletic. Taller than Myles. Long. Still learning game. He's got great energy, passion. Anyone who's watched the TV copy there's sometimes three guys blocking Myles. Someone else better be able to do something on the other side. I really thought the three guys in back end, Donovan Wilson, Justin Evans and Armani Watts, covered a lot of ground. Able to tackle people in space, run to football and close down some alleys. Daeshon, it'll be real interesting to see as time goes on how he progresses. Really worked hard at it. Scheme helps him.
Tra Carson's performance. Been solid player for us really since he's been here. Bowl game he had 100-yard performance. Workhorse. Really thought James White would have big night too, way he started off, but he got dinged little bit playing special teams. Nothing serious. Tra sucked it up and went rest of game. He's a guy that's 230-235 and is a big back that can block. Trustworthy. Real good hands. He can do everything for us. Leader for us. Rested him a bit yesterday. I don't really worry about Tra Carson when it comes to game time.
Brandon Williams' night. Good. Got some real talent. At 6' 205 lbs, average size running back. At corner, is a big corner and an NFL prospect. Physical. One of fastest guys on team. Long arms. Sky is the limit for him. Loves to play the position. Still an emergency running back for us. What he's doing is not only helping our football team but also helping himself and showcasing where he can play at next level. If he can improve technique think he's gone from a free agent/late round guy to a draft pick. As he continues to get better that helps him and helps us. That's what it's all about.
Ball State, Darian Green, all-purpose ability. Little bit like what we faced last week. Guy they will get the ball to. Coach Pete Lembo has done a great job at Ball State. Tailored offense to those type of guys. Look at his record—his team over last 4-5 years beaten Indiana twice, beat South Florida. Beat Virginia. Had Iowa beat last year at Iowa. These guys have gone on road and beaten power five teams. They'll be fired up to get in here and play. Will have plan. Scored (at least) 40 points in games going back to last year. Know what they're doing. Coach Lembo knows what he's doing. Not coming here just to play a game. Been going places every year to beat people. Last Saturday is over with. We need to move forward and get better as team and be ready to play Saturday night.
Christian Kirk and other than his speed what makes him a threat. Very seldom do you see guy who comes in as freshman and is already a real good receiver and a return guy. People that didn't watch game or didn't notice, he handled every kickoff and every punt in that environment. Tells you kind of trust we have in him. We haven't had that. Goes out there and handles every punt and kickoff for the whole game and he starts. Tells you what kind of talent level he is and the trust we have in him as coaches. Doesn't come from flashes here and there. Comes from what he's shown at practice, his competitive nature, how he plays football. Will make a mistake, you talk to him and that's it. He caught one punt inside the 10. Before I could say anything, he said I screwed that up coach, won't happen again. Rarely do you have a guy that mature who can communicate and play at that level in that environment. Let's see what he can do for an encore.
Swarming defense. Something Chief really preached. Running to the ball. We have good team speed. That closes down some of those plays. Amazed how much better tackling team you are when you're not having single open tackles all over place. Or space all over place. Space comes from lack of pursuit. Can miss a tackle when you know others are coming. Lot of things schematically seem very simple but biggest thing is where effort being placed- knowing where help is, playing hard, guys running to ball, not creating whole lot of 1-on-1 situations. Thought in the open field Justin Evans, Armani Watts, Donovan Wilson, had some 1-on-1 opportunities with good players and got them on the ground. As we get players back, we are excited about that. Two suspended for that game and this game too. Will look to work Otaro Alaka back a little this week. Will get him back next week for sure. Go from situation where we were thin for first game, now over next two weeks will get all those linebackers back, for Nevada for sure. Bodes well for us to get depth back. We'll add back another interior d-lineman and few more linebackers. Significant change for us defensively.
Keaton Sutherland. Were a lot of things going on for him. Wasn't a position you can just put your hand on the ground and run fast or catch the ball. Blitzes. Guys coming from everywhere. Got Jeremiah Stuckey in there, let him settle down a bit. Keaton will be a real, real good player. Just because he didn't handle all that well early in that game doesn't mean that he can't play. We do have some guys we can rotate in there. All four of those freshman offensive linemen will be real good players for us. He's going to be fine. Learning experience for him. Fortunately we have some other guys we can get in there and get him going.
How nice to have guy like Jake Blount. How about that huh. Played 40 something plays. Certain guys you look out there and say boy hope they don't find him. But he played well. Moved a little bit. Ran around, made some plays. Held his own. Did a heck of a job. Glad he's here. What a great experience for him and his family. Kid got more confident the whole time.
Learn from South Carolina win and last season, do you address or count on veterans. Don't assume anything. Got four to five guys who played well Saturday who weren't here last year. They probably think they're pretty good right now. Don't know where we will be in the polls and don't care, based on what happened last year. What is important is how we approach this week in practice and the next few weeks and what our team attitude is. Learning from last year. Guys who went through that, the Armani Watts-es of the world, Myles Garretts, Speedy, Josh, all those guys. There were a number who played early in South Carolina game and the first four or five through Arkansas. Remember what happened along that journey and through the valley after that and let's talk about that. Eliminate those types of things from our practice habits and life. Focus on things and how we played last Saturday. That takes leadership on and off field. Talking to your teammates, here's what I did well, here's where I screwed up. I think that's important. You look at this team right now, a lot of those guys who played well Saturday were sophomores and juniors. Challenge is for those guys to say I've been through this before let's make sure where we are every week.
Click the link above to watch Coach Sumlin's press conference.
KEVIN SUMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE SUMMARY
Hat. I've got it. Part of a trophy. After the game they came up and said it's customary winning coach wears hat. So I put it on. It was comfortable. Everyone is giving me hard time. But it beats the alternative. Rather have hat that not have it.
Update on defensive guys. We don't talk about injuries.
Assess offensive line after first game. When you're in game like that, to naked eye anytime there's difficulty running the ball it's automatically assumed it's the offensive line. Way this offense is designed a lot more parts to it than just the 5 guys up front. Execution on perimeter, ability for quarterbacks to be able to change plays and get ball out or change the play called is part of this offense. With a couple young guys against an exotic, blitzing defense we were extremely conservative with what we did. Running back played 80 snaps, carried 29 times. Combination of things particularly in first ballgame. Will become more multiple as we move on. QBs were conservative Saturday. Can be that way when defense is playing the way they did. Our style of play for that game a lot different than it has been since we've been here. Will that be case all the time? I don't know. Certainly we have lot more confidence with where we are defensively. When all said and done if you can have 400-some yards and 38 pts, 31 offensive, I think people would take that every week. Is it frustrating sometimes? We get that turnover and run it 3 straight times. Things involved in that that could have been changed at line of scrimmage. Conservative with where we were, our QBs based on looks they saw and things going on basically just ran the play. We kicked the field goal and took points. With our QBs, in the red zone just like last year we need to do better job of protecting that 3 points and trying to score touchdowns. When you have an exotic team like that and team blitzing 90% of the time, conservative way was the way to go particularly with way defense was playing.
Decision to play two quarterbacks on Saturday and how much to expect that moving forward. We'll see what goes on moving forward. The plan last Saturday was to play Kyler the whole time. Able to get him in with 3 minutes to go in first half. Time ran out on him. Moved the ball, ended up throwing an out and ran out of time. Came out of game a little bit different for him too. Breathing as hard as he's ever breathed at halftime. I looked over at him and he started smiling. He said I can't breathe and those guys out there are fast. First time it hit him maybe he's not the fastest guy on the field all the time, although it looked like it to me. But experience was great for him. What an atmosphere. Getting him back in second half was all part of it. What you saw combination of things. 1, the maturity level of Kyle Allen in how he handled the situation. I heard the word 'yanked' – no one yanked anyone. I told him he would be going back in. He was able to handle that on the sideline. They were able to talk to each other. Knowing he would have opportunity to get back in probably calmed them both down a little bit.
Was putting Kyler back in in second half more strategic. Little bit yeah. Settle us down. Give them a change of looks. There were things he did on his own that created some things and were some other things that as younger guy he didn't do. Put himself in positions to have to run. All part of learning experience. As fast as it looked from stands, you stand behind center, Arizona State is a fast football team. Bringing blitzes from everywhere. Tough deal for a young quarterback. But to get him that kind of experience and see the difference between high school and college…(in high school) a lot of things athletically he's able to get away with. Now it's about knowing he needs to be complete quarterback to be successful. Change of pace. Kyle Allen responded in 4th quarter. Great poise, great energy. Extremely accurate. Lot of things we can learn from that game. Ways to go as team. Lot of positives for team to draw from.
Daeshon Hall's progression. Said during fall camp it could be big year for him. First real offseason he's had. Time he's been here has had both shoulders operated on. Should have redshirted as a freshman. This is first offseason he's really had as far as strength and conditioning and nutrition. He's extremely athletic. Taller than Myles. Long. Still learning game. He's got great energy, passion. Anyone who's watched the TV copy there's sometimes three guys blocking Myles. Someone else better be able to do something on the other side. I really thought the three guys in back end, Donovan Wilson, Justin Evans and Armani Watts, covered a lot of ground. Able to tackle people in space, run to football and close down some alleys. Daeshon, it'll be real interesting to see as time goes on how he progresses. Really worked hard at it. Scheme helps him.
Tra Carson's performance. Been solid player for us really since he's been here. Bowl game he had 100-yard performance. Workhorse. Really thought James White would have big night too, way he started off, but he got dinged little bit playing special teams. Nothing serious. Tra sucked it up and went rest of game. He's a guy that's 230-235 and is a big back that can block. Trustworthy. Real good hands. He can do everything for us. Leader for us. Rested him a bit yesterday. I don't really worry about Tra Carson when it comes to game time.
Brandon Williams' night. Good. Got some real talent. At 6' 205 lbs, average size running back. At corner, is a big corner and an NFL prospect. Physical. One of fastest guys on team. Long arms. Sky is the limit for him. Loves to play the position. Still an emergency running back for us. What he's doing is not only helping our football team but also helping himself and showcasing where he can play at next level. If he can improve technique think he's gone from a free agent/late round guy to a draft pick. As he continues to get better that helps him and helps us. That's what it's all about.
Ball State, Darian Green, all-purpose ability. Little bit like what we faced last week. Guy they will get the ball to. Coach Pete Lembo has done a great job at Ball State. Tailored offense to those type of guys. Look at his record—his team over last 4-5 years beaten Indiana twice, beat South Florida. Beat Virginia. Had Iowa beat last year at Iowa. These guys have gone on road and beaten power five teams. They'll be fired up to get in here and play. Will have plan. Scored (at least) 40 points in games going back to last year. Know what they're doing. Coach Lembo knows what he's doing. Not coming here just to play a game. Been going places every year to beat people. Last Saturday is over with. We need to move forward and get better as team and be ready to play Saturday night.
Christian Kirk and other than his speed what makes him a threat. Very seldom do you see guy who comes in as freshman and is already a real good receiver and a return guy. People that didn't watch game or didn't notice, he handled every kickoff and every punt in that environment. Tells you kind of trust we have in him. We haven't had that. Goes out there and handles every punt and kickoff for the whole game and he starts. Tells you what kind of talent level he is and the trust we have in him as coaches. Doesn't come from flashes here and there. Comes from what he's shown at practice, his competitive nature, how he plays football. Will make a mistake, you talk to him and that's it. He caught one punt inside the 10. Before I could say anything, he said I screwed that up coach, won't happen again. Rarely do you have a guy that mature who can communicate and play at that level in that environment. Let's see what he can do for an encore.
Swarming defense. Something Chief really preached. Running to the ball. We have good team speed. That closes down some of those plays. Amazed how much better tackling team you are when you're not having single open tackles all over place. Or space all over place. Space comes from lack of pursuit. Can miss a tackle when you know others are coming. Lot of things schematically seem very simple but biggest thing is where effort being placed- knowing where help is, playing hard, guys running to ball, not creating whole lot of 1-on-1 situations. Thought in the open field Justin Evans, Armani Watts, Donovan Wilson, had some 1-on-1 opportunities with good players and got them on the ground. As we get players back, we are excited about that. Two suspended for that game and this game too. Will look to work Otaro Alaka back a little this week. Will get him back next week for sure. Go from situation where we were thin for first game, now over next two weeks will get all those linebackers back, for Nevada for sure. Bodes well for us to get depth back. We'll add back another interior d-lineman and few more linebackers. Significant change for us defensively.
Keaton Sutherland. Were a lot of things going on for him. Wasn't a position you can just put your hand on the ground and run fast or catch the ball. Blitzes. Guys coming from everywhere. Got Jeremiah Stuckey in there, let him settle down a bit. Keaton will be a real, real good player. Just because he didn't handle all that well early in that game doesn't mean that he can't play. We do have some guys we can rotate in there. All four of those freshman offensive linemen will be real good players for us. He's going to be fine. Learning experience for him. Fortunately we have some other guys we can get in there and get him going.
How nice to have guy like Jake Blount. How about that huh. Played 40 something plays. Certain guys you look out there and say boy hope they don't find him. But he played well. Moved a little bit. Ran around, made some plays. Held his own. Did a heck of a job. Glad he's here. What a great experience for him and his family. Kid got more confident the whole time.
Learn from South Carolina win and last season, do you address or count on veterans. Don't assume anything. Got four to five guys who played well Saturday who weren't here last year. They probably think they're pretty good right now. Don't know where we will be in the polls and don't care, based on what happened last year. What is important is how we approach this week in practice and the next few weeks and what our team attitude is. Learning from last year. Guys who went through that, the Armani Watts-es of the world, Myles Garretts, Speedy, Josh, all those guys. There were a number who played early in South Carolina game and the first four or five through Arkansas. Remember what happened along that journey and through the valley after that and let's talk about that. Eliminate those types of things from our practice habits and life. Focus on things and how we played last Saturday. That takes leadership on and off field. Talking to your teammates, here's what I did well, here's where I screwed up. I think that's important. You look at this team right now, a lot of those guys who played well Saturday were sophomores and juniors. Challenge is for those guys to say I've been through this before let's make sure where we are every week.
Players Mentioned
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