Weekly Football Press Conference: Mississippi State
Nov 01, 2016 | Football
A&M travels to Mississippi State on Saturday (11:00 a.m., SEC Network).
Coach Sumlin's press conference is posted below, as well as a summary of his comments, along with the press conference videos for Coach Chavis, Coach Mazzone and players.
KEVIN SUMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE SUMMARY
David Turner has been here a few months, what separates him from other defensive tackle/line coaches you've worked with.
Over course of time he's gotten wealth of experience. Got lot of experience in SEC. Familiarity with style of play, particularly in the West. Familiarity with the region from recruiting standpoint. Relationships. That helps anybody. No real substitute for experience and particularly quality experience in our league. Great situation for us. Timing is everything. Obviously he's continued to develop the players that had played for us in past and continues to develop young players and get them better and to point where we're able to rotate those guys in and out. As I said earlier in year, productivity is something we'd like out of that group, but that's not the maximum, the way we're playing defense. Those guys have to hold the point and stay in their gap. Some of things you saw year ago that maybe from crowd standpoint was a great play also came back to bite us. Guys were running up the field and not doing their job. Primarily the way this defense is built now, would like productivity out of defensive tackles, but more than anything else would like consistency in your gap and not giving up big seams and going sideways. Holding point at or beyond line of scrimmage, and not on our side. Big emphasis. Not easy to do. Defensive tackles have done great job creating that discipline and getting guys to buy in to doing their job.
Have played two 11 a.m. games in Starkville with two very different results. Key to going over there and getting win.
Like anything else, be ready to play. Create own energy. Team has done well on road. It is what it is. SEC road game. Fans passionate. Make noise and care. Talented team. That's what makes SEC what it is. Talent level and fans are fabulous wherever we go. But we've got to worry about us. Guys have done good job of that week to week.
Have a 21-8 record away from Kyle Field. Don't do a walk through on the road Fridays. Why is that.
I just don't do that. Even though he did have a walk through in the movie Hoosiers, what did he say? The rim is 10 feet high. Measure this or that. Whether there's 100 people in stadium or 100,000 it's still 100 yards long and 53 1/3 yards wide. But to answer your question we get a lot of things done here indoors. Changed our practice schedule. We are not a walk through team on Fridays. We just get on a plane and go over there. Think also little added excitement pulling up there and a waking up for guys who've not been in that situation. But we've done good job worrying about us. Just a part of how we do things.
How do you make sure guys don't get caught up worrying about rankings, which come out tonight.
We'll be on practice field when they come out. Just our regular practice time. I've said for a while, we've got nothing to do with what goes on tonight. All we can do is win the game in front of us. We have to worry about winning Saturday, going to Starkville and getting win. If we do that and keep focused on that every week, there will be something good at end. Something real good. Our guys understand that. When they leave me, everyone wants to talk to them about this and that but they've done really really good job this year of focusing. Lot of things been said about this program, all summer and all offseason. If they were listening to everything everyone else said, they wouldn't be in position they are now. They've done great job and will continue to.
Said you haven't played best game yet. Wondering how close you are. And also how well Koda Martin played.
It's interesting. From an evaluation standpoint it's hard from other night because we played so many people. Like lot of people we had guys out. 3 of better players on defense out of game. To evaluate honestly what is going on there is little bit difficult. Schematically there's some things we've continued to improve and tweak in all three phases. Offensively were able to rest right guard. Jermaine (Eluemunor) to be that unselfish his senior year, move to right tackle and play way he's played all year, then to walk in room and have Coach Turner say we need to give these guys a break why don't you move in at right guard this week. I think it was really unselfish of him to move in there and get Koda on field. If you didn't notice him he did good job. For most part our tackles have done that this year. Had issues at Alabama, really inside. To have some different combinations if those type of things show up again shows some flexibility in our line. We're moving along pretty good though. Gives Koda flexibility on both sides. Saw what Kendall Bussey can do. Been really, really wanting to get in there and play. Biggest thing I got out of it we got about 7 guys that played winning football that had been kind of up and down but will be critical in next stretch. Development of guys that are interchangeable pieces are big deal. Got to continue to get better offensively at what we want to do. Thought we operated pretty well on third down early in game. Got to continue to get better every week. Look at everything Sunday, get with players Monday and talk about the good stuff and the things we need to get fixed. Monday practice mostly about fixing our own issues and not letting them pop up again.
Productivity of Nick Fitzgerald and the Mississippi State offense.
Not shocked at all. Dan Mullen has done great job of developing quarterbacks, whether at Utah, Florida, Mississippi State. For you Cowboys fans, there's no mistake Dak Prescott is a pretty good player. Also has experience based on where he came from that has helped him. This guy is no different. Big guy. 6-5, 230. That's first thing that gets your attention. He can spin it. Can put it down and run it. Is a load when he runs it. Another one of those deals where you get later in season, quarterbacks that are young are starting to see more things and are getting better. Like Dan said yesterday, when your quarterback plays well your team has chance to win. Fred Ross is guy from Tyler, caught 11 against us last year. He's excited I know to play the Aggies. They've got weapons. QB that's hot right now. We've got to continue to play our style of defense and crate our energy. Follow it up with solid special teams and good offensive performance.
Your quarterbacks came in here in suits. Said they are running for president. Would they have your endorsement.
Yes. Always good when all three of them play, will put it that way. Just tells you where our team is right now. Got to have some levity. With everything that goes on, particularly at that position, there's time to be serious and respect the game but also a time to enjoy life and enjoy your teammates. We talk here all the time about don't keep your eye on the destination. Enjoy the journey. Respect what the journey is all about. Destination will take care of itself. That's where we are right now.
Changes with Christian Kirk in his second season and how you use him and what he's done this year.
In offseason he really dedicated himself to becoming a better route runner. In high school was mostly running back, some wide receiver. That's why we weren't surprised with the big plays. They really came for him in the return game and screen game where he made people miss. Really worked at understanding defenses. Really worked at his route running to become more of a receiver. Worked real hard at route running and it's starting to show. Great teammate. Great guy off field. Does all the things to take care of himself to prepare physically and mentally like a pro player. Besides that he's also a really good guy. Always around the young guys and recruiting. Another guy on this team that's in a good place. Wants to be better than he is. Has ability to bring other people along with him.
JOHN CHAVIS PRESS CONFERENCE
NOEL MAZZONE PRESS CONFERENCE
CHRISTIAN KIRK PRESS CONFERENCE
QUARTERBACKS PRESS CONFERENCE
JUSTIN EVANS & DAVID TURNER PRESS CONFERENCE
