August 28, 2007
Coaches and players met with the press on Tuesday at the first weekly football media luncheon, held at the Bright Complex on the Texas A&M campus.
Audio clips are available in MP3 format to the right. Quotes from Coach Fran's press conference are posted below.
Coach Fran Press Conference Transcript
"It's exciting to get started. It's always exciting to start a season and, you know, there's always some anxiousness to going into a first game. We've had a really good August camp. The players have worked really hard. They've have pushed themselves. They've been physical; they've done a great job in preparing. We've managed to not have any season-ending injuries. Obviously we've got some things to deal with like every football team in America does right now but right now today with a couple of days' left of practice we're going to go into the game pretty healthy. First games are always a little anxious because you're not quite sure of a lot of things. You're never completely sure about your own team and that always leads you to be a little bit anxious. We're probably going into this game about as blind on our opponent as you could go into it. You prepare for a lot of ghosts in a first game, there are a lot of things that might happen that don't happen and that makes it doubly tough. Then when you've got a new staff that didn't take over till June 11th. (The question is) are they going to run anything that was left over from Montana State because they've had it through spring practice or are they going to bring everything from Drake and run that. You try to look at some personnel on Montana State but they may be in different places a little bit. So it's as unusual of a situation as you could ask for. I know the guys took notice the other day when we talked about Colorado only making a little over 200 yards and getting beat last year 19 to 10 and I believe I'm correct in saying the year before it was Oklahoma State winning 15 to 10 over this team. So this is a I-AA tradition rich program that's got a lot of wins and played very well down through the years and is starting out ranked in the top 25. They've certainly had some unusual things to deal with in the off season. And you don't know what or any effect those are going to have. So I imagine the first hour before kick off there will be a lot of notes taken and a lot of staring at each other trying to figure out who might play where and watching how guys look in uniforms and checking things out very well. So you know then we'll learn as we go I think in this game and have to adjust as we go in this game."
Kirk Elder said that he can tell how August went based on your mood. How would you describe this August?
"Most days it's been pretty good. You know, this team is fun to coach. Guys like Kirk Elder have made this fun. They're experienced. When you have great leaders like Kirk and the guys that are on this team they head off problems and situations before they happen. They're very consciousness guys. I kind of grind it on a little bit of them one practice one day and they took it on their shoulders to you know come back the next day and fix things and do what needed to be done. My good mood has been based upon how well they've managed August and probably as good as any team I've coached and certainly any team I've coached here. They managed it very well. We've got some guys that we've been together for a while. That's a tremendous plus. Kirk has played a lot of games. I looked at the release; I think he's started 35 games for us. That's pretty comforting. You've got experience back in good places. Stephen McGee's healthy. Last year at this time I was sitting here and he hadn't really thrown until today in practice all August. So there are a lot of things that lets you feel more confident and comfortable about going into this game. The guys are always saying "how you doing Coach?" I say how are you guys doing because how I am doing is based on how you're doing. If they're doing good I'm doing good and if they're not doing good then I'm not doing good and they understand that."
From an injury standpoint has this been a successful camp for you?
"It has. We've had some guys miss some time here and there but nobody has had anything that's going to be really major that's going to keep them out of a lot of playing time that we would expect to be playing Saturday night. There are some guys that may miss a little bit but, you know, they're going to be back fairly quickly so we're as fortunate on that as we could be. We haven't scrimmaged a lot. We don't in August. We scrimmage what we need to in order to get ready for the game. We scrimmage a lot in spring practice. Our goal is always to get to the first game with all the best players healthy and I think we accomplished that."
With all that is being said do you think that this team can and should compete for a Big 12 title?
"I think they can. You know should is a strong word. I think if you base on what they accomplished last year, I mean, we were two points away from being in the Big XII championship game last year. We lost some guys off of last year's team we would love to have back but we probably have as good a nucleus back as we've had and that you could ask for and experience. You know, if this team can build on what last year's team did in resiliency and playing to the last play and making plays should is an appropriate word. But this team hadn't accomplished anything. This team hasn't played a game, this team hasn't done anything but practice yet and so there are things that remain to be seen. I talked to them Sunday night after practice a good bit about how I felt so positive about August camp but yet I said you know there are a lot of questions yet to be answered about our football team and that's what we're going to start to find out here as we go into September is do we have answers for all those questions and you know how is this team going to be? No team is like last year's and the worst thing we can do as players is assume this team will be like last year's team because it doesn't work that way. Every team takes on its own identity and takes on its own personality and things change and we hope they're all positive changes. We've got to start playing games to find out now."
With that being said wouldn't you be surprised and disappointed if this team took a step back from what last year's team did?
"Yeah, I would be. The bottom line is you're going to measure with wins and losses and this is, I say significantly a pretty tough schedule for them to measure that against. You're going to go to Miami and to some tough places to play but fortunately this team was 5-0 on the road last year. They're going to go with confidence that they can go and handle these things. We are going to go on the road as confident as we've ever been. So I would be disappointed if we take steps backward in certain areas certainly."
This is really a junior -senior team and coaches live for that. Is it something you did back in the early years you were here? Was it a conscious redshirting effort or did it just fall into place that this year's team ended up being so experienced?
"You know when we came Homer we redshirted almost all of that class that we could. I remember when we were struggling that year a lot of the guys in here would say do you wish you were playing those guys? I said it wouldn't matter right now. And it wouldn't have mattered back then. I don't think they would have made much difference in that year, but I think they can make a difference now. What we've been trying to do is build a program that can perpetuate itself that can sustain itself. Obviously we've had our ups and downs in the first four years and we're trying to get to a point where the downs are seven wins and the ups are what we all want. That was the whole rhyme and reason behind what we did was to build a program and develop numbers and I'm still a believer that guys play their best in their fifth year. Since then we've played far more freshman and we've been able to recruit more freshman that are ready to play like Michael Goodson, Martellus Bennett, Jordan Pugh and people like that. We've been able to put some of those guys into this mix to build this and right now we have a good balance of where we're at. We've got 17 seniors that are on aid and more than that on the team and our classes are a little more balanced than they were at different times. You know last year we only had 12 seniors and of the 12 not all of those played a great deal and so even last year you kind of look and say gosh we don't lose too much we got a lot back for the next year. It hasn't been such that we've been aiming for year five as much as trying to build a program that like I said, can sustain itself."
There was a lot made early on last season about Goodson's fumbling problems, obviously in your mind that was a big thing but his pass protection was that the most immediate issue to you?
"It was. Last year, I guess you could say our concern was Mike playing without the ball like f he dropped it or if there were plays where he didn't have it in his hands. Mike wasn't ready for all the things early in September that were involved in pass protection and most of the time we would give him a free release if he were in the backfield. We just wouldn't ask him to pick up a linebacker or figure out which one to pick up against different defenses. Now he can do those kinds of things. He's much more adept and in tune to all those things, he is a much more complete back today. He was a talent last year that ran on instincts and talent early in the year and you know in September and August he probably heard about five million times ball security and taking care of the ball and how to carry the football. It's one of those things that a freshman was so excited and in tune to playing that until he didn't do as well in front of 80,000 did it completely register what coach was saying. He took it to heart though and made the changes he needed to there and has done that in pass protection and faking and the other areas we wanted him to as well."
Do you find that with younger players playing time has a way of making them become much more aware of the things they need to improve on?
"There's no doubt. When it gets down to it as a coach the only control you really have is who plays and who doesn't. If you give that away, then you really have no control over anything. Mike probably played a little less early in the year because of that and he got pushed a long when Courtney (Lewis) got hurt and had to play a little faster and a little bit more. To his credit he got more ready to play, too, after the first game he focused on his deficiencies and improved and got better and better and better as the year wore on."
Do you think we'll see more of him and Jorvorskie together?
"We will, yes. It'll vary from game to game but you will see more of them in the backfield together, and we started doing that more towards the end of last year, too."
What was it your coaching staff saw in (Matt) Featherston in that high school all star game to make this guy, an unknown really, an offer for a scholarship?
"We got a great recommendation.. Les Koenning's dad was the coach of the all star team. He called and said "you need to watch this guy, he's a player., he's doing well. And Coach Koenning Sr. knows players, there's no doubt about that. So we were able to watch practices and watch the game and everything and Matt was impressive in that week of practice and games, and that was the benefit of the all star game. Sometimes a recruit can play for a team that he doesn't show out much and it's hard to evaluate him. I don't -- think we would have recruited Matt off his film. I don't know, probably not. We were able to recruit him because we were able to watch him first hand and stand from me to you and watch practice and watch him work and hit and run and the things that he can do and that's the best evaluation you can get I think is when you sit right there at practice two or three days in a row and then watch the all star game too."
What was lacking on the film with him? What made it...
"Well, I don't exactly remember to be honest with you Randy. It's been a while back now. I don't know if there were any particular points. Usually it's hard to evaluate how quick they are and how fast they are. Sometimes you don't play for a very good team. I think Matt's high school if I remember correctly, he didn't have a very big coaching staff. It was pretty limited numbers wise. Sometimes that makes a difference right there in how a guy gets evaluated and film is tough to evaluate in a program that was that far away and didn't know a lot about that. That makes you a little skeptical of what you're seeing and what you're not seeing."
Jumping back to the offensive line for a second. It seems like they're all pretty stand up guys, kind of well spoken guys. Is that how you see it? What's it like to coach a group like that.
"These are rock solid guys. No. 1, they have a great work ethic. They like to play the game. They have a great passion to play. They're great young men. They're graduating, they lead their life the way you want your son to lead his life. They're competitors. They are very prideful about what they do. You know, they make coaching for me and for Coach Helduser comfortable. In watching them compared to when we started with them, you know, back two or three years ago, Kirk Elder started as a redshirt freshman and Cody Wallace been playing a long time and Chris Yoder started as a redshirt freshman. I'm not exactly sure the day Corey Clark took over but you know there were mishaps along the way when they were younger but they learn from them and continue to get better and they took coaching well. I wish I was in the NFL when it comes to these guys so they don't graduate and leave, they just stay and we get them a extension but it doesn't work that way here."
Were those guys an anchor when you recruited that first year? It seemed like you really went after the o line men and some of the recruiting services had them one or two. Was that kind of an anchor you started with those guys?
"I think there are three areas that if you can be good in those three areas you've got a chance to build around it: Quarterback, o line, and d line. If you have a good d line you can defend the run and you can rush the passer. So you're going to help your linebackers and secondary look better. If you got an o line you can protect the passer and run the football and obviously I think every team has to have a quarterback that can manage and operate within the system and those guys have been a pretty good rock for us since we've been here. We've had some nice offensive years. We've been consistent offensively and they've been someone that you could count on for what kind of play you were going to get most weeks."
Was Southwest Texas I-AA when you were there?
"Yes they were."
When a program like that gets a shot at a quote big boy type of school, is that kind of a crusade type of game?
"I think you could say crusade, I think you could also say we've got nothing to lose. We'd like to think we should have been recruited by that school and we're that caliber of a player and you know some of them are, they are. You know I-AA schools get guys drafted all the time and sign NFL contracts. Montana State has had their share of those kind of players, Southwest Texas when I was there. We had great tail back in Reggie Rivers that played five years with the Denver Broncos. We don't make all the right decisions on players and you never can predict how a player is going to develop and work after they get there and a lot of those guys go and do that. Really a good I-AA program, they have 63 scholarships they can break them up. If they've really done a good job of evaluating they're going to have 22 guys, a starting offense and starting defense that I'd probably like to have a lot, any Division 1 team would. This team is better than a Citadel team that we played last year and I thought Citadel played very hard and had a great time and enjoyed the game they didn't win the game but they never let up they kept coming and that's what you're talking about Randy and Montana State is not going to be intimidated I don't think coming here. They have been to Colorado they've been to Oklahoma State in the last few years and Rob Best I think is a good, solid, fundamental, excellent football coach and I think he's going to come in with a sound plan and execute it and try to make sure that his team comes out of this game better no matter what the result of that game is."
I don't know how much you have raved about the indoor, but you have spent a lot of summers in the Texas heat. Why has that facility made such a difference? Why are you convinced it has?
"Well, you were out to practice a couple of days, Brian. I don't remember exactly how tough they were because we've had some up and down heat this year where it's been pretty uncomfortable and some days it hasn't been too bad. That first week we started I said we'll get rid of this rain and just start two a days and fall practice and it'll go away and that first week was about 100 every day. What happens is you stretch outside, you do your walk through outside and then you start practice. When it's 100 degrees, a guy can reach a point where he's not listening as much as he needs to to learn and he's physically surviving the rest of practice a little bit and that's a challenge. What we have been able to do is to place them in a learning environment that could accelerate learning and then take them out to practice in the heat. We've had days that we've stayed out there the entire time, too. I was in Fort Worth so I've been through this before and at Southwest Texas before that, one of the hardest things you have to do is juggle how much can you do and not drain your football team. You know, not drain them physically to go into the season, especially now with 11 straight games without an open date the schedule that we go through. What the indoor has allowed us to do is to manage this a little bit better. We've come out of it the freshest we've ever been. I think we'll handle heat just as well as we always have because we've practiced enough in it and probably if we have errored any it's to practice too much in it rather than not enough. The bottom line is I think the learning curve was sped up for everybody because of the ability to not get so physically and emotionally drained with the heat and what it can do to you."
So what did do you in Fort Worth, because there wasn't a indoor then?
"We drained them."
I assume there wasn't one in Alabama?
"No there was an indoor at Alabama and we utilized it much the same. I don't think it's quite as hot in Tuscaloosa as it is here. The humidity can be high there and we utilized the indoor much the same there as we did here. So we've had experience in managing this through that. We did not have the benefit at TCU and you know you have x amount you have to do and you get to practice 18, 19 and you're saying I have to let these guys come back, I've got to let them get refreshed so you know you got to start cutting back how much do you cut back because you know you got to get ready to play. I think the schedule that we've developed without an indoor was as good as we could find but with the indoor it's even better. There were a couple of days that we had thunder storms and lightening we would have been in a full court press to find out how we were going to get our work out in, if we were going to go to the Rec Center. Practicing in the rain is one thing, you can do that but you can't practice with lightening outside and we've had plenty of those days this camp and we'll continue to have some of those days. Now that school's starting if you have a thunderstorm from 3:30 to 6:00, we would have to go to the Rec Center and try to practice on a gym floor. Football doesn't do well on a gym floor, it just doesn't work real well. You have managers running around trying to wipe the sweat off the floor so you don't slip and fall, you're in tennis shoes and yet you know that you have to do certain things to get your team better and get them ready to play. I think the impact of this on A&M Football down through the years is going to be huge."