Sept. 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
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Media Luncheon Audio:
- Head Coach Mike Sherman
- DL Michael Bennett
- WR Jeff Fuller
- QB Jerrod Johnson
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Head coach Mike Sherman and selected players met with members of the press on Monday at the weekly football media luncheon on the Texas A&M campus.
MP3 audio links are available above.
A transcript of Coach Sherman's press conference is posted below.
Talk about the quarterbacks...
"Neither one of them threw yesterday actually, because in the game Jerrod (Johnson) sprained his shoulder. (Ryan) Tannehill did all the work yesterday in practice. It's going to be a day to day situation. I think both QBs, Stephen (McGee) and Jerrod, will be fine by the end of the week but we're just going to have to wait and see on that."
That's no joke, is it? That's serious, with Tannehill taking all the throws yesterday?
"Well, most people don't practice on Sunday usually but we went out there and scrimmaged the young guys on Sunday. We walked through our short yardage and goal line, and went through some base stuff. So Sunday is not a really legitimate practice opportunity...it counts against us but as long as we get our work done during the rest of the week we'll be fine."
At what point in the game did Jerrod hurt his shoulder?
"It happened earlier in the game. He just got tackled. He played with it, it just got stiff on him. I don't anticipate it to be a major problem. But it did happen."
Not as serious as Stephen's?
"No, not as serious as Stephen's was, not at all. But it's a shoulder he had hurt last year I believe against Nebraska."
Now that you've seen the film, what are some of the biggest progressions that you've seen from the team from week one to now?
"I made a big deal before the game about playing this game independent of any previous game against Miami, and that we would compete and we would try to win this football game and be aggressive about trying to go after this game. Now, we made our share of mistakes. We handed them 14 points on a silver platter. It's hard enough to deal with them themselves, nevermind giving them 14 points. But I thought the guys competed. Did we do all things right? No. I thought we played tough. I thought we were physical. I thought we competed. I didn't think we played very smart at times, whether it was fitting up in your gap or knowing where your help is. (for example) As a safety knowing you have help inside on a corner route, don't get beat outside, things like that that. We really have to do a great job of coaching. But I do think they gave great effort throughout the ballgame. I looked specifically for that, and I thought they did a nice job. I thought they competed. The sideline was alive the entire ballgame. Even in spite of the fact--when we came out of the halftime they came out excited, ready to play. So just from a personality standpoint I was pleased with that. We had some explosive plays offensively which was good. Guys stepped up and made plays. I don't think we dropped a ball in the game. There were a couple of plays I wish we could have made better but I don't think we dropped a ball. I thought our defensive front was pretty physical. I thought they were better. We weren't quite as good on the back end as we've been but we were better up front. I thought our backs ran hard. I thought Mike Goodson and our backs as a group played extremely hard and physical."
Could you talk about the versatility Cyrus Gray gives you, running kicks back, playing running back, receiver and even a little quarterback?
"Yes on returning kicks, but his youth was exposed there when he stepped out of bounds on that one. We should have let that one go obviously. But his kickoff return capabilities, I think he's going to be really good back there. We really have a unique set of backs. I really love that group. There are some good guys in that room, and they're coached by a heck of a coach in Randy Jordan. Cyrus' ability to go in and play quarterback like he did and run some of that option game, which is some of what he did in high school, that's something we've been practicing for a couple of weeks now. I thought he did a nice job. I told him `Hey listen now, you make that pitch only if my mother could make the pitch, you know?' Although. I said my mother is pretty aggressive so maybe she would pull it and make it. But he functioned very well in there and did a good job for us. We got a couple of chunks of yardage out of that package and we'll continue to use that at different times of the season. But yeah, he has versatility, he practices punts, he's not natural at that just yet. The kickoffs, as a runner, he played quarterback, he's played some receiver for us...we lined him up there to run the reverse on the second play of the second half, and they happened to come with a will dog off the outside and they had the perfect defense for it. He's a solid guy, a solid player and I love having him on the team."
Do you worry yourself with putting too much on his plate?
"I think we've been pretty good with that. We give him a certain piece of the package, where he doesn't have to know everything, but give him just enough that he can handle, and he's very willing to do whatever we ask him to do. And is very unselfish. I'm pleased with him, as I am with the other running backs. Here's a guy in Bradley Stephens, has not missed a practice since I've been here, and he didn't play a lot in the ballgame. But on the sidelines he was very positive. Any other player I feel would have been pouting over there after all he's done. We decided to go with (Keondra) Smith in the short yardage situations because of his explosiveness and his pad level, and he is a special kid as well. I think it's a special group of young men."
Speaking of short yardage situations, what's the deal with Jorvorskie Lane right now? He's a guy that has been the short yardage specialist for three years and accomplished a lot in that role, and yet he hasn't had that opportunity...
"Oh he's had the opportunity, last year at the end of the season a couple of times. And we've given him the opportunity in practice as well. We just felt like Smith was better in that role, in short yardage."
Is it different getting ready to play a service academy, with the type of personnel they have?
"It is different in the sense that the triple option is not something you're going to see very often, or ever, throughout the course of the season except for when you play that team. During preseason camp we spent a little time working a little period on Army, but it's nothing like game week and preparation for that. It's a whole lot different than the read option, so all the nuances that go with the triple option is just specific to that offense. They don't throw the ball a whole heck of a lot. When they do it's usually an explosive-type play down the field. So you do have to prepare for them differently, no question."
Back to Jerrod, is that his throwing shoulder or non-throwing shoulder?
"That's his throwing shoulder."
Just to clarify the quarterback situation...if both guys are available at the end of the week what factors in to your decision if they are available to go?
"You know, I think it's just something...I went into the New Mexico game, both had prepared that week and we were going to play both of them at some point during the game. not something I'm very familiar with, but I felt like we'd have a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Both are very capable of playing. I feel very confident in either guy. The decision will be made through the course of the week, based on how things are going and how things are functioning during the course of the week, and the health status. I'm not going to make a presumption right now without knowing where we are health-wise and how guys are handling that."
Going forward though, do you expect to be using both guys at quarterback during the course of the game, or how are you going to allot that, just in general?
"I've talked about it and thought about it since the end of the ballgame, how this next week will play out. The first thing I'm going to do is on Tuesday find out where Stephen is, and we'll make a decision from there. Stephen does things that Jerrod doesn't do, and Jerrod does things that Stephen doesn't do. They both offer different attributes and can compliment our gameplan in certain aspects in a very positive way. I know I'm being evasive here, which is my choice (laughing), but I'm going to take it day by day and see where we end up at the end of the week."
Assuming at some point Stephen is going to be healthy enough to play quarterback, what happens then?
"Well, do I have to make that decision today? Okay (laughter). That's exactly right. If I'm being evasive, so be it, and I'll admit I'm being evasive, but at some point I'll make that decision. I feel good about both guys. I'm elated I have both those quarterbacks on this team. They both have tremendous qualities and attributes that can help us. And we could start the game with two quarterbacks, who knows?"
You mentioned gap control earlier, and I was wondering how much of their running game Saturday was technique that can be corrected and how much was you getting beat at the point of attack?
"Well, they had a stable of running backs that I thought were exceptional, there's no question about that. But the function of our defense was not employed, in the sense that we did not fit up in the right gap in the right time when needed to do that. We got beat on some long runs and some plays that we have practiced and practiced and practiced. And really a weak-side isolation should not have been a problem for us. We just didn't fit up and respond to the play the way we needed to respond. I would say we didn't trust the defense we needed to, and that's doing your job...instead of trying to do someone else's job and your job, they just need to try to do their job. If they just do their job we'd have eliminated a few of their problems."
Did you have one or two guys defensively that you thought stood out and played the way you wanted them to play?
"You know, I thought our defensive ends didn't make a lot of plays in the game but they played the defense the way we wanted it played. They played very physical. I thought they more than anybody else probably stood out the most."
Any update on Lee Grimes?
"He's a little better than we thought. He's had numerous issues with that knee, and more than anything else it probably scared the heck out of him when he went down and kind of felt apprehension about it, as did I. I think he's better than we thought he was and there's a chance he could play this week."
What knee was it?
"If it was my knee, I'd know...left. Is that really that important, the left or the right (laughing)? Bill Belichick wouldn't have answered that question. I wouldn't either in years past (laughter)."
After watching the tape on Jerrod's first start, what would you say were his strengths from the game and what were things he needed to work on?
"I thought he showed very good leadership, on the sideline and in the ballgame. This is a real neat kid. He brings a lot to the table from a personality standpoint. I thought he was very creative when things fell down or when he was in the clutches of being sacked, I thought he held off tacklers because of his size. He was able to maintain the play even with people hanging on top of him and still have strength to throw. I thought he was fairly creative at times when the play broke down, and sometimes too creative, when you just want him to run for the first down he's trying to buy himself some more time. From a negative standpoint, a couple of things--just getting the play out and getting the play to him and him calling the right play off his wristband, we kind of had a little malfunction there at times, which is just a communication thing we should be able to get fixed. And just the ball security really. The way he swings the ball around, I've been on him about this since I've got here--just protect the football better. When he runs the ball is swinging, and he has a motion where the ball is coming and going and coming and going, and we put the ball on the ground too many times."
Do you feel like your offensive line has made some strides?
"I'll tell you this...we're blocking the right guys. From that standpoint, they don't make many mental mistakes. Sometimes we'll make a physical mistake--we'll get beat on a pass rush, or a guy crosses our face and we don't dig him out well enough. But from a mental standpoint, as far as knowing who to block and how to block, we're doing a good job there. We need to finish our blocks a little bit better than we're finishing them right now."
Specifically Kevin Matthews, how's he doing at center? And can you tell he's got the family ties?
"He's doing a fine job. He's got to be more consistent on his snaps--there were a number of times where Jerrod had to go down and pick the snaps up off the ground when we were in the shotgun, which is a challenge for him, and he handled it very well. If I was a quarterback, I'd be complaining vociferously about that. But he doesn't say anything about it. We've got to get his snaps to be a little bit cleaner, but he has good knowledge and understanding of what we're trying to get done. He makes all the calls in there--a lot of what we've done as far as getting guys on the right guys is a reflection of his knowledge of the game."
Looking at Jerrod, and how he practices as opposed to how he plays the game, how different is that?
"It's different, I'll tell you what. We were in pregame, and he didn't look great in pregame. Actually, it's the first time I've ever been a part of throwing an interception in pregame (laughter). So I said to (quarterbacks coach) Tom Rossley, `Geez Tom, how's he doing?' (Tom said) `Not very good.' (I said) `Well can't you lie to me, don't tell me that before the ballgame!' I said, `Go ask him,' and Jerrod said `I feel great.' So I said `I don't feel great after seeing that pick, he threw one right to (Alton) Dixon!' Then he plays different. He gets in the game he plays different. He has to be a little less reckless when he's out there, he's a little reckless sometimes. But he's getting better. He's going to be a fine quarterback."
How was Stephen McGee on the sidelines?
"McGee was phenomenal. With these two guys, I tell you what...one of the most impressive things I've seen in my lifetime...you know in football, there always certain things that will stand out in my head. You know, Brett Favre on Monday Night Football when his dad passed away. There's a number of situations in my lifetime with football that I remember. The Holiday Bowl (1990) stands out, just different things in my life...that group of quarterbacks, as people you won't find a greater group. Stephen was very supportive of Jerrod, and Jerrod is very supportive of Stephen, even as they compete. Just a phenomenal room to sit in and listen to those guys. Just a great group."
What are you looking to accomplish in the Army game, to fine tune?
"Number one objective is to win the game. That's something that's near and dear to my heart, as it is to my wife and Bill Byrne and everyone else. We're going to try our best to do that. The game last week...and we never go into a game not thinking we are going to win. We go in expecting to win the football game and are disappointed that we didn't. I told them yesterday that it's okay to be upset and mad that we didn't win the game. I want you to be upset that we didn't win, but you've got to flush it out of your system when we come back to work on Tuesday. That's important. We should expect to win. There's so many areas that I think we made an improvement on that aren't actually visible to y'all. And there's areas we still have to get better, a lot of areas, that's evident. But there's a lot of areas that I thought we've made a lot of progress. So I want to continue to build on that in this ballgame and execute better. We need to have sustained drives. We need to finish drives offensively and do a better job of that. We relied a lot on the explosive play in this ballgame, which is fine--we hadn't had a lot of those in the previous games. But we need to be able to nickel and dime it down the field too. We have got to tackle better. We need to fit up on our tackles. They did a great job on Saturday with their wide receiver screens, the jailbreak screens. They have real fast receivers and got them the ball. We just didn't tackle very well, and we need to do a better job of that in practice and in this ensuing game."
You talked about trying to get everyone on board and trusting the system...is there any danger when you're 1-2 of losing some of those guys?
"When you've been coaching as long as I have, you've been through situations like this before. Number one, I have the utmost confidence in the plan and I think they understand that I'm very confident about what we've doing. I think they feed off of you. If I go in there and I'm hesitant and I panic and I lose my confidence, I think they will respond the same way. If I am confident, which I am in what we're doing, how we're doing it and how we practice--if you watch us practice and watch us coach, I think they know what we put into it and they know we know what we're doing. So I don't feel we're going to lose these players. I appeal to them, I said `These are tough times, and these are really the times that are going to identify you as a man--forget football player, identify you as a man and how you handle yourself.' And these are really the lessons as a coach which kind of excite me about college football, where you really can take the game and apply it to their lives. Any coach that coaches college football or high school football can really juxtapose the lessons in football with each individual's life, and how you handle it here and how you handle it there. Obviously, one's a game and one's real life, but the disappointment, the frustration, the anxiety you face...how are you going to do that? Are we going to start pointing fingers, blaming people? Or are we going to be accountable? And hopefully our guys, in their press conferences when they talk to y'all, they were accountable and know we can all do better. It starts with me. As I told them after the game, `Hey men, we're all in this together. It's not just you guys, it's the coaches, all of us. We all have to do a better job. I made my share of mistakes as well. We've got to fix our mistakes. If we keep pounding and keep working, we're going to get out of this little rut we're in and we're going to keep getting better.' I told them there were some positives in the game. It wasn't what the score indicated, there were some positives we can take from this ballgame and build off it. I believe they believed me with that. I was honest with them, I really felt there were positive things."
Going back to the quarterback situation, everyone knows that Jerrod is the future, and you have Stephen that has been here. What balance do you go through in your mind as to how you decide who to play?
"Let's start with this. I love Stephen McGee too. The most important thing for us is to win, and whatever can help us win the best--we're going to need both quarterbacks for this season. Both are going to take some shots, both will come in to work on Sunday and Monday and Tuesday kind of beat up and banged up. So we're going to need both this season. I've never been one to say that we're three games into this season, and Jerrod, Tannehill, whoever, is going to be here next season and Stephen's going to leave. That's not me. We're going to play whatever we have to do to win football games for this senior class, so they can leave here feeling good about themselves and our Aggies and everyone else can feel good. We're going to play to win these games as best we can. If Stephen's playing, it's for that reason. If Jerrod's playing, it's for that reason and that reason alone."
Do you think that can sometimes be a detriment to the long-term growth of this program?
"No, I don't necessarily. I think both are going to play this year and contribute. They both offer too much to not contribute in some facet. Jerrod's already played more time than Stephen. He has gained some experience, and he will have more experiences this year, as will Stephen. It'll all work itself out in a positive way."
You've allowed some long punt returns this season. Even though you've got a top punter, your net punting is down. When you look at the film, are you out kicking coverage, or what do you see?
"Well, one we did outkick the coverage but that's not an excuse. We didn't do a good job with our gunners, they didn't get off the way they needed to get off and squeeze the ball. Our protection guys, just being instinctive enough to leverage the ball. We are spreading the field out and they're doing their assignments as they're told in their meetings, but there comes a time when you have to pull the net in on that punt returner. And we didn't do that. It starts outside with these guys, but the inside guys need to squeeze them as well. So it is coverage. Our punter is doing one heck of a job. You talk about unselfish, here's a guy that has done a great job of pooching the punt inside the 10-yard line. That's totally unselfish of him when we've asked him to do that, because it does affect his overall average. We need to do a better job squeezing the ball. That's been addressed, we talked about it yesterday and we are working on it in practice this week even more so."
It appears the receiving corps is doing better...
"Terrence McCoy had five catches. He wasn't originally in the pool of starters, but we did start him this week and I thought he did better. (Jeff) Fuller is feeling more comfortable every game he plays. Jamie McCoy also had one of his better games as well. It's just repetition and getting confident in what you're doing."
Are you concerned with a young receiver like Fuller going over the middle a lot?
"No. If you're going to catch balls in this offense you're going to have to go over the middle. That ball was a little bit late. If Jerrod had put it out there on time he should have caught it before that safety tried to take his head off."
Have we seen the last of (Ryan) Tannehill maybe at receiver?
"No, I think if he's healthy he'll contribute in some way. Those guys want to help in any way they can. They want to get out there. I'm sure he'd rather get out there as a quarterback, but he wants to contribute in any way they can."
Do you see any of (all-pro punter and A&M record holder) Shane Lechler in Justin Brantly?
"One thing about Shane...I remember seeing him at the combine and he was horrendous. He was flat terrible. Then he goes and has this great career. Every time I see him I remind him of that. He's done a great job in the NFL. They're very similar personality-wise. They both hunt, fish, are country guys. They both take things in stride. They don't panic when things don't go great. They're both team players. They're both very well-liked on the team, so from a personality standpoint they are very similar. Before this season I would have said Shane has a stronger leg, but the way Brantly's been punching the ball out there is very comparable."
What do you see from Army defensively?
"They're going to play primarily a four-man front. They play against a lot of one-back type teams, so they play a little more nickel, at least on tape. You don't see them a lot against two-back teams in the teams they've played so far. But they're a typical Army team. I've played Army for the longest time. This is a team that on the goal line they tell their guys to root hog and penetrate the line of scrimmage, and that's what they're going to do. They're very disciplined, very tough, very physical. They come up through those gaps and they do it exactly the way they are supposed to every single time. They give great effort. They have some good players. But overall as a defense I think they swarm to the football."
Can you talk about your secondary, and your safeties in particular?
"We did miss some tackles. The one play you're talking about in coverage for (Jordan) Peterson (the last TD of the second quarter), he had help inside from a corner, and the receiver bent it to the post and broke it to the corner, and he kind of flipped inside and gave up the outside. He had help inside and he should have stayed outside. He has made some very good tackles but he has missed some tackles. I thought as a unit, our secondary has played pretty well, with the exception of the other day. I thought they've played better than they did the other day. But I think tackling as a whole on our defense has to get better. I'm always after them to wrap up and bring your feet, and not reach guys. Sometimes we do that. Sometimes we'll hesitate. The one big tackle Peterson had, I believe it was on a jailbreak, he just went and took it and nailed the guy. There was no hesitation. I think when there's hesitation they kind of get lost in it. If they just go and react to it I think they're a lot better off."
Talk about Army's offense and the problems they may present...
"The big problem is you only play that style of offense one time every couple of years. When you run a triple option like they do, that's all they practice and they're pretty good at it. You have to get to a point in a very short pretty of time where you can defend that flawlessly. It's very easy to give up a big play against them, where they have a triple option threat and they get that ball pitched, and you don't take the pitch or you don't cover the quarterback or you get loaded. There's a lot of different angles they can take. They know that offense better than you know that offense. It's important for us to get our guys lined up in a very sound defense, and know who has the dive, who has the quarterback and who has the pitch. It presents some preparation issues in the context of your game week because you don't ever see it. The last three offenses there's been a little bit of carry over. The first carried over into the second and so on. Our offense is very much like Miami's offense, a pro-style, so there was some carryover there. But this offense stands by itself. The preparation is taxing. Fortunately (Defensive Coordinator) Joe Kines has seen this many times in his career. That's where the experience of a Joe Kines really comes into play--and I've said this before, a defensive coordinator in college football has to be a guy that has a wealth of knowledge and experience, because there's so many different offenses that you've faced in college that you don't face in the NFL. It's a different ballgame. Having a guy like Joe Kines with his experience really gives me some solace in knowing that we'll be well-prepared and have a good scheme. Our players have to execute that scheme but we'll have a good scheme."