July 26, 2010
Irving, Texas - Aggie Football Head Coach Mike Sherman addressed the media today at the Big 12 Football Media Days.
A full transcript is available below, and full audio from today's interview is available to the right.
PETER IRWIN: We're now joined by Coach Sherman from Texas A&M University. Coach, welcome, and your opening thoughts.
COACH SHERMAN: Thank you, Peter.
It's great to be here. It's always exciting to get
ready to kick off the season.
I've been fortunate enough to have a
number of Aggie functions I've had to speak at,
and I have a couple more this week. Most of the
work -- all of the work is done for the season for
the coaches in anticipation of preseason. So it's
nice to get out among the Aggie faithful and touch
base with our fans and our former students, and
they kind of get you all excited about the season.
We're anxious to kick this thing off and get
started. We have some really special players with
us today. Jerrod Johnson, our starting
quarterback. Von Miller will be outside linebacker
for us this year in our three-four defense. And
Lucas Patterson will be a nose guard for us.
Those are the three players that I brought up from
College Station.
PETER IRWIN: We'll take questions for
Coach. Again, if you please, your name and
affiliation.
Q. Can you kind of take us through the
time line of announcing the hire of Troy Walters
this morning.
COACH SHERMAN: The question is
about the hiring of Troy Walters this morning. Last
week, as we were coming back from coaching
school -- Tim Cassidy, associate director, and
myself are driving back. Got word that Steve
Kragthorpe had some concern about some family
health issues back home, and when we got back to
the office, Steve and I talked -- when he got back to the office, actually, because he came back a
day later, and we sat down and discussed it.
What I tried to do with Steve was make it
so he could go home. I said, take care of your
business. Take care of what you have to take care
of. And as soon as that's resolved, just come on
back. We'll save a spot for you, and we'll move
forward that way.
You know, Steve's an excellent football
coach, but, as I said before, an even better person.
And didn't want to lose him.
He thought about that, talked to his family
about that, but he just felt that the situation with his
family up in Tulsa warranted his undivided
attention, and there was no timetable, and he felt
like he had to devote quite a bit of time up there in
the ensuing months.
So from that standpoint, Steve decided
that that was in his and his family's best interest. I
respected him for it. Respect him for it. He made
a family decision, a tough decision, but it was what
was best for his family, and our thoughts and
prayers go out to he and his family.
From that point, it was a scramble to try to
find out, you know, as we kick off this season here
in approximately two weeks, to find the best
available coach we could find. Obviously, at this
late juncture, it was very difficult.
I had some affiliations with some guys in
the National Football League, some guys who are
out of work, some guys were in work. We talked
among the college and just started brainstorming
for the best possible replacement.
I remember -- and I've always had a lot of
respect because I coached against Troy Walters.
A local product, went to A&M Consolidated, always
followed his eight-year career in the National
Football League, and also followed him when he
was at Stanford and he ended up being the
Biletnikoff winner.
Anyway, his name came up, brought up by
Tim Cassidy, associate athletic director, and I
always remembered this kid, this player in the
league being a special, special player. He was a
guy that was undersized, not very fast, but he always found a way to beat you, whether punt
return, catching the ball, converting third downs.
He always earned my respect and our players'
respect. He didn't have all the talents in the world,
but he made the best of what we had. And he was
able to play eight years, which is a long time to be
able to play in the National Football League.
After he left there, obviously, he's been
coaching at Indiana State. Indiana State, he
coaches for a coach that worked for me in Green
Bay named Trent Miles, who's a great coach. He's
been in his system. A lot of the language -- he's
very familiar with West Coast terminology, which is
what our base is. So it's somewhat of a natural fit.
He's from College Station initially, went to A&M
Consolidated.
Brought him in for an interview on Friday
and put him on the board, and I thought he did a
great job of communicating the concepts that he
had been teaching. A selling point for me was -- a
real selling point for me was the fact that he
worked in the Indianapolis Colts system, which in
NFL circles it's very well known that the Colts in all
of football are probably one of the most
precision-driven routes of anybody, and he
conveyed that preciseness, that discipline in his
interview with me.
So that's exactly what we're looking for.
That's what Steve brought to the table when Steve
came in as a receiving coach, and now he just
hands the baton off to Troy, and Troy hopefully will
continue with that.
I thought Steve did a great job of coaching
those guys in the spring. Now Troy comes in, and
hopefully he'll continue what Steve started.
Q. With Nebraska leaving, there's sort of a void at the top in terms of marquee flagship programs in the Big 12. How close is A&M to stepping into that void and becoming what A&M football used to be?
COACH SHERMAN: Well, certainly in our
fan base, our former students dream of the days of
the mid-'80s and '90s where we were that marquee
type of team. And when I took the job, I really felt
that we had enough of a recruiting base in the
state of Texas and that we had enough to sell, that
we would be able to recruit players to come to
make Texas A&M that type of team.
I think we're getting closer to that point,
that vision that I had when I took the job. This
season for us is about taking that next step, and
the next step for us it to be in games in the fourth quarter with two minutes left where you're in
position to win the football game.
Last season, with the amount of freshman
we played -- I think we played 18 freshman, 9 of
whom started for us at different times. I thought
we lacked the maturity to make the transition to
being that type of team. I'm hopeful with this year,
with this recruiting class, this will be our second
true recruiting class of freshmen coming in.
Adding them to the now sophomores who played
last year, hopefully we'll be in a position to be that
type of team. And hopefully sooner rather than
later.
I think the Big 12 needs A&M to step up to
the plate, to answer your question, and be that
type of team. We're ready to accept that
challenge.
Q. Coach, around the league you've got departures of some big-time quarterbacks in Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, and there's a lot of running back talent back. Do you think the shift is back to being a more run-oriented conference?
COACH SHERMAN: I don't think so
because, if you look at the guys that waited in the
wings, those quarterbacks that left were great
quarterbacks, but there's some great quarterbacks
ready to take over in those programs. It's now time
for them to step forward, and I'm sure that they will.
Hopefully, when Jerrod Johnson leaves in
a year, we'll have a quarterback in Ryan Tannehill,
who will be able to assume that job. That is the
case, I believe, in this league.
I think as long as we have the seven on
seven in the state of Texas, we'll continue in high
school football to put out great quarterbacks not
only in the Big 12, which they've had a major
influence, but across the country. These kids are
coming out of high school far more advanced than
ever in relationship to being readymade
quarterbacks that fit into slots in college programs,
and you've got to take your hat off to the high
school coaches who do a great job in the state of
Texas of developing these kids.
So I don't think there will ever be a dearth
of talent of quarterbacks in the state of Texas, and
therefore the biggest supply of talent in the Big 12.
There will never be a lack of quarterbacks in the
Big 12.
Q. Mike, as good as Jerrod was last season for you, what do you need him to do to, I guess, be better at this season to kind of take you guys to the next level?
COACH SHERMAN: To really understand
Jerrod, you have to understand the leadership that
he gives you both on and off the field. I thought he
really this spring has really stepped that up quite a
bit. Hold guys accountable and hold himself
accountable as well.
I would like to see him be more efficient
passer. He was about 60 percent, 61 percent last
year, and I think he should be in the 70s.
I think the biggest challenge a quarterback
has coming back, not only a quarterback but his
coach, is that we don't clutter his mind and he
doesn't clutter his mind with too much stuff and not
allowing him to be the quarterback that he's able to
be. Because he's so dang smart, there's a
tendency to put a lot on him, and eventually it
becomes stagnant, and he becomes unable to do
the things that he's been gifted to do.
So I think we as coaches have to be
careful we don't hold the burden to him and clutter
him. He is a player who studies film constantly,
NFL film, college film. He's always looking for
clues; that he doesn't see ghosts out there that are
going to make him see something that's not there.
Because he's so dang bright about things,
sometimes he can see things or anticipate things
that aren't happening.
So I think he has to let the system -- you
know, we have a progression read system that's
worked for a lot of quarterbacks throughout time.
He has to let the system work for him instead of
him work the system. If he allows the game to
come to him, I think it will be a lot better for him
and for us than for him to just try to always make
the play, always try to be the guy.
He has to just understand that there's
other players on the field that have to make plays
beside him.
Q. Coach, what can Von Miller do for an encore this season?
COACH SHERMAN: I think it's very
realistic to say that Von may very easily have
diminished statistics from last year in relationship
to stats but be a more capable player. My whole
objective with him is that he distracts an offense,
that he causes concern for a quarterback. He
takes him out of his rhythm. If he does that, he
does his job.
I'm not a big stat guy to begin with, but his
presence should change how an offense is planning to play the game. If he's done that, he's
done his job. For him to go back and have the
amount of sacks he had last year, I think that's
unrealistic. If he does, great; if he doesn't, he can
still play better and not have the stats he had a
year ago.
Q. Mike, the offense seems in really good shape, I guess, except there's some questions about playing some really young guys, true freshmen in the line. How big a concern is that for you, and how do you think these young guys will respond to that?
COACH SHERMAN: I told the offense in
the spring, hey, you all probably read the stats
more than I do, but regardless of what we did last
year, it means nothing. You have to go back and
do it again. There are no guarantees that you can
have success one year and it just automatically
carries over because everybody is coming back on
the skill positions. So you have to work twice as
hard. People are going to be twice as ready to
defend you this year than they were a year ago,
and it's not going to be easy. So you have to
elevate your game.
In order for us to be successful on offense,
the offensive line has to click. If we can't protect
the quarterback, we can't get the ball into our
receivers' hands. If we can't create running space,
our talented running backs won't be able to run.
So everything rests in that offensive line.
In our offensive line, we graduated three
starters. I anticipate with six incoming freshmen on
the offensive line, at least three of those guys will
be either playing or starting for us at some time.
Luke Joeckel came out of spring football
as a guy that held down his position at left tackle
and did a fine job for us. We have other guys who
are on campus right now that we haven't been able
to work with that we're counting on to infiltrate that
group and elevate the play.
Obviously, there's a concern because of
the youth of that group, but when I see the talent of
guys coming in and their capabilities, I'm excited
about working with talented guys. Even though
they lack experience, it's more fun than working
with someone who's not quite as talented that has
the experience.
So I think eventually they'll be able to rise
to the position we want them to be in and the level
of play we need, but it's going to be a work in
progress. But our offense is predicated on their success.
Q. Could you just talk about your progress and your thought process in switching defenses and what your level of confidence is today.
COACH SHERMAN: You know, when I
first took the job at A&M, I had hired Reggie
Herring, who was at Arkansas at the time, to come
in and put the three-four defense in. Reggie,
before spring ball, went to the Dallas Cowboys as
their linebacker coach. The best coach I could find
at that time -- and one of the best coaches,
assistant coordinators in college football is Joe
Kines. He has a bold reputation.
He came in here, and we asked him to do
some things that were really magical because we
didn't have linebackers, and we had a defensive
lineman playing one linebacker, former receiver
playing linebacker. We were trying to mix and
match things. God bless Joe. He did a great job
for us, did everything we could.
Joe didn't have to tackle. Players had to
tackle. We missed some tackles, which certainly
didn't help us very much.
At the end of the season when Joe retired
and moved on, I spent about a month looking at
tape, trying to analyze who was the best fit for us
at this time. I wanted to get back to a three-four
defense because I think we can recruit to that
structure. A&M has a history in the three-four
defense. We've had a great history of linebacker
play in the three-four defense in the state of Texas.
I felt like we could find four quality linebackers who
could impact our defense.
It's harder and harder to find the big guys
inside, and so that plays to our strength, I believe.
Tim DeRuyter is a name, after watching the tape,
watching the different games that he played that
he coached in, that they played at Air Force,
looking at his history, every place he's been as a
coordinator has elevated their defensive play.
I want us to be aggressive on defense. I
think we have an offense that should be able to
move the ball if everybody does their job, and I
want to be able to force takeaways. I think the
three-four structure can present issues on where
the pressure is coming from, particularly against
spread offenses, where you can play -- you can
drop bait, you can bring guys from different sides.
Fairly balanced defense. So really the offense
cannot predicate -- or predict, I should say, where
the pressure is coming from.
I have high expectations of our defense,
but at the same time, we're going to be a work in
progress as we learn. I thought they made a lot of
strides this spring. I thought our secondary took a
huge jump this spring and really caused our
offense some problems this past spring.
I think our outside linebackers with Von
Miller and Sean Porter, both guys run 4.6 or better,
will present some problems for opposing offenses.
The strength of your defense in this defense has to
be those guys being able to rush quarterbacks and
being able to blitz.
The biggest challenge I think we have
defensively is going to be the inside five, how
quickly those inside five are going to grow up and
adapt to our scheme. I thought Garrick Williams
from DeSoto High School had a great spring. Mike
Hodges had a very good spring. Mangan is
coming back as well.
We have some pieces there, but we
haven't seen it all together just yet. I'm anxious to
see that happen. We have to sort out the front
guys. We have a lot of numbers there, but we
have to find the best quality guys who will play this
defense.
As far as a comfort level, I don't know that
any coach ever has a comfort level at this point in
the season when he just changed defense. I do
think, if we didn't do anything, just because of
physical maturation -- I thought last year we were
fast enough at times, but we didn't physically make
the tackle, and we gave up yards after contact. I
think this year we'll be physically more mature than
we were a year ago with another year in the weight
room, and I think we'll tackle better than we did a
year ago.
And if we just tackle better without even
scheme change, I think we'll be a better defense.
We've emphasized that quite a bit. And also it
should impact our special teams as well, which we
need to impact.
PETER IRWIN: Coach, thank you very much.