College Station - Head coach Mike Sherman and members of the Texas A&M football team addressed the media today to talk about the upcoming game against Kansas State.
Select quotes from today's press conference are available below, audio in mp3 format and video are available to the right.
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HEAD COACH MIKE SHERMAN
Can we get an update on Christine Michael's injury?
"(Christine) Michael tore his ACL."
Do you still see a team that is close together?
"Well, I'll know more about it today when we have our team meeting, I can usually tell by what the room is like. They are good kids but they are disappointed, with such high expectations we felt like we let some things slip away from us this year. I think if we held onto the ball better it would have been a different situation, but we didn't and here we are. We have to continue to study our turnovers and study how they happened, we've had 10 in the third quarter in the four losses we've had. I don't care who you're playing you can't function that well with that many turnovers. From a chemistry standpoint I think they will bounce back, there's still a lot out in front of us that we have to accomplish. Certainly, our expectations and where we are right now don't coexist at this point. We just have to win a ballgame against an opponent who hasn't made a whole lot of mistakes. I thought we improved defensively this past week, we just have to find a way to eliminate the turnovers on offense."
What challenges does Kansas State's offense present?
"It all starts with the quarterback, he is a very good runner. They don't turn the ball over when they throw, I think they have four interceptions, he has about 900 yards rushing so they have a dual threat in the backfield; they are not unlike Missouri in that respect. We are just going to have to do a good job of keeping him in front of us and wrapping him up and tackling him. They are going to run the football, there's no doubt about that, and they will throw with their play action and that with running the ball effectively becomes a big factor, they'll get your linebackers to step up and they'll take their shots in the passing game and they'll present a challenge for us, a different challenge than the other teams that we've faced."
You're in a similar situation as last year with Michael out and Cyrus stepping up, can you comment on that?
"Yes, he did do it last year and he's going to have to do it again this year. He, like all of us, is disappointed that Michael is out, but I think he plays better when he gets more carries in the game and tries to find his niche in the ball game and hopefully that will help us move forward. Ben Malena, who played in the game on Saturday, will also have to contribute."
Is Christine Michael going to have to have surgery or has he already?
"No, they are going to have to wait about two weeks for the swelling to die down to put him in the position where they can go in and fix it, so it will be about two weeks before that takes place. But certainly we will work that around his exam schedule so he doesn't have to miss any of his exams."
How is Michael handling having two season ending injuries in a row?
"He's handled it quite well actually; it's certainly a disappointment to him and to us. He's in a positive state of mind, at least he was last time I saw him; it's just part of the game. It's an important lesson to all the guys how important academics are because you never know when your last game is going to be."
Swope got a little dinged up on Saturday, is he okay?
"Yeah, he is okay, he hit the back of his head on the ground and he was a little shook up, he had a headache after the game I know that."
Any other injury reports?
"I think Coryell Judie is going to practice this week, we are going to try to get him out there. We got a bunch of bumps and bruises and sprained ankles, but nothing that's going to keep any guys from playing."
How do you think Toney Hurd, Jr. did on his first start?
"I think Toney brought a physical quality to the game, I thought he did some real good things but he wasn't clean on everything, the big thing with defensive backs are making sure their eyes are in the right spot, sometimes they pull back and get in trouble. But, I thought he played well his first start and he will continue to play better."
How satisfied do you think Malcolm Kennedy is with his playtime?
"Well, when you talk about Kennedy playing more you're talking about Swope playing less and that's certainly an equation at this point I'm not ready to entertain. But there are some packages with four wide-outs when he is on the field, it just depends if were in that role or not, but he has made some nice catches and he really works hard at practice and it's nice to see him have success because he works so hard. A couple weeks ago he made a couple mistakes during the Missouri game and he bounced back so he doesn't like things weigh down on him."
When you get a guy like Kennedy from a class A school, do you sometimes wonder what you are getting?
"I think sometimes you worry about that when you evaluate a player from a class A school, sometimes a guy will dominate on the field because there a not a whole lot of guys on the field that can run, so you do expect them to dominate at that level but you have to be able to project them, not only with 1A but all the way up. But he comes from a good high school and very good high school coach that did a great job with him. He was such a competitor, he played three sports, he was a leader in football, a leader in basketball, he is just a phenomenal competitor."
With Michael out Malena is going to have to step up and play, how do you think he will do?
"It's hard to tell, he hasn't played a whole lot, you don't know what you have until you actually go into a game and practice is always the greatest indicator. When a guy knows he's going to play he has a whole different mentality and evolves as a player. I'm anxious to see him get into the game, see what he's going to do and how he's going to do it. He certainly helped himself by what he did at the end of the game against Oklahoma. So we'll see what he brings to the table and what he'll bring to the game."
ASST. HEAD COACH/DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR TIM DeRUYTER
On how the team responded to adversity last week
"We talk all the time about being able to respond to adversity, we were able to overcome two first half turnovers and force two three-and-outs, the first time we knocked them out of field goal range and the second time we held them to a field goal attempt. I was proud of that effort and I expect our guys to do that every time."
On Charlie Thomas and the middle linebacker corps
"We worked two, two and a half deep at practice and Stephen Jenkins did not practice, he was injured and kind of a backburner guy for us. Charlie practiced a bunch in there as did Donnie Baggs, Sean Ward, and Garrick Williams, Charlie had a good week of practice and for the most part played pretty well in the game. He's got some things he's got to clean up but I was pleased with his effort during the game."
On playing Sean Porter at inside linebacker
"We practiced Sean in there and Sean had a good week. Sean is one of our most productive players and one of our concerns is if you play Sean inside do you lose that productivity that you have from the outside linebacker. Our plan going into the game was to start Charlie and see how he did and if we need to put Sean in at the inside linebacker position. Charlie played well enough for most of the game until the third quarter where we had to go back-to-back series. We could have done a better job of substituting and putting Stephen [Jenkins] in there a little bit quicker but Sean would have been our go-to guy if Charlie didn't play as well as he did Saturday."
On what Sean Porter brings to inside linebacker position
"Sean is a confident football player; he's a guy that no matter what position he plays he is very, very smart. He doesn't have the reps that some of the other guys have playing at that position so that part was tough. Coverage-wise he understands our coverage concepts, when we run inside linebacker blitzes he can do those fine. We were a little concerned about his run fit because he doesn't have much experience there. He's a guy who's a very versatile football player, he's also a very unselfish guy and knew that it would probably affect him productivity-wise working out all week at inside linebacker but he is a 'whatever I can do for the team' guy and wasn't concerned about that."
On the challenges of facing K-State's offense
"They are an excellent physical running football team; you are going to get a lot of quarterback runs. Their quarterback Collin Klein is a physical presence at 6'5" 230 but it is really surprising how fast he is. He is a long-legged long-striding guy, but he runs away from people but has really good feet and really good vision and breaks a lot of tackles, he is a major concern for us. They are going to do a lot of what teams will do in wildcat situation and they do some of that also to give them a break, but he [Klein] runs the running game as well as any quarterback out there right now."
On the looks K-State's offense will show
"They are not going to be like Missouri with how much they spread you to run the football, but they are going to be in multiple personnel groupings. I would describe them as a power-running team, they want to run downhill as much as possible; they are going to run the inside read option stuff, some mid-line stuff, and they'll run some speed option also. If you commit everybody to stopping the run they have a very effective play action game that they've been able to use on people."
On Klein's progression as a passer
"You can see how he's really progressed throughout the year, early on I'm not sure what the offense really knew what they were or who they wanted to be because he was a new starting quarterback for them but he has really matured. You look at last week putting up the points that they do they are really putting some stress on people, because of their running game and when they can add him running the ball it makes a tough combination. If it's just one or the other you can defend it but when they can do both effectively it can be tough."
On player stepping up down the stretch
"I think our team, specifically on the defensive side, is really starting to come together. I think last week with the way our guys prepared and executed ... we are disappointed by the result and the way we played the third quarter, but our guys didn't play hesitant. Yes, we've had a bunch of guys playing who haven't played a bunch for us like Sean [Porter], who hadn't played much on the inside for us but was ready to go there. Our guys are looking for any way they can help to win a football game. One of the things that we've got to do a better job of coaching and executing on the field is getting take-aways, we've only got seven on the year and that is kind of shocking to me. I don't know that I've ever coached a team that has had that few this late in the season. We've had our opportunities, Lionel [Smith] as good as he's played did a great job breaking on a three step drop and he's got a pick-six if he hangs onto it, he just couldn't quite make it, Charlie Thomas also almost had one. When Oklahoma had a chance, they tipped balls and came down with the; we had our opportunities and didn't. If we make those plays I truly believe it's a different ballgame, we've got to make those plays.