Coach Sumlin and members of the football team met with the media Tuesday at the weekly football press conference inside Kyle Field.
Selected quotes will be posted below. Videos and audio will be available through links to the left.
HEAD COACH KEVIN SUMLIN
On the crowd, even against smaller opponents
"You [always] have some people complain about schedules. What's unique about A&M is that people come to see us play; and that's important. There are a bunch of places where they are coming to see certain games and certain opponents. I think that starts with our fans. 38,800 students doesn't happen at a lot of places. From a recruiting standpoint it's not about the opponent. It's that every game in Kyle Field is a big game. We only have so many opportunities to get guys on campus, and when you have a venue like we have and have over 100,000 fans no matter who you play, it's literally never about the opponent. It's about us."
On Jarvis Harrison's status...
"I think he's worked extremely hard. It was an eye-opening experience for him. Whenever a team is successful, and particularly the group that you're with is being successful, you start to look around. We talk about opportunities here. You're only guaranteed 12 and you're playing for 13, 14, now with playoffs. Two of them are gone, and he's got 10 more that are guaranteed. He's figuring it out; he'll be alright. To play at this level you can't take it for granted. I'm not saying that was necessarily the case but it's more important to him now than maybe it was six months ago."
On secondary coach Terry Joseph...
"I think he spent a lot of time trying to really corral our secondary and make decisions. We have a lot of pieces that can play, but having to make decisions on leaving guys in one spot and trying to make them better and trying to create better eye discipline and discipline in our secondary is a big deal. We cut a couple guys loose the first game. People say 'Well, it was Lamar', but we played a lot of guys in the secondary last week and we didn't have those type of issues. This week Rice will challenge us with the play-action pass and eye control and things we did a poor job of a year ago. I think [Coach Joseph has] brought a toughness to our secondary. We're more physical. I think tackling is better. Where we have to make strides is being more consistent. The decision to start a true freshman is a big deal, particularly on the road, but Armani has risen to the challenge and has been pretty good. Coach has brought a toughness to the secondary that we needed and I think we're getting better. He's a good coach and a good recruiter."
On Rice...
"It's well documented that David Bailiff and I are good friends. We lived in the same neighborhood. I said last year after we played them, everyone was on us for our performance, I said I wouldn't be surprised if they won Conference USA, and they did. He's done a fabulous job with that program. To be where they are and win that league, to come from what Rice used to be and to be consistent, and go to Notre Dame and come to our place...they are not going to be afraid. They'll be prepared. They will challenge us with our eye discipline, with play action, with giving some different motions and things like that defensively. And offensively, that's where he cut his teeth. They'll be tough, they'll change it up and try and get after our young quarterback. There's nothing in that program that says they will be the least bit intimated to come in and play us. [Coach Bailiff] does fantastic job. They have had a bye week to get ready for us, so we will get their best shot."
On starting true freshmen
"I don't bring guys here to stand next to me on the sideline. The best guys play. What happens in this program, what we try to do is tell players, 'Hey listen. What practice is about is you gaining the trust of your coaches and your teammates. You're going to make mistakes, but when we put you on the field, all 100-plus of us along with the 100,000 people are trusting you to do the best you can and be consistent. So if you can do that it doesn't matter.' Experience is relative. Just because you're a junior, if you haven't played, what kind of experience is that? If you show in practice that you have the ability and you're our best chance to win, we're going to do that."
On quarterback expectations
"I'd like to see them play really well from here on out. They are guys that compete. They have made each other better in practice. If people really knew from a statistical standpoint what we charted, what we did all through camp, how close the completion percentage was and the ratio of completions to interceptions, and moving the team…I think they were separated by maybe 3 percent. They've both helped each other. The biggest thing I see, which you can't be fake about, is how they support each other. Kyle was congratulating Kenny, and the first guy to go down there after Kyle threw the touchdown was Kenny. That doesn't happen at a lot of places. This team is one that genuinely enjoys being around each other and roots for each other's success. When you see our fifth-string score a touchdown and we almost get a penalty with guys leaving the bench, that's a big deal. This is a team that enjoys playing the game and enjoys each other and that's not the case everywhere."
On injury updates...
"We've got a couple of guys [injured], we'll see what happens. This is the first day in pads today. Cam [Clear] is a big guy. I don't know what his status will be this week. Along those lines Caden Smith played very, very well for us last week. [Brandon Alexander] is getting some run now. He played a lot more, and is becoming more consistent. He's been a back-side tight end for us, but we've been developing him. I don't know if Cam will be ready to go or not. We played Mike Matthews a little bit, and it was important for him. We probably shouldn't have played him. He's a guy who came to me and said he wanted to play. He's better this week. Tra Carson, we'll see. I tell you what else is happening around here; guys are getting healthy in a hurry. James White came out of nowhere and was good. There's only one football. We're not where we want to be and have got a ways to go with these young guys. This is the first time in 15 years we've been ranked in back-to-back years in the preseason. This program is coming from a ways away. To be where we are and stay where we are and grow is an ongoing process, and we realize that. We've got a lot of games left, a lot of football to play, and a lot of young guys that have to grow up in a hurry. I'm really pleased with how they're approaching this week. We'll see what happens."
On team chemistry
"Every team is different, you never know. When you have as many young players as we have, sometimes the chemistry can be tough for the older guys who aren't playing. It takes maturity and guys embracing some people. I look around and, particularly on defense, there are guys that are there but a bunch of young guys that are playing. The chemistry can be hurt if you don't have some guys in leadership roles that say, 'Come on, lets go', like Julien (Obioha), like Deshazor (Everett), like Howard (Matthews). Howard gets challenged every week to be better, but a big part of Armani just being able to play football is because Howard is getting him lined up and making the checks. That's part of growing up and part of doing what is best for the team, not necessarily what is best for the individual."
On reaching out to the student body
"At Texas A&M, football is part of your collegiate experience. That's not the case everywhere. I've been a lot of places; from the Pac-12 to the WAC to the Big Ten to the Big 12, a lot of places to work and a lot of places to coach games. There are not a lot of universities that have the same sort of student/football relationship that we have. It's part of the collegiate experience here. That's why you've got E. King Gill. It starts with the 12th Man, ticket pull, and people standing in line. We have 38,000 students at a game, and some places don't have 38,000 total at the game. It's part of your collegiate experience here. We try and interact as much as we can with the students. I try to get out and do some things with them and try to be accessible. But I think the other part of it is we don't isolate our players. The players are on campus. Our stadium is not 10 miles away from campus. People are walking around it. The only thing they get mad at me about is music on Thursdays...but most of the students like that anyways. We have a unique relationship with the campus here and we embrace it."