Coach Sumlin, coordinators Jake Spavital and Mark Snyder, and select players met with the press on Tuesday at the weekly football press conference inside Kyle Field.
Quotes will be posted below. MP3 files and video clips will be available to the left.
HEAD COACH KEVIN SUMLIN
“Last week was a great growing opportunity for our team. For the first couple of weeks, particularly offensively, things went as planned or as scripted. It's always good that you can have a game where things do not go as planned and still win by four touchdowns. What you have to do there is guys have to see things they haven't, deal with some adversity, and deal with getting off-script a bit. This week we face a team with basically the same kind of operation. This is second team in a row we'll play where it has a bye week right before us. They have the opportunity to put some things in that you haven't seen and do some different things. That's kind of what happened in that game, and we were able to adjust—particularly at halftime. The good news is our guys adjusted. We were a little bit off early but were able to adjust and talk about it on the sidelines. We've been able to play a lot of guys the last few weeks. Shortly we'll have to settle on who the rotation is up front defensively and who our linebackers are. We went through the game without Jordan (Mastrogiovanni) or Mike Matthews or Cam Clear playing at all. We've been without A.J. Hilliard and Shaan Washington all year. That's part of it, to be able to go through a game like that and win the way we did, I think is something that's positive. The ability to get a bunch of those guys back over the course of the season, particularly in the next couple of weeks, will help inject a little more athleticism and get our guys going a little more, and get us ready to play this week and try and make a run at the SEC West title.”
On the reaction to June Jones stepping down…
“You guys know how I feel about June. We came in at about the same time and it was just a very competitive league. I've known June for a while, and I don't know everything around the situation, but I know it's a difficult decision for any coach. From our standpoint we'll be facing a team which has had that happen and has had a bye week. It's a prideful program with some prideful coaches and they have a lot of season left to play. You really don't know what you're walking into this weekend, to be honest with you. Based on the groundwork that's been laid there, it can be a pretty hostile environment from a player/coach standpoint because guys have a lot to play for.”
On Armani Watts always being around the ball making plays…
“There's a reason why you say guys have a nose for the ball. He's playing really hard. He's making mistakes that maybe you guys don't notice but we do as coaches. The one thing you're not going to accuse Armani Watts of is not playing hard. He loves the game, he enjoys it. He can't wait. I asked him before we got to Columbia, I said, 'Hey, you scared? You able to handle all this?' He said, 'Shoot I've been waiting for this.' “
On playing in the metroplex…
“This is a contract that was done a long time ago. People ask about our schedule, and I hear other coaches talk about it. We had two things happen. One, we changed conferences, and it became very hard to schedule games in the next 1-2 years (especially) when you drop down to an 8-game conference schedule. Two, I think people really overlook this, is one of our non-conference games previously used to be Arkansas. That game is now a conference game. The schedule changed dramatically. We not only changed leagues but into the same one that Arkansas is in. We're going to Dallas back-to-back weeks. I think it's a good thing for us in recruiting. Last time we were up there we had a huge contingency of fans. When we practiced for the Cotton Bowl we practiced at SMU and there had to be couple thousand people out there. I look for that to happen again, to have a lot of Aggies there. Playing in the Metroplex is a good thing for us. The other thing that's interesting is we caught a break from a game-time scheduling standpoint, not just this week but next week. We have two game times at 2:30, two travel times at 2:30, the same bus trip. We're looking for the same type of prep Monday through Saturday and the same type of performance and effort these next two weeks. Very rarely at this point in college football do you get to duplicate the same type of situation from a travel and game-time standpoint. I think we caught a break there.”
On the status of Speedy Noil …
“Speedy probably will not play this weekend.”
On the status of Zaycoven Henderson…
“Probable for Saturday. I would say Zaycoven will play Saturday, Mike Matthews will be probable. Jordan (Mastrogiovanni) the same. Cam Clear the same. We'll see, how about that.”
On Ricky Seals-Jones' role …
“The impact we thought Cam (Clear) would have in the South Carolina game, with 7 minutes to go in the first quarter, Cam Clear was out. You don't know at that point if Cam is coming back or not. I thought Jake (Spavital) and the offensive staff did a great job of adjusting the game plan and utilizing Ricky as a move guy. He's always had talent. He's had to refine himself as a route-runner. He's gotten better. Is he there yet? No, but he's a lot better than he was a year ago. His diversity and being able to move around a bit helps him and creates problems for defenses. That's helped him. He understands what his limitations are. In high school I think he got away with a lot less technique because he was so much bigger than everybody. As he started to play last year I think he understood 'I have to start working at my craft. Being big and fast isn't enough. It's a pretty good place to start but not enough all the time. He's gotten tougher, being able to block people, and understands the game more. He's still a work in progress with his route discipline, kind of like Mike Evans was early. I think he's really studying the game and wants to be really, really good. And to do that he has to understand the other part of the game and he's making strides to get there.”
On Myles Garrett …
“If you weren't at practice you'd probably be surprised. If you watched him practice (in fall camp)…we've got two pretty good tackles, and our line is pretty good. And for a guy to walk in here and have the success he did in fall camp…he's had his moments with every guy on that offensive line. Did he win every time? No. But that's when you start getting respect from your teammates. Our challenge is to make sure that we are getting him in the position to help him be successful because he's going to start seeing some different blocking schemes. I saw an interesting stat about (Jadeveon) Clowney only playing between 15 and 20 snaps a game early (as a freshman). Those guys get tired asking them to do a bunch of stuff. We have to manage how much he's out there. I think we've got a rotation that can allow him to not have to play 60 or 70 or 80 snaps a game so he can be fresh and do what he does at a high level, and keep those other guys at a high level. He's already tied the freshman sack record at A&M and he's got as many sacks as we had as a team last year. So I guess he's doing alright. We've only played 3 games so we'll see what happens. I think he's going to get better. With that, just like everyone else who's a young player, people start figuring you out too. How he reacts to that will be interesting. But we have to help him out with that too.”
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MARK SNYDER
On Nick Harvey performance Saturday…
“He did (well). He did some good things. There are some things Nick is good at right now and some things that he needs to get better at. I have to know when he is in the game and stay away from some of the things that he's not good at just yet. Nick is very smooth and has a lot of confidence. I feel very comfortable putting him in some man-type situations but some of the run-support stuff he's still a little bit a ways away from.”
On how the defense handled not having Jordan (Mastrogiovanni)…
“It was different obviously. He's the quarterback of our defense. When you have a true freshman trying to run things…Josh (Walker) got baptized a little bit, and that should help him in the future.”
On preparing for SMU with an interim coach…
”It will be interesting. It will be a game of adjustments Will they stick with what they are going to do or will they tweak it a little bit? They have had two weeks to do some different things. There will be some adjusting going on through the first quarter, no doubt about that.”
On any moment that validated what Myles Garrett could do on the field…
“That was more from practice, about halfway through camp. And then you didn't really know until we got to South Carolina. It was kind of a gradual process. He is still a work in progress, and has a lot of work to do. But boy, is he talented.”
On his what he took away from the Rice game…
”We really wanted to work on our scramble rules. The first two weeks we weren't really good when the quarterback got out of the pocket. I thought that was much, much better. I thought the kids bore down when they got to the red zone and the field shrunk. That was really good to see us bow up a little bit.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR JAKE SPAVITAL
On the offensive performance with Ben Compton playing center…
”I thought the offense moved exactly like it was supposed to. He is a veteran player. He is a guy that has earned that position to go there. It is unfortunate for Mike (Matthews) but at the same time it was good to see Ben go out there and operate. He is a guy where I definitely feel comfortable running everything in the playbook and him operating it and making all the points.”
On the success of the passing game…
”The first game, we started off at South Carolina and we were very quick with our throws because there were a lot of uncertainties going to that game. Going into Lamar we were trying to take some shots. This week we tried to work on our intermediate passing game. I think what is making us successful in the passing game is Kenny (Hill) taking what the defense gives them. He does not have any interceptions right now and he is taking care of the ball pretty well. At the same time (credit) our receivers, Coach Beaty has done a great job. Our wide receivers understand the route-running concept and what we are trying to do and trying to accomplish with the play. The players understand it as well now and they can go out and execute it pretty well. With Kenny and his poise, that calm nature that he has just passes off on everyone else. We did make some mistakes in the Rice game, we had a few drops. But he is one of those guys that is like, 'Hey, we will get it the next time'. I think you could see that as well with some of the kids that had drops in the game. They stepped up and made plays later.”
On the approach this week without Speedy Noil…
”I don't think it is going to change anything. I think it's another opportunity for a kid to step up and make plays. I'm very pleased with all the receivers that we have. It's unfortunate for Speedy this week, but I think it's going to give some kids an opportunity to step up and make plays. Ed Pope is going in that position right now, and I think Pope has had a great start to the season. It's not going to change anything with what we're doing offensively.”
On Kyle Allen pressing during games…
”I wouldn't say that he's pressing. We did 10 drives offensively, and then he comes in for the 11th. The game is pretty out of hand at that point. You're trying to run the offense efficiently, but a lot of the starters were pulled at that time. He is still trying to compete for that starting job and trying to make a name for himself. I think the kid went in there, he underthrew the post play…a lot of that has to do with the play call from me. He's going to keep working and is going to be a good quarterback for us eventually.”
On what he expects of SMU with a new coach…
”I don't think there are going to be many changes defensively. Coach Mason, he has gone up against us and this offense for I think the seventh year running. So he is very familiar with what we do offensively. I'd expect to see nothing new on defense. They are a multiple defense, they are going to show all different kinds of looks. We are going to prepare for anything. These kids I don't think have anything to lose so they are going to come out and fire bullets at us.”
On Ricky Seals-Jones' performance through three games…
“Ricky has had three really good games so far. He keeps getting better as well. He is still learning the position and is still trying to perfect it. He is such a unique body type--he is big, strong and fast. He can bring that physical presence in the blocking game at the same time as stretching the field vertically. I think that puts a lot of stress on defensive coordinators because if you have a guy that can stretch the field vertically and still add gaps in the run game, you have to pick your poison on that. You have to play it differently. He is going to keep improving. He's fun to watch and has a lot of fun out there.”