Coach Sumlin and coordinators Jake Spavital and Mark Snyder met the media Tuesday at the Aggies pre-Auburn press conference inside Kyle Field.
Select quotes are listed below.
After last week you said you played it close to the vest with Kyle Allen. Do you expect to open the playbook more this week?
“I think so. As things progress you can be more comfortable. After watching the video it was obvious he had to develop a comfort level with just playing, not just with the offense. As a young quarterback, particularly in midseason, you're going to get pressure. That's Football 101. We're going to continue to see that type of pressure and man-to-man, we know that. As coaches we have to develop a scheme to help guys get open and protect him against those type of blitzes. He has to develop a bit more pocket patience, if you will. That's why we practice. But yeah, we're trying to give him more and more as we go along.”
Trey Williams didn't play and Ricky Seals-Jones had no catches…can you update us on those two guys?
“We've got to continue to develop Ricky and get him involved in what we're doing. That was a situation where schematically in man-to-man he has to be able to get open, and we've got to help him with routes that target him. We have a number of players that in situations like that, particularly with a new quarterback. That's a little bit different with spreading the ball around and doing some different things, really within a week where we wanted to protect the quarterback and throw 2- and 3-receiver routes. Trey Williams didn't play, he didn't handle his business the week before the way we wanted to. Consequently he didn't see any action Saturday.”
Ben Compton was given the offensive player of the week award and played the H-back position. Did you like what you saw and can we expect to see more of that on Saturday?
“Yeah. He did a nice job and brought some attitude. His individual performance was really, really good. I thought we needed some other people to step to that particular level. He brings an attitude and a work ethic we wanted to reward. Not only did we reward him with playing, he also played at a high level which we needed to happen. There were a number of guys I thought going into the bye week that these spots are open, you will play if you earn the right to play and play with intensity and heart. Ben was one of those, I think you saw the two linebackers were the same way (Otaro Alaka, Josh Walker), and you saw the return of Armani Watts. A number of players saw action in that game that had been sporadic (playing time) throughout the season but played the bulk of that game.”
When you were at Houston and you lost Case Keenum, you had to prepare a quarterback pretty quickly. Anything you can draw from that as you get Kyle Allen up to speed?
“Actually we lost two guys, we had to go to the third and fourth guy. We lost two guys in one game. The third guy wasn't able to play, we didn't even have the guy that would have played on the trip. You learn from all your experiences and what you are going to do and how to handle guys during the week. I think the tough part is with quarterbacks and guys who have a lot of pride, the communication of what they can do and can't do you have to ascertain as coach. A lot of times young guys won't tell you what they don't feel good about. You have to see that during practice and games and try and build them up to that, and give them a plan they can execute--not necessarily what you think they can do, but what they can do. That's part of coaching. Kyle's a young man who is very, very capable of running this offense and doing the things necessary to put up the type of numbers that are necessary to win.”
Can you update us on Germain Ifedi and Deshazor Everett?
“Deshazor has a ruptured ligament in his elbow. He's iffy for this weekend. I don't think he's going to practice this week. It's a very, very painful situation. I don't know where he's going to be. He's played enough football where if he can go he'll go, but he'll have to brace that to see. Germain has a grade two MCL sprain. On bigger guys, that's a problem. I wouldn't look to see him for the remainder of the regular season. We'll probably get him back for the bowl game. You saw us scramble a bit. We moved Ced (Ogbuehi) to right tackle and moved Jarvis (Harrison) out of guard to left tackle, and we went with (Garrett) Gramling and (Joe) Cheek inside there. That's where we are. That's no different than a lot of people this year. We've been very fortunate around here to play with the same five guys a bunch. Jarvis will have to play tackle and play very, very well, and he's capable of that.”
You said after Saturday that maybe a few weeks ago you may not have won that game. Going into the No. 3 team in the country do you think you've made enough progress to be competitive?
“You bet. There are a lot of things you can take from (Saturday). People thought I was being sarcastic Saturday when I said the positive was we won, and the negative we didn't win by enough. That was the truth. Where we were and where we are, after losing three straight games and having a bye week, you're talking a month of this building not experiencing a win. No matter how you experienced that, that was important for this team. That bye week was about us and toughness and things I saw differences in that weren't reflected in points. There were some areas I saw where guys ran to the ball defensively, more gang tackles and more non-missed tackles than we've had in a long time. We had less busted coverage. We ran the ball no matter what, even with 9 or 10 guys in the box. Are there things we can do better? You bet. A lot of things. From the bye week, what internally we set out to do, I thought there were some strides made from those things we talked about that weren't indicative of a point total but a toughness level. Can we build on that? You bet.”
Preview Auburn for this weekend…what can you expect from them?
“I think everyone has seen Auburn play. They are a really fine football team. You've watched them play on the road and play tough games on the road, last week and early in the year against K-state in a really hard-fought game. They are another team with a veteran quarterback who has been in big ballgames. He can run it and throw it, putting pressure on your defense. Because of the type of offense they play we will have to have great eye discipline in the back. It all starts with their power run game. They have the ability to get to the perimeter with really talented athletes. They have home-run hitters on the outside. Offensively they were down a bit in the first half but came back the last couple of weeks and scored enough points to win games. Defensively they are another veteran side. There's a reason they are ranked the way they are. For us to go over there and win it's going to take our 'A' game, but we know that. I like where we are. I like our attitude right now. I like the way we're practicing. I think our guys are in a place right now where we have some guys playing that haven't played a lot that are anxious to play and anxious to prove themselves.”
Talk about things you liked from Kyle Allen and things you think he needs to improve on…
We didn't have a bunch of delay of games, illegal formations, things like that. Operationally he was good there. That's what you worry about with any young quarterback from an operational standpoint. Our communication could get better. We missed a couple signals on the perimeter, whether that's the receivers or him, that's always a worry because it's a new quarterback. Guys are different. We need to improve there. Knowledge of situations and ball security (need to improve) too. Those are things I talked about Saturday. Situational football has to be important to a quarterback. That's hard when you're worried just about what to do with that play. Maybe we need to do a little bit better job tightening the reins and not give him as much freedom in a pass/run situation, which we've talked about. It's a learning experience for him and us.”
You opened game with an impressive offensive drive but didn't really have one after. When you reviewed the tape was part of that not opening up the game plan?
“It was a little bit of both. We (also) worked on some things we hadn't worked on (before). I told Brandon (Williams) he rushed for 71 yards, and when you look back on that tape he should have had over 100. That's not based on anything other than running style and where he ran with the ball. He'll be first to tell you we left yards and points on the table. We've been a zone team for basically the last two-and-a-half years. We're running some gap/scheme stuff and man-blocking stuff for a running back that are different. You saw on Tra Carson's touchdown where he ran all over the field, based on the video if he runs straight forward he scores as well. When you're live (though) it's different. Our backs and our people up front are able to see hey look, if we're playing this type of football this where I need to be. You're not trying to score all the time and bounce it and make guys miss, three, four or five yards is okay instead of panicking and saying hey, I need 8 or I need to get to the edge.”
Talk about what Nick Marshall brings to the Auburn offense and the difficulty of stopping a mobile quarterback like him…
“He's a guy that can run and pass. He's an experienced quarterback. He brings a lot to the table, not only from an athleticism standpoint but from an experience standpoint. His ability to put pressure on you with both the run and the pass makes them extremely difficult to defend. I think Gus will tell you that they want to start with their run game, run power football out of the spread, and then the play-action off of that has been deadly for a lot of different people.”