Sights and Sounds: Day 1 at AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Dec 26, 2014 | Football
Texas A&M spent Friday, its first full day in Memphis, practicing and taking part in bowl activities including a visit to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.
Listen to audio from select players and coaches Kevin Sumlin and Jake Spavital to the left. Video clips and photos are also available.
Select quotes are posted below.
Offensive Coordinator Jake Spavital opening statement… “We're excited to be here. This game has a lot of meaning for us right now. One, just leaving this senior class on a high note, but this is our opportunity to win four straight bowl games. They have the opportunity to be the first senior class to do that and we're excited. This win will actually help us going into the offseason as well and with recruiting. Everybody likes being on a high note. We're excited to be here and we're ready for this challenge. It's definitely going to be a fun game for me, especially since I get to see a lot of faces that I've seen in the past.”
Spavital on going up against Dana Holgorsen… “It's pretty interesting just overall. He trained me in this offense. I know how he trains the quarterback and he knows how I train the quarterback which is going to get pretty interesting. We've had to change up some things from signals to the communication because they know it obviously. It's going to be fun and it's good to look across the field and see some familiar faces because I enjoyed my time at West Virginia.
Spavital on the Texas A&M and West Virginia offensive similarities… “You can't go in and just completely change everything about what you're doing offensively or as a team in general. There's just going to be some little things that you tweak here and there but the overall philosophy of each team is going to be the same in what they've rode out on this entire season and what makes them have any success this season.”
Spavital on preparing for West Virginia… “It definitely is a work in progress. What we did in these bowl practices was we didn't begin to prepare for West Virginia until about five or six practices in and it was mainly just to help with the development of these kids. We're a very young team. If you look at our skilled positions, we lose one guy. We spent a lot of time just going back to the basics and getting down to coaching and making sure everybody is on the same page. The development has been huge for these bowl practices, but now we're on to West Virginia and we're trying to put together the best game plan that we can possibly do for Kyle and hopefully it fits for him, especially against this 3-3 stack defense.”
Wide receiver Malcome Kennedy on dealing with this season's adversity… “We just got caught at some bad times. That's the great thing about football, sometimes things happen. You win games you're supposed to win; lose games you're not supposed to lose. We got into a spot where we didn't do so well but one thing the team did do is stay together. We learned as men how to create character and build that from those losses.”
Offensive lineman Mike Matthews on how he feels going into the game… “We're really excited for this game. We understand that there's a lot riding on this game coming off that loss against LSU. It's just time to get back in the win column—and not only for that, it's the beginning of the next season. This game follows up into next season and to get this one right here would be big.”
Matthews on West Virginia's defense … “It's a little bit different. We don't see that type of defense every week. We're used to seeing your base in SEC defenses. It's a little bit different. We saw a little bit of it early on in the season but I think we've prepared really well for it. I think we know what we're doing and we're pretty excited.”
Offensive lineman Cedric Ogbuehi on the chance to win four straight bowl games… “It's special in that in the history of Texas A&M no one has done that. It would be cool to make a mark on a legacy.”
Wide receiver Ricky Seals-Jones on the benefits of playing a team with a similar offense… “Coach Spavital knows their plays, but they also know ours. We have to change up some of our signals and they obviously have to change up some of theirs. You just have to go out and play your game and not worry about them.”
