Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital phoned in to the Wednesday, May 6 edition of Studio 12 to discuss Kyler Murray's annoucement to forego the Major League Baseball draft and enroll at Texas A&M.
To listen, simply click the audio player below or choose the download link to save to your computer.
Studio 12, produced by Texas A&M Athletics' 12th Man Productions, brings fans interviews, insights and original content surrounding Texas A&M Athletics. It airs every Wednesday and Friday from 12-1 p.m. locally on SportsRadio 1150 and The Zone 102.7 FM from 12th Man Studios in the south end zone of Kyle Field.
Quotes from Wednesday's interview are posted below.
On Kyler Murray's announcement...
"Kyler and I, we've been talking a lot about this over the past few months. I kind of felt like he was going to be leaning toward this decision, and I told him I would support him no matter what happens. To be in that situation is just unbelievable, especially for a kid his age. I was fired up when he told me the news that he's coming, and he will be here June 1st. I told him I'm ready to get to work and get this thing started and try to get him up to speed with the offense as fast as I possibly can."
On the guidance Kyler received from family before making his decision...
"Obviously it's a very talented family. They're capable of playing not just one sport…they're capable of being very good at two different sports. He obviously had a lot of guys helping him with the decision, especially when it comes to the professional ranks. I know the family helped him through all that and I'm very fortunate and excited to have Kyler come and be part of this Aggie football team."
On the importance of summer's individual workouts with teammates and with new rules allowing meetings with coaches in summer for the quarterback position in getting the QBs ready for fall...
"It's definitely going to help with these meetings. We're allowed to meet with them two hours a week. It's going to be very important for Kyler to get sped up, mainly with the communication part of it. But when they go out there and work 7-on-7 and team drills without us it's definitely going to be important for him to catch up.
"I know that Kyle Allen will sit there and help Kyler through the process as well. Kyle's a great competitor, but he's a great person as well. He's going to help Kyler get in there and start mixing it up a bit and help him out a lot. Fortunately I have a lot of meeting time with (Kyler) but it's also going to help for those other quarterbacks, Conner McQueen and Kyle Allen, to sit there and help Kyler and get him up to speed with things."
On which quarterback has a leg up in the race for starter this fall...
"Obviously Kyle does have the leg up right now, just with him being on campus and with what he did. He started five games for us last year and he went through the entire spring practice and got 15 practices ahead of Kyler. It's going to be interesting to see how everything plays out. Right now Kyle is ahead just based off him being on campus, but like I've said before I'm always going to give that incoming freshman that chance to come in and compete and win that starting battle. Kyler will have his opportunity to see if he can beat Kyle out."
Is Kyler as ready as any incoming freshman could possibly be to compete in the SEC?
"Definitely, especially coming from Allen High School, which is such a prestigious high school. And, playing in the state of Texas at the highest level, and being 43-0 at that level. I don't think there would be any quarterback anywhere in the entire country as ready as Kyler Murray coming into a college situation."