Training Camp: Day Two

Lightning and clouds in the area provided (somewhat) cooler temperatures, but the weather forced the Aggies inside the McFerrin Athletic Center for the majority of day two of training camp on Tuesday. The team was in helmets for the second consecutive day.

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Summary of John Chavis press conference is below:

First two days of practice. Got a team that's willing to work. Been exciting watching them. Been flying around. Learning. Have guys that we need to get ready to play (new, or coming off injury, etc.), so we have some catching up to do, but been exciting watching them practice.
Carryover from spring. Absolutely. Had opportunity to get stronger since spring and you can see that. Coach (Larry) Jackson did great job. Made a difference already in our football team.
Where starting lineup is. May be game time with some of them. Competition at every position. Really neat. Will play the best players. Fall is for identifying the 11 who will start for us. Will be well after a couple scrimmages before we get to that. You let them settle that on the field.
Linebacking corps coming off injuries. Doing good job but they have little or no practice time in this scheme. Area we need to improve and need to in a hurry. We have competition there and that will help a lot.
Defense vs this offense. Can learn a tremendous amount. Won't get any faster than we're going right now. Run 50 plays in 30 minutes or less, that's pretty fast. A multiple offense with a lot of talent on it. It's a challenge every day.
League change in offensive schemes since his start. It's been almost 360. Few still power football teams. Some spread teams even have an element of power football. Changed a good bit.
Stopping run is priority. No question. We've massaged our scheme some through the years. Emphasis is still the same. Principles are still the same. Stop run with numbers and rush the passer with speed. We have some speed on the outside so we're excited about that.
Feel for talent at linebacker. Yeah. Some of that is based off last year. Watched every snap our players played last year. Had idea going in of talent level. We have good talent, no question about that. Have to gain some experience. Have to ask what we're really missing, and I thought little bit of confidence. And their confidence is growing. As a coach you want to put young man in position where he can have success. Success breeds confidence and confidence breeds good football teams.
Challenge of Arizona State as first game. You take (challenges) as they come. Every game is a challenge. Playing one of the top 20 teams in the country. Really, really good football team. Challenge, but you look forward to it. Got to be ready to come out of the gate. Guarantee you this football team will be.
Brandon Williams. Very talented young man. Committed. Great student. Wants to learn. Is learning. He's a sponge. Wants to know everything he can. Won't be many guys lining up at that position that will be more talented than him. Got to gain experience and confidence. Think he's pretty confident, and believes in himself. Will work hard enough to have reason to believe in himself.
Daylon Mack. Definitely a talented guy. Daylon is mature enough to handle the transition well. He knows he has to work hard. That's part of the transition.
Myles Garrett. Not surprised by his talent. Watched every snap he played last year. Only thing that could hold him back is if he got satisfied. He's not going to let that happen. He's a worker. Will do exactly what supposed to do. Be where he's supposed to be. He's fun to be on the field with.

Summary of Jake Spavital press conference is below.

Quarterback battle. Been mixing up reps. Always give new guys opportunity to compete. Right now Kyle Allen looks good. Kyler Murray is operating well. Same with Jake Hubenak. Had meetings all summer, so they are already on point with communication. Pretty pleased with how the QBs are operating.
Legitimately a 3-man race right now? Right now, yes. Probably go 2-3 more days then limit it down to 2. We have short turnaround right now, have to eliminate one soon so others can get more reps.
Early impressions of Kyler's skill set. Special player. Thing that's pretty impressive is sometimes when he doesn't know what's going on and you're throwing a bunch of new stuff at him he's got a football savvy to him. He'll drop back if pocket collapses and he just turns and goes and makes something happen. Very similar to how Johnny played.
Tra Carson. Doing great right now. Very experienced guy. I lean on him to speak to the team. Sat out the entire spring due to injury. Looks fresh and ready to go. Very pleased with him.
Compare QB situation now vs end of regular season, night and day. It's very comforting. Last year when played ULM and walk out in warmups and you only have two QBs out there, it got pretty interesting. Can at least sleep better at night that you have three QBs.
James White. Consistency. Better every single day. From the day he stepped on campus until now, the improvement in his body. Knows offense in and out. Runs around well. Has consistently gotten better.
Offense learning against this defense. Chief (John Chavis) brings a very aggressive mentality. No 'off' plays. Have to bring it every play. We will be outnumbered in the run game, we have to get downhill and make a guy miss and be more physical. Where you see the difference is the perimeter. Actually helping us out. Thought last year we missed lot of blocks and thought we were pretty soft on the perimeter. With aggressiveness Chief shows our kids they have to bring it or they'll get exposed.
Christian Kirk not dress out today. Strep throat. Be back tomorrow.
Speedy Noil. Have to realize we very young team last year. With speedy he was a high school QB. First year of learning the role. Now with Aaron Moorehead in here it's working great with him. Learning technique. Run routes properly. He's such an explosive player. So explosive he can sometimes hurt himself. He's learning how to understand timing and where to go and technique. Very pleased with everyone right now, especially the effort they're giving.
Ricky Seals-Jones. He was also a high school quarterback. That was his second year, he had to sit one out due to injury. Same with him. Learning routes. Way Chief plays on the perimeter it's very tough. Have to get outside on stuff. Ricky has to just keep learning how to influence defenders and use his big body and get open. He's getting better as well. Been a huge difference from what he's been in the spring until now. Put in lot of work over the summer.
See tangible changes in attitude/focus from Kyle Allen? Yeah. Especially since I cut his reps down, allowing other kids to compete and see what they're capable of doing. Every time Kyle goes out there he knows have to take advantage of every single play. Leadership showing out there. Kyle's very talented player as well. Going to be an interesting battle.
Timing of deciding QB battle. With exception of Kyler coming in in fall…last year had 2 guys going in the spring. We're going these 2 weeks, if we feel need we may expand it some more. For 2 weeks we have to throw everything at them and try and get one to separate themselves.
2 QBs. Something we've discussed. Possibility. Give me about a week and ask me that question.
Compare Kyle Allen to someone. Was talking to some NFL scouts recently they all look at him as a Matt Ryan type. Very consistent. Makes all the good throws. Very live arm. Has enough mobility to scramble and make things happen or throw for a first down or touchdown. Saw that in the bowl game.
Offensive line. Doing great. Done a great job recruiting at that position. Got Avery Gennesy in here and redshirted him. Had some valuable reps. Think O-line doing great right now. Clicking as usual.
Jordan Davis. He's still young. Still things we're trying to figure out with him. He's a dynamic guy. He's a big body. Can flex him out and run some routes with him. He's young. We have to test him, especially in live situations, and see if he can go in there and compete and fight.