Texas A&M went through a very light workout on Monday afternoon as the Aggies began preparations for their season opener against Arizona State in Houston at the Advocare Texas Kickoff.
Following practice, Coach Sumlin addressed the media and talked about the starting quarterback decision and more. A summary of his comments are posted below.
12thman.com's training camp coverage is brought to you by Academy Sports + Outdoors.
KEVIN SUMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE SUMMARY
QB decision. We go through evaluation process like we do at every position. That position just gets a lot more attention from media and fans. Process not one day. Couple things. Accumulated over couple weeks. 3 live scrimmage opportunities. Today was getting into opponent prep over the next couple weeks. Plenty of time to evaluate. Just like other positions, have to start practicing to play other people.
How close competition was and is it still ongoing. Every position is ongoing at our place. It's a competition based program. Guys put themselves in position to earn time on the field and guys continue to work to try and earn that. Quarterback is no different.
How did Kyler respond. Good. Brought all the guys in and talked to them and told each one of them the situation. Great guys, great competitors. They understand only one quarterback can be on the field, unlike other positions where there are three linebackers and five linemen. Anytime that happens where guys are used to being the guy, the important part is moving forward how you handle that in practice. You're one play away from playing. How you work how you prepare from here on out gives us idea of when you are ready to go in the game.
On other QBs reaction. We had a good discussion. It was about how you handle things from here on out. What's your demeanor going to be at practice. Hang your head? Pout? Everyone is going to be disappointed. If you're not we got the wrong guys. Jake Hubenak was the same way. Guys understand their role but they want to play. Basic message was how you come out today, how you study, how you game plan is going to tell us not only that you want to play but also that you're ready to play.
Kyle Allen now compared to a year ago. I think he's got real sense of what everyone else is doing if that makes sense. Don't care what position is, as first-year player there's a learning curve. It's the what to do stage. Now he's worked up to how to do it. We challenged him in offseason with leadership skills from January on. His knowledge of the offense and knowledge of defensive schemes and blitzes has certainly improved. Translating that knowledge into production will be important. Because his knowledge has improved he's lot more relaxed right now than he was at this time last year.
Playing 2 quarterbacks. Not going to talk about it. Today was about Kyle Allen.
Rest of travel team. Got real good feel. Staring to move toward a two-deep. Were working on that today. Figuring out who will get on bus and go to Houston. Who's going to redshirt, who's going to be real involved in special teams. Training some of our players that are on the fringe of the two deep and figuring out where they fit as far as special teams go because of depth of this league. As we've learned it's not necessarily games 1, 2 and 3, these guys come into play from about game 5 on. People say you burn a redshirt if you only use a guy on special teams. If he's a 3-phase special teams player he's playing 30-something snaps a game which is a half, and that's significant. And the preparation involved in that during the week, that means he's traveling, he's working on our defense and offense, he understands game speed, crowds, pressure. That pays off down the road.
Cornerback competition between Nick Harvey and Brandon Williams. Nick Harvey has had a great camp. He's been the Nick Harvey we'd wanted him to be. More confident, more relaxed. Been real pleased with him. Always had that talent. So far he's been consistent. Brandon Williams has been too. Got real good competition going there. With playing a team like ASU there's going to be time for both those guys to be on field.
Playing first two months in state of Texas. Know our players parents are happy. Not having to go very far. Think big takeaway is what we've talked to people about. Kyle Field is the finest collegiate football facility in the country. Bar none. Incredible facility for our fans and players. Opening at NRG, hosted the Super Bowl. Go up to AT&T, lot of people say that's the best football facility in the world. Not just those games in state, but from recruiting and fan and player and parent standpoint you're going to be in 3 of the best venues in the country to play football and that's hard to beat.
Team captains. Offense – Germain Ifedi, Mike Matthews. Defense - Myles Garrett, Brandon Williams. Special teams - Sam Moeller. Voted on by teammates.
Following practice, Coach Sumlin addressed the media and talked about the starting quarterback decision and more. A summary of his comments are posted below.
12thman.com's training camp coverage is brought to you by Academy Sports + Outdoors.
KEVIN SUMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE SUMMARY
QB decision. We go through evaluation process like we do at every position. That position just gets a lot more attention from media and fans. Process not one day. Couple things. Accumulated over couple weeks. 3 live scrimmage opportunities. Today was getting into opponent prep over the next couple weeks. Plenty of time to evaluate. Just like other positions, have to start practicing to play other people.
How close competition was and is it still ongoing. Every position is ongoing at our place. It's a competition based program. Guys put themselves in position to earn time on the field and guys continue to work to try and earn that. Quarterback is no different.
How did Kyler respond. Good. Brought all the guys in and talked to them and told each one of them the situation. Great guys, great competitors. They understand only one quarterback can be on the field, unlike other positions where there are three linebackers and five linemen. Anytime that happens where guys are used to being the guy, the important part is moving forward how you handle that in practice. You're one play away from playing. How you work how you prepare from here on out gives us idea of when you are ready to go in the game.
On other QBs reaction. We had a good discussion. It was about how you handle things from here on out. What's your demeanor going to be at practice. Hang your head? Pout? Everyone is going to be disappointed. If you're not we got the wrong guys. Jake Hubenak was the same way. Guys understand their role but they want to play. Basic message was how you come out today, how you study, how you game plan is going to tell us not only that you want to play but also that you're ready to play.
Kyle Allen now compared to a year ago. I think he's got real sense of what everyone else is doing if that makes sense. Don't care what position is, as first-year player there's a learning curve. It's the what to do stage. Now he's worked up to how to do it. We challenged him in offseason with leadership skills from January on. His knowledge of the offense and knowledge of defensive schemes and blitzes has certainly improved. Translating that knowledge into production will be important. Because his knowledge has improved he's lot more relaxed right now than he was at this time last year.
Playing 2 quarterbacks. Not going to talk about it. Today was about Kyle Allen.
Rest of travel team. Got real good feel. Staring to move toward a two-deep. Were working on that today. Figuring out who will get on bus and go to Houston. Who's going to redshirt, who's going to be real involved in special teams. Training some of our players that are on the fringe of the two deep and figuring out where they fit as far as special teams go because of depth of this league. As we've learned it's not necessarily games 1, 2 and 3, these guys come into play from about game 5 on. People say you burn a redshirt if you only use a guy on special teams. If he's a 3-phase special teams player he's playing 30-something snaps a game which is a half, and that's significant. And the preparation involved in that during the week, that means he's traveling, he's working on our defense and offense, he understands game speed, crowds, pressure. That pays off down the road.
Cornerback competition between Nick Harvey and Brandon Williams. Nick Harvey has had a great camp. He's been the Nick Harvey we'd wanted him to be. More confident, more relaxed. Been real pleased with him. Always had that talent. So far he's been consistent. Brandon Williams has been too. Got real good competition going there. With playing a team like ASU there's going to be time for both those guys to be on field.
Playing first two months in state of Texas. Know our players parents are happy. Not having to go very far. Think big takeaway is what we've talked to people about. Kyle Field is the finest collegiate football facility in the country. Bar none. Incredible facility for our fans and players. Opening at NRG, hosted the Super Bowl. Go up to AT&T, lot of people say that's the best football facility in the world. Not just those games in state, but from recruiting and fan and player and parent standpoint you're going to be in 3 of the best venues in the country to play football and that's hard to beat.
Team captains. Offense – Germain Ifedi, Mike Matthews. Defense - Myles Garrett, Brandon Williams. Special teams - Sam Moeller. Voted on by teammates.