Texas A&M coaches and players met the media on Tuesday in the first weekly press conference of the season inside the Kyle Field Media Center.
Summarized quotes from Kevin Sumlin, John Chavis and Noel Mazzone are posted below. Full audio and video files are linked on this page as well.
Talk about how the offense is starting to gel, and the offensive line in particular...
After we put two-deep out, kind of startled some of you guys. But we've been working with different combinations the first few weeks. Feel real good where things are, moving Jermaine (Eluemunor) to tackle. He's had experience there over the course of camp. We have number of pieces inside who can rotate and play. Erik McCoy did excellent job through spring and fall camp, grasped the offense in spring and continued to get better. All of young guys inside who have played little bit for us, except for Colton Prater but he was here in January, we feel good about our depth inside. Feel good about Jermaine swinging around all over the place. Has had an excellent fall camp at tackle. If anything, got a pretty good gauge where our tackles are just because of who they're going against in fall camp. That gives us pretty good feeling with how we feel about our defensive front. Not saying we're tearing those guys up but holding their own with our two ends and pass protection has been good to see. Feel good about where that is. Trevor (Knight) has continued to get more comfortable with what we're doing, (saw a) difference between practice one in spring and spring game. He was very, very efficient there. Continued to get better and gel with our receivers and understand what we're trying to do. Feel good where we are right now and guys anxious to play on Saturday.
You have a 7-1 record in season openers…what about your preparation allows you to have so much success?
I don't know, it's what we do. We have to figure out what's going on in back half I guess. Spent lot of time in offseason talking about what we're doing well and what we're not doing well. Try to stay ahead of curve every year with what we're doing well and address things on back end. Our guys are used to playing ranked opponents in first game. Just where we are right now. Few years ago fans were clamoring about opening weekend and how boring things were early. Don't think they can be upset about this weekend. Some great football games. We're very fortunate to be right in the middle of that on CBS. Weekend is great for college football.
What stood out about Armani Watts as recruit and talk about his progress here…
Always a physical guy. Always a real good football player. Great ball skills. Really good high school football player. Always been a guy who could play both ways and do a lot of things. Think that's helped him. Freshman year he starts at South Carolina, pretty hostile environment. First game on SEC Network. He made some plays in that game that were un-freshman like. Went through that season and hit the wall against Arkansas. Missed some tackles, just lost confidence. Actually sat him down for a little bit just because of lack of confidence, some things as a freshman he wasn't used to. What you've seen him do is grow physically, mentally. Matured as young man and player. Blossomed into one of better players in the league, even though preseason SEC team didn't reflect that for any of the safeties. Blocker. Pass defender. Leader on defense. Very, very unselfish player. Kickoff cover guy, whenever we want kick or punt coverage he'll jump in there and do what he needs to do. Says a lot about him as an overall player than just as a specific player on defense.
Relationship with Jim Mora…
I think we're pretty good friends. A guy that I can call, or did call, when Noel (Mazzone) was involved. Those are tough phone calls. It's a common courtesy in college football, you don't have to call. He called back and his relationship with Noel is well documented too. Jim is an excellent football coach. We came into these two programs about the same time, have just about same record going into year 5. Going to be heck of game Saturday. He's been successful wherever he's been. Reason for that. Team will be well coached. Excellent athletes across the board. Just like us they looking to take next step and move up a little bit in perception of program.
Coach Mazzone's familiarity with UCLA, how will that affect game?
None. Will tell you why. If anything – Jim Mora has familiarity with Noel. If any advantage I would give to UCLA. They have a new coordinator, we don't have anything on him. To answer your question, don't think that will have any bearing on the game.
The three walk-ons who received scholarships this week...
Every year since we've been here we have been fortunate enough to have guys besides the 12th Man that we look for. Great walk-on program here. Very important to have that. Number of guys who try out for our team. Weed those guys out and then they go through practice. Some guys have found way to field and have real impacts. Scholarship piece is really validation to them that they belong and can contribute. If you look at guys we put on scholarship a few days ago, all 3 of them will contribute. Will have role on football team that is a playing role. All 3 have gone through practice, been here for a while, established themselves, moved their way up. Football has become a year round sport. All guys on scholarship stay here all summer. Lifting program. 7 on 7. Guys who are paying their own way now doing that and paying for summer school too. That is heck of sacrifice. For those guys to put in that kind of work and pay their own way, you realize what happened the other day is great for them and great for our team. Every year you see not just the happiness or jubilation from the individuals who got the scholarship, but how much the other guys are happy for them. To me that says a lot. We're happy for those guys. You'll see all 3 play Saturday.
Who is replacing Sam Moeller as 12th Man?
Will announce that Friday. Will let him know Friday night before we let you guys know.
Will we see an up-tempo offense Saturday like maybe your first year?
Will be able to change speeds. Ability to go fast. Ability to slow it down. Will go with tempo we feel comfortable with. First game, we'll see where that is. Easier to slow down than it is to speed up, so we practice real quickly. Can't just turn things up on game day and not have practiced that. What you've seen out there is attempt to really practice at speed. Every offense wants to dictate the tempo, whatever that tempo is.
Any pleasant surprises about Trevor Knight and his leadership?
Talked about it since he first got here, big part was how he entered the situation. Became teammate first. That's a special skill set for guys to come in and do that. Created friendships in a short period of time with guys in his room. If there's one thing you never really know in recruiting process is how a guy will gel with everyone else. You can help that but really don't know how it will happen. That really helped his growth and helped team's growth and offense's growth. Wouldn't say that was a surprise but that was just added benefit he brought.
Lot to be excited about. Excited to start second year at A&M. Been looking and planning and have worked hard toward being better. That's what we need to do from defensive standpoint. Guys kept battling last year. Look at guys returning, some household names and they should be, because they're some of best players in country, particularly up front. Been a big change in way our football team looks. We're bigger, we're stronger and we're every bit as fast or faster. Looking forward to playing a quality opponent. Going to be a lot of great matchups Saturday.
On tape what have you seen out of (UCLA QB) Josh Rosen…
Think he's very talented young man. Great arm. Surrounded by talented players. One of those guys who's worked very hard and is very gifted. Talent shows.
How pleased with development at corner…
Very pleased with development. Got some young guys, Nick Harvey played lot of football for us. Priest Willis, Deshawn Capers-Smith, Roney Elam. Young guys who are very talented. Got some depth there, and we have several freshmen.
UCLA protected QB last year, is it more important to just get pressure at least?
One thing we have to do is stop run first. Worry about rushing passer then. We're a much improved run defense. Think you can affect the QB in a lot of ways. Can by affecting what his receivers do. Depends on how good you are in press coverage. That's who we are. Hopefully that buys us some time up front if we need it. We are a pressure team. We're not going to sit back and rush 3 or 4. If they decide to keep a lot of people in, we'll just rush 3. If they keep a lot of people out, we may rush 6. We'll pick and choose and see. We have good pass rushers up front in our front four. And when we start adding some of the linebackers on, and some of the secondary blitzes, gives us a good package to create pressure.
What's like prepping for UCLA offense with Mazzone here and a new offensive coordinator…
Haven't had chance to see UCLA offense. Think will be little more tight end. They've talked about the fullbacks they've gone in there and converted defensive tackle to fullback. Probably see more heavy personnel. They want to run the football. When you can run the football and force people to commit extra numbers in box you will have lot of 1-on-1 coverage. Not having seen this coordinator call plays before we will be very flexible with what we take into this game.
Do you think it could be a bad thing if your leading tackler is a safety?
Been around few teams where that was case. Our safeties will be involved in lot of tackles that's for sure. Bad thing? Eh. Probably more bad than good. Lot of plays last year our second level didn't fit way should have, there were ball carriers that got into secondary that shouldn't have. You don't want him to be…you hope front 7 keeps lot of balls from getting into secondary. But fact he (Armani Watts) did make the tackles was a good thing.
The matchup between Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall and UCLA's offensive tackles…
If I did have an opinion I wouldn't state it. But I have said we have as a pair best two defensive ends in country. They are outstanding young men and great players. I wouldn't trade them for any other two I've seen. Feel good about their ability to play the run and rush the passer.
How much fun is it to coach a guy like Armani?
Lot of fun because he, like a lot of others on our team, enjoys playing football. They enjoy the process, the work. Love to see guys willing to work hard, prepare, study. Love seeing them have success. Got a lot of other guys at various positions that are very similar in that attitude. Neat thing about being here in year two is fact that last year we had a group of guys all scuffling around trying to figure out what to do. In year two we have older guys that are teaching. When they are able to teach and get involved with younger guys that's when you really have opportunity to see your football team and defense grow. That's where Armani is. He's tutoring the younger guys. Making sure they get ready quicker than they would without him.
With no Josh Walker is there more pressure on the younger guys?
Not pressure. Opportunity. That's way they have to look at it. Expect next man to step up and that's what is going to happen.
Are you anxious to see how much improvement has been made by your run defense?
Always are. Don't know until you know. We see areas we know we're improved in, no question. But really proof is in pudding, and pudding is when you play the game. We're playing a top-20 opponent Saturday. We will know a lot more after game in terms of how much we've improved.
What it's say about Erik McCoy that he's a freshman and is already starting?
He's a freshman? Oh my gosh. Could have waited till Sunday to tell me that. (laughter) First of all playing center is not easy. May be hardest or second hardest job mentally on football field. You have to make lot of decisions with head between your knees. From where Erik has come from start to this point now it will be fun to watch him play. Have no apprehension at all about him being ready to play the game. Excited to see what he'll do in game setting.
How much responsibility in your offense does center have vs quarterback?
Center handles the box. Everyone in box is his responsibility. Everyone outside is quarterback's responsibility. So he's got just as much responsibility. He has to make more pre-snap decisions. The QB makes a lot of post-snap decisions.
How much difference can (DL) Eddie Vanderdoes make stopping the run for UCLA?
First of all UCLA gave up some yards last year but you have to understand they'd lost probably 3 of their marquee players off defense. Lot of youth last year. In my estimation Eddie is a guy we have to really keep an eye on. Good challenge for us. Think will be a real physical game. One of things when we went into UCLA was to be physical. No doubt that's been accomplished there.
When you were recruiting Josh Rosen to UCLA what drew you to him?
I didn't recruit him, he recruited us. Could have gone wherever he wanted. We were lucky to get him. Exceptional talent. Great pocket process. One of great natural throwers out there. Threw for almost 3,800 yards as a true freshman, 23 touchdowns, 245 straight passes without an interception.
What do you feel is difference between SEC and Pac-12 teams?
I don't know…obviously the Pac-12 known for little more spread and throwing ball around, those types of things. Great football coaches in Pac-12. Don't see lot of difference on that side of that. Everyone well-coached in good schemes. Everyone prepared for games to play in. Probably biggest difference would be week in and week out the size of the defensive and offensive lines. But then you look at Stanford and Oregon, they have cats up there too. Think they are very comparable leagues.
Having watched josh grow as freshman will it be tough to see him play against you?
Nah. Be kind of fun to watch. Happy for all those kids. Most of that team I kind of grew up with. It's a little both sides, right? I want to kick the dog out of them but want them to have successful careers also. Kind of fun.
Found yourself figuring out a way to disguise what you do since you ran things there for the last few years and they know what you do?
First of all, coach paranoia sets in (laughs). Every word we say, we know they know, and they will know every play. You go through that part of time. Most of those kids were freshmen when I showed up. Those guys every spring ball and two-a-days have gone against this offense. Am I changing a lot? No. At end of day, plays are plays and schemes are schemes. Kids have to make plays. Don't worry about things that much. Going to be a good football game. On flip side I've gone against their defense last 4 years. Advantage? Disadvantage? I don't know.
Trevor is making his first start in two years. You're coaching against your old team. Who is more excited?
Probably him. Trevor has been awesome. Excited for Trevor and for this game. Been everything you'd want him to be and asked him to be since he showed up on campus. Biggest thing right now is he realize to just take a few deep breaths and be Trevor, and we'll be just fine.
Biggest thing to adjust to coming from UCLA to A&M.
Little bit further to the beach from here (laughter). Was like a block and half off the water. Humidity is a little different without the ocean breezes. Nah, ben great to get to know these guys. Got a chance to bring few guys with me. Immediately felt good chemistry with this staff. Important everyone is on same page. How can I ask players to be on same page if we're not as staff? Been an adventure so to speak. By the way. I've done this before. Went from ASU to UCLA and coached against old team. Those kids are still very good friends of mine. Will be fun to see everybody.
A&M still relatively new to SEC. How does this environment fit into the SEC as a college town?
I don't know, it's been, what, since last time I was in the SEC? 2003 for a year? Not even a year. Ran me out of town pretty quick. Guess Auburn 2000 or whatever. This place is unbelievable. I have yet to experience Kyle Field on a game day. Maybe next week ask me that question. Pretty big time football. Think A&M led SEC in attendance last year. You're in a hotbed of high school football. Playing top teams week in and week out in this conference. This is pretty good conference, right after the AFC West.
Summarized quotes from Kevin Sumlin, John Chavis and Noel Mazzone are posted below. Full audio and video files are linked on this page as well.
- Video/Quotes: Kevin Sumlin
- Video/Quotes: DC John Chavis
- Video/Quotes: OC Noel Mazzone
- Video: Players (QB Trevor Knight, WR Christian Kirk, WR Ricky Seals-Jones, RB James White, DB Armani Watts)
Talk about how the offense is starting to gel, and the offensive line in particular...
After we put two-deep out, kind of startled some of you guys. But we've been working with different combinations the first few weeks. Feel real good where things are, moving Jermaine (Eluemunor) to tackle. He's had experience there over the course of camp. We have number of pieces inside who can rotate and play. Erik McCoy did excellent job through spring and fall camp, grasped the offense in spring and continued to get better. All of young guys inside who have played little bit for us, except for Colton Prater but he was here in January, we feel good about our depth inside. Feel good about Jermaine swinging around all over the place. Has had an excellent fall camp at tackle. If anything, got a pretty good gauge where our tackles are just because of who they're going against in fall camp. That gives us pretty good feeling with how we feel about our defensive front. Not saying we're tearing those guys up but holding their own with our two ends and pass protection has been good to see. Feel good about where that is. Trevor (Knight) has continued to get more comfortable with what we're doing, (saw a) difference between practice one in spring and spring game. He was very, very efficient there. Continued to get better and gel with our receivers and understand what we're trying to do. Feel good where we are right now and guys anxious to play on Saturday.
You have a 7-1 record in season openers…what about your preparation allows you to have so much success?
I don't know, it's what we do. We have to figure out what's going on in back half I guess. Spent lot of time in offseason talking about what we're doing well and what we're not doing well. Try to stay ahead of curve every year with what we're doing well and address things on back end. Our guys are used to playing ranked opponents in first game. Just where we are right now. Few years ago fans were clamoring about opening weekend and how boring things were early. Don't think they can be upset about this weekend. Some great football games. We're very fortunate to be right in the middle of that on CBS. Weekend is great for college football.
What stood out about Armani Watts as recruit and talk about his progress here…
Always a physical guy. Always a real good football player. Great ball skills. Really good high school football player. Always been a guy who could play both ways and do a lot of things. Think that's helped him. Freshman year he starts at South Carolina, pretty hostile environment. First game on SEC Network. He made some plays in that game that were un-freshman like. Went through that season and hit the wall against Arkansas. Missed some tackles, just lost confidence. Actually sat him down for a little bit just because of lack of confidence, some things as a freshman he wasn't used to. What you've seen him do is grow physically, mentally. Matured as young man and player. Blossomed into one of better players in the league, even though preseason SEC team didn't reflect that for any of the safeties. Blocker. Pass defender. Leader on defense. Very, very unselfish player. Kickoff cover guy, whenever we want kick or punt coverage he'll jump in there and do what he needs to do. Says a lot about him as an overall player than just as a specific player on defense.
Relationship with Jim Mora…
I think we're pretty good friends. A guy that I can call, or did call, when Noel (Mazzone) was involved. Those are tough phone calls. It's a common courtesy in college football, you don't have to call. He called back and his relationship with Noel is well documented too. Jim is an excellent football coach. We came into these two programs about the same time, have just about same record going into year 5. Going to be heck of game Saturday. He's been successful wherever he's been. Reason for that. Team will be well coached. Excellent athletes across the board. Just like us they looking to take next step and move up a little bit in perception of program.
Coach Mazzone's familiarity with UCLA, how will that affect game?
None. Will tell you why. If anything – Jim Mora has familiarity with Noel. If any advantage I would give to UCLA. They have a new coordinator, we don't have anything on him. To answer your question, don't think that will have any bearing on the game.
The three walk-ons who received scholarships this week...
Every year since we've been here we have been fortunate enough to have guys besides the 12th Man that we look for. Great walk-on program here. Very important to have that. Number of guys who try out for our team. Weed those guys out and then they go through practice. Some guys have found way to field and have real impacts. Scholarship piece is really validation to them that they belong and can contribute. If you look at guys we put on scholarship a few days ago, all 3 of them will contribute. Will have role on football team that is a playing role. All 3 have gone through practice, been here for a while, established themselves, moved their way up. Football has become a year round sport. All guys on scholarship stay here all summer. Lifting program. 7 on 7. Guys who are paying their own way now doing that and paying for summer school too. That is heck of sacrifice. For those guys to put in that kind of work and pay their own way, you realize what happened the other day is great for them and great for our team. Every year you see not just the happiness or jubilation from the individuals who got the scholarship, but how much the other guys are happy for them. To me that says a lot. We're happy for those guys. You'll see all 3 play Saturday.
Who is replacing Sam Moeller as 12th Man?
Will announce that Friday. Will let him know Friday night before we let you guys know.
Will we see an up-tempo offense Saturday like maybe your first year?
Will be able to change speeds. Ability to go fast. Ability to slow it down. Will go with tempo we feel comfortable with. First game, we'll see where that is. Easier to slow down than it is to speed up, so we practice real quickly. Can't just turn things up on game day and not have practiced that. What you've seen out there is attempt to really practice at speed. Every offense wants to dictate the tempo, whatever that tempo is.
Any pleasant surprises about Trevor Knight and his leadership?
Talked about it since he first got here, big part was how he entered the situation. Became teammate first. That's a special skill set for guys to come in and do that. Created friendships in a short period of time with guys in his room. If there's one thing you never really know in recruiting process is how a guy will gel with everyone else. You can help that but really don't know how it will happen. That really helped his growth and helped team's growth and offense's growth. Wouldn't say that was a surprise but that was just added benefit he brought.
Lot to be excited about. Excited to start second year at A&M. Been looking and planning and have worked hard toward being better. That's what we need to do from defensive standpoint. Guys kept battling last year. Look at guys returning, some household names and they should be, because they're some of best players in country, particularly up front. Been a big change in way our football team looks. We're bigger, we're stronger and we're every bit as fast or faster. Looking forward to playing a quality opponent. Going to be a lot of great matchups Saturday.
On tape what have you seen out of (UCLA QB) Josh Rosen…
Think he's very talented young man. Great arm. Surrounded by talented players. One of those guys who's worked very hard and is very gifted. Talent shows.
How pleased with development at corner…
Very pleased with development. Got some young guys, Nick Harvey played lot of football for us. Priest Willis, Deshawn Capers-Smith, Roney Elam. Young guys who are very talented. Got some depth there, and we have several freshmen.
UCLA protected QB last year, is it more important to just get pressure at least?
One thing we have to do is stop run first. Worry about rushing passer then. We're a much improved run defense. Think you can affect the QB in a lot of ways. Can by affecting what his receivers do. Depends on how good you are in press coverage. That's who we are. Hopefully that buys us some time up front if we need it. We are a pressure team. We're not going to sit back and rush 3 or 4. If they decide to keep a lot of people in, we'll just rush 3. If they keep a lot of people out, we may rush 6. We'll pick and choose and see. We have good pass rushers up front in our front four. And when we start adding some of the linebackers on, and some of the secondary blitzes, gives us a good package to create pressure.
What's like prepping for UCLA offense with Mazzone here and a new offensive coordinator…
Haven't had chance to see UCLA offense. Think will be little more tight end. They've talked about the fullbacks they've gone in there and converted defensive tackle to fullback. Probably see more heavy personnel. They want to run the football. When you can run the football and force people to commit extra numbers in box you will have lot of 1-on-1 coverage. Not having seen this coordinator call plays before we will be very flexible with what we take into this game.
Do you think it could be a bad thing if your leading tackler is a safety?
Been around few teams where that was case. Our safeties will be involved in lot of tackles that's for sure. Bad thing? Eh. Probably more bad than good. Lot of plays last year our second level didn't fit way should have, there were ball carriers that got into secondary that shouldn't have. You don't want him to be…you hope front 7 keeps lot of balls from getting into secondary. But fact he (Armani Watts) did make the tackles was a good thing.
The matchup between Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall and UCLA's offensive tackles…
If I did have an opinion I wouldn't state it. But I have said we have as a pair best two defensive ends in country. They are outstanding young men and great players. I wouldn't trade them for any other two I've seen. Feel good about their ability to play the run and rush the passer.
How much fun is it to coach a guy like Armani?
Lot of fun because he, like a lot of others on our team, enjoys playing football. They enjoy the process, the work. Love to see guys willing to work hard, prepare, study. Love seeing them have success. Got a lot of other guys at various positions that are very similar in that attitude. Neat thing about being here in year two is fact that last year we had a group of guys all scuffling around trying to figure out what to do. In year two we have older guys that are teaching. When they are able to teach and get involved with younger guys that's when you really have opportunity to see your football team and defense grow. That's where Armani is. He's tutoring the younger guys. Making sure they get ready quicker than they would without him.
With no Josh Walker is there more pressure on the younger guys?
Not pressure. Opportunity. That's way they have to look at it. Expect next man to step up and that's what is going to happen.
Are you anxious to see how much improvement has been made by your run defense?
Always are. Don't know until you know. We see areas we know we're improved in, no question. But really proof is in pudding, and pudding is when you play the game. We're playing a top-20 opponent Saturday. We will know a lot more after game in terms of how much we've improved.
What it's say about Erik McCoy that he's a freshman and is already starting?
He's a freshman? Oh my gosh. Could have waited till Sunday to tell me that. (laughter) First of all playing center is not easy. May be hardest or second hardest job mentally on football field. You have to make lot of decisions with head between your knees. From where Erik has come from start to this point now it will be fun to watch him play. Have no apprehension at all about him being ready to play the game. Excited to see what he'll do in game setting.
How much responsibility in your offense does center have vs quarterback?
Center handles the box. Everyone in box is his responsibility. Everyone outside is quarterback's responsibility. So he's got just as much responsibility. He has to make more pre-snap decisions. The QB makes a lot of post-snap decisions.
How much difference can (DL) Eddie Vanderdoes make stopping the run for UCLA?
First of all UCLA gave up some yards last year but you have to understand they'd lost probably 3 of their marquee players off defense. Lot of youth last year. In my estimation Eddie is a guy we have to really keep an eye on. Good challenge for us. Think will be a real physical game. One of things when we went into UCLA was to be physical. No doubt that's been accomplished there.
When you were recruiting Josh Rosen to UCLA what drew you to him?
I didn't recruit him, he recruited us. Could have gone wherever he wanted. We were lucky to get him. Exceptional talent. Great pocket process. One of great natural throwers out there. Threw for almost 3,800 yards as a true freshman, 23 touchdowns, 245 straight passes without an interception.
What do you feel is difference between SEC and Pac-12 teams?
I don't know…obviously the Pac-12 known for little more spread and throwing ball around, those types of things. Great football coaches in Pac-12. Don't see lot of difference on that side of that. Everyone well-coached in good schemes. Everyone prepared for games to play in. Probably biggest difference would be week in and week out the size of the defensive and offensive lines. But then you look at Stanford and Oregon, they have cats up there too. Think they are very comparable leagues.
Having watched josh grow as freshman will it be tough to see him play against you?
Nah. Be kind of fun to watch. Happy for all those kids. Most of that team I kind of grew up with. It's a little both sides, right? I want to kick the dog out of them but want them to have successful careers also. Kind of fun.
Found yourself figuring out a way to disguise what you do since you ran things there for the last few years and they know what you do?
First of all, coach paranoia sets in (laughs). Every word we say, we know they know, and they will know every play. You go through that part of time. Most of those kids were freshmen when I showed up. Those guys every spring ball and two-a-days have gone against this offense. Am I changing a lot? No. At end of day, plays are plays and schemes are schemes. Kids have to make plays. Don't worry about things that much. Going to be a good football game. On flip side I've gone against their defense last 4 years. Advantage? Disadvantage? I don't know.
Trevor is making his first start in two years. You're coaching against your old team. Who is more excited?
Probably him. Trevor has been awesome. Excited for Trevor and for this game. Been everything you'd want him to be and asked him to be since he showed up on campus. Biggest thing right now is he realize to just take a few deep breaths and be Trevor, and we'll be just fine.
Biggest thing to adjust to coming from UCLA to A&M.
Little bit further to the beach from here (laughter). Was like a block and half off the water. Humidity is a little different without the ocean breezes. Nah, ben great to get to know these guys. Got a chance to bring few guys with me. Immediately felt good chemistry with this staff. Important everyone is on same page. How can I ask players to be on same page if we're not as staff? Been an adventure so to speak. By the way. I've done this before. Went from ASU to UCLA and coached against old team. Those kids are still very good friends of mine. Will be fun to see everybody.
A&M still relatively new to SEC. How does this environment fit into the SEC as a college town?
I don't know, it's been, what, since last time I was in the SEC? 2003 for a year? Not even a year. Ran me out of town pretty quick. Guess Auburn 2000 or whatever. This place is unbelievable. I have yet to experience Kyle Field on a game day. Maybe next week ask me that question. Pretty big time football. Think A&M led SEC in attendance last year. You're in a hotbed of high school football. Playing top teams week in and week out in this conference. This is pretty good conference, right after the AFC West.