A&M hosts No. 9 Tennessee on Saturday afternoon (2:30 p.m., CBS).
A summary of Coach Sumlin's comments is posted below.
KEVIN SUMLIN PRESS CONFERENCE SUMMARY
Derek Barnett. What separates him.
Productive. Play lot of guys that are good players that have athletic ability. He has all those things but he's productive. Disruptive. Athletically one of tops in country. But from production standpoint his numbers with sacks are comparable. That's what i see. See lot of guys that can be disruptive and who are athletic and who are great players. But productivity is a big deal to me. That's where he stands out.
What you've seen from Daeshon Hall from when you've got him until now. Body change. Progress.
About 60 pounds. That's one thing. He was a basketball player primarily when he moved. Think might have been 208 when recruiting him. Because of where we were in this program, we had to play him. His freshman year had some shoulder problems. 2 years ago, that was really first year he could spend full year in weight room, or that he'd ever spent a full year in weight room. Spring was nonexistent for him strength and conditioning wise until that summer. Last really year and half or two years had opportunity from a strength and conditioning standpoint and from nutrition standpoint to get his body right. He's done that. Keeping weight up. Last year started in 260s. Was below 250 in bowl game. That showed up. He's made conscious effort. Some of things we did in offseason educationally to be able to really concentrate on guys like that that shouldn't have played as freshmen. Should have redshirted but we had to play him. Four years later all that experience is a big deal. Size is a big deal. Strength is a big deal. He's a developmental player. Happy he's hung in there. He's a tough guy. Last week he was fabulous. He's still a mama's boy though. Always will be.
Guys all say same thing, that this 5-0 feels different than maybe previous seasons. Does it to you and how so.
Funny you bring that up. It's something that's happened last couple years. People keep harping on it. If we win Saturday it'll be brought up next week. Everyone waiting for something to happen. If we lose this week it's not indicative of anything. Season isn't over. Playing good football. This team has done great job focusing on little things day to day. Great leadership from coaching staff and internally from our team, guys across the board. Got real good nucleus of guys who've played lot of football here. Been real important. Go back to August, these guys have really done great job of blocking out noise, when people talked about program in disarray, talked about uncertainties, they blocked that out. Have continued to play a high level of football and tried to get better every week and focus on little things. When people ask me what's different how they've gone about business has been different. Don't expect that to change anytime soon.
Jeremy Tabuyo's game…making a case for more playing time when Speedy Noil gets healthy?
Jeremy has been a guy that hasn't been real consistent. When he's been in game previously in his career maybe been against lesser opponents or second half against opponents who weren't at same level. When that happens, had big game, like as freshman against SMU. Couple moments late there. Has played more in first half than people know. Really was very, very proud of Jeremy. Were number of guys we challenged during week. Knew that certain guys wouldn't play and they would be in starting roles. Think the big message on Monday and Tuesday was the standard of play was not going to fall off. You'll be held to same standard. Just because you are in game we are not expecting let down. Jeremy played great. Got tired at end, but made case he needs to be on field more. Hadn't done that previously in those types of competitive situations if that makes sense. That's what those moments are for. Blocked well. Did things we needed him to do. Number of guys did that I thought. Koda Martin, best thing you can say about him is you didn't notice him as an offensive lineman. Hate to put it that way, but if you had noticed him it'd been a bad deal. Came in and did great job. Jarrett Johnson, James Lockhart made some plays for us. Defensive ends did some things by committee. Hardly anyone has skill levels of Myles but I thought collectively as those guys were challenged they answered the bell. Jeremy one of those guys. We talk all the time about your ability to gain trust and confidence in your coaches and your teammates. Not about what people think or write. Kind of like a family. You know secrets. You see people practice. In order to have that trust out of your other teammates you have to practice like that. Then ultimately on game day you have to perform at that level. A number of those guys did that Saturday and Jeremy was one of them. And we are going to need these guys. To get through schedule like we have, and to be competitive and win those games, will take more than starting 22. Games like last week create confidence, their own confidence and our confidence in them.
With way Tennessee has won last few games how much more important is it to close games out this week?
Let's just say what it is. This is a team on paper if you don't watch it you say well they've gotten lucky. No they haven't gotten lucky. Got a veteran quarterback that is #1 in league for points responsible for. Let's just start there. Whether he's throwing it, he's running it, whatever he's doing, he's the #1 guy for points in this league. That gives you a chance to have those types of games and to win every game. He's been through it before. Been in bunch of different stadiums. Done it on the road. He's going to come in here and he's seen all this. Because of that, creates confidence in football team with a really good defense, with high level athletes, with a lot of speed. One of top special teams in league. Great speed across field. When you have team like that you're explosive. When you combine that with quarterback who's been there and done that you're a confident unit. We have a huge challenge this weekend. Have to put things together all 4 quarters. Quarterback can put points up all kind of ways. Is confident and he should be, based on how he's played.
Trevor Knight's play at quarterback through 5 games.
Think you heard me say, I wasn't trying to be smart, when someone asked me what's his best attribute. Statistically he's been mediocre passing percentage wise. Last week was really first time we didn't take are of ball like we should. But he's been pretty good. But his best statistic is winning. What he brings to table is that kind of leadership. Made good decisions. Can he be better? Yes. He'll be first to tell you that. Still some things we're working at. All in all been very, very effective. Go back to work productive, that's what he's done. Been pretty good with ball security. Made a couple mistakes last week taking care of football. Those being addressed. Like I said he hasn't played in 19 months. Now 5 games in. Nervousness of first 2-3 weeks I didn't really understand it until we started talking about that as coaching staff. He hadn't played, and is anxious to play. Starting to settle down and understand little more of what we are trying to do. Getting better every week. All we can ask. 5 weeks in he's still progressing. I think he'll tell you that. And we're progressing with him.
GameDay being here. Quantify what that means for team. Great recruiting tool?
It's a big deal. When people talk about certain things that happen in football program, becomes a big deal that GameDay is here. They don't go to bad games. Go to atmospheres that are important and meaningful. What it validates is that your program is relevant, more than anything else. I can remember when GameDay came to Houston for first time. It was really validation about where we were heading as program. And now here, it puts in perspective the relevancy of this game and really relevancy of program. Does that mean that's all there is? No. Work hard to be in these games but also work hard to win them and try and stay there. That's our ultimate goal. Fans have been great. Sure this Saturday will be exactly what people envisioned of Kyle Field, the type of games and atmosphere that our administration envisioned years ago. To have GameDay here, top-10 matchup, and a 2:30 national television audience. Think that's what people were looking for 5-6 years ago. To be validated by GameDay being here doesn't hurt. Doesn't hurt recruiting either.
Outscored opponents 44-3 in third quarter. Seems to be big credit to making adjustments. Is that case?
You would hope so. Think there's great communication. Thing that's different this year…Saturday, and I told our team on Monday, the biggest compliment I can give you and thanks as a coaching staff is that after Sandstorm and after first play of game there wasn't panic, even though that stadium got really loud. I've been here at times where there's finger pointing and panic and guys screaming and yelling. Biggest compliment I can give team right now is we've been behind in number of games and haven't been front runners. Been behind and settled down and played football. Happened primarily on road too. That comes with maturity, guys being able to communicate on sidelines with coaches. And then ability to go out and actually do that. Talk to our team about that. That's a great compliment. Comes with type of guys out on field playing, when you're able to communicate. When Shaan Washington and Armani Watts and Justin Evans and Donovan Wilson can come to sideline and tell you exactly what happened, not make up something, not keep mouth shut because made mistake. Ability to admit it, say coach here's what happened, I didn't do that right, but I'll get that fixed, here's how we're going to fix it. Shows you kind of guys you're playing with. Mature guys. Ability go into halftime, sit down, address issues. Not always about what coach knows. Ability to communicate that and player going and executing it. Players doing phenomenal job communicating with coaches in game and during breaks.
You and Charlie Strong at respective institutions, anything to there being two black head coaches at the most prestigious universities in the state.
I was first asked when I got here and talked about being in the SEC, #1 being black head coach, how big a deal is that. It is. To me the big deal is going forward, what I see and what we are trying to do is get to point where that isn't that big a deal. Where it isn't big deal there's a black head coach at an institution. Only way you can do that is continue to win and create opportunities for someone else that looks like me. Not picking on you, but so that one day this isn't a conversation. You're not just a black coach you're a coach. What you've seen happen particularly 6 or so years ago when you had 2 black coaches in Super Bowl and after that really in the NFL it became a non-issue for a few years. Things kind of go in cycles. Now the numbers are down. Ultimately the best thing I can do is to do a really good job at the job I have and try and create an opportunity for somebody else. And maybe for some people to take a chance on. That's where I am with this. For me, and you guys know this, in 5 years, I've got enough on my plate to try and get done here in the SEC West. To try and win a championship in this league is our goal. Has been since day I got here. Part of everything that goes into that is really not about me per se. It's about what this organization is about and in trying to get better. We've gotten better. We're a lot better than we were when I first got here. And we're continuing to get better. And that's all I can do.
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