The Aggies met the media on Thursday, as we close in on game one of the 2019 season. Catch Coach Fisher's full press conference, plus quotes from Jhamon Ausbon, Kellen Mond, Camron Buckley, Keldrick Carper and Buddy Johnson below.
JIMBO FISHER PRESS CONFERENCE (8.22.19)
Well let me say this, it's great to be with y'all. It's an exciting time again when we start to get to these press conference, I mean, it's game time. That's what the guys all strive for, as coaches we do too. It's an exciting time of the year when you put a new team together and you watch them develop and you watch them come together and you work with them every day and you get them ready...and you still really don't know how everything is going to come together. It's always gonna be a surprise or two, good and bad, but I think that's why the excitement of, the newness of everything that happens each and every year I think is a big part of why we love to kick off the season and see this team develop. I'm anxious to watch it. It's worked very hard in the offseason, not just in camp, I'm saying from last January right after the bowl game. Our offseason went well our spring practices our summer practices I think they put in a lot of hard work. They're understanding the mentality with which we want to play with and the demeanor with which we want to play with and the psychological disposition we want to play with, and our kids have done that. They've grown together. The new freshmen coming in have adapted very well and I think our upperclassmen have done a really good job of engaging those guys and not alienating them in any way, I mean bringing them in the fold and showing them because they realized we're gonna need everybody on this team to be successful and those freshmen have done a great job of doing that in a very respectful way. A lot of those guys have made their way in the rotation but done it in a way that hey, we're part of this team. I love the interaction between both groups. That's always a big part of when you're going into a new season, how those groups react because you get your team set for a summer and all of a sudden here comes a new group of guys coming in and how do they fit, and whose roles they jump into, or what happens? In that standpoint I've been very pleased. Camp has been a very challenging camp, a very physical camp, a very tough camp, a very hot camp. I mean we didn't have much rain, we didn't have many cool days at all. I thought our kids learned to grind through that. I thought they practiced well and hopefully we're getting in the stages where we can get in the game mode and start to understand how to compete. We're starting our game preparations in practice right now so it's kind of good to start to think about an opponent not about each other. But the big thing is I think they establish how they want to play. It's not about our opponent. It's not about anything. That's no disrespect. We have a tremendous schedule, like you always do in this league, but our guys have to understand ourselves before we can understand our opponents. I think we've gotten to that point in camp so I'm looking forward to how this week goes and how next Thursday goes.
What did you see in Braden White to name him the 12th Man?
My answer to that is what I didn't see in him. Braden, I never saw a day off, I never saw anything taken for granted, I see nothing...he exemplified everything which the 12th Man stands for and how he approaches things personally, academically, athletically, team-wise, leadership-wise, I mean just a consummate human being. Not just a player, but I mean I'm talking about a human being. He is extremely impressive in everything he does. He knows one speed, and that's full go and to do it right. He exemplifies everything about the 12th Man. I could say it was a very tough decision. We wanted to make sure we did our due diligence over time, and there were a lot of guys that really started impressing, There's some really really great young men on this team, but I think he just stands head out above everybody consistently day in day out and how he does everything in his life.
How have your starting offensive tackles developed in the past year, and also the quick impression that Kenyon Green obviously made on you in camp?
I think our tackles have really become not only bigger and stronger faster all that from the physical part, but become much smarter understanding the scheme and where the help comes from, when I have chip help, when I have inside help, when somebody's sliding to me, when we're on the two-man side and away from the slide and I don't have any help. They've become much smarter football players which is allowing them to become much more physical. They've gotten their bodies in better positions where they can play with better leverage and their eyes are a lot better. That's huge in the offensive line because everything up there, people don't realize how fast those things happen, and the guy gets just a half a step or an inch on you that leverage point can change it, you know what I mean? I've been very pleased with their development. Because in this league you're going to block really good people. And Kenyon has done a great job, very physical inside, being consistent for the most part, as a freshman every now and then you'll have some little mistakes but once you teach him things he very rarely makes the same mistake twice. That's a big part of early guys. He's naturally physical. God's blessed him and he's worked hard with that body. Sometimes freshmen don't always get to play because it's just the size and physicality, but God's blessed him and he's taking advantage of it and he's a great competitor, a very smart, intelligent young man.
In what ways have you seen Kellen grow from when you got here until now?
You know first of all just playing football knowledge. He's really become a student of the game, not that he didn't know before, but he was young. He shouldn't have known, you know what I mean? He was a young guy where he's understanding how a quarterback, or any position, but really a quarterback has to prepare and the amount of decisions and knowledge which he has to have to make those decisions, and how important they are. The big thing is learning to truly appreciate that he touches the ball every play and he can change the game on every play, but sometimes changing it by not doing something wrong. Not just doing anything great but by respecting the ball, respecting his teammates, knowing when to take the chances. Knowing how to play the position and that the position is not just about himself, and that's what I'm talking about. It's how the other guys feel with you. You're never the quarterback until your team will go through hell for you. Period. Does the offense do everything they got to do to protect you? Fight, scratch, claw, make plays for you? Want to get you the ball? And the defense on the other side saying hey, all I know is just get him the ball and something good is going to happen? I'm not saying it's just superior talent or things but that guy finds a way to get us in the end zone, he leads us now, and I love that guy. I think he he gets that from his teammates. I think his teammates respect him for his work ethic, his demeanor, his competitive nature, and more importantly his genuineness to for our team to do well. I think he's really grown in a lot of areas, but I'll say a big part of that is he's been brought up very, very well. He is a very, very mature young man who's been raised very, very well.
Jake Spavital's a guy who's been around here before, what previous interactions have you had with him and what are some of the hallmarks or challenges of his offense?
I've never had any with Jake. I know of him and know of his successes. I think the thing about it is the balance. Even though everybody thinks of the numbers, and the throwing, and the things they do...I think Jake, he's a very smart coach and he features what he has. You go back to West Virginia, they throw the football, but if you go back they really ran that football. There were a lot of a lot of big time rushing yards. He understands how to utilize his players, their strengths, what they can and cannot do, and he's very diverse. He makes you play all parts of the field with splits, alignments, throwing it and getting it everywhere he goes. He's a very, very excellent offensive mind in how he does it and I'm sure his teams are gonna be prepared well and play well.
You lost a fullback and a tight end you were probably counting on in the off season. Where are you at in those positions now and might that change how you call plays maybe particularly early in the season?
We lost a tight end, but it's still a young tight end, and we have some other guys that play. Beal has been outstanding Wydemeyer has been outstanding. Horry's really come over and done a good job. So I don't think it'll vary how much we really call plays in that regard. And the fullback position, I know we lost Ben but at the same time last year if you look we played two tailbacks, we played the big fullback...Baldree has really done a nice job in there. He is blocking, he's running and I'm gonna tell you what he can catch the football. He does all the things we need to do, so really I don't think it will, to answer your question. I'm thinking of it as I'm answering it. I don't think it will. What I like to do in camp is make them do those things and don't put limitations on somebody. So we ran the same things and I was very, very pleased with the progress we made pretty quickly in both those positions.
I noticed Debione Renfro wasn't on the depth chart, if you could assess that, and then Myles Jones, how have you seen him continue to grow?
Myles first, Myles has done a really nice job being consistent, competitive, he's long, his quickness and change of directions and speed have gotten much better and I think his understanding of how to create leverage as a corner, knowing where your help is or when you have help or when you don't have help. He's very, very competitive and I think he's done a really nice job. I think he's improved drastically. Debione, he won't play in this game. Just a violation of team rules.
On Jake Spavital, is it even worth it for you to go back and pull some film from his Aggie time?
Oh, no doubt. I already have.
On that subject, their offensive coordinator Bob Stitt is known as an offensive innovator and I didn't know if you'd ever been around him...
I've never been around those guys but know of them and know of their work...that's the thing about opening games. We could get anything, and probably will get anything. That's what they're going to do and and it's gonna be a great challenge that's for sure.
The other thing I was gonna ask you pertains to your team, you've got a bunch of 'or's on your running backs depth chart, is that just to fake out everybody?
No, there's different roles for guys for what we ask them to do based on different packages, in which we would put those certain guys in over other guys, you know I mean? Trying to take young guys and utilize their individual talents and what they might be. So because of the situation of the game you could see that guy before that guy but it doesn't really matter, and if it was a different situation we were trying to do with the different package it may be that guy over that guy. What we've tried to do is make sure we've identified that. They all have to have certain roles and they all can do everything but there's certain things they do better than each other and so those things will be featured.
Just to double check on the running backs because there's an 'or' between Corbin and and the others as well it's Corbin that's you're number one guy?
Yes, he is.
And to clarify on Renfro, it's just a one game suspension for him?
We'll see as it goes.
Can you update us on Kendrick Rogers and if he can't go just your depth at receiver and how comfortable you are moving guys around?
Well Kendrick is day-to-day. He's getting much much better so we'll see. Receiver wise we've been very pleased with the depth and our young guys coming in have played very well in the last in a week or so, week and a half. You're really starting to see it coming together.
The other day you told us Kellen and Connor had kind of sat out on one of the scrimmages so you could see the younger guys, I took that to mean you just wanted to see the younger guys, but did that mean Connor is your number two or do you have a number two?
No, I just wanted to see the young guys. I've seen Connor in different situations and I wanted to see those young guys perform with ones and twos when you're in a huddle consistently, not just for a few plays but to go for a drive and have a great success and maybe you have failure and see how not only did they respond but how the guys respond to them. That's very important too, and how you interact. The only way you do that is get those get them in those situations.
So you don't have a number two right now?
No, we're making that decision here pretty quickly but not yet.
When you played quarterback, were you as demanding and detail-oriented on yourself as a quarterback as you are now?
Yes. I was very competitive. Now the thing, we were talking about this today, it's funny how we talked about film, I wish we had the film we had today. I wish we had the immediate feedback after practice where you could see yourself and do things, because then it was all about word of mouth. Filming practice, until video came in which was into the later 80s, you couldn't even get. Having practice film was extremely tough. So I wish we did. But yes I mean I like to think I was about all the things, but I was extremely competitive. Winning mattered to me. Big time. But doing well mattered to me too, and so when I competed and played I wanted to do it and do it right.
What did a year of sitting out with the injury do for Anthony Hines and his development to become who he is this year?
He would have to answer that question more so than I but my past experiences with that is that I think guys truly appreciate what you have because that you realize how quick it can be gone and then how much you truly love it. It's like everything, we gripe about everything. Everything in our life as soon as it goes away, it's man I can't live without that. Sometimes you're in a such a certain small window especially with athletes, how quick this thing can be over and how long do you really have in it. You hate the grind sometimes, you hate to lift, you hate to watch film, coach's got me going here, coach's got me going there, he's got me up at 6:00 in the morning, got me up at 7:00 in the morning, I gotta stay late tonight, I hate this, I'm never gonna do it...so you don't have it, you go crazy. It does really put things in perspective and from a maturity standpoint usually makes those guys more mature quicker. When they sit back and really watch practice, because a lot of them will do that then, and they start seeing things through a coach's eyes, why we gripe and complain and how something so minute or little that day may weigh, and how it can affect the big picture. Most of the guys I've ever been a part of, and Anthony's one of those guys, they've come back better players for the appreciation of the game and not only how much they loved it but how much the detail of it is important.
You've talked a lot about instilling your mindset and values into this team, do you feel like they've fully bought into that and if so when did you kind of notice the change or feel it?
I guess you probably have to ask them more than me, how they talk and what they truly believe. I feel like that, I think how we practice, how we respond to each other, and sometimes you hear them say things. Sometimes I hear comments that they say in here, because you wonder...it's like your kids at home sometimes. You say it a million times and you say he ain't got it, he ain't got it. And you're talking to his coach or a friend or neighbor and they say well your son says so, and you hear him say that and you go huh? You really were listening. I think it's more in your actions of how they practice and how they respond to things and why you get on them, and from that I think yes. Because when I get mad or you start pushing them and challenge them when things aren't going right their responses have never been to fight you, it's just I got it coach, we'll get it right. And and then I hear comments they make in here or people tell me things they say...so hopefully it's sinking in. I believe it is by how we practice and the toughness and the way we play and compete.
You can see a lot of 'or's listed at safety...is Demani Richardson a guy that's going to be hard to keep off the field?
Oh yeah. Demani right now is number one. I mean Demani's playing right now, he's number one and he'll be playing and he does a lot of really good things. He's had a great camp.
What can you learn about your team when you play a lesser opponent?
You see how you interact in the game, how you function as a unit, how you compete in a game. Your opponent doesn't matter. What matters is yourself. Who you play does not matter. I know people don't believe that. It's the truth. There's a standard in which you have to play. You have to play to your standard of how you play. Listen, they're coming to win that game. They've got a very good team, coaches that have had success. Listen. You don't ever take anything for granted. We have to play well. We have to get better. We have to improve. We have to play as a unit. We have to make the adjustments. And anytime things become live and they matter, and as I say the lights on the scoreboard are lit up, it changes. It's a standard to which you have to play, and it doesn't matter who the opponent is. It's our standard of how we've got to play.
Any concern that your guys may be overlooking Texas State with Clemson on the horizon?
I don't see it. I promise you that. We haven't talked about Clemson one time.
In Cam Buckley have you noticed a guy who's a veteran now?
Without a doubt. As I say they didn't know what they didn't know. But also guys that understand the standard of what we want things, how we want things done, and what's gonna be acceptable and not. And then guys who really want to compete, they make changes. We all have bosses, we all have to make changes. We all have to do things and I think he has done that. I think it shows you how important ball is to him, how important his team is to him. He's had a very good camp.