The Aggies met with the media on Monday to preview Saturday's SEC opener against the Auburn Tigers.
Texas A&M hosts Auburn at 2:30 pm on Saturday.
Catch Coach Fisher's full press conference below, plus comments from Carson Green, Jhamon Ausbon, Jacob Kibodi, Buddy Johnson and Kellen Mond.
JIMBO FISHER PRESS CONFERENCE | 9.16.19
I thought offensively we moved the ball very well. We were efficient. Unfortunately the first drive down in the red zone we wish we could have got a touchdown, then we had a drop on the third time down there, but the rest of the times we scored. We had one turnover on a deep route we just didn't see a route, they got two tied together that caused the read to be cloudy. It's got to be more efficient there. But I thought Kellen played really well in the game. Zach and James came in the game and did a really nice job of moving the team, just getting that field position and learning how to manage the game, making throws, made some, miss some. Zach got a couple touchdown passes. Our young players, Ainias I thought did a really good job with the ball but our other receivers caught the ball. Kibodi and Spiller did a really nice job. Tight ends we keep continuing to grow in that area. Got some young linemen some work. So in that area we were pretty good in all areas. Had good balance running and throwing. Good decision-making almost for the entirety the game. The good thing about that group, they brought different blitzes, a lot of different stunts up front, that we were able to pick up, and blitzes and twists and gains, which you always worry about and how you're gonna pick them up especially with young players. We did a really nice job.
Defensively were very good, very physical at the point of attack. They ran a different attack as far as they were almost mid-line reading, reading the nose, reading the three, reading the ends, on your quarterback reads a lot of play actions, a lot of eye violations, a lot of motion with fly motions, having to keep great leverage on the ball. Thought our defense defended those very well and matched the passing game very well and I thought played a really, really good football game. Very outstanding football. I think they popped one one big run there and had another drive which we got a blocked field goal. Anytime you can get that push and get in there and get a block in those situations is all very critical. We we're able to do that last year too. So a very efficient day, did what we had to do. Kids got better, got a lot of guys work and you know what I liked to see was the the way we approached practice last week.
We've got to do the same thing this week. We've got a very good opponent coming in Auburn, a top 10 football team in the country, very deserving. You watch the film, offensively Gus does a tremendous job, always does. A lot of shifts, motions, fly motions, eye violations, and runs in different ways and different formations. And then all of a sudden he'll play action and hit a trick play and boom there's a guy down the sideline. There's a guy on the post. There's a guy when you're rotating and getting all your matches and keeping leverage on the football. Screen games, quarterback run game, I mean he does a tremendous job in how he does it. Defensively, outstanding. Numbers have been that way for a long time. They're one of the best defensive fronts as there probably is in college football. Their front is big, physical, strong. Linebackers are active. Play a lot of mixed coverages in the secondary. Mix up man, mix up zone, very aggressive. Don't create a lot of separation. I remember last year over there getting separation was tough. These guys come and then they rush you, make the ball come out and don't have to cover as long. They're a really good group. Special teams, they've always had great return guys. Very fast. Good skill guys, can cover and run. We're gonna have our hands full. We've got to play a great game. It's an opening conference game, those games are very important. It's also an inter-divisional game which makes that game even more important. So if you want to have the goals and aspirations of where you want to go we have to play well. This is gonna be one heck of a test for us. I'm looking forward to watching our kids practice, prepare and get ready to play.
Sort of two-parter, a status update on Elijah Blades, but more my question is about Renfro, his return, how you felt he played in the game and also the competition it creates.
Well it does, in rotations it allows you to...like I say in today's game the more multitude of guys you got back there that can play the ball, can play corner, can play nickel, can play dime, because of personnel matchups and how you want to do it by game and by situation and as they learn. Then if you have an injury you got those guys. Getting him back was huge. Great length, great size, thought he played very well. Almost had a pick in the game. Defended very well, tackled, had some really nice tackles, fit the run and support very well and those things. Did a good job.
Elijah should be ready to go and should be ready to practice and everything today.
It's a challenge for any quarterback to go on the road in the SEC, but how much more of a challenge is it to be a true freshman quarterback and does that change y'all's approach at all?
Well I mean you have to play them. They're gonna do what they do. Listen, their quarterback Bo Nix is an outstanding young man. I've known Bo for a long time. His father played for me and was one heck of a football player, and not only that is a competitor and as a football mind one of the best I've ever been associated with. His dad's a winner, boy. He's a great coach, coached in college, coached in high school, so he'll have a lot of intangibles in his blood that you know some other freshmen may not from just the experiences of being around those things. So it's obviously a tough test but we have to prepare no matter what they do with him. He's an outstanding player and he can beat you...he has a great arm, he's got great legs and he's a very tough, competitive and smart young man. Hopefully we can play well against him.
You mentioned the importance of the conference opener, especially in the SEC West, especially going against the top ten team. What does this kind of mean for you in terms of a tone setter I guess for the rest of the season?
I don't know if it's a tone setter. You set a tone but you got to reset that tone each and every week. I mean that that's the thing about it, it's just one game at a time. It's a conference game, it's an important game and it's an inter-divisional game, an important game. It puts you in a great position if you can have success, but you have to practice and prepare to have success in what we do. And you know, whether you win the game, you still have to line up and play the next week. It doesn't matter. You've got another conference game, another individual game. What goes on is I just take em one week at a time and none are bigger than the others. The biggest one's the one in front of us. But it's important that we have success, there's no doubt.
You mentioned how good the Auburn defensive front is, so what have you seen from your offensive line that makes you feel like that y'all could win that matchup?
Well, we've ran the ball, moved the ball, there's things in the Clemson game we did extremely well, had some missed assignments or just miscommunications on blocks...and what I see daily about who we're blocking. We have a very good front too. And our guys block our guys and move the football and do the things they do. Listen, they're gonna win their battles, we have to win our share of 'em and we're gonna have to be very tough in what we do because they're big, physical, and then how they fit. It's gonna be one heck of a battle. Everybody who plays them though it's gonna be.
You've had players before whose dads played for the schools that you coached. Isaiah (Spiller's) dad played for the Aggies, Bo Nix's dad played for Auburn, do you find there's a little something extra with those kids?
I do, especially a coach on top of that, not only playing, but Patrick...is a coach, and his grandfather was a great high school coach in Alabama and Georgia, won state championships and places and coached some phenomenal players. I think when you're just hearing those things...I know my own son. The conversations I have with my son, who's highly, highly...I mean he's smarter than I ever dreamed of being. He knows more ball from just sitting around listening, hearing how you handle situations and doing things. I think it does make a difference because I think it's just something that...it doesn't help you athletically but it does mentally and psychologically, how to deal with things, deal with situations and what happens and what to expect. Some things that some people think if they aren't around that's a big deal, some guys will say well no just do this, because they've heard coaches saying how they handle it. I think that does help I really do.
After three games do you think you know what your team's offensive identity is?
I think we're finding our identity as a team, not just offensively, defensively...I mean each and every week by who you play and how you play you know that identity is always going to be challenged. Our identity's this. We're gonna be balanced. We're gonna be physical up front. We're gonna run the football. We're gonna be multi-dimensional in personnel and in formations, and be able to stretch the field and reach all parts of the field with getting the ball out quick and different things. But we're gonna stretch the field and throw it down. So our identity's never really going to change. What you're learning is the personnel of how you have to do it and what each individual can and cannot do, then you're getting some young guys who are still learning and you think you know. Part of that, you've got to put them in in those situations to let them try it and either do it or don't as you go, because we're playing so many young guys.
After looking at the tape do you think that was the bounce-back performance from Kellen he needed to get his confidence right for this Auburn game?
I think his confidence was there. Just cause you don't play your best game that doesn't make an athlete's confidence ever go. You question yourself on everything you do, I do as a coach. Every call you make, everything you do, and all of a sudden by day two you're confident you can coach or you can play or you do what you're going to do. I think he played very well. I thought he played very efficiently and had a very good outing. To say his confidence was going I don't ever think it was. Sometimes the games just don't go as well. Sometimes you don't make as good of calls. I mean that's ball. Watch Sunday afternoons, watch every Saturday. You have a short memory, I promise you that. With quarterbacks, DBs, they have the shortest memory of all because that's the most glaring places in which people know when you don't do right generally. But I think he'll be fine and he's playing really well. He had a good week of practice and I think he will this week.
What went into the decision to move Cagan Baldree from line to fullback and what kind of attributes did he have that showed that he could succeed?
As a lineman in our league, he was a 275-pound guy, relatively in that range...well that isn't big enough. Think about what we're saying, just for having a future. He came and said I want to contribute coach and I said there were some roles and we talked through some things, he had some ideas, and I said yeah. He said I want to get my body in shape and be able to do that. He's become a special teams guy. He can run. He's athletic. And the thing about it you don't realize is he can catch the football, even though he's an o-lineman. He said I can catch coach, and I said all lineman say they can catch cuz they all want a ball. But then we put him there and we run our offense, he catches the ball very well. He's tough, he's smart, he's physical, and like I said he has really good ball skills. Those guys are hard to find especially at fullback. You look at offenses anymore, they're not out there. There's not offenses using them. It's a selfless role in my opinion cause most of time it's gonna be just blocking and doing those things. He is a tremendous, I mean a tremendous, human being. He really is. I'm very proud for him making this role. He's done a heck of a job. He's really helped us.
A couple updates on Max Wright and Jayden Peevy, and then also how important is it to get the pass rush going this week finally?
Well I think it is and I think you've got to be careful when I say pass rush. You've got to affect him but you can't give him run lanes. Bo can run. He can move. He has really good feet. Young, athletic quarterbacks...sometimes you giving them run lanes is the best friend you can give them. Because then all of a sudden they hit some things, get confidence. It's like getting a foul shot or a breakaway layup for guys who are scorers. They get that confidence, get it going. I think we have to be very disciplined in we do that but we've got to affect the quarterback, that's number one.
Peevy should be practicing, should be good. He could have probably played in the game Saturday, we had him on standby. But he should be healthy and ready to go, just had a couple of nicks and knacks, and we were able to hold him out there. And Max, I don't know if he'll practice today, it's a day-by-day situation.
You talked about Auburn's defense, but on offense they're a team that likes to establish the run, have a lot of guys capable of running. So with your defensive front what's the matchup gonna be like?
Oh it's gonna be physical in the trenches on both sides. That's gonna be a physical, knock'em, rock'em, sock'em game. It's gonna be who can help control that part. We're gonna have to be able to play the run and then the quarterback run, plus play their fly sweeps and all those things and keep the edges and keep what can weaken you inside. They do a great job of those things so it's gonna be a huge challenge for our defense because of what they do. Gus does a tremendous job on offense and how they do it. We're going to have to be physical up front and take on blockers and we'll have to defeat blockers, there's no doubt.