Thursday's Fall Camp Media Sessions

Jimbo Fisher, Carson Green, Isaiah Spiller and Ainias Smith all met the media on Thursday as the Aggies push through week two of fall practices. A&M is 30 days away from kickoff of the 2020 season, set for Sept. 26 at Kyle Field against Vanderbilt.

Watch the interviews below, notes from each session will be added as well. You can use the time stamps in the notes to move to the part of the interview that contains the full answer.

12thman.com's coverage of Fall Camp is presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors.

Notes from Fisher's press conference:

• 0:30 (defense year 3 under Elko) Thing about being 3rd-year system is you’ve recruited a couple classes and hopefully got guys that fit in to defense. Also, the older guys you’ve taught them and they understand what the coaches are trying to do. Makes for a lot more continuity. See that on the field. Got guys that know what to do, bigger, stronger, faster. In today’s time what’s going on offensively with lot of multiple formations, hurry-up ball and motions and things, that can cause lot of continuity issues when you’re not totally on same page. There’s saying on our team that we’re fighting for inches. Hopefully we’re finding those inches in the continuity and consistency we play with.
• 2:30 (running backs) Like where we’re going. Spiller is coming back. Put Ainias Smith in there, he had great bowl game and an outstanding camp so far. But young guys have jumped in there. Really have. Achane is practicing well. Can do lot of things. Very smooth athlete. Strong. Blumrick gives you lot of diversity back there. Crownover is a big back who catches ball extremely well. Runs inside. Hubbard another freshman with lot of power, speed, good ball skills. Jackson same way. All big-body guys. Been very pleased with their learning curve so far, ability to run between tackles and ability to catch the football. Like that group. Done really nice job. Only six practices so far. They’ve taken advantage of all the walk-throughs and added meeting time.
• 4:00 (Camron Buckley update) Cam suffered season ending injury. ACL. Surgery yesterday. Everything clean in surgery. He will miss year. Big blow. Been in lot of games last two years made lot of plays. Very multiple in his positions. Knows offense. Very good player and good leader on our team.
• 4:45 (that means see more tight-end sets) Could. But our wide receivers doing nice job. Our young guys really coming on. We got a good group in there now. Guys that we can move around. Ability to run. Playmaking has been good. We’ll always mix in tight end sets when we can. We’ve got guys who can block and catch so that can create advantages for us.
• 5:45 (flashes on the defensive line behind Peevy and Brown) They’ve done real nice job, but you’ve got Marv (Leal) playing both inside and outside. Can do both. Phenomenal football player. Hunter’s had his moments. Rogers has done real nice job. Three young guys, Jackson/Raikes/Walker, all we’re very pleased with. Have chance to be really good football players. Depth in there we’re continuing to build. Seeing flashes from all those guys. I’m very happy we recruited all those guys. 
• 7:00 (philosophy on how to use running backs) Have had guys who are so dominant couldn’t take them off field, but had years where all guys carried. Diversity in what you’re asking them to do, what game dictates and their skill sets. Better to have lot of guys cause it’s very physical position. Injuries occur. Will play as many guys as we feel capable of. This will be very hard physical season with 10 SEC games.
• 9:15 (how the young backs have improved in pass blocking) Knowledge in recognizing and understanding calls and where assignment is. Just knowledge of being there. Decision making is much better right now, which now allows them to play much faster and engage defender much closer to line of scrimmage. Technique gets better because they know who they’re blocking and know what techniques to apply. It’s their knowledge and ability to keep learning. 
• 10:30 (offensive line depth) Doing solid job. Going against very good defensive line. Having their moments. Developed well. Working hard. Physically, mentally tough group that works hard. Pad levels getting better. Been together for a while so you see communication getting better. There are good young players in this group too. All the young guys we signed are going to be good players. Getting lot of reps. 
• 12:45 (secondary development) Myles Jones is leading that group of corners and is playing really well. Fuller has done really good job. Elijah Blades is back. Guys we signed at corner I’m really happy with. What I love about all that group is they’re competing. Lot of contested balls, breakups, really good coverage. Lot of battles there. Been very pleased with those guys. Competition has been great. Multiplicity too, of where we can play guys. Love the athleticism. Love the ball skills. We’ve got excellent ball skills in secondary. Not just covering, but ability to judge the ball in the air, recover fumbles. Sometimes we overlook ball skills on defensive side of ball when we’re talking about turnovers. 
• 16:00 (high school football starting creating excitement) Oh yes, first of all for the experience of playing in high school. There’s not a purer thing in the world you can do. And it means more here than anywhere in the United States. Texas high school football is legendary. Just knowing those kids can fulfill their dreams, they were probably scared to death. That’s a big deal. Only get that chance one time as kid, and to lose that is tough. Very excited to be able to watch some football. Another very good sign we’re heading in right direction. College season kicks off this weekend too. 
• 17:30 (resurgence of the conversation around social justice) No doubt. Our players are very aware of what’s going on. We had a talk in our individual meetings yesterday. Kids are aware. All observing. We all want equality for everybody. We want that for ourselves, our players, our children, everyone in the world. They have to continue that fight and we have to continue that fight.

Notes from Green's media session:

• 0:10 (criticism of offensive line) Every team’s offensive line gets criticized. No matter who you are, always something can do better. Lot of ups and downs last year. Should have performed better at times and been more consistent. Never try and listen to any of the criticisms. People will talk bad about everyone. Also were a lot more injuries that people didn’t know about.
• 0:55 (Marv Leal) Great. Phenomenal athlete. He and Clemons are making the tackles better. Marv is so athletic. Can put him anywhere on the line and he’ll be able to play it. Helps us seeing someone that versatile. Guy everyone should be watching this year.
• 1:30 (year two under Coach Henson) All quarantine we were doing film over Zoom. Helped us a lot. Older guys especially find out what he’s wanting and what we’re doing wrong. Know what his personality is like, relating better to it. Being taught a lot better.
• 2:45 (better to have consistency at center) Yes. Center is big deal. You get used to guys making calls and how loud they are. Will be key step for us to have Ryan (McCollum) there whole season. Prater did phenomenal job last year communicating with everyone. Ryan being able to play guard last year helped us too when we needed him there. This year Ryan stepping up and taking center role is big. Also Luke Matthews, Grayson Reed doing really good job at center too. Getting looks with them is helping us adjust.
• 4:00 (bright future for Kenyon Green) He’s a freak. His athleticism unbelievable. Look at an o-lineman, just look at their lower bodies, how much hips move and how much they can bend. He’s got all that. For freshman this is a really tough offense to learn when they come in here. By end of year, playing best games. Once learned the playbook more, he started calming down and doing what he does best, being a freak out there. See Kenyon getting whatever he wants. Dude’s a freak. Works really hard. Never late to workouts. Never missed anything. Always on time where he needs to be. Doing the extra stuff. When we’re all gone, will be leader of line next year. Will take role and do good job with it. Can’t wait to see what his future holds.

Notes from Spiller's media session:

• 0:15 (rather share load or be featured back) Really into doing whatever best for team. Not afraid to share carries. Whatever best for team is what I want to do.
• 1:15 (how much further along physically and mentally than last year) Feel like learned a lot since last year. Continuing to grow. Still learning new stuff in offense. Just come in with mindset that I don’t know anything so I can keep learning and get better.
• 2:00 (ways seen Kellen improve game) He’s really grown a lot, especially mentally. Really stepping up and being leader on this team which we need. He’s going to do well this year.
• 2:30 (how much help Kellen was to him last year) Helped me a lot. Told me some of the plays I didn’t know because I was freshman thrown into fire. Helped me grow. Had lot of faith in me. Told me keep going even when I’d make mistake.
• 3:00 (games was most displeased with) Displeased with a lot of games. Alabama, Georgia…felt could have done more than what I did. Can’t change the past. Can only change the future. Just trying to prove I can play in big games this year and really carry the load. Was more mental for me last year. Feel like I had lot of stress. Was just getting my feet wet last year. This year I really know what I’m doing. Really excited about it. 
• 4:15 (relationship with Ainias) Really good. Like a brother to me. Has grown ever since he moved to running back room. This year we’re really going to show everybody we can have two backs in backfield and do what we need to do to help team out. 
• 5:15 (how can you improve vision in year two) Understanding the fronts when I come up to the line. How offensive line will block and what they’re going to do. How defense is trying to play me. Understanding how defenders tackle. Trying to hone in on that this year.
• 5:50 (yards after catch) That just comes from heart. Anyone can run 6 yards that’s blocked, but making people miss and running over people is something you have to have inside you to get those extra yards.
• 6:20 (running back depth) Can be really good. Really deep this year. Lot of freshmen. Me. Ainias. Lot of speed. Lot of strength in this group. If we come to work every day and give it everything we’ve got in practice we can be really good.
• 7:00 (playing 10 game SEC schedule) Chance for us to prove ourselves. Have to come out and do what we need to do. For me this is really my opportunity to show I can play against anybody and do well. 
• 7:50 (how role has changed) Changed a lot from a year ago. Feel like I have to step up this year and be a leader. I have the most experience. Can help everyone around me get better.  Know what they’re going to experience because I went through it before. Me being a leader every day and stepping up for team will really help our running back group.
• 8:50 (Ainias and Devon, how similar and different) Very similar. Both very fast. Can run routes. Don’t really see big differences. Running game is kind of same too. Both really good assets to our team.
• 10:00 (why feel haven’t proved anything despite rushing for almost 1,000 yards) Feel like I can do more. Be better. Mindset I bring every day. That was last year. I’m worried about this year. Feel like I have something to prove. Someone is out there still working, so I can’t slack. 

Notes from Smith's media session:

• 0:10 (reaction when moving to running back for bowl game and how settled in now) Really wasn’t surprised. Knew coming in it was possibility I would get moved. Not necessarily moved, but knew I’d play a little bit of running back. Was original plan for me coming in. Adjustment has been pretty good. Pretty happy with it. Having fun.
• 2:00 (way being used so far in camp and impact on team this year) Going to be real fun year. People will be surprised with how well coach is able to use offense this year. I’m liking it.
• 2:30 (who approached who about moving) He approached me about it. Was out of blue really. One day in practice was doing receiver drills at beginning, and then he called me over to do running back individual drills. From that day on I was at running back. 
• 3:15 (balancing academics and athletics) Right now pretty different adjustment since everything transitioned online. Not able to get our face-to-face interaction with professors as much as like to with busy schedule in fall camp and school. But I believe if everyone locks in on what we have to accomplish, and not worrying about doing the unnecessary things, we can all be successful on field and in classroom.
• 4:15 (what he worked on during voluntarys) Really just everything about who I am. Staying low. Get in and out of breaks. Making sure I protect the ball. Really becoming a true technician and a real student of game. Understanding what leverages I can take on certain angles. Whole bunch of things. 
• 5:30 (skill set complementing Isaiah) Believe we’re going to be best duo in college football. He has natural abilities that a lot of people not able to do. You saw last year he rushed for almost 1,000 yards as freshman. And he was just getting started. We have a lot of tools everywhere. Going to be an interesting year.
• 6:15 (how talented running back group can be) Freshmen came in and showed lot of potential. Lot of athletic ability. Speed. Strength. Everything you need in a running back. We can go as far as we need to go. If one goes down, have enough backs and confindence in them that we can bring anybody up the depth chart at any time.
• 9:50 (did he know Devon Achane and any similarities in game) Known Devon for quite a while. See each other at track meets. Played 7 on 7 against each other. Scrimmaged against each other every year in high school. He’s everything that you expect him to be. He’s coming with exact same abilities that he was bringing to table in high school. Now that he’s catching on to offense, game is slowing down for him. Will be great asset to team.
• 11:30 (where toughness and physicality comes from) I’m from Mo City. That’s where it comes from. Little league football, that’s all we knew. You either get hit or you’re making the hit. Don’t want to be person to get hit so I’m always delivering them. 
• 13:30 (option game) We have a lot of tools on offense. This year we’re going to use them. Feel like it was natural working with Kellen last year. If he takes off with ball, I’ll be right next to him at all times. We’re taught to run down field with our quarterback. If he breaks a long run and someone’s about to hit him, I’m going to hit them first.