Notebook: Week 2 Press Conference

Following Texas A&M's 31-0 win over Sam Houston, Jimbo Fisher met the press on Labor Day afternoon inside the Kyle Field Media Center. While early discussion was on the game film from Saturday, much of the discussion centered around a very good App State program making its first trip to Aggieland this weekend (2:30 p.m., ESPN2).

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Jimbo Fisher's opening statement and game film review:

"Good to be with you all. Looking at the film, very proud of our team. Good win. Any time you get a shutout, that's hard. I mean, those are so rare and extreme. They're very hard to get.

Defense, we'll start there. I thought they did a really nice job. I thought up front our defensive line group kept good pressure on the quarterback but also played the run very well. Fit gaps. The linebackers, our front seven did a really nice job in winning the first down battles, which kept you in more second and long, third and long situations, which really helped getting three and outs and being able to get stops. (Fadil) Diggs up front jumped out at me a little bit. I thought (Isaiah) Raikes played solidly, but the whole front up front I thought did really good. In the secondary and I thought Demani (Richardson) flashed, making plays him and 27 at times. The corners made some plays on the ball, which is good. Sometimes there's overthrown routes when you cover good but it was also being able to play through the ball and got some tips, got their hands on balls, which is very encouraging. Showing the ball skills, showing timing, showing how to play the technique and get your hands on balls. Doing that I thought they did a nice job.

To be able to create two turnovers, got a tip pick down there by Jardin Gilbert, another young redshirt freshman, that was very good to see. We got a fumble later on, that was great. So we got two turnovers in that regard. Really good situation as far as that goes. And then when as we start even subbing in the game, still kept guys playing well, keeping leverage on the football, chasing the football. I thought we played really hard, getting gang tackles, doing the things you have to do with pursuit angles and things like that, for the most part. Couple of times, the quarterback is very athletic, he got out there and squirted through the pocket. But, you know, we got him down, got in space, and I thought we tackled well in space. That was the other thing, too. Wasn't a lot of space, but we did tackle well opnce we got to space, that was good there.

Thought offense, we started out, struggled a little bit up front, missed some blocks. It was just everybody took a turn. You take a turn here, you take a turn here. Just like a dance line. And when one person's off, it messes it all up. I mean before right one wrong and get penetration here missed a twist here missing out call here missed a down call here and all of a sudden you get penetration, you get some negative plays. And we weren't getting runs and we were getting in second and long, third and long and that affected our third down percentage in the first half. We able to hit two really big plays on third down, which is encouraging, downfield throws, and overcame. And Haynes (King) made good plays in that regard and read some really nice reads and made two really good throws in that, hit two long touchdown throws. We had a pick, didn't need that. Should have checked it down on first down...didn't like that. But other than that, used his legs well, made some good runs. Got us in the right place. Had it right, but sometimes it was a tight end that missed it, here and there.

Second half I thought we made some good adjustments as far as getting the kids calmed down, getting them seeing it. Excitement in some young guys playing, but that doesn't matter. You're the guys playing. Got hat to hat and became much more efficient on offense. Sustain drives, positive plays, not many negative plays. And then of course our third down percentage goes up. But if you go back and look at it, they were all 3rd-and-6 or less, and that's what you should be able to do. Converted third downs, hit short yardages, just had some nice drives in that area. And then on the one pick, Haynes threw the ball really well in the second half except for that play. And what happened there, both players didn't get enough horizontal stretch on the route and allowed the corner to play two people. I see what he saw, but you've got to say you know what that's too close, go ahead and dump it down. Was being aggressive with it. But you know, we'll learn from that and move on. Other than that threw the ball well. Came right back after both drives, I think one drive was a field goal, and the next drive was a touchdown. And I like to see that. I don't want two turnovers, you never want a turnover. But at the same time, didn't affect him mentally, still stayed aggressive with the ball, still make good decisions and got the ball to our playmakers.

Thought our young wideouts did a nice job in the game, and our older wideouts. Thought Ainias was outstanding in the game, whether he's in the backfield, whether he's catching the ball, whether he's blocking. He had some nice runs out of the backfield. I think he had eight touches in the game or eight catches in the game, something like that, for 160 yards. Made a couple of big plays, did some other things really good. Achane, couldn't get him going, actually had a drop, which is rare for him in the game. Evan (Stewart), I thought he did well. Chase (Lane) had his plays. Thought Chris Marshall did a real nice job. Yulkeith (Brown) making those plays and being able to run and get the balls and the big plays I thought was really good. Young tight ends got in there and battled, and that's the first action for them. Moved (Dametrious) Crownover in there. We'll use him at tackle and tight end. Gives us a big body there, and he can catch the football. He's a good athlete. Donovan Green got to play and Jake (Johnson) got to play a little bit. Again, thought third downs got got a lot better and our offense really started moving, got some efficiency plays and just kept backing them over the top and stacking them, and did a nice job getting control of the game. Made some nice adjustments as far as how they saw things, read things.

Special teams, okay, nothing great. Nik (Constantinou) had a good average but didn't have a typical game for him. Hit one really good, but the other two, he didn't hit as well, even the one he got to the one was a little bit short, and got a good roll. But Nik I guess we hold him such a high standard. It was a good game for him, just not to his typical. Caden (Davis), thought kicked off well except for the one when we came back after the break that he topped and got knocked out, which he usually kicks it out. But our lanes, our discipline, how we did things going down the field look really good. Kids hustled, got to where they're supposed to be, doing the right things, being in the right position if there was a return. Thought they did a nice job. Kickoff return, I thought was nice...Punt return, we've got to do a better job. We didn't give Ainias enough room. We've got to do a better job holding up and getting guys to give him a better job of getting space because he's a really good returner. Didn't get a lot of space and they were in some punt safe situations around midfield, which makes it tougher. And of course we had eye discipline problems at the end, had guys sit on it and guys got had eye violations and they had a fake punt. They made a good read, hit it, and they did a nice job. We've got to keep aware of that. We missed field goal, 52 was a long kick, but I have confidence in Caden there. He's had a really good camp. Then he came back and hit really nice kicks, really happy for him there. But there's a lot of things we got to improve on and all three phases. We have a tremendous opponent coming in."

Week 2 Press Conference Notebook:

• Fisher has seen for many years how talented a program App State is, and says they could play and play well in the SEC or any of the Power 5 leagues. "This team can play in any league. They have great players. They've gotten a few transfers in, but have recruited well. They believe. They have a culture there. And I'm gonna tell you, this is an excellent, excellent football team that can play on all sides of the ball."
• With App State putting 61 points on the board last week in a loss to North Carolina, Fisher said the key for his defense--short of letting him play with 12 or 13 players on the field--will be playing well up front and playing with great discipline. "You got to be disciplined in your gaps. You can't get cut off on the backside of those stretches. You've got to play your gaps on the front side and you've got to keep great eye discipline because they play-action off of it very well. They (bootleg), they naked (bootleg). They're a great shot (shotgun) team. They get the ball down the field on shot plays. And because you have to respect the run, because when you get that running game going, it opens up so many different avenues of your offense. They do a great job...It's going to be a challenge in all facets of the game...You've got to have eye discipline, discipline to also fit the gaps, and then have great physicality and tackle in space. You'll have to make one-on-one plays down the field and be able to cover." 
• He also had high praise for Mountaineer QB Chase Brice. "He knows ball and he played great there last year. He can throw the ball down the field, can create plays with his legs and he's got a...savviness to him. Just body language, and throw the ball here, and flip the ball there. Man, he can just really play the game."
• A reporter asked why a small school in tiny Boone, North Carolina can be so successful, and Fisher said it's all about creating a culture. He also heaped high praise on the Southern Conference, which he called the "premier conference in the country" at the Division I-AA level at the time. "You had Georgia Southern. You had App State. You had Furman. You had Marshall...all those great I-AA teams. Now they've moved up, but (back then they) were all winning national championships. It was crazy good. You have to remember, Randy Moss, Chad Pennington, Eric Kresser. (Dexter) Coakley played linebacker there at App State. Georgia Southern, all the great teams they had and the runs they had. Furman won national championships. Those teams, man, were all great. They'd get transfers, (recruited) good players and got a culture of winning. So when a great player from somewhere wanted to leave, they would go to one of those schools. They had great history of recruiting guys and developing guys and getting guys to do what they're doing right now. Developing players in a winning culture, people want to go places. They've always done that. App State has always done it, as long as I can remember being in college football."
• Fisher doesn't buy in to the mantra of players making the most growth all year long from week one to week two. He wants to see them grow every single week. "That's your goal. That's why we practice good on good every week, plus the scout work. You have to grow every week. As a player, you're going to make mistakes. There's no perfect players in this world...but there's a lot of things that go on in player growth that no one sees. And every player has to grow each and every week. We have to grow as a team. We have a a young offensive football team where guys are talented but haven't played a lot, like up front...but you're young, you're playing, you have to produce. You have to do the things you've got to do. So hopefully you'll continue to grow each week."
• When asked about putting more emphasis on running the football this week in practice, Fisher said "That's what we do. We're going to run the football. We've got to get synchronized, get things together and get the five guys all executing together versus just four out of five or three out of five. And in the second half, we did a much better job of that." He added that to get Devon Achane going, it's all about creating space. “You get him some space, good things happen to you. And that's going to always be an emphasis. Even if we'd ran it a lot (on Saturday), we've still got to get better.”

Quotables:

• DB Jardin Gilbert on if the shutout is a tone setter for the defense this season: “Of course. I honestly do. Because the defense, we preach and preach that we are family. So we've got each other's back. And Coach Durkin does a good job of making sure that we don't forget that we are a brotherhood. His schemes help us be in the right place at the right time. I do think it's definitely a tone setter for a great start to the season."
• DL Isaiah Raikes on the large number of new players at his position group: “They've grown a lot since they got here. A lot of them just got here in the summer. LT (Overton), for example, he's only like 17 years old right now. But to me he's not like a 17-year-old. He's very mature. I appreciate those guys coming ready to work as freshmen. And they've picked up on everything we're putting down. So it's going to be great playing with them and watching them keep developing. They've definitely developed into great players already.”
• WR Yulkeith Brown on Haynes King's leadership in the huddle and off the field: “See, that's the thing that I love about Haynes, because even on or off the field, he's a leader. I've got study hall with him, and he's on top of his classwork, like a leader. He just makes sure you're on top of things. He's always going to put you in the right spots to be successful. So that's why I like Haynes, and I think he's a great leader.”