Texas A&M held its weekly press conference on Monday inside the Kyle Field Media Center. Mike Elko, Taurean York and Conner Weigman discussed the upcoming matchup with Mississippi State in Starkville (Saturday, 3:15 p.m., SEC Network).
Elko, Aggies Talk Bulldogs at Weekly Press Conference
Texas A&M held its weekly press conference on Monday inside the Kyle Field Media Center.
Quotables: Mike Elko
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OPENING COMMENT:
How's everybody doing? Thanks for coming out. So, back from the bye week. I think it was a good week for us to kind of, You know, recharge a little bit. You know, six in a row is a good, healthy start to the season. And so it was a good time for us to kind of sharpen some things up, tighten some things up, which we did. We practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday last week. Got two good lifts in with the guys and then gave them a little bit of time to just kind of peel back a little bit this weekend, get mentally fresh, get physically fresh and, came out today with a lot of energy. I think everybody really enjoyed the breather. And, I thought we were sharp this morning. And as we kind of continue back on our work and back on our path, and so I thought it was productive, I thought we got healthy. I think we're in a really good spot from a health standpoint. And so we're just excited for this next phase of the season.Â
ON MISSISSIPPI STATE:
As we turn our attention ahead to Mississippi State. Obviously, I think this is a team that's getting better every single time they go out on the field. I know the results maybe aren't exactly what they've wanted them to be, but, if you look at the way they're still competing, if you look at the way they're still improving, I think it's an extremely dangerous football team. I think it's a very talented football team. When you look at them on offense, they've had to transition to a freshman quarterback, Michael Van Buren, making his first two starts on the road in fairly hostile SEC environments. And I think he's continued to grow. I think the second half of Georgia he really found a rhythm and played extremely well. Going to Georgia and scoring 31 points is certainly no easy task. And he did that. I think they have three elite wide receivers, Kevin Coleman and Mario Craver are I think kids that can really stretch the field and take the top off of the coverage. They've got a very veteran offensive line. They rotate a bunch of tailbacks, they rotate a bunch of tight ends. And so Coach Lebby's always been known for how well they play offense and this group is certainly starting to find their rhythm trying to do the things that he wants them to do. Defensively, I think they're starting to get healthy. I think they're starting to add some pieces into the equation for themselves each week. They're starting to find an identity. They've obviously struggled a little bit early in the season, but I think they're starting to really come along. Mississippi State is always talented up front. They've got long, athletic defensive linemen. They always have. Stone Blanton's a kid, again, you kind of keep going into these week by week--kids who've been in this league forever. Stone I still remember recruiting from back when I was here as a defensive coordinator. Really talented player. Isaac Smith and Bryce Pollock highlight their secondary and it's an improving group every single week. Full expectation is that we're going to have our hands full going down to Starkville. We always do. We're not very good in Starkville as a program. And so that certainly is something we're very aware of and we're going to have to go play our best football to have success on Saturday.
MIKE, YOU ALWAYS TALK ABOUT JOB AT HAND. NEXT TASK. HAVE YOU TALKED YOUR TEAM ABOUT HANDLING SUCCESS? BECAUSE SOME OF THESE GUYS HAVEN'T HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS...
I think we talk about championship mindset, and I think that's--whether it's success or failure--it's just how you go about your day to day when you're trying to become a champion, when you're trying to develop that champion mindset. It was a challenge coming out of Notre Dame, continuing to talk through. It was a challenge coming out of Bowling Green, continuing to talk through. It's now a challenge coming out of Missouri. I just think as we build this program into what we want it to be from a mindset standpoint, that's more what we talk about. I don't think we talk about like, oh, you know, we had success or we had failure so this is what it should look like. I think we talk every day since January about what does it mean to chase greatness? What does it mean to try to become elite? What does it mean? And in doing that, hopefully that's what kind of focuses them on the things they need to focus on to continue to be successful.
TO BORROW SOMETHING YOU SAID LAST WEEK ABOUT HAVING THE TEAM LOOK AT THE SIX INCHES IN FRONT OF THEIR FACE, IS IT EASY TO GET YOUR TEAM'S ATTENTION WHEN YOU SEE THE CARNAGE IN THE SEC? TEAMS ALMOST BEATING TOP TEAMS, TEAMS BEATING TOP TEAMS?
We just need to look at ourselves. We've lost to every single team on our schedule at some point in the last two years. You know, we don't have a 2-0 record versus very many teams in the SEC over the last two years. This group of kids, the last time they went down to Starkville, it wasn't pretty. So I don't even know that we need to look at other people. I think we just need to be aware of our own history and understand what it takes to be successful, why we're doing things, to give ourselves a chance to have success. And understanding that if we stop for any second, we're going to put all of that at risk.
YOU MENTIONED MISSISSIPPI STATE'S TRUE FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK. WHAT CHALLENGES DOES HE BRING AND IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU KIND OF NEED TO ADAPT TO MAYBE WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE?
I think he's got a really big arm. I think he showed that. Their ability to stretch the field is probably the most impressive thing that jumps off the tape. His arm...he's got great arm talent. He can throw the ball a mile. I think he's getting more comfortable with the rhythm and timing with his wideouts. They spread you so wide, that's always been kind of the Jeff Lebby, that they kind of try to create some clean pictures for him to see it clean. And I think he's getting better at understanding that. And so the explosive passing game is really, really scary when you watch the tape and certainly what you see what they did last week at Georgia. And so, I think that's the big challenge that he presents.
NOW THAT YOU'RE HALFWAY THROUGH THE SEASON, HOW HAPPY ARE YOU WITH WHERE THE CULTURE IS AT THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO BUILD? AND HOW MUCH DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE BUY IN FROM YOUR PLAYERS HAS HELPED THE SUCCESS YOU'VE HAD THIS FAR?
I think the the culture in terms of togetherness, trying to do things the right way, trying to do things for each other...I'm extremely proud of our guys and how they've taken to that. I tell them this all the time. When a new coach comes in and he starts talking a different way, kids have a choice. You know, in this day and age, they have a lot of choices. And they can they can just kind of let it go in one ear and out the other, and yeah, I'm not really interested in this. This is not my thing. These kids haven't done that. I think we look at it a lot different, you know, not right, not wrong, just different. And I think they've bought into everything that we believe a football program should be about. You see that continually show up in how they fight for each other. And that part is really, really cool to see. I'm really proud of that. And I think that plays a huge part of it. Now it's can we continue to have the right frame of mind? Can we continue to have that championship mindset? Can we continue to have that growth focus every single day as we go into this back half of the season? That's a whole other challenge in and of itself. But in terms of the togetherness, I'm really happy with where we are.