Photo by: Ethan Mito/Texas A&M Athletics
Player Media Availability Quotes: Mississippi State
Sep 30, 2025 | Football
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION--Texas A&M cornerbacks Tyreek Chappell and Will Lee III met with the press after Tuesday's practice during the Aggies' weekly media availability. Select quotes from the session are available below along with full video.
Sixth-ranked A&M (4-0, 1-0) continues its homestand when the Aggies host Mississippi State (4-1, 0-1) under the lights for Operation Blackout. Kickoff on the SEC Network is set for 6:30 p.m. Fans can also listen to the game along the Texas A&M Sports Network (1620 AM/94.5 FM locally) or worldwide inside the 12th Man Mobile App or at 12thman.com.
On why he chose to stick with Texas A&M and Coach Elko…
"It really all started with (Coach) Elko. He was here my freshman year when I was an All-American and we had a great relationship, so I just kept trusting Elko during the process, even though I got injured, and was supposed to leave last year. I just came back and I just trusted the process that Elko had for me."
What did it mean to you to have Coach Elko talking about getting you back being a huge part of the defense? "That means a lot to me. That just shows that he trusts me a lot. Some guys look up to me in a certain way, and I'm glad that I could teach them the rights and wrongs, and it shows how much he trusted me and the team trusted me."
On what he leaned on to get him through his injury… "It was really my family and my daughter. During that time she was around 2 months old, so every time I saw her, I said to myself, yeah, I gotta do this for her."
On the defense gaining confidence from shutting down Auburn's top receiver… "We can do that with everybody in the league. Everybody is going to have a good receiver. We play in the best conference in the world I feel like, so everybody is going to have that great receiver and he is going to be a problem. We just have to find that scheme to suit them and do what we need to do to stop them."
On his performance from the first four games… "Focused up. I had a little rough start in the beginning, but that is just me being human. Can't slack. Coach Elko says all the time that when you slack is when things start to go downhill. I had to pick it up real quick and get back to myself, and I showed that during Auburn. I am back on a good pace and that confidence is flowing again."
What feels different about this team than last year?
"I feel like the togetherness. A lot of the guys are really bought in and a lot of the guys are really bought into Elko's plan. We all want to win and we all want the end goal of being national champions, SEC champions, so we really just had to buy in and really understand the process of getting there. That's the real focus that everybody understands on the team now."
How much does it help with buy in seeing the success both sides of the ball have had? "It means a lot. It is really the trust factor of it; the offense trusts the defense and the defense trusts the offense. We know if something goes wrong, we are going to pick each other up. That is the whole thing, the focus on the team, is just the trust and buying into it."
Sixth-ranked A&M (4-0, 1-0) continues its homestand when the Aggies host Mississippi State (4-1, 0-1) under the lights for Operation Blackout. Kickoff on the SEC Network is set for 6:30 p.m. Fans can also listen to the game along the Texas A&M Sports Network (1620 AM/94.5 FM locally) or worldwide inside the 12th Man Mobile App or at 12thman.com.
Media Availability: Tyreek Chappell
On why he chose to stick with Texas A&M and Coach Elko…
"It really all started with (Coach) Elko. He was here my freshman year when I was an All-American and we had a great relationship, so I just kept trusting Elko during the process, even though I got injured, and was supposed to leave last year. I just came back and I just trusted the process that Elko had for me."
What did it mean to you to have Coach Elko talking about getting you back being a huge part of the defense? "That means a lot to me. That just shows that he trusts me a lot. Some guys look up to me in a certain way, and I'm glad that I could teach them the rights and wrongs, and it shows how much he trusted me and the team trusted me."
On what he leaned on to get him through his injury… "It was really my family and my daughter. During that time she was around 2 months old, so every time I saw her, I said to myself, yeah, I gotta do this for her."
Media Availability: Will Lee III
On the defense gaining confidence from shutting down Auburn's top receiver… "We can do that with everybody in the league. Everybody is going to have a good receiver. We play in the best conference in the world I feel like, so everybody is going to have that great receiver and he is going to be a problem. We just have to find that scheme to suit them and do what we need to do to stop them."
On his performance from the first four games… "Focused up. I had a little rough start in the beginning, but that is just me being human. Can't slack. Coach Elko says all the time that when you slack is when things start to go downhill. I had to pick it up real quick and get back to myself, and I showed that during Auburn. I am back on a good pace and that confidence is flowing again."
What feels different about this team than last year?
"I feel like the togetherness. A lot of the guys are really bought in and a lot of the guys are really bought into Elko's plan. We all want to win and we all want the end goal of being national champions, SEC champions, so we really just had to buy in and really understand the process of getting there. That's the real focus that everybody understands on the team now."
How much does it help with buy in seeing the success both sides of the ball have had? "It means a lot. It is really the trust factor of it; the offense trusts the defense and the defense trusts the offense. We know if something goes wrong, we are going to pick each other up. That is the whole thing, the focus on the team, is just the trust and buying into it."
Players Mentioned
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