Aggies talk about SMU

[PonyPride]

SMU-related highlights from Texas A&M's football press conference:

HEAD COACH KEVIN SUMLIN

On SMU:
"Everyone tries to throw passing teams into one bucket. There are a lot of different philosophies involved in the run-and-shoot as it was and now what is termed the air raid. For them (Hal Mumme and June Jones) to be together tells you what they think of each other. They're really the Godfathers of the offense. I’ve been fortunate enough to be around both of them. I consider June a friend. We came into Conference USA at the same time. He's been a winner. He's one of the first guys that took a non-BCS team to a BCS bowl. He's been at the NFL level. Hal's impacted a number of coaches. I have a lot of respect for both men and how they've altered the history of college football. Everyone has their own twist on things, but the blend on those two guys is a little bit different. I think right now they lead the country in completions per game. They have two receivers who are in the top three in the country in receptions per game. We’re going to have to defend the whole field. They’ve got a veteran quarterback who was highly recruited out of high school. He's still very talented. He's getting better. We're playing another team that's had a whole week off before they play us. We’re playing at home, I’m not complaining about that. They'll have some new wrinkles and some new stuff. It’ll be another challenge for our defense because it’s different than what we saw last week. We're going to have to defend the whole field—vertically and sideline-to-sideline—because they are going to stretch us out to make us play in space.”

On having the whole defense together:
"We settled down, and we were able to get some guys reps that were going to play. We had to catch up the experience with the guys that haven't played. We had to replace four of the front seven coming into the year. Then, three of the other seven missed at least one game. What you miss is the communication, the ability to line up and make adjustments. It's one thing for coaches to make adjustments; it takes experience and wherewithal to use those adjustments during a game. Now that we know what the rotation is going to be, the continuity, particularly with those young guys to learn a couple different positions is going to help us. The things that we saw are correctable. Our players understand that. We'll get some continuity and not as much newness for the rest of the year on defense.”

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MARK SNYDER

On the lack of a pass rush:
"We've played a veteran team in Rice, an option-oriented team in Sam Houston State and the number one team in the country. It's a little bit of how the schedule's laid out, but that's the way it is. We need to see that improve moving forward."

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR CLARENCE McKINNEY

On the improvements of Mike Evans:
"I think the sky's the limit for him. He's really starting to learn the position. From a talent standpoint, the talent is there. It's just understanding the little things of playing receiver. He's getting better each week."

SENIOR RUNNING BACK BEN MALENA

On moving forward:
“I think it’ll be easier. It’s easier just for the fact that we do have a loss. We understand just how important it is to take it one game at a time. It is a one game season every week. You have to prepare like it is a one game season. This week we have SMU. We are looking at it as we accept the challenge from those guys. They are going to come in and be ready to knock us off. We are going to prepare just like we did last week.”

NOTE: Full MP3 audio and video available on aggieathletics.com.

[ponyte]

Didn't read much 'They cause us trouble at...' type stuff. Its all about improving on D, at positions, getting guys experience. Looks like we don't scare them much.

[ponyboy]

Intelligent comments from Coach Sumlin. Good read.

[Lebanese4Life]

Didn't read much 'They cause us trouble at...' type stuff. Its all about improving on D, at positions, getting guys experience. Looks like we don't scare them much.

Lol does that surprise you?

[ponyte]

Didn't read much 'They cause us trouble at...' type stuff. Its all about improving on D, at positions, getting guys experience. Looks like we don't scare them much.

Lol does that surprise you?

Deep down, no. But as an ardent sunshiner, yes. Not that it matters, I will still pull like crazy to win.

[Rebel10]

Intelligent comments from Coach Sumlin. Good read.

Coach speak.