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Texas A&M Discussing Arkansas Football
HEAD COACH KEVIN SUMLIN
On Arkansas’ offense:
"The
way they want to play the game is to line it up and run at you and then
run a play-action pass off of it. That's been his (Coach Bielema) style
which has been extremely successful in the Big 10. There's no reason
for him to go away from that. Brett creates an attitude of how he wants
his team to play the game, offensively and defensively. I don't see
that changing at all since that's been their proven formula for
success. They have two good backs. Their line is very solid.
Defensively, it's hard to argue with their production. They have two
defensive ends that lead the league in sacks, tackles for loss and
disruptive plays. That’s a signature style of play for Brett. It'll be
a different game. We transitioned from Alabama to SMU. We're going to
have to make a transition again. That’s what this league is all about.
The diversity in the SEC right now offensively is a challenge for every
team. Moving from different styles back and forth is a challenge, too.
I am encouraged by what I saw last week from a communication standpoint
for our defense. You take for granted that because the guy’s a good
player, he’s going to be able to communicate and adjust. The ability to
adjust during the game, for both players and coaches, is huge.”
On special teams:
"We
go into every game with a fake punt and a fake field goal. Whether we
call it or not is our decision. We saw some things and decided we could
plan this. If we need to use it, we use it. I felt like it was a
situation that was there. Coach Banks always wants to call something
like that. Obviously we executed. We're going to compete just like the
first game. We didn't name a starter for the QB position for the first
half until 5 o'clock on Friday. I thought it was important for those
guys to continue to compete. I think this is important, also. What
we're doing is based on competition and ability to play. You play in
games based on how you execute and how you compete in practice. That's
where we are. That will continue to be the case. It's not going to
change this week or the next week. It's a work in progress. There are
some things both guys do that are positive, but in this business, all
you care about are results.”
On Malcome Kennedy:
"The first
half of last season, he sat behind Ryan Swope. He started coming on
toward the end of the year. He had that big catch against Alabama which
really helped his confidence. Nobody had a better offseason than him.
Our players saw that. He’s continued to work to become a complete
player. He’s a guy that was a high school quarterback. That usually
takes a little longer to transition into the college game. He’s playing
very well for us. His leadership during the summer was critical for a
bunch of young guys. Our guys see that the hard work and everything
else he’s put into it shows that you can work yourself into being a
really good player. I’m glad that he’s had the success that he’s
having.”
On receivers blocking:
"Coach Beaty does an
excellent job. Our guys take pride in that. You get a lot of outside
criticism of spread offenses being soft. I think our guys take that
personally. I don’t hear a lot of people saying that about our team. I
think the reason for that is our guys do play hard. The biggest
transition for a receiver coming into this offense is understanding how
to play without the ball. That’s the difference in a six or seven yard
gain to a huge gain. Another thing is the ability to block. I said it
last year and Coach Beatty said the same thing: if you don’t block, you
don’t play. That’s probably the easiest way to motivate people because
everyone wants to play.”
On Johnny Manziel’s knowledge of the offense:
"His
knowledge of the system in year two is and should be better than it was
last year. To think conceptually instead of just route-wise or one
thing at a time has been the biggest challenge. That’s the biggest
challenge for anybody. I think you've seen that with a lot of the
players that were just playing their position last year. They
understand the offense. They understand the route concepts. In order to
do that, you've got to understand what the defense is doing because of
the changes in the route based on what you see. You've got to start
thinking like a coach. I was very pleased with some of the things he
did out there last Saturday. We’re not where we were with Case Keenum,
but he was a sixth year guy. Johnny’s getting there. He made some
progressions on Saturday night. I like the direction that we’re headed
as a team from a communication standpoint. That comes with experience.”
DEFNESIVE COORDINATOR MARK SNYDER
On Isaiah Golden:
"There's
no doubt that he's going to get a lot more playing time as we go along.
We’ve got to get comfortable with him and make sure he knows what to
do. He's physical enough to help this football team, maybe as early as
this week. He factors into our future.”
On Nate Askew’s building on last week’s success:
"It's
going to be interesting. I think Nate's up to the challenge. We’re
going to give him an opportunity. This is a chance for Nate to show us
that he's become a complete player. We know what he can do against the
spread because of his athleticism. Now we’re going to see how he can do
against a really physical team.”
On the variance of offenses the team has faced:
"Our
league is becoming more and more diversified in the attacks that you
see week in and week out. We’re going from ‘big boy football’, to the
spread, and now back to ‘big boy football.’ We’ll see how it goes.
It’ll be another challenge for our guys, especially our young guys.”
On the defense adjusting itself throughout the game:
"I
was proud of the whole secondary, not just Deshazor. I thought our kids
played hard. We were running to the football. I saw some communication
between those guys on the field, not just on the sideline. Those guys
were fixing themselves on a series. That was some good stuff. They were
disguising and communicating. When we had a mistake and ran the same
play later in the drive, we were able to fix it. When you have a
defense that can adjust itself in a series before they get over to you,
you know you have something pretty good going on.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR CLARENCE McKINNEY
On the progression of Johnny Manziel:
"We've
seen a lot of progress with Johnny. He's checking us into the best play
we could possibly get. He’s not quite where we need him to be yet, but
he’s learning."
On Malcome Kennedy:
"He's catching the ball
well. He gives Johnny that other option so he doesn't always have to go
to Mike Evans. Malcome knew we were losing three starters so he would
have to step up to give us success.”
On Arkansas’ defensive line:
"Their
front is really good. They really get after the passer. It's going to
be a challenge for our offensive line to keep them off of Johnny. It’s
a challenge for Johnny that he embraces. He enjoys the moment when guys
start chasing after him.”
On the offensive line:
"Through the
four games, they've played like we expected them to play. You would
think after playing a game against Alabama we wouldn't have some of the
mistakes we made against SMU, but those guys are first year starters.
There’s going to be some errors there. They just have to get caught up
and get up to speed with the other three guys.”
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