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TEXAS A&M FOOTBALL
Team Notes
Head Coach Mike Sherman
On handling the amount of losses with a veteran team
“I’ve
never quite experienced what we are experiencing this year, neither as
a head coach nor as an assistant. To be as close as we are and then
lose a ballgame, four out of our five losses we lost by a total of 14
points, three and a half points a game, to be in the position to win
those games numerous times and not take advantage of that I’ve never
experienced that before, so there’s a first for everything and I hope I
don’t have to go through that again. As for handling it, I’ve done a
lot of soul searching the past 48 hours trying to figure out how to
handle it with our team, there’s so much of a psychological element
involved in football but you still have to hold them accountable, not
just them but our coaching staff and myself, and balance that with the
confidence level that have or don’t have at times in the football game.
In our team meeting today we’ll address that and get to the bottom of
it and create an atmosphere where we are accountable for what we
haven’t done and have them take advantage of opportunities that we
should have both as players and coaches and give them confidence where
we can strive in those situations.”
On the amount of “job security” the players have
“Well,
I don’t think any of us feel a great amount of job security, I think
the players understand that, and I think that goes along with the
profession of being football players and coaches. We are all held
accountable for what we do and don’t do. As far as the players are
concerned, you mentioned Jeff [Fuller], I think he understands
the situation and obviously if you have somebody that’s competing with
him in practice and they are performing better than Jeff then you have
to go in that direction.”
On the amount of dropped passes
“We
had seven this week which is uncharacteristic, we have dropped them in
practice and it’s not uncharacteristic for us to drop them in practice,
but it’s uncharacteristic for this group. I’ve had some of these
receivers for three years like Jeff [Fuller} and it’s been
uncharacteristic for them up until recently. With Jeff [Fuller] and
others you have to ask questions, are you pressing too much, are you
trying too hard? That’s sometimes the opposite of what people think,
that we aren’t trying hard enough, but sometimes you can try too hard
to make the play happen. Confidence and focus are huge factors, are you
hearing voices in your head telling you to doubt what you are doing,
and that’s on me to get those voices out, and that’s something we need
to focus on this week in particular, to go back to fundamentals and
spend more time working on them.”
On Jeff Fuller not playing as aggressive and without the swagger he used to have
“He
and I have talked about that a couple different times. The first week
of preseason practice he was the old Jeff and then he had the injury,
and that injury lingered a long time. I’m sure he’s thinking in the
back of his mind how’s this going to play out. When we put him back on
the field he still wasn’t 100 percent, then he has the concussion, then
he has the turf toe, so he’s had a few things that have held him back.
Should he fight through those, yeah he’s got to be able to fight
through those, in the NFL we always used to ask how does this player
play hurt, because they’ve got to be able to play hurt and play well
hurt, and sometimes when you’re a receiver and a foot or hamstring
injury keeps you from doing your job that could be a problem.”
On Cyrus Gray’s performance on Saturday
“Cyrus
gets better with carries and he very much did that in the ballgame.
When he’s in there and splitting time he has a propensity to go in
there and try to make huge plays and score a touchdown every carry, he
would do a little more dancing around and wouldn’t hit the hole just
right. This week we asked him to take it more north and south and he
did a great job and responded well with what was on his plate and we
should have won the game with the way he was performing.”
On possibly adding an offensive coordinator
“When
I look at us we are number six in the country on offense, we one of the
teams that can run the ball and throw the ball effectively. I feel
confident on what we are doing on offense; I look at everything we do
at the end of the season. I feel confident in what we are doing and how
we are doing it, I just wish we were doing it better.”
On playing Kansas on Saturday
“The
last two weeks they’ve been playing some of the best football they’ve
played all year, they’ve made some transitional moves and played a
couple younger guys and on defense its seemed like it’s really helped
them, they did a great job against Baylor and the quarterback got
really hot there at the end and made some great plays and they ended up
losing the ballgame in a game just like we did. Offensively, I’ve seen
Webb several times this season and I think he is a smooth quarterback,
he can run it and throw it and I like his skill level and their running
back is a good runner. Every week we have a challenge, I think anybody
can beat anybody. We have to play our best ball and we look forward to
getting going today at practice.”
On the team coming out swinging in the game this week
“It
shouldn’t just start with two games left in the season, I think we have
started games really well and just haven’t finished games the way we
need to finish games. I don’t think it’s a matter of coming out
swinging, we did that against Oklahoma last week as well and the week
before. That hasn’t been an issue we’ve started games pretty well for
the most part we just need to finish the games. So that swinging you’re
talking about needs to be there at the end as well as the beginning.”
On converting on fourth-and-one
“On
fourth-and-one we need to convert 80 percent of the time, I think we
are two-and-eight in the season, that’s a lofty number in my mind, but
when we are fourth-and-one I think we should be able to convert 80
percent of the time. With that being said every week in the NFL, every
week in college, fourth-and-ones and third-and-ones get stuffed, but I
tell the players we need to convert this 80 percent of the time.”
On play calling on fourth-and-one
“In
these situations you have to understand there is very little element of
surprise. We did throw the ball and had a chance at a big play this
week to Nehemiah [Hicks] on that situation, but just about everyone in
the stadium knows what you are doing including the guys on the field,
so they are going to do their best to stop you. They still think with
your backs and your line you should be able to get a yard.”
On Nehemiah Hick performance against K-State
“He
didn’t have a very good game, he’s played a lot better in the past he
was very into it on the side lines, I saw him before the game and he
was a little too geeked up, and sometimes at that position having a
calmer demeanor helps a lot because of all we ask of him to do with
running and throwing, running routes, pass protection, all the things
we ask a tight end to do, he needs to calm down a bit before the games.
He didn’t play to his standards or my standards.”
On opening up opportunities for downfield passing
“We
took a shot down field and we dropped the pass during the overtime
period, when a team is in quarters coverage they play four deep, and
that’s what they played with four deep and it’s hard to get past
that, they play off and deep and that coverage is designed to take away
the vertical passing game.”
Junior Linebacker Jonathan Stewart
On bouncing back this week after last week’s loss
“The
senior class has two games left at Kyle Field and we know we need to
finish strong. We didn’t win as many games as expected this season but
we can still finish strong and win our final two games here at Kyle
Field.”
On Cyrus Gray and why he is difficult to run down from a linebacker’s perspective
“Cyrus
is a very good back - he is very fast and very allusive in the open
field and he is very tough to tackle, you never know what he is going
to do. He can shake you, it’s surprising, but he has the power to run
people over, he is just a very allusive back and the toughest back to
tackle in the Big 12.
Senior Defensive Back Trent Hunter
On regrouping after last week’s loss
“We
take all of the losses the same, we have two days to be mad about it
and sulk over it and look back and see what went wrong. Then we got to
be able to come back this week and stack practices and be able to
bounce back, we’ve put up good fights this year and the season hasn’t
gone the way we wanted to go, but we are where we are right now and we
need to focus on Kansas this week.”
On what the team is trying to accomplish for the last games for the seniors
“The
seniors don’t deserve the record that we have right now, we have worked
too hard the past four years, but we’re not quitters, we are not going
to be mad about where we are at and be selfish and play for ourselves.
We are going to go out and prepare the way we have been and stay
together and we are going to win the next two ballgames, go to a bowl
and win the bowl game, those are our goals and that’s what we are
working for.”
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