Here is Jon Sumrall from Tuesday. It was a long question-and-answer session but very informative and a tour de force for what makes him not just a very good coach, but a great coach. He gets it on every level.
"We went across to Saints because of the weather this morning. It would have been probably fine here, but at 6 a.m. it was coming down pretty good so I wanted to make sure we got practice in. Today was really our only full-gear day of the week. Tomorrow will be spider pads. Thursday will be a walkthrough. Friday will be like a Sunday for us with a Thursday game coming up. The players will be off on Friday from a football perspective. They'll still have school, and then Saturday will be like a Monday start introduction for the week as we move forward. Good win last week. We have a lot to play for coming ahead. It's not the time to relax and feel comfortable."
On Mensah running:
"The fourth-and-1 when they held the back in the flat, he converted that with his feet but we got the penalty. He's got an extreme level of confidence in the pocket with seeing the throw lanes come open down the field in the passing game. He's almost so calm back there looking for the windows that it's really impressive. He's had to grow into the running concept. I kidded around after the game and called him Michael Vick. No one's going to confuse him with Michael Vick or Lamar Jackson, but I tell him all the time Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield don't run 4.4, but they're good runners when they have to run. He's just got to continue to develop in that area of his game. A lot of it comes with experience, the reps, getting confidence and tucking the ball. He didn't tuck the ball great on the touchdown. I told him that. He still carries the ball too loose from his body, but that gives you confidence. And when it's there, I want him to run. I don't want him to just go run to say he ran, but when they give you lanes to step up and go get positive yardage in the run game, that makes you more dangerous."
On Caleb Thomas being used as tight end in jumbo package:
"In full disclosure, Caleb's always available in the plan. Alex (Bauman) had something happen in the pre-game warm-ups that wasn't planned, a kind of surprise tweak, something he'll be fine with it looks like for next week's game, but pre-game Alex had a surprise like 'oh goodness, I don't know if I can play' type injury. We immediately went to the locker room after pre-game warm-ups and coach Craddock and McKissick and Roushar and Tyler Spotts-Orgeron, we all got in the coaches' locker room and were like, all right, Bauman's not available and Reggie (Brown) was already on a pitch count, what do we do to manufacture tight end runs? CT is a great jumbo option there. Reese Baker is another option. Anthony Miller has played and we feel good about his development and growth. We need to get more out of Josh Goines. He's got to grow faster. But CT, I told him post-practice today can we get you another year of eligibility? He's just such a comfort for a coach because he can go play center, he can go play guard, he can go play tight end if needed. He's got a lot of versatility. He's really smart, very dependable, a great teammate, he's ready when his number's called. He's one of those unsung heroes of the team. He brings a ton of value."
On defensive depth and not worrying about who is in or out of the game:
"You've seen in our D-line room a ton of guys step up at different parts of the year and make plays. Adonis (Friloux, who started against Navy for the first time since the 2021 finale against Memphis) has had a good last several weeks. Earlier in the year you saw Gerrod Henderson, who was such an unknown coming into this year, take over the South Florida game at times. Parker Peterson's having a great year. Eric Hicks is sort of like Caleb Thomas but on the D-line. You don't think about him all the time, but he's just a good, consistent player. Deshaun Batiste caused the fumble. The depth of that group to roll a lot of guys in and play fresh guys (is invaluable). There are moments within a game where I"m like, hey, get the 1s in, like get the one 1s in. Like if we're in the red zone in a critical situation, I usually want those dudes out there, but we're not afraid to let guys just go play a little bit. You've seen that at all three levels, at linebacker, which we consider backups in Dickson Agu and Chris Rodgers and even Makai Williams has stepped up the last few weeks. At safety Jack Tchienchou, Kevin Adams has flashed and had moments. You're just seeing the depth of the team really start to show."
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