Aggies Hold Auburn Week Press Conference

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko was joined by captain Taurean York and wide receiver Jabre Barber for the Aggies' Auburn week press conference Monday inside the Kyle Field Media Center.

Quotables: Mike Elko

OPENING COMMENT:

Recapping the New Mexico State game, starting with our players of the game. Offensive linemen, Trey Zuhn and Ar'Maj Reed-Adams. Defensive lineman was Nic Scourton. Those three guys I thought played pretty well the other night. Offensive player of the game, was Theo Melin-Ohrstrom. Five catches, 111 yards. Certainly his best game of the year. And it was great to see the tight ends get involved the way they did. That's certainly something that we've been trying to get going. And so it was good to get that going for us. Defensive player of the game was Malick Sylla. Five tackles, three TFLs, two sacks. He had himself a heck of a night, predominantly in the second half. And so that was great to see. And then special teams player of the game was Bryce Anderson. I thought he made some really nice plays out there as a gunner pinning the punt down. Made a really nice tackle at the end of the game. I was happy for that.

Injury update, unfortunately, Cyrus Allen is going to be out for the season. He'll have surgery on his arm. Hopefully we'll get him back sooner rather than later. But we won't have him the rest of the year.

Turning our attention to a really talented Auburn team, another SEC game at night. Obviously a game with a lot on the line. We're excited for this opportunity. Excited to get out there and put our best foot forward.

THERE'S ALREADY SO MUCH TALK ABOUT NOVEMBER 30TH, AND IT WAS ANNOUNCED AS A NIGHT GAME TODAY. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT WITH YOUR GUYS AND SAYING, HEY, WE STILL HAVE SOMETHING AHEAD OF US AT AUBURN, OR IS THAT EVEN A BIG ISSUE WITH YOUR TEAM?

I don't think it's an issue. I think when you're in the situation we're in, it's easy to focus on the task at hand. Those big games earlier in the year, you know, maybe you look ahead. If we didn't have at stake what's at stake, maybe you would worry about it. I think our focus is single-handedly on Auburn right now and locked in on what we've got to get done.

CAN YOU JUST TOUCH ON SOME OF THE SUCCESSES AUBURN HAS HAD DEFENSIVELY AND WHAT CHALLENGES THEY PRESENT TO YOU GUYS THIS WEEK?

A lot of challenges. DJ (Durkin) is doing a really good job of getting his scheme implemented in year one. They're very moldable. They attack you a lot of different ways, a lot of different fronts, a lot of different coverage looks. They blitz from a lot of different angles. They do a really good job of pressuring the quarterback and making them uncomfortable. And then they're doing all that with a really talented group. They've got a really talented front. They're good at the second level. Dorian Mausi, he's a kid I'm extremely familiar with. He started for us two years at Duke and he's leading them in tackles, and that's no surprise. He's a great player. And then, they're talented in the secondary. So they've got good players, a good scheme and they they're playing really well together.

AUBURN IS A DESPERATE TEAM, TRYING TO GET BOWL ELIGIBLE. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF TAKING ON A TEAM THAT SEES NO WIGGLE ROOM WITH WHAT'S AHEAD?

Yeah I think that's certainly a part of it on their end. The other part of it is just--and this is what we talk about, and this is probably lesson learned from the South Carolina game--we're at a different spot too, you know? We have to understand that people are going to play really well against us right now. We're first place in the SEC, we're top 15 in the country. We're in the playoff hunt. That creates something, when you go into another team's stadium, that we haven't dealt with in a while. And so kind of understanding what all that means and what all that entails, I think is as important as paying attention to them and what they're playing for. That's been us over the last few years, right? There's been times where we've popped up on teams and played really well against ranked teams here in Kyle Field. It's just what people do when big high-ranked teams that are high in the standings show up for night games. And so we've just got to understand what all that's about.

FOLLOWING THAT UP, WHEN YOU TOOK THIS JOB, I KNOW YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS ALL POSSIBLE, BUT JUST REFLECTING ON THE WORK THAT'S STILL AHEAD...BUT TO BE IN THIS SPOT?

Yeah. I think these are the goals of this program. And this is where we want to be. There's always two hats. We always talk about that, right? So from the coaching perspective, of course this is where I wanted this to go. You've worked so hard to get it there as fast as you possibly can. And every game you win is awesome. And every game that you lose is miserable. And that's just the coaching profession and how we want to go about it. From the CEO perspective, I think it's important that we don't lose sight of where we've come from, what we've accomplished. The fact that this is the first time in our SEC history that we're in this position down the stretch, controlling our own destiny to Atlanta. So from that perspective, I think there has to be some understanding of the direction we're going, and that it's a good direction for year one and where we're at.

AUBURN'S RUSHING ATTACK, THEY'VE GOT A 1,000-YARD RUSHER...WHAT KIND OF CHALLENGES DOES THAT OFFENSE PRESENT?

I think this is a really talented running group. Obviously the tailback (Jarquez) Hunter is a really talented player. He's the leading rusher in the league. He's powerful. He's explosive. He runs through people. I think they do a lot of different schemes to create leverage and create angles in the run game. A lot of it is checked at the line of scrimmage, and so they do a really good job of getting themselves into the right play. I think how we control the line of scrimmage, set edges and kind of keep the ball contained in the box is going to be really, really important for us in our success. Like a lot of these SEC games, it's going to be both ways. They stop the run really well. We run the ball well. They run the ball well, and we've had success in the games that we've been successful in stopping the run. And so I'm sure that'll play a huge role on Saturday.

WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN FROM THE TWO RECEIVERS CAM COLEMAN AND KEANDRE LAMBERT-SMITH?

Yeah I think they're really talented. KeAndre Lambert-Smith obviously has played a lot of college football, been a very successful highly productive player. Really good feel for route running, really good feel for creating separation and making contested catches. Cam Coleman obviously he's an extremely talented young player. Flashes unbelievable ball skills and top-end athleticism to get down the field and make explosive plays. And they've got other guys too in this. It's not just those two. They've got another freshman wide receiver who plays in the slot who's extremely talented as well, #11 (Malcolm Simmons). So it's a talented group. They've got really talented players.

ALONG THOSE LINES, PAYTON THORNE HAD FIVE TOUCHDOWN PASSES LAST WEEK. HE'S KIND OF HAD AN UP AND DOWN SEASON. WHEN YOU WATCH THE TAPE FROM LAST WEEKEND, WHAT WOULD YOU NOTICE FROM HIM IN THE PASSING GAME?

I think he has the talent and he has the arm talent to make explosive plays. And so I think last week he looked like he was maybe coming off a bye, maybe a little fresher, a little healthier, really confident with where he wanted to go with the football. He stepped into throws and delivered the ball really well. And, I think you've seen that at times. They've been very productive on offense all year. I think they're sixth in the league in yards per game or fifth in the league in yards per game. And so they've been moving the football very well. They had some turnover issues at critical moments in some of their early games and I think that just shot them in the foot. But when you put the tape on and you're looking at play in and play out, it's another really talented SEC football team and it'll be a big challenge for us.