Von Miller and the new hybrid "jack" -- linebacker/defensive end -- position have taken up a good percentage of the talk surrounding the Aggies' spring and fall camps. The Aggies expect to surpass their sack total of 16 from last year with Miller free to go after the quarterback from anywhere on the field. Miller talks a little high school football and answers questions about his new position, getting to complete a sack rather than just tap someone on the shoulder and maybe making enough of an impact to gain a postseason honor or two.
Q: Did you get a chance to see your high school team [DeSoto against Cedar Hill] on national television?
A: I was on the sideline. Coach [Claude] Mathis let me and [running back] Cyrus [Gray] give a little motivational speech to the team and I kind of liked that, to see those guys take what I said and go out there and get up 14. I'm proud of DeSoto. I'm proud of my high school.
Q: Is what you've done in the spring and summer camps a credit to the new position [Jack] or how you've matured and grown?
A: I don't take credit for any of that stuff. Coach [Joe] Kines and coach [Mike] Sherman have given me a true blessing that they came up with that position, which goes to all of my strengths.
The focus really shouldn't just be on me, all the guys around me, they've made a 180-degree change from last season and all the guys have improved a lot. Jordan Pugh and the whole linebacking corps, Trent Hunter have improved a lot and it makes it a lot easier for me. All I have to do is rush the passer, those guys have the hard job, covering those receivers and creating time for me to get back there.
I've gotten bigger, stronger, faster, but everybody else improving is helping me out a lot.
Q: You've had a lot of success getting to the quarterback in preseason. When you're having success do you talk to the linemen opposite you to help them out with the way you're getting past them?
A: I don't say anything to the offensive lineman right after I beat them, or the next day. I let it kind of dwell on them. I'm competing against those guys to, but after two-a-days I sat with Danny Baker and all those guys and I told them this is what I did, this is why I was so successful getting back there and tell them this is what you guys can do to counter.
I may be wrong, but I don't think those guys are going against anybody, any defensive end like my size and speed, so if they are getting on me quick when they go against the bigger, slower guys it's going to be easier for those guys.
Our offensive linemen, all five of those guys are true competitors. They get beat once it's not the end of the world, they are going to come back harder, and if I use a move and get back there that first time I can guarantee you I'm not going to be able to use it the same way or do the same thing to get back there again. I've got to change it up every day and come with something different because they catch on so fast.
The offensive linemen have improved 10-fold since last year.
Q: What do you expect other teams to do to counter your ability to get to the quarterback?
A: Coach Sherman, he did a really good job with the offense, double teams and triple teams I get in practice are like preparing me for what I'm going to see in the game. I'm confident in myself and I'm confident in my team that whenever the pressure is on me, the other guys around me are ready to make plays. Matt Moss, Tony Jerod-Eddie and Luke (Lucas Patterson), all the linebackers, Trent Hunter and Jordan Pugh, if they double team or triple team me, it's going to be a single blocker on one of those guys and that's just as bad as single blocking me because all those guys are pretty good, too. All those guys on the defensive line have playmaking potential.
Q: You've been getting to the quarterback a lot, but you haven't been able to hit any of them since they are your own teammates. How eager are you to get out there and put a QB on his back?
A: Yeah, I haven't tackled, I haven't hit a quarterback since the Texas game, Colt McCoy right before halftime. That's my last time, so that's like eight or nine months. It's been a while and it's going to be a good feeling to get out there and go all the way through on a play.
Q: What are your feelings on ending the Aggies drought of defensive ends or linebackers to receive All-American or Big 12 first team honors.
A: We haven't had an All-American since '98 or '99, somewhere in there, and it would be nice to get all that stuff, but my goal is to take it play by play and at the end of the year look back and see what I've done. Our goal this year is we need to get Ws on the calendar and after we do that everything else will come.
Q: You have a lot of former teammates here at A&M, have you helped in getting them here?
A: All I can do is tell those guys the reason why I came. The reason they got me to come to A&M. I'm very close to all those guys. I guess my opinion on a school is something they take to heart.
Q: You almost didn't end up here, with Ole Miss being in the picture, do you keep an eye on the Rebels because of that?
A: If I didn't get recruited by Texas A&M, I would be at Ole Miss right now, or Oklahoma, one of those schools. When I went there (Ole Miss), coach told me the direction in which they were going to try and push their program and I believed a little bit of it and I didn't believe a lot of it, but here they are today one of the top-ranked schools in the country.
-- RICHARD CROOME, richard.croome@theeagle.com
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