HOOVER, Ala. — Texas A&M rolled into Media Days on Tuesday confident in the significant offseason changes and ready to perform as a more physical football team.

The big topics included new defensive coordinator John Chavis, new offensive line coach Dave Christensen, the rivalry with LSU and the need to get more physical on both sides of the ball.

Here’s a few of the more significant things that coach Kevin Sumlin and the three offensive linemen said:

HEAD COACH KEVIN SUMLIN

On hiring John Chavis, and the ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ mentality:

“That’s exactly what I did. There’s really nothing more to the answer than that. That’s true. We’ve studied the defense. We get it. We struggled. It’s a great fit for us and a great fit for him. He was ready for a new challenge. We were in the market, obviously, and here’s a guy who’s got a tremendous track record in the SEC and recently in the SEC West.”

On whether the rivalry with LSU will get more intense:

“I don’t know. When I walk in the stadium, they don’t seem pretty happy about me walking in there in the first place. I don’t know if it can get any more spicier than it is now. It’s been a game that 10 years ago was still a really, really big football game with Texas A&M and LSU. I get a big hug from Jamal Adams right before the game, and then he goes out and just tries to knock our guys out. So we’ve got guys on both sides of the field. We’re recruiting Louisiana. They’re recruiting Texas. We’ve got all kinds of storylines involved. Everybody’s always going to look for some reason to ratchet it up a bit.”

On the developing leadership of QB Kyle Allen:

“I think the first step was the confidence of him walking out of the bowl game with the MVP trophy. Which by the way he tried to carry it on the bus and to the hotel. I told him, ‘We’ve got equipment guys. It’s not the Stanley Cup. Just hand it to the equipment guy. He’ll get it back to you.’ He was proud of that. That’s a big step. I’m not saying that for him to be selfish, because he’s not. From where he was when I told him that he was not going to start — Jake (Spavital) and I told him that two weeks before the first game and he basically went around the corner and cried — to where he had come to become the MVP of the bowl game — which, six games ago he wasn’t even playing. That kid’s been through a lot. Winning on the road at Auburn and being the MVP, he’s got a lot of confidence right now. I think what’s more important is the players have confidence in him, too.”

On the team’s blueprint for developing NFL offensive tackles:

“We’ve got three pretty wealthy guys. I like going to the draft. My latest deal was I told people, ‘I’m not going to stay there very long, either.’ That’s also been part of our issue, to be honest with you. Two years ago, we had three first-rounders. After Johnny (Manziel) was drafted, we didn’t have another guy drafted the rest of that whole draft. Two years ago, Arkansas and Vanderbilt had more guys drafted than we did. Yeah, we had some talent. On the other end, we didn’t have any depth. For us to be the team that we need to be, we need guys getting drafted second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth round. This is a line of scrimmage, depth league. We’ve been able to translate the success of our offensive tackles and the O-line in general into their own personal wealth. Which has helped the players and us.”

DL JULIEN OBIOHA

On the attitude that defensive coordinator John Chavis brought from LSU:

“The immediate defense is an attacking personality. The first day he walked in, he said, ‘You do all these workouts, you do all this 7-on-7 in the summer to win a championship. No school in the SEC West should be afraid to say they’re doing all this work to win a championship.'”

On the linebackers and defensive backs:

“I think we have more talent at the linebacker position and in the defensive backfield since my freshman year when we went 11-2. A lot of our linebackers are healthy now. We brought in a JUCO recruit named Justin Evans that’s been impressing every single coach that walks in the door. We switched a guy from the offensive backfield to the defensive backfield [Brandon Williams]. That guy is such a great competitor that I don’t think he’s going to get beat. He’s not going to give up.”

C MIKE MATTHEWS

On new offensive line coach Dave Christensen and changes in the running game:

Coach Christensen, he’s done a lot of great things for us this offseason. We’ve already been attacking the running game. He’s going to put in a new scheme. We’ve already bought into it. We’re keeping a lot the same technique-wise, but we’ve got a lot of guys getting out more, pulling around, opening up the field. We’re really just trying to spread the defense out and create some holes for us to gash them.

On teammate Germain Ifedi:

“G.I., he’s a big old dude. If y’all haven’t seen him yet, he’s a monster. I remember seeing him in high school. I was like, ‘Gosh, I hope this isn’t everyone’s size in college football, or I’m screwed.’ He’s a physical guy. Obviously with his size he can move guys around really well. He’s so thick. His style is going to be a little bit different [than the Aggies’ previous NFL draft picks at offensive tackle], but he gets the job done. He’s a great tackle for us.”

OT GERMAIN IFEDI

On new offensive line coach Dave Christensen:

“We have a lot of new run techniques. He’s shored up a lot of the flaws that we had in our run game over the last year or so. We’ve improved our hands, our feet, better splits, better spacing, things like that. We feel real confident that we can run the ball effectively while also being able to pass the ball effectively and have an effective offense.”

On the best pass rusher he’s faced in the SEC:

“Trey Flowers is probably the best defensive end I’ve ever faced. I faced him my second SEC game and had kind of a rough time with him because he’s a four-year veteran. He’s not going to walk on the field and intimidate anybody, but he just did all the small things right. He was a great player for Arkansas and now for the New England Patriots.”