Everything head coach Jeff Lebby said in Monday's press conference

Coming off the first loss of the season, Mississippi State heads to No. 6 Texas A&M this Saturday for the first SEC road game of the year. On Monday, head coach Jeff Lebby held his weekly press conference and discussed the Aggies among other topics:

Q: What’s the challenge this week after dealing with a difficult loss?
Lebby: For us, our statement today and our guys met and our body language, understanding what we’ve got ahead of us. It’s always about what’s next. It doesn’t matter what happens on Saturday whether on the right side or the wrong side. You got to get better on Monday. We’ve got to have the best Monday we’ve ever had. That is the message. I think because that’s the message every single week, I’m hopeful our guys are able to clear this and have the ability to go prepare the right way. Our preparation has to be advantage-us. It’s how we do what we do on Monday and throughout the rest of the week. I think our guys sense that. There’s great urgency is fixing the problems and getting ready to be able to go 1-0.

Q: How do you handle the loss to where it’s not a normal transaction to the brand of this season?
Lebby: Again, our guys understanding that Monday is a mental Monday. It’s a way to be able to clean up the mistakes from the prior game and the ability to get on to the next opponent to start preparing, to give ourselves a chance to be the best we’ve been all year long on Saturday at 6:30. The consistency in the message every single week, good or bad, I think is what’s most important. Hopeful our guys feel that and understand that.

Q: Do you anticipate more packages for KaMario Taylor moving forward?
Lebby: I think for us as we move forward, KaMario is still gonna have the packages he has as we get into it. That will all be dictated by how the game is played and what situations we’re in.

Q: What’s the process of evaluating a guy like defensive tackle DJ Reed who didn’t play much at his previous school?
Lebby: We’ve got some people over in the building there where he came from that we have great familiarity with, have worked with, and there is a good relationship with and trust in opinions. That’s helpful through this whole portal thing. Being able to get somebody on the phone that you’ve worked next to, and you understand who he is every day, and how he can sign off on a kid, that’s incredibly helpful. We felt really good about DJ’s ability. There has to be great maturity from him. He’s continued to mature the right way. He’s affecting the game. I just got through talking to him about wanting more. The kid is really talented but want more, more and more. Proud of how he is doing what he’s doing right now.

Q: When you look back on a loss like that, is it tough to be overly critical of yourself or are you able to give yourself credit?
Lebby: No, I’m not able to give myself any credit. We got our ass beat and it’s frustrating. I gotta do better, gotta coach better. I have to get done what we need to get done so that at the end of the game, we’re plus 1. That’s the bottom line.

Q: Of late, what have you seen from the development of Zakari Tillman?
Lebby: He’s affected the game. The guy plays really fast and he’s done a good job. He has to continue to play cleaner, and he can play cleaner football, and that’s the stress with him. But he’s doing some great things. I’ve talked about this since I’ve been here but the guy has a chance to be an exceptional player for us. But he has to continue to get better, and get ready to go play the next play on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Q: With the injuries you had Saturday, what did you think of the guys who had to fill in there?
Lebby: We had guys who did some really good things that got in the game. You’ve heard me say this a ton. Regardless of who is in the game, the expectation is to be able to go execute at a really high level. Some of the guys were able to get that done, some were not. For us, we have to get healthy while we’re getting better. That’s a huge strain for us this week.

Q: Your thoughts on turning the page and getting ready for Texas A&M?
Lebby: As we clean the game up for me on Saturday night and Sunday morning, then it was just getting ready to get on to A&M. They’re a really good football team. We understand their roster and talent level and things like that. Offensively, they have been really explosive in the throw game. Two great receivers, they got two really good running backs and a veteran Oline that’s played a lot of ball. Defensively, there is some similarities from the standpoint that they’ve created a bunch of sacks. That’s going to be a huge point of emphasis for us this week. We got to find ways to protect, keep (Blake Shapen) upright, and give him a chance to pitch and catch.

Q: Any injury updates?
Lebby: There’s not. We’ll let the Wednesday report do the talking.

Q: If Albert Reese is out, what are your other options there?
Lebby: We’re gonna look at a couple of different things. Hopefully, Albert is going be back and that’s the hope, obviously. But have a couple of different options to be able to go roll guys and make sure we got the best five on the field.

Q: After watching Texas A&M’s defense last week, does it change what you want to do?
Lebby: They were dominant situationally. It’s ultimately why they won the football game without a doubt on third and fourth down, then applying pressure and being able to get to the QB. We got to counteract that and make sure we’re doing a great job of getting the ball out of 2’s hands and giving those big boys a little help when they need it. Whatever that looks like, that looks like a lot of different things. It’s going to be a huge point of emphasis for us.

Q: How would you access the receivers’ room after losing Mario Craver from last year?
Lebby: I think our wide receiver room is in a really good spot. They have had good production. The room is in a great place. Really like where we are and where we’re going.

Q: Back to Zakari, what do you think made things start to click for him last week?
Lebby: It’s been the last couple of weeks. I mentioned it a minute ago but he’s got to continue to play cleaner. But he is incredibly active. We know how athletic he is and he is affecting the game. He’s got to continue to build on that. I think him and (Tyler Lockhart) as they’re starting to roll with (Lockhart) coming on, I think that tandem there has a chance to be really good for us. But proud of Zakari and want Zakari to continue to get better and better because the sky is the limit for him.

Q: How much growth have you seen from your team compared to last year when it deals with competing in the SEC?
Lebby: There was a ton of growth. I told the guys today that the thing I was most proud of was, without a doubt, how things had gone, from play 1 to play 87, our guys continued to play and believed we were winning the football game the entire time. There was great energy. I thought we fought our butt off, very disappointed and frustrated that we weren’t able to make the plays to be plus 1 at the end of the game. Proud of our toughness and our effort, physicality, but making sure we are ready to go make the plays to be plus 1 and be on the right side.

Q: What’s the message to the guys getting ready to play in the first SEC road environment of the season?
Lebby: I just got through talking to the travel squad. I think the coolest thing about going on the road in this conference is we got 74 guys getting on the plane to play in front of over 100,000 people. It’s about us and having the right mindset and mentality to go play one play at a time and give us the best chance to go win.

Q: How is your message being received by recruits?
Lebby: Guys have been incredibly positive. That piece has been really good. My messaging with all of them was Saturday was about finding a way to win. There’s been a ton of positivity. We’re in on some great ones as we go down the backstretch of this thing. Finding ways to win, all that is going to do is continue to help get the right guys in the boat.

Q: You won’t play another home game for nearly a month. How do you prepare your guys for that?
Lebby: For us, it’s just one day, one week at a time and understanding what we have on the backside of this is an open date. So all in on Saturday at 6:30. Everything we can do to go 1-0 on Saturday night in College Station, is all that’s on our mind. Then we’re going to be able to reset. We’ll be six games into the season. We got an open date, and then we go back on the road. I think the timing of it is really pretty good. For us, it’s being all in every day to give us an opportunity to win Saturday.