SEC Media Days: Kevin Sumlin audio and full transcript
Alex Miller, The Battallion– “Coach, what is so unique about the bond between Christian Kirk and Armani Watts and how have you seen them grow as leaders throughout this past offseason?”
"Sumlin – “It’s weird, isn’t it? Here’s a guy that tries to knock the other guy’s head off when he first got there, but involved in recruiting, I think they’re the best of friends, you got a guy that’s from he likes to tell you Dallas but he’s from East Forney, Texas. That’s not Dallas. He claims Dallas, Armani Watts. And then you’ve got a guy from basically Phoenix, I think in their relationship Armani takes really advantage of Christian to get to Phoenix as much as he can get to because I see them on Instagram and Snapchat all the time out there. They’ve been great friends, Armani was involved in the recruiting process and ever since. They’re guys that like to play football, and are guys that can communicate with you as a coach now that they’re older guys, they’ve been through it and seen it. You’ve got to remember Armani has played every snap since he’s been here except for when he’s been hurt. I gotta go back to going and playing the first game on the SEC network at whatever time that was, when they fooled me into playing that 5 o’clock game in Columbia when it was about 100 degrees to open the network, and worried about Armani Watts playing safety. And all he did was get an interception and knock a bunch of balls down and do a bunch of things. You knew right then he was going to be a great player. So, those two get along very well, I think they compete, and it get’s back to what I said, it gets back to that kind of leadership. Not just that kind of leadership on the field, but that kind of leadership off the field that creates a football team that you love to be around. These guys are not only good players, but they’re good people and they’re going to be successful.”"
As someone not from Dallas, I had to look up East Forney, It’s a suburb of Dallas, about the same distance away from Dallas as DeSoto, but east instead of south. If Kirk is trying to be a leader on the offensive side of the ball, taking young receivers under his wing, I sure hope Armani does the same on defense.
Young players on both sides of the ball can look up to these two studs and see what playing football is all about. These guys are bona fide stars in Aggieland, and every player to come through College Station in the next few years should try to emulate them as best as they are able to. Hopefully, the mark Watts and Kirk leave on the program will last far beyond their careers in Aggieland.