A spring is all about the "new." After winter, people want to know what is to rise as the weather turns and in the football world, a new season becomes more of an actuality.
 
For Texas State's defense, some of the "new" may rest mostly in the outside linebackers group.
 
And after practice No. 12 of spring ball on Tuesday, that is who addressed the media.
 
Head coach Jake Spavital, outside linebackers coach Tevin Mims, and linebackers Issiah Nixon and Josh Emmanuel took the podium after practice to give some insight into the defensive side of the ball.
 
The "new" rests in the faces of the outside linebackers because Jordan Revels, in a new number (No. 8) and new position this spring, along with Issiah Nixon are providing the refresh in energy.
 
"Those guys (Revels and Nixon) are going to be cornerstones for us on defense," said Mims. "They're going to flash around, making a ton of plays. (They're) two guys we lean on for sure as team leaders."
 
Mims, in his fourth year as a Texas State assistant, has been around Nixon his entire Texas State career. He would know when he sees a change in the sophomore.
 
Nixon, who appeared in all 12 games for the Bobcats last year and has 18 games played in his career, is coming off a year in which he led the team in sacks (4.0) and was second in TFLs (6.0). Not bad for a player out of Fort Bend, Texas who was originally recruited as a running back.
 
"A kid like Issiah, the thing I love about him, he's always going to work himself into being a really good player," said Mims. "To being able to transition to basically three different positions to being a 'starter' for us on the edge, that's pretty impressive. That's a testament to him."


And it's not only his position coach that has noticed the strides made.
 
"Issiah has been having a great offseason," said Spavital. "He's that missing pass rush that we haven't had for a while. He brings it."
 
In addition to Revels and Nixon, Josh Emmanuel has caught the attention of the coaching staff. The Dallas native is entering his third season with the Bobcats in 2022.
 
"Josh is a guy who has been flashing around as well this spring," said Mims. "Going into his third year, probably feeling more comfortable in the defense than he has ever had. (We're) moving him around with some different things in our Bear fronts to be able to get him on the edge and show his pass rush ability as well."
 
While on-the-field improvements are noticed by Mims in the linebackers, he also sees something a little more intangible in the culture that could create more success in the long run.
 
"It's been the culture of the players in terms of how they work," said Mims. "You always see guys hanging around the facility. To me, that's always a good sign of a winning team. You see guys putting in the overtime. You see guys coming in and getting extra work in in the meeting room. Spending more time in the training room. Beating the coaches here before they even come up to practice… To me, that's a good sign, so I appreciate it."
 
Full videos of the coaches and players can be watched online at txst.com. Spavital's quotes are below.
 
Texas State head coach Jake Spavital
Opening statement…
Just finished up our 12th spring practice. So far everything has been going pretty good. I enjoy watching these guys compete. We've been kind of cranking up the intensity. We got this pretty cool game that we play, it's a red zone emphasis and overtime emphasis, called '21.' It gets pretty heated. It's the most game-like situation I've ever been a part of so far. I think we're on to something there. Overall, I love the competitive spirit of both sides. We're both making each other better on both sides of the ball. In that '21' period, we go live extra points, live field goals. So there's some pressure on the kickers as well. Pretty fun to watch. Overall, I think we put in a lot of great work. We still got one more work day on Thursday. Then the spring game will be a pretty fun atmosphere. Should be a good time. We'll get a lot of quality reps. Proud of how these kids have been working so far. Excited to show the product of all the work they put in. But it'll be a good weekend. You got alumni golf tournament coming up on Friday as well. A lot of good people running around. A lot of former players coming back into the mix. It'll be a solid overall weekend for us.
 
On outside linebackers coach Tevin Mims…
Coach Mims has been with us since day one. I've known him for a long time. Being around him and watching him grow as a coach. He's an intense coach. He's going to coach these guys hard. He's got a standard and expectation in that room. I think there's a lot of respect in his room towards coach Mims. He's got a great career ahead of him, a bright future.
 
On Issiah Nixon…
Issiah has been having a great offseason. He's that missing pass rush that we haven't had for a while. He brings it. So we have to account for him every time we're in those passing downs because he has a really great ability rushing the passer. I love the approach that he has taken. He's had some unfortunate injuries. But he's tough. He fights through it all. He gives everything he's got. He's very competitive at what he does. And he's got an edge to him that is much needed in that room. Very excited for his year. He's going to have a very big year.
 
On Josh Emmanuel…
I think he's one of the more consistent guys. He's a great teammate. Great leader. A lot of respect. He puts a ton of work in. He's earned the respect from his peers. I think Josh has got a great career ahead of him. He's still a young kid. A lot of years left due to COVID and everything of that nature. I'm fired he gets the opportunity to take the mic.
 
On the lack of interruptions this year due to COVID compared to last year…
You always take the previous year's practice phases and this is what we did. But you take a look at last year's phases and it was absolutely insane because we took a two-week break due to a COVID issue. The consistency of where we were at, it's just tough to get in a rhythm. I feel like everything is back to normal. We're having crawfish boils and Junior Days. It just feels like football again. Everything has been running as is. Getting back into the routine of everything. I think with where the world is going right now, I think there's more consistency and you can get into a rhythm. I feel like we're progressing as a team. Our team talks, we don't have to pause for two weeks and go back and rehash what you guys were working on for a while. You can just keep chipping away. Installs have been increasing every single day because we're around these kids in a consecutive manner. That's been very good for us. Feels good to get back into the mix of it. I'm fired up for this weekend. Should be a good crowd. Should have a lot alums back.
 
On where Issiah Nixon took the biggest step in his development…
I thought it was last year. He redshirted his first year. And he finally – he embraced a role. He was a talented athlete in high school. He was a running back and that was the reason why we recruited him. He's just such a big body. He's got an explosive play to him that it makes sense to put him as an edge pass rusher. We redshirted him that first year. He was on scout team. That's where I started him noticing him going to be a good player. He jumped on the scene last year and then made some plays that were pretty impressive. That's been a missing element that we've had the past years. He actually brings that so now they have to account for it. Now when you put Jordan Revels out there and then you got Issiah Nixon – I think those are two pretty tough guys to block. Guys that you got account for them all. I would say I noticed him in scout team and everybody else noticed him about week one of last year.
 
On if Jordan Revels and Issiah Nixon will be on the field at the same time next year…
Yeah, we're mixing it around with a lot of different things. I kind of mentioned it early (this spring) and you're seeing London Harris do what he's capable of doing. You're moving Jordan Revels around. A lot too is to get evaluation for other guys. And one to see if Jordan can do something. Or if London can actually play Mike linebacker. It's kind of one of those things where you got find emergency plans and what these guys are capable of doing. You find a way to get your best 11 on the field. I think we got some pretty good packages coming up in the future of mixing and matching a lot of our personnel because we've got a lot of (defensive backs) as well. You can utilize in a unique situation. It's been kind of fun to watch the defense. They came out today and threw a little something different we haven't seen yet because these practices are getting pretty competitive. It's great for us because we're throwing everything at each other. We're moving people around. We're throwing different schemes at it and then we have to go into the meeting room and correct it. That's making everyone better. When you talk about the scheme and personnel, there's going to be a lot of different moving parts than what you're used to.
 
On the quarterback battle…
It's been a pretty consistent battle between Ty Evans and Layne Hatcher. They're really good together. They're competitive. They're trying to push each other the best they can. And they understand I'm going to bring in some more quarterbacks as well because you got to be ready in case one leaves, you got to be able to replace. They understand they just got to go one play at a time, one situation at a time. Make sure that their eyes are in the right spot. Sometimes it isn't as pretty because they may not have the right receivers in the game or possibly a different o-line in the game but as long as their thought process is in the right spot, I'm good with that. They've been going back and forth. I think Ty Evans has had two really good practices: the Saturday scrimmage and today's practice. Really curious to see where this quarterback competition goes but right now it's between those two and we'll see what happens over the summer.
 
On if he thinks the team is where it should be…
It's actually a little better than what I thought it would be because of COVID, the eligibility freeze, the amount of guys with unfortunate bounces last year. We've got a lot of experienced players. It's a very mature team. They know how to practice. They know how to work. And they're going to make a lot better for us. The maturity of the team, the experience that they have has taken our team a little bit farther than I thought because of the maturity and experience on both sides of the ball.
 
On Ty Evans this spring…
Going on the inconsistences of COVID and breaks. He was out for a month last year for COVID issues and protocol. When he came back from COVID, I felt he was in a slump. Didn't know how to get back into the rhythm and routine of it. And routine is such an important deal with these kids. They have to have some consistency. They can't take a month break and expect them to come back and be clicking on all cylinders again. I think what we did was told him to step away after the season and work to get back to throwing on your own. And building back up and he's been increasing it and going, getting a lot of quality reps. And he's getting better a lot every single day. You look back and analyze COVID and injuries and you realize it does play a pretty big toll on these kids. We've got a kid, Donovan Johnson and at his previous school, he tested positive for COVID and got contact traced like three times. And he had to sit in his dorm room for a month-and-a-half or two months in his dorm room by himself. There's a lot of moving parts. That's going to wear down your football IQ, just getting back into the rhythm of it. With Ty, he's been out there every day and he works, he watches tape, he reps it and he's naturally getting better.
 
On what he wants to accomplish with Thursday's practice before going into the spring game on Saturday…
We're going to be talking about finishing the right way. That's always been the Achilles heel of who we've been. We haven't been able to finish the way we want to. They've had a great approach so far. And sometimes this Thursday practice, they kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel. They may kind of coast through it. I want to see the maturity of this team if they're going to get out there and compete. It's going to be a very similar practice to what it is today. It'll be a little bit more of a blitz emphasis on Thursday. It'll be competitive. I want to see them get after it one more time. The spring game will be fun. That's the easy part, just playing the game. It's putting your head down and keep grinding and finish out this week the right way.
 
On the alumni golf tournament this Friday…
I normally don't play on this one. We decided to do it last year. And I've done it at a lot of different schools. They always do it before the spring game to get alumni back and be around the team and be here for the spring game. Last year, we had 72 golfers. This year, we're well over a hundred. If you keep adding coaches into it, it'll be a 10 hour round of golf. It's fun because every year you're getting more people to come back. And that's the whole point. We always use the word galvanize. You're just trying to galvanize this group back. Get them to come back to Texas State and tell their story and how much this university means to them. That's what I want for our kids because they compete hard. And they want to do great for this university. And if you bring back guys who love this university too, they're going to have a great experience and keep coming back and get them back to the program. I think it's really a great deal. Haleigh (Blocker) put together the whole tournament. It's pretty fun. I'm looking forward to getting around these guys and hanging out with them on Friday.