bleedCrimson.net: Talk a little bit more about your decision to turn your defensive play calling duties over to Coach Lindsey.
DeWayne Walker: I just think it's time for me to be the head coach. I know that with the state of our team right now I think it was more important for me to spend more time trying to round this team the way that I want it moreso than spread myself thin by calling to call defenses, trying to be the head coach, trying to be an administrator.

It was starting to wear on me a little bit because I'm really competitive and I just felt like I'm really "Jack of all trades, master of none" to that degree and I just want to spend more time and sit down and really build this program the right way. I just felt like I had too much on my plate to do it the right way.

bc.net: Was this something that you'd been thinking about for a while?
DW: Yeah. Probably moreso this season. Last season I was kind of like the energizer bunny, I was running around doing everything which was still stressful for me last year because there was a lot of stuff going on but I got through it. I just felt like I couldn't continue to do it that way and really be who I was hired to be. It's important for me to be around the offensive players and special teams and be able to critique the coaches, the offensive coaches just as I was critiquing being around the defensive coaches. I just felt like that would give more support to this football team versus being one sided to a certain degree.

bc.net: Looking back at Saturday's game against Kansas you had a couple of good performances from Taveon Rogers on special teams and Marcus Allen on offense.
DW: Yeah, I feel like heading into the season we spent a lot of time trying to build the offense and despite us not scoring a lot of points yet that plan definitely worked. We kinda took a chance a little bit on not identifying all of our needs on defense but just understanding that this is a process and I know this next offseason we'll put all our attention to build the defense up. We have a plan in place and it's good to see that the offensive piece, I'm starting to see the benefits of our plan and I think we're making progress on that side of the ball.

bc.net: One of the real big positives through the first three weeks is that the offense has only turned the ball over one time and the offensive line hasn't allowed any sacks. Those are two real key items that coaches talk about when it comes to winning football games. How close do you feel you are to putting the rest of it together?
DW: I think the defense has to catch up to a certain degree. I know offensively we've got to get some more points on the board but they're not turning the ball over and that's definitely a positive. Defensively the heat is on the defense and we have to start generating more takeaways. I think once we can start generating more takeaways and start improving as we get to the thick of our conference play, then I think you're going to see a more improved football team.

bc.net: One play in particular from the Kansas game, right after you scored the touchdown in the early part of the second quarter to tie things up, it was still a close game and they get the kickoff and return it for a touchdown and even despite that you were still in the game at halftime only down by 14 points, talk about the momentum shift that happened with the kickoff return.
DW: Yeah, I think anytime you're trying to change a losing culture, any bad thing that happens with momentum kind of becomes a disaster to your football team. We were having success, 7-7, we kick the ball off and here he goes. Kickoff return for a touchdown. I'm sure going through some of the kids' minds was, "Here we go again, we can't sustain any success." I think that's killed us in three games where we've been very competitive in the first half. Very competitive, to where we look like a very competitive football team. Then there's something about the second half that we've got to figure out to play a competitive four quarters. If you're in the game in the fourth quarter and you're playing competitively, anything can happen in the fourth quarter. The thing we have to learn at some point this year is get teams into the fourth quarter and we've got to find a way to pull it out.

bc.net: At the beginning of the year I asked you about a couple of players that were off the radar for Aggie fans and those guys were Aundre McGaskey and Darien Johnson. After three games how would you rate their play so far?
DW: McGaskey is having a great season so far. He's the type of JC guy we have to identify. He's a guy that came in and is really productive. I think Darien Johnson as a true freshman, he got exposed a little bit against UTEP and we didn't play him a whole lot against Kansas but I think as he continues to grow and continues to come on, he's going to be a factor in this program in the next three years.

bc.net: What is your evaluation of your team's depth this season. Now that you've had a second recruiting class come in have you started to see some of the benefits of having more of your style of guys on the roster?
DW: The first year is probably tough to really evaluate because I only had three weeks to recruit. We took some chances on some guys in that first recruiting class that we probably wouldn't normally have taken. We gambled a little bit plus in that recruiting class Hal [Mumme] had a handful of guys committed early and I honored those commitments versus not honoring those commitments. Some coaches wouldn't have honored them but I did.

So really to be honest with you I feel like this last recruiting class was really our first legitimate recruiting class which you could see, especially on the offensive side of the ball, is playing dividends in terms of improving our offense. I think this next recruiting recruiting class we're going to have to have a great recruiting class and that will probably be more defensive players in that recruiting class. I'm just hoping people stay patient. This is going to take some time but we do have a plan in place. We just have to be patient and go through it and hopefully they'll give me enough time to prove that the plan we have will work.

bc.net: On Saturday you face No. 3 Boise State and it'll be key obviously like it is in every game to get pressure on their quarterback Kellen Moore.
DW: Yeah, teams have gotten pressure on him to a certain degree they just can't sack him. He's pretty mobile and crafty so it's going to be a challenge for us not only on defense but across the board. I think this is a game where we have to continue to focus on New Mexico State. I would love to sit in on Sunday, regardless of how the game goes, and say we got better. I'm just hoping that these games that we play, we're battle tested and by the time we get to UNM and we start finishing up our conference play, you're going to see a better football team.

bc.net: You mentioned yesterday in the WAC press conference that seeing Boise State was comparable to seeing an SEC or Pac-10 team. What part of their game, or all of their game, reminds you of those types of teams?
DW: They're physical for one. To see them play against Virginia Tech, they held their own from a physicality standpoint and they do a great job coaching. I think they've played enough teams outside the WAC to prove that they can play with BCS teams.

bc.net: What are some things that you're looking for specifically from your team as far as points of growth?
DW: Execution. Obviously we don't have the type of depth that we need and I think another recruiting year on defense is going to help us but we haven't really helped ourselves either. Just too many mistakes and guys not executing what the defense says. That's something that I really want to pay close attention to defensively. Just execution. I know this defense works, we just need the players and coaches to be a little more accountable to get done what needs to get done.