MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (November 6, 2018) – West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Tuesday, Nov. 6, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
Opening Statement
I’m looking forward to Saturday, noon game. I’m excited about a noon game, I don’t know about you guys. This time of the year is a good time for a noon game; it’s going to be the warmest part of the day, it’s after Daylight Savings ends, so it’s not like it’s really that early. It gets dark at like 5 o’clock or something like that anyway, so it’s like a 3 o’clock game earlier in the year, right? So, it should be awesome. I hear this is a sellout, which is great. Students have requested a lot of tickets, which is great. I appreciate the support from everybody. It’s True Blue, everybody wear blue, I’m wearing blue, so everybody wear blue. That’s great. It’s a good weekend ahead; I’m looking forward to Saturday.
We have a quality opponent, unbelievable program that we get to play on Saturday. The history with us and TCU is pretty good, obviously, with us coming in together at the same time and playing each other now for the seventh time. These have been great games. If you look at the history with us and them, there’s been a couple of overtime games, there’s been some last-second field goal games, they’ve been wars. Both programs, really, have pretty much the same tradition of being in the Group of Five discussion and winning a lot of football games in their respective conferences of the Mountain West and the Big East. Don’t forget, they joined the Big East for a couple of months and then went to the Big 12, and we followed their lead and went to the Big 12. There’s a lot of history between the two programs, and I have upmost respect for Gary Patterson, an elder statesman in our conference. He’s been there 18 years or so as the head coach, but he’s been there longer than that. He’s done as good of a job as anybody in college football over that span. Defensive-minded, there’s not a better defensive coordinator in the country than Gary. This year is no different when it comes to that side of the ball. They haven’t had the ball bounce their way, which happens periodically. It has happened to us, obviously, and it’s happened to them a couple of times this year. But it’s not like they don’t play anybody. You can win games when the ball doesn’t bounce your way that way, but in the Big 12, it’s a little harder. Looking at losses to Ohio State, Texas, Texas Tech, those guys are obviously good football teams. We know what we’re getting with TCU this weekend, and we’ll be ready to go.
They’re still first or second in near every defensive category that exists in the Big 12. They’re really good up front even though they’ve lost some guys due to injuries, whether it’s to the (defensive) line or safety or linebacker, they’re still replacing those guys with good, quality players. It’s the same scheme, same coaches, continuity. They’re doing a really good job of playing defense, and it’s always been hard to move the ball on them, it’s always been hard to scheme them up and play against them. They do a great job with their technique, whether it’s getting off blocks or rushing the passer or sound tackling. They’re honest in coverage, they’re just always as good as there is.
Their (defensive) line, Ben Banogu, that dude is really good. The other end, No. 91, (L.J.) Collier, is really good. It’s the same two guys that we faced last year, minus a guy. Inside, they lost (Ross) Blacklock earlier in the year, who was spectacular, but they have two other guys that are just as good inside. Linebacker-wise, they have guys that can run. Corners, it’s pretty much the same two corners they had last year. They had a rotating deal going on at safety, but it doesn’t matter who plays these spots in a Gary Patterson defense. It doesn’t matter who the bodies are, they’re going to be coached up, they’re going to be sound with their technique, they’re going to play hard, they’re going to be where they’re supposed to be, and they’re going to play sound defense. This will probably be the stiffest test that we’ve had to date for our offense. They just do a really good job on that side, and we know that, we respect that, and we’re looking forward to playing against it.
Offensively, they have obviously lost a couple of key components to what they’ve done. Obviously, their quarterback went down. They had committed to him – he’s the guy, he’s the guy – and then when that guy goes down, it sets you back a little bit, which is what has happened to them. I know he tried to play through a shoulder for a couple of games, he’s a tough kid, but it just got to a point where he couldn’t. So, they inserted the (Mike) Collins kid. It’s a unique story with him. I don’t know why I need to ask Gary this, but I don’t know why TCU is recruiting in Connecticut. Their right tackle, who is an enormous dude, 6-7, the (Lucas) Niang kid, 238 (pounds), when they were recruiting him, they got to know this quarterback. The quarterback went to Penn, played a little bit as a freshman, then transferred to TCU. He’s going to get better and better; he’s a big kid, 6-5, 215, throws the ball well. Obviously, he’s a smart, young man, and he will get better and better and better. As the reps go, he’ll go.
You can tell the timing isn’t quite where it needs to be with all these receivers, which they have a bundle of receivers that are as good as I’ve seen, fast guys. Even taking away (KaVontae) Turpin, who they had designed their offense around because that kid was such a good player, when you take him out and insert two freshmen that look just like him in the (Taye) Barber kid and the (Derius) Davis kid, No. 4 and 12, those guys are young but are dynamic players. Keep your eye on No. 1, (Jalen) Reagor, he’s as good of a receiver as we’ve seen all year and as fast as a receiver we’ve seen all year. No. 2, (Jaelan) Austin, same stuff. So, these guys have talent, they have players, the timing is going to continue to get better, and we need to understand that.
We know how good their backs are, No. 6, (Darius) Anderson, has been here for three years, and he’s a really good player. No. 33 (Sewo Olonilua), I call them by numbers, this one is No. 33, and he’s big. He’s 6-3, 230, he’s talented. We saw both of these guys last year, they are nothing new to us. They have dangerous and can change the game. Sonnie Cumbie, I’ve known him for a long time; he’s doing a good job with those guys. Up front, they’ve always been big, they’ve always been good. They are just a tick off just based on timing, and we have to make sure we do a good job in defending those guys.
Special teams have always been one of their strong suits for these guys, you know they pay attention to it. They’ve had a couple of different punters. They did a great job, the (Adam) Nunez guy, of pinning us inside the 5 like four or five times last year. It was unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve played with some good golfers that can stick a 9-iron like that, but this guy did the same thing with his foot. They’ve had two different punters, but they pay attention to it, and they utilize it the appropriate way. They’ve had two different kickers, the (Jonathan) Song guy has been there for a little while, and the kicker last year, I thought, was one of the better ones, the (Cole) Bunce kid, on the kickoffs, as far as his placement on the kickoffs. He does a really good job with that. The return game has been as good as anyone. We know Turpin had like eight touchdowns. Well, he was a part of that, but their schemes and the people up front that were blocking were a part of that, as well. That hasn’t changed. The schemes and who is blocking for them and how much they pay attention to it hasn’t changed. Like I said, with Reagor, No. 1, and Davis, the new kid, No. 12, they are as dangerous as they could be. So, our coverage units have to continue to make sure that we’re on top of things and we do what we need to do to help win us the game.
That’s where we’re at; they’re 2-1 in Morgantown over the last three times that they’ve been here, so we know what we’re getting with this bunch. You’re only as good as your next one; we have some good, positive stuff ahead of us, and this is the next thing – and only thing – that we’ll be talking about.
On how the offensive line improves against Texas
I was happy with our coaching staff with scheming things up, I thought we did a good job with scheming things up. Then, our backs ran hard; we settled in with (junior running back) (Kennedy) McKoy and (junior running back) (Martell) Pettaway. We got those guys the ball a little bit more than we have, and we didn’t rotate as much, which I thought was important. Those guys played as hard as they’ve played, ran hard, made a couple guys miss, stayed on their feet. That was certainly good, but the (offensive) line just had a little different nature to them. They did a better job with their pad level, they did a good job of ID’ing things, which we’ve talked about that, but they did a better job of just finishing blocks. The pads were lower. I could talk about (redshirt senior tight end/fullback) (Trevon) Wesco for the remainder of this press conference; when I say (offensive) line, I count him. He’s one of the six guys that are in the box that does a good job. This dude is blocking as well as I’ve seen a tight end block at this level, he's really doing that good of a job. And he’s getting involved in the pass game as we all see. But they did a good job with their pad level, blocking people, finishing people, getting up to the second level and getting on people, as well. Texas hadn’t given up 200 yards rushing in like 20-some games, and we were able to do that, which is why we were able to win.
On getting multiple tight ends involved in the pass game
It makes us more multiple, and it makes us harder to defend. I don’t care which of our five skill guys that are on the field at any one time, any of them can get the ball. Whether it’s a tight end, (redshirt sophomore tight end) Jovani (Haskins) does a little bit more flex-out stuff, he’s still technically a tight end, but a little more flex-out stuff. He’s able to be in the box and line up as a true tight end if we need him to. But it makes us harder to defend when all those guys can touch the ball. They have to cover all of them, and Jovani is just now starting to come into his own. He’s still young, obviously he redshirted as hadn’t played college football yet. He’s a big target that has really good hand-eye coordination and is improving with his blocking abilities. So, the better they get, the more we’ll use them.
On why the offense could move the ball better against Texas than it did against Iowa State
Well, I’m getting really tired of talking about Iowa State. We aren’t going to let that define us. I was happy with our coaches and players in not letting that define us. That’s not who we were. I thought we buried that going against Baylor and playing the most complete game we’ve played all year, then you go on the road and play another top-20 team and you play well enough to win. That’s who we are. It’s college football, those games are going to happen. I’m tired of talking about it, but we haven’t forgotten it. We have to respect our opponent, this is another good opportunity for that to be able to happen. TCU beat Iowa State, so that’ll probably get mentioned. We have to prepare hard and practice hard and go play hard. I’m certain that we’ll do that this Saturday.
On keeping the team motivated
We don’t talk about playoff stuff. I don’t know if you’re referring to the CFP stuff, which we pay no attention to, or the Big 12 Championship, which that’s our goal. You can say that’s a lofty goal if you want to, but that’s everybody’s goal in the Big 12 is to play in that game, so that’s what we’re striving for. The only way you remain in that conversation is if you play well the next week. The only thing we talk about in here is TCU, that’s it. We don’t talk about scenarios, we don’t talk about who would be in that game, we certainly don’t talk about what happens after that game. It’s 100 percent TCU and what we can do to be able to win that game.
On how successful TCU has been on the road
I think we’ve been OK on the road, too. You have to win on the road. You’re going to play either four or five based on what year it is, so last time I checked, that’s about half of your games every other year, so you better be able to play on the road. We’re used to doing it and winning, and they are used to doing it and winning. You don’t become a perennial 10-win season program like they are without winning on the road a lot. They’ve won twice here, that’ll get mentioned. We’ve won in Austin before, so that gave us confidence going into Austin. We’ve won in Lubbock before, so that gave us confidence going into Lubbock. It’s been over a decade since we’ve beaten two top-20 teams on the road or whatever it is, so that’s something that we’re proud of. The next time we go on the road, which is going to be in a week, we’re going to have to talk about that and expect to go win.
On how productive TCU’s defensive ends have been
They are good players. When you’re 6-5, 275, and 6-4, 250, and twitchy, you can probably get to the quarterback. So, I’m glad we have two capable tackles that can block. They’re going to be a handful, they’re going to be a challenge, they were last year. (Redshirt junior offensive lineman) Colton (McKivitz) had his hands full with No. 15 (Ben Banogu) last year, and (redshirt senior offensive lineman) Yodny (Cajuste) had his hands full with No. 91 (L.J. Collier) and the No. 9 (Mat Boesen) they had last year, who ended up having more sacks than No. 15 at the end of the year. I’m glad he’s gone. They always have those pass-rush guys; they do a good job recruiting them and developing them and coaching them and utilizing their technique, keeping them wide and letting them do their thing. They do a good job with that, so we have our hands full with those two guys.
On scheming the tight end to help block along the offensive line
We can do some of that, we haven’t done that a whole bunch. (Redshirt senior) (Trevon) Wesco spends most of his time in the backfield, but there are different things we can do with those type bodies to chip. We did that last week with a couple of Texas’ guys. There were a couple of times that Wesco came down and hit the defensive end and wiped him out, so the tackle was just sitting there going, ‘I don’t have anything to do’, because Wesco is playing so well, honestly. Just watch the video. But there’s some things we can do to get the ball out quick; we don’t want to sit (redshirt senior quarterback) Will (Grier) back there 50 times if we don’t have to with those guys coming off the edge like that. It could be a problem.
On how important chemistry is for a team
Chemistry is everything. There are good teams that aren’t good because the chemistry isn’t good. You don’t just snap a finger and they have good morale or good chemistry or any of that, you have to develop that over time. I think we’ve done a good job of developing that over time. That goes back to those 15 guys that I talk about a lot. Those guys are really close, and they all like each other, and it doesn’t matter where they’re from or what side of the ball they’re on or any of that. They genuinely like each other, and it’s important to them. That rubs off on younger guys and other guys. You have to have good senior leadership and veteran experience. If you don’t, then you’re in trouble. I think last year, we had some of that chemistry issue with older guys that didn’t allow us to pull together the way that we needed to. This year, we have a group that chemistry-wise is pretty good and it means a lot to them. I know they are going to keep working hard and today is an opportunity to go out there and work hard and prepare for a good TCU team.
On scaling back the running back rotation at Texas
(Freshman) Leddie Brown played, I think, like 20 snaps. (Redshirt freshman) Alec (Sink) Sinkfield is still battling through that ankle a little bit, it’s nothing Sink has done. I have to look for ways to get him out there and play more because he was arguably our best back coming out of spring, and Leddie is a force as a freshman. We’re not snapping the ball a lot, we’re averaging 65-28 snaps per game. That’s low. There’s only one ball. I remember in 2014 we went to Maryland and snapped it 120 times, and we were down to our fourth back in the fourth quarter. That dude needed to carry the ball like eight times, 10 times in the fourth quarter. It has happened before and it’s going to happen again. But in that kind of game, we knew we were only going to get 10-12 possessions because of how we play and how they were going to play. We only got 10, that’s just not a lot of snaps. We felt like those two guys were veterans, I was proud of both of them, (junior) (Martell) Pettaway and (junior) (Kennedy) McKoy. They’re juniors, they’ve been in that game before and they were running hard, so let’s keep doing what we’re doing. That could be a totally different thing this weekend.
On shifting and motioning during pre-snap
It’s just game planning. We felt like that was necessary against Texas for what they do defensively. Make them declare. And we have a pretty smart quarterback that sees things. When you move around people like that, they have to tip their hand at some point. If you tip tour hand to No. 7, he’s going to get you. So, the more of that we can do and the better position that we can put (redshirt senior quarterback) Will (Grier) in pre-snap, the better it’s going to be during the snap.
Opening Statement
I’m looking forward to Saturday, noon game. I’m excited about a noon game, I don’t know about you guys. This time of the year is a good time for a noon game; it’s going to be the warmest part of the day, it’s after Daylight Savings ends, so it’s not like it’s really that early. It gets dark at like 5 o’clock or something like that anyway, so it’s like a 3 o’clock game earlier in the year, right? So, it should be awesome. I hear this is a sellout, which is great. Students have requested a lot of tickets, which is great. I appreciate the support from everybody. It’s True Blue, everybody wear blue, I’m wearing blue, so everybody wear blue. That’s great. It’s a good weekend ahead; I’m looking forward to Saturday.
We have a quality opponent, unbelievable program that we get to play on Saturday. The history with us and TCU is pretty good, obviously, with us coming in together at the same time and playing each other now for the seventh time. These have been great games. If you look at the history with us and them, there’s been a couple of overtime games, there’s been some last-second field goal games, they’ve been wars. Both programs, really, have pretty much the same tradition of being in the Group of Five discussion and winning a lot of football games in their respective conferences of the Mountain West and the Big East. Don’t forget, they joined the Big East for a couple of months and then went to the Big 12, and we followed their lead and went to the Big 12. There’s a lot of history between the two programs, and I have upmost respect for Gary Patterson, an elder statesman in our conference. He’s been there 18 years or so as the head coach, but he’s been there longer than that. He’s done as good of a job as anybody in college football over that span. Defensive-minded, there’s not a better defensive coordinator in the country than Gary. This year is no different when it comes to that side of the ball. They haven’t had the ball bounce their way, which happens periodically. It has happened to us, obviously, and it’s happened to them a couple of times this year. But it’s not like they don’t play anybody. You can win games when the ball doesn’t bounce your way that way, but in the Big 12, it’s a little harder. Looking at losses to Ohio State, Texas, Texas Tech, those guys are obviously good football teams. We know what we’re getting with TCU this weekend, and we’ll be ready to go.
They’re still first or second in near every defensive category that exists in the Big 12. They’re really good up front even though they’ve lost some guys due to injuries, whether it’s to the (defensive) line or safety or linebacker, they’re still replacing those guys with good, quality players. It’s the same scheme, same coaches, continuity. They’re doing a really good job of playing defense, and it’s always been hard to move the ball on them, it’s always been hard to scheme them up and play against them. They do a great job with their technique, whether it’s getting off blocks or rushing the passer or sound tackling. They’re honest in coverage, they’re just always as good as there is.
Their (defensive) line, Ben Banogu, that dude is really good. The other end, No. 91, (L.J.) Collier, is really good. It’s the same two guys that we faced last year, minus a guy. Inside, they lost (Ross) Blacklock earlier in the year, who was spectacular, but they have two other guys that are just as good inside. Linebacker-wise, they have guys that can run. Corners, it’s pretty much the same two corners they had last year. They had a rotating deal going on at safety, but it doesn’t matter who plays these spots in a Gary Patterson defense. It doesn’t matter who the bodies are, they’re going to be coached up, they’re going to be sound with their technique, they’re going to play hard, they’re going to be where they’re supposed to be, and they’re going to play sound defense. This will probably be the stiffest test that we’ve had to date for our offense. They just do a really good job on that side, and we know that, we respect that, and we’re looking forward to playing against it.
Offensively, they have obviously lost a couple of key components to what they’ve done. Obviously, their quarterback went down. They had committed to him – he’s the guy, he’s the guy – and then when that guy goes down, it sets you back a little bit, which is what has happened to them. I know he tried to play through a shoulder for a couple of games, he’s a tough kid, but it just got to a point where he couldn’t. So, they inserted the (Mike) Collins kid. It’s a unique story with him. I don’t know why I need to ask Gary this, but I don’t know why TCU is recruiting in Connecticut. Their right tackle, who is an enormous dude, 6-7, the (Lucas) Niang kid, 238 (pounds), when they were recruiting him, they got to know this quarterback. The quarterback went to Penn, played a little bit as a freshman, then transferred to TCU. He’s going to get better and better; he’s a big kid, 6-5, 215, throws the ball well. Obviously, he’s a smart, young man, and he will get better and better and better. As the reps go, he’ll go.
You can tell the timing isn’t quite where it needs to be with all these receivers, which they have a bundle of receivers that are as good as I’ve seen, fast guys. Even taking away (KaVontae) Turpin, who they had designed their offense around because that kid was such a good player, when you take him out and insert two freshmen that look just like him in the (Taye) Barber kid and the (Derius) Davis kid, No. 4 and 12, those guys are young but are dynamic players. Keep your eye on No. 1, (Jalen) Reagor, he’s as good of a receiver as we’ve seen all year and as fast as a receiver we’ve seen all year. No. 2, (Jaelan) Austin, same stuff. So, these guys have talent, they have players, the timing is going to continue to get better, and we need to understand that.
We know how good their backs are, No. 6, (Darius) Anderson, has been here for three years, and he’s a really good player. No. 33 (Sewo Olonilua), I call them by numbers, this one is No. 33, and he’s big. He’s 6-3, 230, he’s talented. We saw both of these guys last year, they are nothing new to us. They have dangerous and can change the game. Sonnie Cumbie, I’ve known him for a long time; he’s doing a good job with those guys. Up front, they’ve always been big, they’ve always been good. They are just a tick off just based on timing, and we have to make sure we do a good job in defending those guys.
Special teams have always been one of their strong suits for these guys, you know they pay attention to it. They’ve had a couple of different punters. They did a great job, the (Adam) Nunez guy, of pinning us inside the 5 like four or five times last year. It was unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve played with some good golfers that can stick a 9-iron like that, but this guy did the same thing with his foot. They’ve had two different punters, but they pay attention to it, and they utilize it the appropriate way. They’ve had two different kickers, the (Jonathan) Song guy has been there for a little while, and the kicker last year, I thought, was one of the better ones, the (Cole) Bunce kid, on the kickoffs, as far as his placement on the kickoffs. He does a really good job with that. The return game has been as good as anyone. We know Turpin had like eight touchdowns. Well, he was a part of that, but their schemes and the people up front that were blocking were a part of that, as well. That hasn’t changed. The schemes and who is blocking for them and how much they pay attention to it hasn’t changed. Like I said, with Reagor, No. 1, and Davis, the new kid, No. 12, they are as dangerous as they could be. So, our coverage units have to continue to make sure that we’re on top of things and we do what we need to do to help win us the game.
That’s where we’re at; they’re 2-1 in Morgantown over the last three times that they’ve been here, so we know what we’re getting with this bunch. You’re only as good as your next one; we have some good, positive stuff ahead of us, and this is the next thing – and only thing – that we’ll be talking about.
On how the offensive line improves against Texas
I was happy with our coaching staff with scheming things up, I thought we did a good job with scheming things up. Then, our backs ran hard; we settled in with (junior running back) (Kennedy) McKoy and (junior running back) (Martell) Pettaway. We got those guys the ball a little bit more than we have, and we didn’t rotate as much, which I thought was important. Those guys played as hard as they’ve played, ran hard, made a couple guys miss, stayed on their feet. That was certainly good, but the (offensive) line just had a little different nature to them. They did a better job with their pad level, they did a good job of ID’ing things, which we’ve talked about that, but they did a better job of just finishing blocks. The pads were lower. I could talk about (redshirt senior tight end/fullback) (Trevon) Wesco for the remainder of this press conference; when I say (offensive) line, I count him. He’s one of the six guys that are in the box that does a good job. This dude is blocking as well as I’ve seen a tight end block at this level, he's really doing that good of a job. And he’s getting involved in the pass game as we all see. But they did a good job with their pad level, blocking people, finishing people, getting up to the second level and getting on people, as well. Texas hadn’t given up 200 yards rushing in like 20-some games, and we were able to do that, which is why we were able to win.
On getting multiple tight ends involved in the pass game
It makes us more multiple, and it makes us harder to defend. I don’t care which of our five skill guys that are on the field at any one time, any of them can get the ball. Whether it’s a tight end, (redshirt sophomore tight end) Jovani (Haskins) does a little bit more flex-out stuff, he’s still technically a tight end, but a little more flex-out stuff. He’s able to be in the box and line up as a true tight end if we need him to. But it makes us harder to defend when all those guys can touch the ball. They have to cover all of them, and Jovani is just now starting to come into his own. He’s still young, obviously he redshirted as hadn’t played college football yet. He’s a big target that has really good hand-eye coordination and is improving with his blocking abilities. So, the better they get, the more we’ll use them.
On why the offense could move the ball better against Texas than it did against Iowa State
Well, I’m getting really tired of talking about Iowa State. We aren’t going to let that define us. I was happy with our coaches and players in not letting that define us. That’s not who we were. I thought we buried that going against Baylor and playing the most complete game we’ve played all year, then you go on the road and play another top-20 team and you play well enough to win. That’s who we are. It’s college football, those games are going to happen. I’m tired of talking about it, but we haven’t forgotten it. We have to respect our opponent, this is another good opportunity for that to be able to happen. TCU beat Iowa State, so that’ll probably get mentioned. We have to prepare hard and practice hard and go play hard. I’m certain that we’ll do that this Saturday.
On keeping the team motivated
We don’t talk about playoff stuff. I don’t know if you’re referring to the CFP stuff, which we pay no attention to, or the Big 12 Championship, which that’s our goal. You can say that’s a lofty goal if you want to, but that’s everybody’s goal in the Big 12 is to play in that game, so that’s what we’re striving for. The only way you remain in that conversation is if you play well the next week. The only thing we talk about in here is TCU, that’s it. We don’t talk about scenarios, we don’t talk about who would be in that game, we certainly don’t talk about what happens after that game. It’s 100 percent TCU and what we can do to be able to win that game.
On how successful TCU has been on the road
I think we’ve been OK on the road, too. You have to win on the road. You’re going to play either four or five based on what year it is, so last time I checked, that’s about half of your games every other year, so you better be able to play on the road. We’re used to doing it and winning, and they are used to doing it and winning. You don’t become a perennial 10-win season program like they are without winning on the road a lot. They’ve won twice here, that’ll get mentioned. We’ve won in Austin before, so that gave us confidence going into Austin. We’ve won in Lubbock before, so that gave us confidence going into Lubbock. It’s been over a decade since we’ve beaten two top-20 teams on the road or whatever it is, so that’s something that we’re proud of. The next time we go on the road, which is going to be in a week, we’re going to have to talk about that and expect to go win.
On how productive TCU’s defensive ends have been
They are good players. When you’re 6-5, 275, and 6-4, 250, and twitchy, you can probably get to the quarterback. So, I’m glad we have two capable tackles that can block. They’re going to be a handful, they’re going to be a challenge, they were last year. (Redshirt junior offensive lineman) Colton (McKivitz) had his hands full with No. 15 (Ben Banogu) last year, and (redshirt senior offensive lineman) Yodny (Cajuste) had his hands full with No. 91 (L.J. Collier) and the No. 9 (Mat Boesen) they had last year, who ended up having more sacks than No. 15 at the end of the year. I’m glad he’s gone. They always have those pass-rush guys; they do a good job recruiting them and developing them and coaching them and utilizing their technique, keeping them wide and letting them do their thing. They do a good job with that, so we have our hands full with those two guys.
On scheming the tight end to help block along the offensive line
We can do some of that, we haven’t done that a whole bunch. (Redshirt senior) (Trevon) Wesco spends most of his time in the backfield, but there are different things we can do with those type bodies to chip. We did that last week with a couple of Texas’ guys. There were a couple of times that Wesco came down and hit the defensive end and wiped him out, so the tackle was just sitting there going, ‘I don’t have anything to do’, because Wesco is playing so well, honestly. Just watch the video. But there’s some things we can do to get the ball out quick; we don’t want to sit (redshirt senior quarterback) Will (Grier) back there 50 times if we don’t have to with those guys coming off the edge like that. It could be a problem.
On how important chemistry is for a team
Chemistry is everything. There are good teams that aren’t good because the chemistry isn’t good. You don’t just snap a finger and they have good morale or good chemistry or any of that, you have to develop that over time. I think we’ve done a good job of developing that over time. That goes back to those 15 guys that I talk about a lot. Those guys are really close, and they all like each other, and it doesn’t matter where they’re from or what side of the ball they’re on or any of that. They genuinely like each other, and it’s important to them. That rubs off on younger guys and other guys. You have to have good senior leadership and veteran experience. If you don’t, then you’re in trouble. I think last year, we had some of that chemistry issue with older guys that didn’t allow us to pull together the way that we needed to. This year, we have a group that chemistry-wise is pretty good and it means a lot to them. I know they are going to keep working hard and today is an opportunity to go out there and work hard and prepare for a good TCU team.
On scaling back the running back rotation at Texas
(Freshman) Leddie Brown played, I think, like 20 snaps. (Redshirt freshman) Alec (Sink) Sinkfield is still battling through that ankle a little bit, it’s nothing Sink has done. I have to look for ways to get him out there and play more because he was arguably our best back coming out of spring, and Leddie is a force as a freshman. We’re not snapping the ball a lot, we’re averaging 65-28 snaps per game. That’s low. There’s only one ball. I remember in 2014 we went to Maryland and snapped it 120 times, and we were down to our fourth back in the fourth quarter. That dude needed to carry the ball like eight times, 10 times in the fourth quarter. It has happened before and it’s going to happen again. But in that kind of game, we knew we were only going to get 10-12 possessions because of how we play and how they were going to play. We only got 10, that’s just not a lot of snaps. We felt like those two guys were veterans, I was proud of both of them, (junior) (Martell) Pettaway and (junior) (Kennedy) McKoy. They’re juniors, they’ve been in that game before and they were running hard, so let’s keep doing what we’re doing. That could be a totally different thing this weekend.
On shifting and motioning during pre-snap
It’s just game planning. We felt like that was necessary against Texas for what they do defensively. Make them declare. And we have a pretty smart quarterback that sees things. When you move around people like that, they have to tip their hand at some point. If you tip tour hand to No. 7, he’s going to get you. So, the more of that we can do and the better position that we can put (redshirt senior quarterback) Will (Grier) in pre-snap, the better it’s going to be during the snap.
