|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEAugust 25, 2014Davis WebbQ. Davis, even though you lost Jace Amaro, talk about all the weapons you have. Obviously, those two were great receivers, but it seems you have more depth at that position, more weapons this year? DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, I think our two deep is probably one of the best in the Big 12, you look at the outside and see Devin Lauderdale and D.J. Polite‑Bray, and obviously Reggie Davis had a big Bowl game, and Dylan Cantrell has come on this spring and fall camp. We're really excited about those outside guys and obviously, Brad and Jakeem leading the inside as our two best receivers. They're both going to have heck of a years and break some records here. Q. It seemed last year at times Jace was kind of the guy you looked to when things worked out a little bit and you seemed to be open. Is there a guy in this core that you know this guy's going to help me out? DAVIS WEBB: You know, not really, because I think all our receivers have a chance to do something. My good job is to throw it to the open guy and make everybody happy. Get those guys to the ball in space because you can see what Jakeem can do in space and see what Brad Marquez can do in space. That's something Jace couldn't do for us last year. Brad has more speed than Jace did. He might not be able to go across the middle 30 times a game, but he can go vertically and go out, and he has a chance to do really good things this year. But on third down, they're probably going to try to hit him. Q. Is it Bradley across the middle? DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, Bradley and Jakeem have both done great jobs. I think Jakeem had the best fall camp of any receiver. I think on the offense it's slowing down a little bit. For instance, the last scrimmage on Saturday, with the first two plays kind of went iffy. It was a run, the first play got two yards, incomplete the next play, the third play, 70 or 80‑yard touchdown Jakeem Grant. That's how explosive he is. We're definitely going to try to find him the ball. But Jakeem and Brad and all those guys have a chance to be really good. Q. Can you talk about what your goals are going into the game? DAVIS WEBB: This Saturday? Just be the best quarterback in the nation on Saturday, to be the best quarterback for this team. I have a lot of expectations for myself. Coach Kingsbury has a lot of expectations for me. Just have fun and play my best, because I think my best is pretty good. Q. Going back to the 2 seed, talk about your confidence and your two deep guys right now just on offense? DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, injuries are going to happen throughout the year. It's not about who gets injured. It's not about that. It is who can step up. I feel like if one of those guys were to get hurt, the guy right behind them could step in and we won't lose a beat. That's a lot of fun to know that. The confidence level, we can just play our game, and having that confidence in the back up of every position on offense has a chance to just pick up where he left off and hopefully do even more. Q. We've already talked about it, but just talk about this is your team and your offense and talk about that real quick. DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, it's been a heck of a ride. Just from going into this day last year, going to SMU last year and going this week into Central Arkansas, just seeing what it's like to be the back‑up and not have that feeling that this is my team. Now being the starter and having the experience and having the oldest quarterback in the meeting room and being voted a captain last week as a true sophomore and stuff like that, you can really feel that this team buys into what I'm doing and they appreciate my hard work. Because I really just do it for them because I think I have the best teammates in the world, and I want to be the best teammate I can be. Q. How much better is your grasp of the offense? When a play is called, do you see the field a little differently? How much better does it make the offense and you since you have that knowledge now? DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, just being more comfortable in the system in year two, watching a lot more film, and understanding checks, getting with Coach Kingsbury and George Whitfield, and Dana Bible who was a long time offensive coordinator for N.C. State, Boston College, coached Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson, Mike Glennon, stuff like that. Just getting with those guys and understanding coverages, base fronts, just saying what is the weakest point of this coverage, and just understanding that kind of stuff so I can check it better because I have full reign of this offense. If Coach Kingsbury gets us in a play, and maybe another play will work better, I have the freedom to do that as long as it works out. So we'll see if it works out this year. Q. Have you had a chance to see Central Arkansas's defense? DAVIS WEBB: Oh, yeah, I've already watched them. Since we had our last two‑day was Monday, I started watching them on Wednesday. Yeah, they're a good team. We watched a lot of the Lafayette stuff because Central Arkansas didn't have a defense last year because of the new head coach and everything. But I know they're a good team, and they're going to come ready to play because this is a game for them and big game for us. First game of the season, year two of Coach Kingsbury's team, and I think we have a good chance to be a good team, and it starts with them. Q. Anything that concerns you or you'll need to watch out for? DAVIS WEBB: If we play our best and play our game, I don't think any team in the country has a problem of stopping our offense. We've just got to play our best effort Saturday and come ready to play. Q. Why is the offensive line better this year? DAVIS WEBB: Having those guys back. I think four to five starters from the Holiday Bowl are back. We have a great two deep. Those freshmen came in and Rob and Justin Murphy have done a great job competing with those guys. Jared Kaster wasn't here in the spring so that was rough because we didn't have a vocal ead her up front. But having him back from fall camp, and Clark going back to left tackle, and him being our best offensive lineman, maybe the best in the Big 12, has been huge for me. The biggest thing, I guess for those guys is I bought them a $275 meal at Rudy's last week, and I think they feel a lot more comfortable with me too. Q. That was my next question. DAVIS WEBB: Oh, yeah, $275. I felt like the next day they practiced a lot harder. So I wonder if I need to do that every week. Q. Is that from your bank account? DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, that was me. That was my granddad, actually. That's what we always did since I was a junior in high school, he said he would take the offensive linemen out to eat. He was a heck of a player at Baylor. He played baseball and football, and he was a good athlete back in his day. He always said you need to take care of your players so that's kind of me and his deal. Q. How much comfort do you have having Le'Raven at left tackle knowing he's one of the best in the country? DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, me and Le'Raven became a lot closer this off‑season. I was a true freshman last year, and kind of hung out with Jace, Brad and Kenny, and the guys who are in my household. This year I feel like I expanded my group and hanging out with Le'Raven has been on awesome. He's a heck of a builder. If you follow him on Instagram, you can see the garden he has in his backyard and things he's building. It's connected him on that level. And he's the best player on this team. He has the biggest potential of anybody on this team, and he's going to be a heck of a player for us this year. Q. How does Patrick look to you? Evaluate him in the last month. What stands out to you? DAVIS WEBB: The best quality I think is he's a coachable kid. Coach Kingsbury gives us foot work every day, and the next day he's fixed it. It's there, it's done. He listens to everybody. He's kind of like a sponge. So when I first got here I felt like I was a coach's kid and maybe I knew more than some of the kids who weren't coach's kids and stuff like that. Pat's really smart, and he understands guys who are older than him know more than an 18‑year‑old freshman does. He asks me questions all the time and asks Coach Kingsbury questions and asks seniors on this team questions. That is the best thing about him is he's coachable and he wants to learn to be the best. Q. There are a lot of expectations out for you. Just talk about are you ready for that and ready to take this team on your shoulders? DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, it's been my dream to be the quarterback here at Texas Tech and one day have my jersey in that little aisle out there next to Graham Harrell and Coach Kingsbury's and stuff like that. Those expectations don't really mean much to me as long as I play my best on Saturday. If I feel like I've played my best every Saturday, maybe those expectations will be reached even more. Q. You called Coach your best friend. Kind of talk about how interesting and unique that bond has been with him in the past year or so? DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, just being both coaches kids and having similar backgrounds and both our idol is Tom Brady and stuff like that. He's been around him, so I've obviously tried to be a sponge around that to see what he's like and see what it takes to be at the next level, because to me he's the best quarter to ever play at Texas Tech. I'm not just saying that. You can ask Coach McVay the same thing. I think he's the best quarter to play here, and I think he'll be the best coach to ever coach here until I coach here one day hopefully. But just having a bond with him, and getting with film and talking off the field stuff, on the field stuff, him sending me texts about what our goals can be and how good we both can be. We're both motivated people and driven, and we want to be the best and that is probably the biggest connection we have. Q. Can you talk about the buzz you hear from your fellow students and friends and how you handle that just peer pressure and the expectation that maybe your classmates and friends have for you guys? DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, we have first class today at 11, I had zoology, biology of animals, o I wasn't really fired up about that. But walk into class and you see people taking pictures to me or giving me the guns up or trying to talk to me, and just telling me how excited they are for the season. It's a huge buzz around Texas Tech. Obviously, all the season tickets have been sold out, and having the buzz around this program has been huge, and now we've got to live up to those expectations. But I don't care about outside forces other than my family, all I care about are the people in this building. So if my teammates feel I'm the best teammate to them and best quarterback for this team, that's all that really matters to me. Q. How different does the rush offense look? DAVIS WEBB: You know, I think DeAndre Washington had the best off‑season of anybody in this program. He worked out harder than anybody in this off‑season. I think he took online classes for that reason so he could have longer days to work out. As soon as he worked out at 5:45, he'd be up here until 12:00 doing extra stuff. Foot work, conditioning, working on ball‑catching skills, understanding fronts, blitz pick‑up, stuff like that. So having a leader like Dre' to replace Q has been huge for us. I didn't know how Dre' would respond to that because Kenny was a huge leader for us last year being a captain as a junior. But DeAndre has stepped it up and I'm really proud of him. But Quinton White, Justin Stockton, and Rodney Hall, all those guys have been great this fall camp. Q. Davis, what have you made of Dominique Robertson so far? DAVIS WEBB: Domino has been really good for us. He's really strong. I know Coach Hays is really high on him. He's got a chance to be really, really good, and that is probably the best part about that is his potential is through the roof. I know him and Coach Hays will be working hard to reach that. Q. With Kenny moving over to the defensive side of the ball (Indiscernible)? DAVIS WEBB: Oh, yeah, for sure. This is an offensive‑led household as well. Yeah, Kenny can play offense whenever he wants. He's going to switch back and forth, but he's doing great on defense. Yeah, me and Brad give him a hard time. He knows the signals and stuff, so he's a cheater. Q. Who is the guy you're looking to cross the line of scrimmage after fall camp? Thinking if I'm an opponent in the Big 12 this year as quarterback, this guy's getting to me and putting the shield down? DAVIS WEBB: That is a good question because I've thought about that a lot. There are a couple guys. I'm not going to say just one because I feel like this defense has bought in as a group. You can tell they're really fired up, and Coach Wally and Coach Smith got them going. That is probably the most exciting part about it. But if I had to say a couple guys, I would think Branden Jackson, and (Indiscernible) are going to have their best years playing football in their life. They've really started this off‑season as a leader on this team. B‑Jacks probable has the most potential on the defensive side of the ball and those guys have a chance to really go off this year and have a chance to be in the running for Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. No one's talking about them which is the best part because they're really motivated and our two best offensive players. Q. Does it motivate you that you were picked sixth in the preseason pole? DAVIS WEBB: Yeah, Baylor was picked fifth last year, and that tells you what everybody knows in the preseason. And Oklahoma State the year before was picked six or something like that. You never know what you have until you play on Saturdays. So we'll see how we are at the end of the year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|