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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 17, 2014Kliff KingsburyQ. After a chance to look at the film from Saturday night, would you say that's maybe the best production you've gotten out of that system so far this year? COACH KINGSBURY: I don't know if best production, but definitely protected the ball the best we have all year, which is a step in the right direction. That's what I asked him to do and he did a great job of it. Q. Is he taking over the spot for the last two weeks? COACH KINGSBURY: I'm not sure. We'll have practice this week and see how it goes and name a starter at kickoff. Q. The reason for Pat to start on Saturday was that primarily because Davis's ankle isn't healing (No microphone)? COACH KINGSBURY: More Davis not being as mobile as I thought he'd need to be against that pass rush and that defensive line. He hasn't been a hundred percent since that high‑ankle sprain. It's really affected his mobility, and that was the main reasoning to get Pat out there. I knew he could move around a little bit better and escape and make some plays. Q. So if Davis is a hundred percent even if he doesn't practice, do you plan to start him Saturday? COACH KINGSBURY: We'll see how the week goes. I won't name a starter until kickoff. Q. (No microphone)? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I think a lot of it had to do with that and then just see Pat's progression, if he continues to improve. He didn't play flawless, but like I said, taking care of the football has been a big pain in our side this year. Being able to do that really helped us, so I'll see how they both look at practice and take it from there. Q. From summer to today, how much has Patrick improved? COACH KINGSBURY: Night and day. Just operating the system, the signals, getting the protections right, getting us on the right play. He did some good checks at the line. Just overall operation, he's come a long way. Q. Where do you see the quarterback competition as you go into spring? COACH KINGSBURY:  I see it being a good one. You bring in Jarrett Stidham, and you get Pat and Davis and Nic Shimonek here who sat out this year as a red‑shirt transfer from Iowa and then Vin Testaverde. So it will be a bunch of guys, which is a good change from where it was last year. We'll finally get some depth at that position and it should be a good competition. Q. Does Davis still have seniority based on experience or would you say it's wide open? COACH KINGSBURY: I'd say it's wide open at this point. Yeah, I'd say anytime you have a record of 3‑7, you have to reevaluate some things. Going into the spring, it will be an open competition. Q. Does he still have a legitimate chance to win the competition if he's playing baseball in the spring? COACH KINGSBURY: Pat? Q. Yeah. COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I'm not sure exactly. We're going to work around his schedule. There have been other quarterbacks that do it. The Heisman Trophy winner from last year did it. So you can definitely manage it, so we'll get with Coach Tadlock and during baseball season, that's going to be his priority is helping the baseball team. But we'll find a way where he doesn't miss too much. Q. You already talked about Pat's progression as a quarterback. What do you feel about Ian's progression as a wide receiver? COACH KINGSBURY: He's come a long way. You can tell the first few weeks when we put him out there he was still feeling it out. Now I think having some success has really helped his confidence. He's playing at a high level and really proud of the way he's blocking. It's a physical game at this level compared to high school. We're asking him to make some pretty tough blocks in there on linebackers. He's embraced the challenge, so he's got a bright future ahead of him. Q. What is the message over the last two weeks knowing the season is done? After that point, what are you looking for from a coaching staff's standpoint? COACH KINGSBURY: Continue to improve. I thought effort was great this last week. Had a lot to play for, had senior night, Fighting to stay alive for a bowl. Obviously, we can't make a bowl any longer, but for these seniors, the rest of us owe it to them to step our game up these last two weeks. We're going to get Iowa State's best shot.  It's their senior night, we know that. We better continue to improve or else it won't be pretty these last two weeks. Q. What would you say you see top two or three years, where would you like to see them improve? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, the big step was turnover margin. We made some strides in that last week. I think mental mistakes. We have to continue to cut those down, which that hurt us, especially defensively last week. Some of these young players that have had to step up continue to see their progression in understanding our systems and giving great effort. Q. You touched on it a little bit, but just talk about the challenge of going into Ames against a hungry football team looking for a win as well in some tough conditions? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, it will be tough. That's a tough place to play. It will be colder than we're probably used to playing in, and it will be a big game for their seniors and their crowd. We know that. So we better get up for it, and it will be a good challenge for our team to see what type of character and what type of heart we have. Q. You guys will be playing another mobile quarterback. What do you think you need to do to fare a little better this week? COACH KINGSBURY: That's a great question. We haven't done a great job of slowing many people down in any phase. So he's a guy who you look at a couple of those games against Kansas State, Texas played unbelievably well, and is much improved from last year. I'm sure, in watching the film, they'll use him and run him a bunch, so we better try to have a different answer than we did last week. Q. Do you have a stance for what Mike smith's role will be (No microphone)? COACH KINGSBURY: I don't. Right now we're just focusing on these last two. As soon as the season is over, we'll have a lot of time to evaluate that without any bowl prep and we'll take it from there. Q. Did you sit down with him when he took over and said these are the goals and this is what I expect? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, we had a good conversation. I knew the tough situation he was thrust into, and I wanted him to know it's just about doing your best with what we've got and where you're at. He's done a great job of stepping up his leadership role and getting those kids to play hard. He's done the best job he can. Q. Is some of that or for a lot of that just I guess the kind of mentality of the players? Obviously they've shown a lot more enthusiasm getting to the ball? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, they've shown a lot of heart. He brings that to practice. He brings that to meetings. He's a passionate guy. I think you see that resiliency. It hasn't always been pretty, but I do think they play hard most of the time. Q. Do you have any idea when you'll decide on a defensive coordinator, when he becomes full‑time or if you'll go after somebody else? COACH KINGSBURY: I don't. I'm sure very soon after the season we'll try to get it sorted out because you have recruiting coming up in January. But I don't have a timetable right now. Q. Do you think it could affect recruiting defensive players? COACH KINGSBURY: I'm not sure. I think players know coaches come and go, so they have to fall in love with the school for the right reasons, so I couldn't say either way on that. Q. If you were to hire another defensive coordinator, do you know where you'll look for another position coach? COACH KINGSBURY: I probably have a pretty good idea. As this thing goes, you focus on what you've got to accomplish, but you start collecting ideas as well. Q. (No microphone)? COACH KINGSBURY: I do not. I do not. I know it was a shoulder injury, but I have not heard. Q. Same situation with justice? COACH KINGSBURY: Yes, he had some sort of head injury, and he'll be day‑to‑day. Q. How much are you concerned about protecting the signals and from what you have heard through the grapevine how many times in games before Saturday do you feel like your defensive calls might have been (No microphone)? COACH KINGSBURY: I'm not sure how many games. I won't get into specifics on that, but you can deduct what may have happened, I'd say. But I don't know the number of games. Q. Did you get a chance to see Rick play at all this past game? COACH KINGSBURY: I did. I did. Q. Can you talk about his success in the program? COACH KINGSBURY: He's improved. Not where we need him to be, obviously, but he's improved. He's a guy who we expect big things for us eventually from that position, but he's got to keep coming. Probably a slower development than I thought it would have been, but he's stuck with it. He did some good things on Saturday. A lot of things we still need to clean up, but he's got a chance if he'll keep working. Q. Do you think it's fair or is there a way to enforce in college football people stealing signs? Obviously in baseball there are things you can do to remedy that, but what do you do in terms of college football, and where has the line crossed in your mind on that subject? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I think it happens all the time. I'd like to get the NFL helmet where you can talk to the quarterback in the helmet. I think that would help. But we don't have that yet. So you have to continue to disguise them and come up with different ways to mix it up each and every time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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