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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 2, 2017

Kliff Kingsbury

Lubbock, Texas

Texas Tech - 56, Eastern Washington - 10

Q. Coach, how about just what you saw today from your team and the effort that they gave you?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I thought defense really played hard. That's a good offensive football team. They've scored on every team they play, every Division I team. They put a lot of point, a lot of yards, really good quarterback, good schemes, so I thought they played hard, created turnovers, got a stop on 4th down, so that probably stood out to me more than anything was their overall effort.

Q. Are you surprised that you had so many new players from all those different places, your first game coming out looked pretty clean?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: You know, a lot of the guys that played were here in the spring and then we had some guys we rotated in that late that I thought did a good job and picked things up, and that's a credit to those defensive coaches, getting them up to speed on what we run and what we were doing.

I didn't think we were clean in obviously the penalty area. We had 11 for 120. That's something we've got to clean up, some personal fouls, things that aren't acceptable. But yeah, I thought some of those new guys for the first time out there with the lights on handled themselves okay.

Q. What about Nic's performance today, goes 14 for 14 and just has a tremendous day in terms of throwing the ball, the accuracy?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, he's a good player. That's what I've said all along. He's an accurate quarterback. He's got a really good supporting cast. When he doesn't try to do too much and just goes through his reads and finds an open guy, he can throw it with anybody. More than anything just happy for him after four and a half years or whatever, to grind it out, persevere, to finally get to start a game and win a game, it's awesome to see as a coach.

Q. What kind of change after the first two series (indiscernible)?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, we weren't very sharp. We'd been slow starting all through camp, too, with that offense, so that's on me to call the right plays. I wasn't calling very good plays, and we've got to find a way to start faster as we move forward.

Q. Last year Gage Gubrud was a very effective running quarterback, and he didn't do much on the ground at all against you guys today. Was it a conscious effort to sort of take the ball out of his hands and key on him and force him to pitch it and hand it off?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, we thought he was a dynamic playmaker, and we knew that had to be our focus was he couldn't get his if those other guys were going to get theirs. We'd try and live with that, but we weren't going to let him dominate like he's done in some previous games.

Q. It wasn't surprising to you, but what did you think of the big play contributions today? What did you get from Derrick and Keke and from Justin?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I mean, they're explosive players. We've got to find ways to get them in space and then they can do that. We didn't get Dillon involved as much as we probably should have, but we got some guys that can make plays if we call the right plays.

Q. Did y'all see anything offensively that led to you calling Derrick on the deep ball?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I'd done a poor job kind of throwing underneath stuff and they were screwed down tight, so we wanted to get a good match-up on a safety, and Derrick runs really well and did a good job running by the safety.

Q. How comforting was it seeing Desmond Nisby when everybody in the stadium knew that you were going to run the ball on 3rd down and short and he was able plow right through and get a 1st down?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, he's a tough, physical runner. For his first Division I action, I thought he handled himself well. I thought he handled himself well on the sideline. Looked like he was 100 percent on his assignment, so we've just got to keep feeding him information and get him more comfortable in our offense. But he's a big back. He's a great change-up to some of the other guys that we have.

Q. A lot of points on turnovers. In the off-season --
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, that's it. That's how that number goes is how our season is going to go, and that's what we've harped on all along. We've been in the negative I think since I've been here, and if we can ever flip that to even or in the positive, then we'll have a shot to have a successful season.

Q. The last three weeks or so, what kind of progress has Nisby made on basically all aspects of the game?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, he's working on it. I mean, we have a pretty complex offense when it comes to the running back and the way we use him as a receiver and in the blocking scheme and in the run game, in the screen game. So it's not just going to happen overnight, but he's been very conscientious, been up here a lot, working at it, and he's appreciative of the opportunity, so he's working hard.

Q. Can you speak to the 56 points scored and how about the help for hurricane relief?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I guess I don't have -- yeah, just whatever we can do, I've said it throughout the week, but I have a lot of friends that live down there. I lived there four years, and I love that city. You hate to see what's going on, but you love to see all the stories of heroism and all the people helping each other. They'll get it turned around quick, and it's a small contribution, but I'm glad that Texas Tech can do what we can to help.

Q. How much does it help having Dakota Allen come back?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I think you see when he was voted team captain, he has a real presence about himself. He's a mature young man, handles his business, has a real swagger about himself that people follow, and more than anything, I think the presence he brought back to our locker room has been really good for that defense.

Q. Did you see the confidence building kind of with each series of the defense and did that kind of propel them through the game do you think?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: I think so. I think any time you can start that fast defensively -- we knew they were a good offense. We knew the quarterback was a heck of a playmaker, and so I think once they kind of got their bearings and had some successful drives that we felt good about our scheme and what we were doing.

Q. Would you update the status of Bruffy, Hatfield and Joe Wallace?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, Travis was sick, so he lost a bunch of weight, and we're just kind of in the process of getting him healthy and putting weight back on to give him a fair chance. This bye week will really help. And then Hatfield is a little banged up and wasn't able to go today. Not sure of his status. I would think we'd see him at some point during the season. And then Joe we'll redshirt this year and give him a chance to mature and grow up and develop.

Q. What does Clayton have?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Something with his leg. Yeah, nothing life threatening.

Q. How long has he been down?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Kind of in and out. Kind of in and out, so just something we're trying to work through.

Q. And Travis is like a virus or --
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I mean, I don't want to get into his business. He's just been sick and lost a bunch of weight. But he'll be -- he'll come out of it.

Q. And Joe you said you'll redshirt because of --
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Just it's probably the right thing to do. We had to play him last year, and he just needs some time to mature and develop, so we'll do that.

Q. What did you see out of the defensive backs today that you liked, maybe specifically Jah'Shawn Johnson?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, he's really become a leader when you look at him being voted a captain, as well. I would have told you no way a couple years ago. He's kind of a quiet guy, but he's really stepped up. He understands Coach Gibbs' scheme inside and out right now, and then you put Vaughnte back there who comes down and will hit you and not hesitate, it's a nice little combination. I'm proud of Jah'Shawn and how far he's come on the leadership side of things. He is a sure tackler for us back in the back end.

Q. There's been a lot of focus on Desmond. What are your thoughts on his performance today?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, like I said, it's a good change up. Justin is very, very explosive, and I did a poor job last year of getting him out in the open where he could kind of show that, and we had a couple of times today where we got him out in the open, and we've still got to do a better job of it, but I think you rotate him and Nisby and Tre and D-Felt, they all kind of complement each other.

Q. What kind of leg strength does the kicker have?
KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, we haven't seen -- your guess is as good as mine. When the game is on the line and we have to kick a 50-yarder, could he make it? I think he could. But hopefully we can keep from being in that situation. True freshman, did a nice job coming out there and he put them all through, and he's an accurate kicker. I don't know the strength of the leg off the top of my head.

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