|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 19, 2017Kliff KingsburyLubbock, Texas Q. When you look at the Houston defense, everybody is always talking about Oliver, but seems like several of the other guys really stick out from the front seven, too. KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, the two senior linebackers make a lot of plays, very active. Oliver, one of the hardest playing D-linemen I've ever seen on tape. I mean, he is relentless, runs after every play, chases every play, which is awesome to see. But yeah, they're a talented defense all around. Q. For a kid that was as heralded as he is, is it pretty rare to see a kid who has as big a motor as he does? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, it's awesome to see, particularly after the freshman year he had. When you get revered on that level all off-season and to come back and play even harder than he did, that says a lot about his character and the people that have coached him, his parents. Everybody that's been a part of his football career has done a great job because he plays the right way. Q. What's the biggest thing that jumps out about him on film whenever you watch him? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, that's it, just his relentlessness. He never stops chasing the football, never stops rushing, never stops going. Wherever that ball goes, he's going to show up in the screen, and that's a special trait. Q. Is there somebody he reminds you of? KLIFF KINGSBURY: No. I mean, not that comes to mind. But he's a little bit undersized, but very powerful, very strong, and is in on a ton of plays because he just has that will to get it done. Q. Seems like the linebackers, they move those guys around a lot. KLIFF KINGSBURY: They do, they put them in different positions, bring them, drop them, do a bunch of different stuff, very multiple defensively, and you've got to be prepared for what they're going to show each and every week. You never know what you're going to get, so I think offensively we've got to be really sharp with our protections. We've got to be great identifying what they're trying to do each and every snap. Q. As far as Houston's offense goes, the thing that sticks out is the size of all their receivers really? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, they have big receivers, which, luckily for us, our guys get to go against them, Dylan and Derrick, in practice every day, and TJ, who are as big as anybody. So hopefully that won't overwhelm them going against their big receivers, and last week we played against a big one at Arizona State. They're a talented group. Quarterback had a tremendous game last week, very accurate, was the No. 1 player in the country coming out, so we'll have our hands full. Q. How did you feel you guys did in protection the other night against Arizona State? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Not bad. I thought we gave some things up early, but that's a good defensive front. They've got some big, athletic, tough guys that have played a lot of football. I thought early they were pushing it back in our face, and as the game went on, I felt like we settled in a little bit. Q. What is the status of Bruffy, Hatfield, Dorsey, Desmond? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Really day-to-day on all of them. I wish I could give you an answer, but we're going to see how the week goes for all of them, and we'll know when we head that way on Friday probably. Q. You referenced it on the conference call yesterday, but what does Houston mean to you and maybe a lot of guys from the coaching staff, as well? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah. You know, I always feel indebted to that university that gave me an opportunity, my first job in quality control for two years, and then I was allowed to kind of roll right into play calling duty, which doesn't happen very often, so I had a tremendous time there. The people, the city, the university, can't say enough good things. It'll be strange being on the other sideline, but always a big fan of Houston, always cheer for them when we're not playing them, so it'll be a fun experience. Q. Were you still quality control when that came down there -- KLIFF KINGSBURY: I was, yeah, I was. Q. You mentioned it would be weird going down there and coaching down there. What was that like? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, that was tough because obviously Mike was still at Tech, and it was Dana and I on the headset together, and Ruffin and all those other guys on the other side, Lincoln. You don't want to cheer against those guys, but we're all competitors, and it was a heck of a game. But yeah, I don't really like those type games. Q. Were you surprised to see that your predecessor Tommy Tuberville (indiscernible)? KLIFF KINGSBURY: How did I know that was coming? Yeah, I mean, they're going to do what they need to do. I just coach football. Q. (Indiscernible.) KLIFF KINGSBURY: I don't know how that's going to work. We'll see. (Laughter.) Q. The play that Mike made the other night where he hustled back from the (indiscernible)? KLIFF KINGSBURY: It was. We give out an award every week called the Raider Award, which isn't necessarily the best play or best stats, it's more the heads-up play or some of the contributors to winning the game, and he got that because that wasn't his guy, just a feel thing. He felt the back going. If he doesn't wheel with him, they may have got that 1st down and kept the drive alive, so it was an incredible heads-up play, very aware for a big guy late in the game. He was probably tired, had been playing a bunch, to wheel with that guy and lay out and make a play on him like that was a big time. Q. (Indiscernible). Is that kind of a testament to conditioning? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I think so. I mean, those guys are playing a lot of snaps, and they knew -- those two drives were for the game. If Arizona State scores on either one of those, they beat us. They stepped up when they had to. I felt like we got in a little lull there that they had gained all the momentum, so to see guys really take control and be leaders, and had great energy on the sideline and play like they did at the end, that was very encouraging. Q. How did you feel about rotation numbers wise and Matthew rotated to D-line, DBs -- KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I think we did better up front numbers-wise. I think in the back end, with some of the injuries, it kind of got skewed, so we're going to work through that this week and see if we can even those numbers up, but yeah, I felt like we had a better rotation going on up front. Q. Is Shimonek playing lights out from your perspective? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, he's gotten better, and that's all we're trying to do is get better every week. He knows he doesn't have to do it all. We have a tremendous receiving corps, tremendous running backs, but I've really liked the throwaways. I guess the biggest takeaway, when it's not there, he's done a nice job sliding away, throwing it out-of-bounds, limiting the sacks, obviously he's limited the turnovers, and we've just got to keep progressing each week, which with his work ethic that's kind of what I expect to happen. Q. You talked a little bit about Kyle a minute ago. Can you talk about him as well as Catalon, a couple of transfers? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I mean, Kyle was the top guy coming out in his class and had had some success there at A&M, and very accurate passer, talented thrower of the football. Like I said, the ball I don't think hit the ground last week, so he's playing well, and Catalon is a tremendous back, could play for anybody. They've got good offensive skill. They've got a good scheme, and it'll be a big challenge for us. Q. These days just in general, is there anybody out there that doesn't have good skill anymore just because of how guys play really year-round? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, you can really look at all levels and see very talented players, you're right. The development of those receivers and running backs and catching the ball all summer, all year round with those 7-on-7 leagues has really made aware every team you play is going to have somebody that can really hurt you. Q. You had Keke and Phillip go (indiscernible). Is that an example of guys putting their best skill position players at receiver when it comes to (indiscernible)? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I could see some of that. It's not a lot of glory out there and not a lot of attention unless something goes wrong for a DB. So I think most kids in Texas start playing 7-on-7, you'd rather have the ball in your hand, and there may be some truth to that. Q. But for several plays the cornerbacks on both teams had really tight coverage and the pass was completed -- KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I felt like Jaylon Lane, Octavious had some great coverage, and we got beat with a back-shoulder throw four or five times where it was just a perfect throw by the quarterback, great play by the receiver. They understand as a DB you've got to have a short-term memory. You've got to understand, hey, I did my job. You can't control everything, control what you can control, and play the next snap. But there were some highly executed throws and catches out there. Q. The defense has showed some improvement. Where do you feel like it still needs to come on? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I think we've just got to do a better job of getting off the field in those 3rd down situations. Once again, they made three or four tremendous throws that were well-covered, but when we get a chance to get the ball back and stop drives, we've got to find a way to do that. Q. You have 20 guys on your team from Houston; do you expect a bump in performance from them, playing in front of the family here? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I'm sure they'll be excited. Those kids from Houston always take a lot of pride in being from that area, and they'll have family there, and it'll be a rocking atmosphere. I'm sure there will be a bunch of Tech fans, as well. I don't know if there will be a performance bump, but I know they'll be highly motivated. Q. (Indiscernible.) KLIFF KINGSBURY: We're just working through the rotation. It's kind of one of those numbers deals that as the game went, the type of game it was, we felt like we just needed to keep Dakota and Jordyn rolling in it, but he'll have a good role moving forward, and he's come a long way from last year. Q. You guys have used both Colin and Christian as kind of a third linebacker. What went into those two guys and making that third linebacker -- KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, really with Colin, just trying to find more snaps for him on the field, and CT has come a long way. He came here as a safety, has worked at linebacker about a year and a half now and making big strides. He's still a young player. So it's a good mix for certain schemes Coach Gibbs want to do. But Colin is a guy with Eli and Zach Barnes and Lonzell and Tony that we're trying to find enough snaps because he's a very talented player, as well. Q. (Indiscernible.) KLIFF KINGSBURY: He has. Talent has never been an issue. It was just making sure we're getting everything else right, and he did a nice job of that over the summer, has worked hard, brings a lot of energy, a lot of juice, and if you've ever talked to the guy, he's nonstop talking and smiling and into it. It's been good for our defense, not afraid to stick his nose in there and make plays and just kind of has a savvy out there that is good at that nickel position. Q. (Indiscernible). KLIFF KINGSBURY: Not really, yeah. I'm not really sure how it all went. I think Coach Spav and Coach Gibbs may have had a previous relationship from when they were at Houston, and then Coach Gibbs knows some people at Arkansas, and it kind of went from there. Q. There was a lot of emphasis in the off-season about running the ball. So far how do you feel like the team is doing through two games? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, I felt like last week wasn't bad. If you take out the sacks, we were close to 150 yards rushing. We'd like to be more around 200, but the game also kind of dictated us to throw it a little bit more there at the end. So we're not where we want to be, but it's much improved from last year where we couldn't run it at all. We've just got to keep working, keep getting Nisby comfortable, keep getting Trey comfortable, and with Justin you've got a really good rotation there. Q. As far as the offensive line how do you feel like they've done? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, better than last year. I think having guys that played back, Steele, Paul and Madison, they've come a long way, and Jack, a true freshman, has some punch in there, and then Jacob Hines is another heavy-handed guy which we're getting more movement than we did last year, and still have a long ways to go, but it's much improved. 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
|