	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 14, 2017

Nic Shimonek

Lubbock, Texas

Q. Is this the toughest defense you guys will face this season?
NIC SHIMONEK: You know, they can be. It seems like every year Coach Patterson has those guys at the top of the list in the Big 12. It's no different this year. So it's just going to be up to us to execute the game plan they implement, and I think we'll be all right.

Q. What do they do that makes them so good?
NIC SHIMONEK: They don't really do a lot of different things. They're just really good at a few things that they do. Like I said, each and every year he has those guys ready to play. Their front seven is really good, really active. They shed blocks, make plays. But like I said, as long as we execute the game plan they implement, I feel like we'll be all right.

Q. How does it feel to have Patton on the sideline cheering you guys on?
NIC SHIMONEK: I think it's really cool. Obviously you know how close we are, so to have him there for support, it means a lot to us. Specifically me, so I appreciate him.

Q. What's been the problem of executing in the fourth quarter? Is play calling different from the fourth quarter? But from your perspective, what is the reason for the struggles?
NIC SHIMONEK: I put a lot of that on myself. I think I maybe get too relaxed maybe in the second half. But we can't dwell on it. It's happened a couple times to us. But we've just got to keep practicing and preaching finishing in practice. Hopefully that will translate to the game.

Q. Kliff said they had to do a better job of calling plays that you're more comfortable with. Is that him trying to take the pressure off you, you think?
NIC SHIMONEK: Yeah, he's going to try to defer all the problems to himself. But I'm the same way. If he calls it, any play in the playbook that we have, I'm comfortable with it, so that's not a very good excuse by him.

Q. You say you're comfortable with every play in the playbook. Are you on the same page with the receivers on all the plays in the playbook?
NIC SHIMONEK: Yeah, there's been a few miscues this season. But, I mean, you watch games on Sunday, and as much time as those guys spend together, there's miscues with them too. So not everything's going to execute, I guess, how you do it in practice against the scout team, because they're getting their scholarships and they're making their plays over there on the other side of the ball as well. So they're trying to make it difficult on us. But I am comfortable with everything. So they're going to put us in a position to be successful, we've just got to execute.

Q. For Senior Day, do you think the emotions will kick in right away, or will it be a delayed thing?
NIC SHIMONEK: Probably delayed. I'll probably reminisce after the season, after the Texas game. But I'm not a very emotional guy as it is, so I'm not going to be shedding a tear down there or anything. I can't say that for some of those guys, but, yeah, that's not really me.

Q. Can you tell us who is most likely to cry?
NIC SHIMONEK: Most likely to cry? Probably Dylan and Zach Barnes and Talor Nunez, because they're all best friends, so if one of them starts crying, I feel like they'll feed off each other. I think me and Big Mike and Cam will be all right.

Q. What does Keke mean to you as a quarterback?
NIC SHIMONEK: Like I've said in the past, he's one of the best if not the best play maker in all of college football. It's comforting knowing that I can throw a ball behind the line of scrimmage and it might go for a touchdown. But he's also improved drastically at making plays down the field, catching in traffic. I feel like if I throw in his direction, he's going to make a play for me. So very comforting feeling having him out there.

Q. What does it do for you guys when you don't even have to come on the field and he just returns a kick and immediately leaves?
NIC SHIMONEK: Yeah, that was awesome. We haven't had one of those this year. That was a big point of emphasis during practice. So to see him really the whole unit, kickoff return unit, execute that, it was great to see.

Q. With the injuries that you guys have at running back right now, does that put added pressure on you to execute at even a higher level than you have this season?
NIC SHIMONEK: I don't think so. I'm just going to run the plays that they call and I'm going to check the plays that I see whenever I'm out there. It doesn't really matter if it's Stockton or Nisby or Felton or Trey, whoever it is. I'm confident in all of them to be where they're supposed to be and do what they're supposed to do. So I wouldn't say it adds any pressure to me.

Q. (Indiscernible) threw four passes in a row to Dylan. Does that feel odd? Do you have to pinch yourself and say, well, it's third down, I'm going to have to do it again?
NIC SHIMONEK: No, we're going fast at that point and we're using our tempo. So really whenever we start doing that there is not a whole lot of thinking involved. You just see what you see and you go. So whenever they're playing 10, 11, 12 yards off of him, it wouldn't be wise if I was trying to throw something down the field. Might as well throw it to him right now and take eight, nine yards a pop. So as long as they kept doing that, I was going to keep taking it.

Q. Another thing the Baylor defensive players were doing when you guys had a change in personnel was a very, very slow walk off the field. There's not a whole lot you can do about that necessarily. But how does that affect the offense when that has happened?
NIC SHIMONEK: You know obviously we want to go fast, and that slows the pace down. But like you said, we can't really do anything about it. If we sub, we have to give them a chance to sub, and they're going to hold the ball until they get all their guys on and off the field.

So, like you said, I wish we could go faster more often, but you can't expect these receivers and running backs to play at that pace the entire game. So they're going to have a chance to sub, so it's just something we have to live with.

Q. Going back to spring and summer, I don't remember exactly how you said it word for word, but playing quarterback in that opportunity, you said at one point something like if you're the quarterback of Texas Tech, when things are going great, you're going to be celebrated, and when things are not going well, you're going to be the guy that takes the heat. And, sure enough, that's how it's played out. How do you feel like you've handled the criticism that's been thrown at you?
NIC SHIMONEK: I think I've done a good job. Like you said, whenever you start the season 3-0, you know, you're the greatest. Whenever you lose a couple, it's like you're the worst player on the team.

In here, in this building, we know what we're capable of. Usually the naysayers and things like that are people on the outside, so I don't put a lot of stock into that. But, you know, at the end of the day, I'm not losing any sleep over it, and I'm having fun with the guys that I've been training with for the last three or four years.

So, no matter what they say about me whenever I leave here, I gave everything I had, and I had a good time doing it. So I won't have any regrets.

Q. Is there anyone you turn to in particular when you're kind of struggling a little bit?
NIC SHIMONEK: No, I don't really talk a whole lot. I don't know if that's healthy or what, but I kind of keep everything bottled up. Like I said, people can talk, they can say whatever they want to say. It doesn't really get under my skin. So, like I said, I'm having fun, I'm working hard. We could very easily be 7-3 or 8-2. The ball just didn't bounce our way on a couple of those fourth quarters. But that's the way football goes sometimes.

The good thing is we still have two games to secure a postseason bid. So, you know I'm not worried about all the outside noise. Just trying to get these last two games.

Q. Regarding that situation for the (indiscernible), you said the people that are close to you? Because you obviously have people.
NIC SHIMONEK: Yeah, my mom is very protective. My dad doesn't have a Twitter or anything, so he doesn't know, but my mom does. She gets worked up. But I've got to tell her that she can't be reading into that and looking at all that kind of stuff. No matter what happens -- I take that back. Actually, I did talk to Pat about that, and he says even Alex Smith has a chance to win the MVP this year at the level that he's playing, and he said if they go three-and-out, he'll get Twitter notifications that he needs to be playing and should have been starting this whole time. You know, and Alex -- like I said, Alex has a chance to win MVP this year.

So no matter what you do, you know -- I got that same feedback, I guess you'd say, last year whenever Pat was here. So no matter what you do, the back-up quarterback is probably going to be the most loved position and most loved person on the team. But like I said earlier, you can't really put a whole lot of stock into it. In one ear; out the other. Be confident in what you do, train every day, have fun, and the rest will take care of itself.

Q. Have you successfully stopped your mom from tweeting back to anyone?
NIC SHIMONEK: I don't think she has. Has she tweeted back to somebody? I don't think she's tweeted back. She just looks at it and she just reads it: Oh, man, I wish he wouldn't have said that. And I'm like: Come on, Mom. This person has like 15 followers, they probably don't --

Q. What about your girlfriend or your brother?
NIC SHIMONEK: My brother doesn't have a Twitter either, but he grew up in sports, so he understands that there's going to be people talking bad about you, and there's going to be naysayers. Kayla, yeah, Kayla gets pissed off, but I've got to tell her and my mom both they need to chill out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297