	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

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 28, 2018

David Beaty

Lawrence, Kansas

HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: Listen, just a couple things to get started and I'll get right to your questions.

No. 1, really excited, obviously it's game week. Our guys are really ready to go and ready to play. They are ready to quit hitting eve other and go hit somebody else, which I think everybody in the country is getting excited about that. Much like everything else in the country, we are exactly like them. We are really excited and optimistic about the season. Those guys have done a nice job getting prepared. Now it's going to come down to what we've earned, and we are going to have to earn it every week, and we know that.

If I said there was one thing that I'm most excited about, it's the 25 seniors that we have. We haven't had that in the past. We've got 186 starts amongst those guys just at KU and over 235 starts amongst them at KU and other schools with some of the transfers that we have here. That's something that I look forward to seeing that leadership come out and amount of experience helping us. It will be interesting to see if it helps us.

I think that's about it for me, so why don't we get started with some questions.

Q. What have you seen from them in terms of their film or whatever else?
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: You know, we've been watching them for a long, long time. First of all, I think Coach Rebowe does a terrific job. When we scheduled these guys a number of years back, four years ago, they were certainly not where they are today, and that's definitely a credit to Coach Rebowe and his staff. He's done a terrific job there. Those guys last year lost in the first round of the playoffs. They went 8-4. They got beat by a South Dakota team that was terrific. They had a few NFL players off of that team.

It was a great game. I watched it about five times. Just to watch it, it was an unbelievable game, and they had a chance to tie it at the end and possibly go for two and win it. It was an unbelievable game, and these guys have really done a great job of resurrecting the program.

He's got a lot of good players there. I think he's got five or six major, major Division I recruits that are on his roster. He's got a kid named Kendall Bussey who I knew when I was at A&M, we recruited him there. Very talented kid. Played quite a bit there at A&M, and he's from down in that area, so he's back home. I know what he can do, so they are definitely added to their stock at running back and they have that.

They have got a DB, the Craighton kid, from Minnesota. He was a big three-star kid.

They have Emanuel Dayries, D-Lineman from Arizona State. He played with Mike Lee, so we knew him.

Alex Anderson, I know that guy really well. He's an offensive lineman that played at Texas, he just transferred there, three-start guy. He also played with Mike. Seems like Mike knows everybody.

Then they got the Mouton kid that was a transfer from LSU, a tight end, who is a nice, good-looking, big 'ole boy who is a four-star guy and that's just a few of them.

The quarterback, I love watching this kid play. He's a guy that we recruited him and looked at him a lot when I was even at A&M back in the day. He's not the biggest guy, but he is just a winner. He just is. He's a winner. He makes them go. There's no doubt about that. Chase is a very talented guy that he makes a lot of stuff happen. He's a kid that I can see why he's won that job there. He's done a really nice job with them.

Just a couple things that stick out to me on tape: Watching them play A&M, they had A&M, 14-14 in that fourth quarter last year and A&M wound up pulling away, but beat them 24-14 and played them at Kyle Field, which is a very difficult place. In the season opener, they lost to Georgia by two -- and I most of you know that, but they went to the National Championship and had a chance to win it. And this team lost to them by two. It was a terrific game.

They are loaded. This is not going to be an easy ballgame for us. It wouldn't be an easy ballgame for anyone. They are a talented football team. They returned 16 starters. They have got 8-8 on both sides. They have got an All-American tackle, an All-American kicker who is an absolute weapon. Seals like any time they got inside the 30, that dude was pointing points on the board. That's a valuable asset. We have a pretty good one ourselves and we know how important that guy is.

I tell you, they have got great receivers. They have got a number of those guys that are first-team preseason, all preseason picks for their conference.

They have got a really good defensive tackle in this Sully Laiche kid. I think he's a great player.

The linebacker is really good, No. 44. The Martin kid, the safety, he will knack your head off. He's a really, really talented hard-playing guy.

They are getting another D-Lineman that sat out last year that's a really good player.

They have got guys. They have got a really good football team and we are going to have to play really, really well to come out on top. It's not one of those deals where you stand up here and poor mouth. We are going to have to play our rear ends off.

Q. With your three running backs, do you anticipate them all getting similar amounts of snaps and touches?
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: No. I'm not sure how that's going to go, but there's not going to be a guarantee of how many touches they get. It's going to be based on matchups, skill sets and what we need them to do. Some of them catch the ball better on the backfield, some of them pass protect better. Some of them need to carry the ball in certain situations for a certain front.

I can't really predict how many carries this guy is going to get, how many carries that guy is going to get. Whoever gets the carry, he's got to get the job done. The good news is they are all similar in that in terms of the fact that they all have explosive play-making ability.

Q. Could be a different guy starting each week?
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: Yeah, that could be true at just about any position, particularly in the skill. For us now, we have enough depth that that could happen but it could be. It could be. The good news is, we don't feel like we're dropping off any at that position, once the first guy comes out.

So we have a luxury we haven't had, which allows us to keep a high amount of competition going, which is your friend, for sure.

Q. Guys at center --
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: Well, No. 1, we've seen firsthand what happens when you don't have really good depth at the center position. Some of that's just a byproduct of us not having a full complement, right. But at the end of the day, you have to realize that that's where everything starts.

Everything starts there, and it's not just the snap. That's the most pivotal part, but this day in age, you're seeing so many three down fronts in open sets. That guy is going to be covered up, so he has to be able to handle a nose that's 350 pounds and still get the ball snapped. I'm not signing up for that job. That's a dirty job, there's no doubt, it's a man's job.

The thing that led us to him, off and on tan a, is he's exactly that. He is a tough, tough guy. He started a ton of games at Houston. We watched him do it there at a high level and he's smart, very intelligent. He's exactly what you're looking for, but for us, the challenge wasn't just him.

It was finding the second and the third where we don't take a huge step back because it changes everything in a heartbeat. Changed things for us two years ago against Memphis. Changed things for us last year in a big way when we lost our first guy. That makes a big difference and we just can't have that drop-off there.

Q. You mentioned last night the plan is to play Miles every week. Is that going to be situational or in packages, not rotating back and forth or anything like that?
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: I think the best thing for me to say is that the only thing I'm going to give you, Coach Rebowe, is that he will play against you. That's it. I'm not going to be able to tell you much more than that, and hopefully you understand, that's something that we are not going to just tell you the whole plan.

Q. In the game against Georgia --
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: I tell you what, they do a good job defensively. They know their rules. There's no doubt about it. Those guys, I think that coordinator does a great job of getting those guys lined up. Everybody knows their job. You don't see any busting. Everybody understands what the philosophy is of the defense. Their safeties are heavily, heavily involved in it and he's got some really talented ones.

Everybody knows what they are doing. That's the thing that sticks out to me. It's a very sound defense. To this point, they haven't been a big pressure team, which you know, a lot of times you see teams like that and maybe a little K-State, things like that, but they are very sound and they do what they do really well. They do what they do really well. Sometimes those are most difficult teams to play against than teams that eat you up a lot.

Q. What have you seen from Miles that can help you guys out?
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: He's got it. He's got a little it factor to him that we really like.

He can throw the football really well. I think a lot of people are going to assume that this guy, he's not 6-3, and he ran the football on his tape in junior college that he's a running quarterback, right. You'll have to make the assumption for yourself but I've seen him firsthand, he can sling the rock now. He can throw it.

We love watching him operate the offense, which is good. He just needs a little bit more time. That job is just like any other job. I know you guys all want to hear who the starter is, but it's only as good as the day is. That dude is going to have to win it the next day, too. We'd like to find stability there, but you're going to have to earn it.

I'm not just going to give it to you because somebody wants to know who the starter is. I don't care about that. I care about what you prove on a day-to-day basis, how hard you work, do you prepare, can you move our team; will you take care of the ball, will you value possession, will you go through your progressions and will you do it the way that you are coached to do it, can we trust you when we toss you the keys.

Those are the things that are important to us, and that's one thing I've seen in Peyton is his growth in that area. He's so talented, sometimes he'll try to put the ball in places that it didn't belong, right. And if he'll just play by the rules, he has a chance to be a really, really good football player. Same thing with miles, he understands the rules well. We just have to keep his package small until he can absorb a little bit more of it.

Q. What will you be looking at to see some growth since last year?
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: I think the big thing for us with Peyton is I'm excited seeing him play behind an offensive line that has some real depth and some real competition. I think that's going to be big for him. I want to see him be efficient. I want to see us move the chains.

I want to see us keep our defense off the field by collecting first downs, and that means taking what defenses give you and not necessarily thinking about big plays all the time because you can make big plays by throwing the ball behind the line of scrimmage a lot of times if that's what the read says.

Just being patient and taking what they give you. Valuing possession. Value each possession, and that quarterback touches it every play, and he's going to be extremely important in that.

Q. What group do you feel you have the most trust in as you get close to starting the season?
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: Man, it used to be an easy answer because we didn't have just a whole lot of experience, but I would say, I don't want to jinx anybody but I really like our running backs. They do a terrific job. I like our linebackers. There's a lot of experience there: Dineen, Osaze, Loneker, Feaster, those guys have played a lot of ball. I would say it would be, on offense, it would probably be the running backs, and then the linebackers.

Q. The 20 or on your depth chart -- is that disguising for the first front or do you want to keep competition?
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: Yeah, you know, for us, and for most people across the country, it's that way because it's called competition. It's really what helps you, and it's true. We still have some time in preparing for these opponents. Not every one of these things are settled.

I saw, I was talking to Coach Riley other day, and I was asking him about his brother and asking him if they got everything settled and he said, no, they are pretty much about like we are. There's still some spots and there's some battles going on. It's not always like the public wants us, tell us who it is right now. You've got some time to go through it and we want to make sure we are making good, educated decisions.

I think the or indicates that if you want the real answer from me right now, it indicates competition, which I think is really good. We've got some depth there, which is good. I'm fired up about those corners. We have got so many new guys back there that have played a lot of ball and we are very simple in what we are doing, so I look forward to seeing those big, long dudes help us.

Q. The NCAA rule with fair catches on kickoffs inside the 25, wondering your general thoughts on that, and the impact on safety and if teams will start to kick the ball on the ground more?
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: Well, I think you hit it on the head. There's going to be some strategy involved in it. I think you are going to see people that are going to be leaving the ball on the 2- to 3-yard line. I know watching Ohio State play, they are going to put the ball up around the 2 and they are going to make you return it because they have got really talented guys up front, right.

I think you'll see a lot more of that, and then making decisions on whether or not you should fair catch it or not, right. For me, and our philosophies, it gives us an advantage because when we have to travel, we are very smart about what we do now. We don't have to field it and worry about running.

It used to, if the ball got close to the sideline, you had a decision to make. Now you can make that decision and you still get that ball on the 25. So from a conservative standpoint, it's a good thing.

If you are a directional-kick team and you're trying to get it close to the sideline, you might not be doing that as much anymore, because now the ball is going to be on the 25. And it used to be you could make -- or make a decision; a lot of mistakes were made by that, a lot of mistakes. You'll see some adjustment where the ball gets kicked.

And then, you know, I think a lot of people just will do some of the things that a lot of people do, which is being conservative. Being at the 25 is not the worst thing, not the worst thing.

Q. Do you anticipate a big improvement from Steven on return punts this year?
HEAD COACH DAVID BEATY: I do and the reason I do is he's got competition now. He's not going to be guaranteed to be playing back there.

Kwamie Lassiter has been terrific back there. He's done a really nice job of developing for us.

Pulka (ph), another one that can return it and has got some serious play-making ability once he catches the ball back there.

Kerr, Kerr can run, and it's his second year back there. We punted to him every single day for a year and a half, so he's gotten really familiar with it.

Quan Hampton who has hurt a little bit through last year, another guy that can really, really run.

We may not just stick Steven back there. I mean, we are not just going to stick him back there. He's going to have to earn it.

The thing that I love about our competition is we didn't break just -- we weren't like world beaters on punt return last year, so I'm not set on anyone being a returner. We haven't had anybody prove that he's the guy, right. It's going to come down to who wins it over the next couple days. We're actually still not settled on it, and that's a good thing because we have some good competition going.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297