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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 2, 2018David BeatyLawrence, Kansas DAVID BEATY: Let's see, couple of things before we start. A couple of guys that continue to stick out to me on special teams, Kyron Johnson just continues to play well. He and Emmanuel Moore have been just a big asset to us on special teams; proud of those guys. Liam Jones did some things we asked him to do and he's really improved. Those guys stick out. They warrant being able to mention their names, appreciate their effort for sure. Defensively, obviously we've got to put a big halt to the plays that occurred the other day, and we've got to get off the field in third down. We've gotten into third down situations and we weren't able to get off, so a lot of emphasis placed on that this week, making sure that when we get 'em to those long situations, for sure, we gotta get 'em off the field. It was good to see Steven Sims reemerge last week. We gotta keep him in the mix and make sure we don't let our opponents cut him off from the game plan, and that's going to take creativity on our part, and we gotta continue to have that production, because he is one of our better players, for sure. And then we gotta continue to take care of the ball offensively. We turned it over once last week, uncharacteristic of us. We hope that that continues to be uncharacteristic. We're going to continue to force that as a way of thinking around here. We have taken care of the ball in the air and we gotta continue to do that. If there is one thing I'm proud of our quarterbacks on is we have put it in jeopardy very few times. And I'm not even just talking about interceptions, I'm talking about putting it in jeopardy. I think they've made good decisions, and I think it speaks to their off-season preparation for understanding what defenses are doing to 'em. We gotta continue to do that, because it's going to pay dividends for us down the line, there's no doubt about it. A lot of things we've gotta get better at. This team we're going to play is a very talented team, as you know. They've got a lot of ways that they can do it on offense, but the things that sticks out to me is they're leading the Big 12 in total defense right now, or in scoring defense right now. Averaging a little under 18 points a game. Doesn't surprise me. The coach they got there, I think he's one of the better ones in the game; he does a great job. They went and got a couple of really good players. The Bigelow kid is a big player up front for them. He's the nose; take a look at him if you want to see a guy that's got some activity to him. He's a good player, man. They got another defensive end that's new to 'em, he's a really good player. They're a senior, elder-laden team. They've got a bunch of guys played a long time in a bunch of games. David Sills, man, I'm just so impressed with that guy. He reminds me a lot of Kerry Meyer. I know he's got a football quarterback story to him, but watching the way he conducts himself on the field, I'm a big fan of his. He's very productive for 'em. Gary Jennings, catches a ton of balls for 'em, Marcus Simms. Those guys are strong receivers. If you get a chance to watch the game from last week, man, did they make some contested plays. Guys are hanging all over them, and they still make the play. I think that's the thing that sticks out about this group more than anything is how strong they are, very strong guys, and the quarterback is super special, really good player. He can move around, too, that's the thing that I think makes him -- his future is going to be so bright, but the guy moves around so well. I don't know if any of you guys got to catch the special on him and his family, but it's a pretty unique story. Man, he's a great player. Really good player. They've got a bunch of players, T.J. Simmons is another guy that wears No. 1 for them, I believe, he's a guy that sticks out to me for them offensively. I want to say McKoy, the running back is a quick dude, man, No. 6, they've got a few of them but No. 6 is a guy that -- he sticks out for me. This guy can run, yeah, Kennedy McKoy, yeah. Really, really quick, reminds me of some of the scat backs that we've had in the past. He can get to the end zone. He finishes runs well. So they can do in the run and in the pass. They've got a bunch of older guys. They've got two offensive linemen, those two tackles, I think they've got combined, Cajuste has 23 starts and McKivitz has 27 starts. McKivitz is a really good player, right tackle. I don't know that a lot of people talk about that guy, but he's a really good player. Played a lot of ball for them. Their center has 17 starts, Matt Jones. They've got some dudes that have played a bunch, David Sills and Jennings, have both started 18 games, played in 25 apiece. Lots of experience. Defensively, secondary, one of the best we've seen for sure. No. 28 was Co-Player of the Week with Pooka, and he deserved it. When you turn the tape on and see a player over and over and over in the video, that's not normal. He will hit you. This guy will hit you. He makes plays at the corner position, but he will flat strike you. He is all over the place. Norwood, another great player, Toyous Avery, another really good player, Dravon Askew-Henry, that kid's got 43 starts, played a bunch for them. They have another couple of guys that have played a bunch. Jovanni Stewart, 29 games played, only started 4 but he's played a bunch, and then the Long kid has got 23 starts, and he's played in 26 games. A lot of experience. I think that's one of the things that makes this team really dangerous. They've got a lot of experience. We've got a big challenge ahead of us, but we're looking forward to it. We feel like we've got some things shored up, and we're going to go up to West Virginia and plan on having a fun day, so we're going to get ready to go this week and make sure we put on for our plans. Q. You have only five sacks so far this year. How much is it the guys aren't getting it done and how much is it you're not rushing a ton of guys or blitzing? DAVID BEATY: I think it's a little bit of both. We've been on a lot of three down. You can turn on the tape, I'm not going to tell you anything that you would get an advantage out of. We've been in a lot of three down, two double teams there, and one guy's gotta to win. It makes it difficult. Tech had an issue getting to him, too, last week, to be honest with you. So creating pressure in that spot, a lot of us are learning how to play that stuff. Iowa State kinda made some of this stuff vogue last year, but they were getting to the quarterback better. We've got to find a way to get our playmakers to the quarterback. I think we've got to do some things to help Daniel Wise get to the quarterback, because he's a talented player and I think that's going to be a focus of ours, to try to make sure we get our guys to the quarterback a little bit easier than what we have in the past. Q. (No microphone.) DAVID BEATY: It's a whole lot like looking at Dorance from this point last year. There's more production there than you think. Some of the things that we have asked him to do are really unselfish in nature, by being in an inside shade on a tackle, being at a four technique. You're going to draw double teams the entire time. I've never seen him fight harder, but it's tough when you have two, 350 plus guys on you, and he gets there, we're just a hair late. We've got to make sure we can get through a little bit quicker. I think we can do some things to help it. There's some things we've seen on tape that can help us as we move forward. Q. You mentioned Carter wasn't great the other day. What were the mistakes that showed up in your review of that game? DAVID BEATY: Well, I tell you, I take my hat off to him because the kid was sick as a dog when he woke up. He wasn't feeling Good Friday, and he wasn't feeling good Saturday. Watched him close not just during walk-through, but during warm-ups, and, man, he's just a tough competitor. There was no way we were going to keep him out. There was no doubt about that. But I could tell he wasn't doing well. He had stomach issues. But he settled in after the first few series. There were some things there that just mentally I could tell he wasn't feeling great, and we just had to work through them, see if he could get settled in, and he finally got settled in. There are several things that we ask that position to do, this or this, and we missed a few of them; we missed seven or eight that could have made a big difference in extending drives, and those are things that kinda go unseen sometimes until you look at that video, but the good thing is as he started feeling better, he starred seeing it better and we started communicating with him on the sideline. He got way better at it, and we started moving the ball a little bit more. Q. (No microphone.) DAVID BEATY: Some of them are pre, some of them are right as the post snap comes in. A lot of stuff that you see nowadays comes off of RPO-type stuff, and you have to have your eyes in the right spot, making sure that if you have a couple of different concepts that are going on at the same time, that you start with your feet in the right concept. Sometimes he started with his feet in the wrong concept, and we were backwards on that deal. So fortunately he was athletic enough to get us back to the line of scrimmage or make some yards, but we know he will improve on that. Q. Any consideration or thought of potentially redshirting Miles Kendrick? DAVID BEATY: Not at all. We're not talking about redshirting anybody right now. We don't have enough full scholarship guys to consider that. Everybody is going to be eligible the entire way. We need everybody. We need everybody we got. Q. Looking at all-purpose yards for Pooka, rushing, special teams, how much more is there in his tank that we haven't seen yet? DAVID BEATY: You know, I really don't know that there is a whole lot more he can do. He's given us everything that he has. The thing that I really have been surprised at is how good a wind he has. He doesn't get tired real easy. He can continue to go. When he does, I think him and Coach Hull have a good communication system of when he needs to get out of the game, and I think he also is a selfless guy, and one of the things that helps us is we've got three other really good talented backs that are enabling us not to have to keep necessarily one guy on the field at all times. He's getting more opportunities at it than maybe some of the other ones right now, but he's also created some big plays for us so it's kind of making sense. Q. Jeremiah Booker has had a couple of grabs the past couple of weeks, and he's super involved off the field with the Boys and Girls Club. How does his leadership help the team on the field? DAVID BEATY: It's monumental. You don't know how much of an impact a guy like that has on your team truly until he's gone. I don't know that the team appreciates that type of stuff, right? He drags our vision, he drags our team. He embodies what it means to be a selfless, hard-working blue collar guy, and he drags the team. And when he's not here, it's going to be really interesting to see who the next Booker is, who is the next guy? Because if you polled our team, I think it would be literally 100%, if you asked them who the hardest worker and the best example of who it is, or who if your family's life is on the line would you want, would you trust to live with your family, I think it would almost be 100% that it would be Booker, because that's the type of guy he is. Q. Just to touch back on the redshirt issue. There's nobody on the roster that you plan to redshirt this season? DAVID BEATY: You know, we may redshirt guys, but we're not trying to do that. Some of it will come as we move along through the season, and guys are just not quite prepared yet, right? But there is no plans to redshirt anyone. I'll give you a great example, like really looking at Carter, he doesn't necessarily have one left, but he wasn't ready at that time, right? Elmore Hempstead wasn't completely ready early, but he's starting to show signs that he's getting there, right, particularly with a lot of our younger guys. We have 25 seniors, so we've got the ability -- and most of those guys are playing, so it gives you the ability to let those others grow before they have to get thrown completely into the fire. We're not planning on it. Doesn't mean it won't happen, but we're not planning on it. Q. Coach in the Tech/West Virginia game Grier throws 278, three touchdowns. You get a big lead at halftime, and before the Pick Six, West Virginia had less than 100 yards offense, six first downs. Did Tech changes things schematically or just execute their defense better? DAVID BEATY: I think they executed a little bit better. If you turn on that game and watch the first half, I've never seen receivers make catches like they made. Guys were all over their guys. And they made catch after catch after catch. It was amazing. It was one of the most impressive performances I've seen in a long time, and I'm talking about Tech was all over 'em. I don't know if you could cover any better. I texted my buddy last night over at Tech and I was like, man, y'all covered them well, and they still made the plays. That Marcus Simms guy is extremely fast. They're just big, strong guys. I think the second half maybe they weren't quite as on as they were in the first half. I think that helped Tech a little bit, but then Tech started breaking up balls and did some things that -- they missed a couple of opportunities, No. 8 got deep on 'em once, and those corners settled down and they kinda cut that off and that helped a little bit. Q. Do you have an update on Ricky Thomas? DAVID BEATY: He's not going to be available for this week. He won't be available for this week. Hopefully we can get him back. We got a bye week coming up, we're hoping to get him back after that. Tough kid, working hard through it but suffered a pretty significant set-back, so hopefully we can get him back. He can be helpful. Q. (No microphone.) DAVID BEATY: You know, we've asked him to move over and play that. I know that he's got a lot that he has to get better at and learn, and that comes with not playing the position a lot, even though it's more of a nickel-type deal that he's playing, but there are still some differences to it. I look for him to continue to improve and we're going to continue to look at other guys because some of them are starting to get to a point where they can help, too, right? They're starting to become more knowledgeable on what we're doing, and it's going to make us not have to play those guys as many snaps, hopefully. Q. (No microphone.) DAVID BEATY: I think it is, but only so much. In this league it goes so fast a lot of times, boy, you better know what you're doing. You've gotta make sure you find the strength of the offense in terms of where the strength is set, what side you're supposed to be on, what call are we in, where is your presnap alignment so you can roll and disguise. That's where when you have to move a guy like Hasan, sometimes you suffer a little bit in your disguise game because the guy has to just get lined up, right, and we've got to continue to progress with him and any of the other ones that we have to move over there to be able to make sure that we're not just showing 'em our hand. You show guys our hand, particularly teams that have been together for a while, like this guy, if he can take a look at it, it's a long night for those teams. You better make sure you're hiding it a little bit, at least. Q. Since the Big 12 season started, what has been the biggest issue with your frontline? DAVID BEATY: Well, you're in the Big 12. It's a whole different monster. I think one of the things is knowing that people are smart. They know exactly where your strengths lie, so understanding where you're going to devote numbers is something that we obviously know that is going to come our way. I think what we've got to be able to do is we still need to continue to get better at pass protection, right? And being able to timely throw the football and not necessarily get into a situation where we are one-dimensional like we have to throw it, right? So we've got to stay out of those situations as best we can and being efficient on first down helps us do that. Not just sitting in situations where they know we're going to have to drop back and they have to pin their ears back. That can give us problems. I tell you this, though: There are some things we are doing better at up front. We continue to improve. It's a tough league, no doubt about it, but we're continuing to improve up there, and I know we will continue to improve each week and as we do the wins will come. Q. Pooka has a run of 41 yards or longer in every single game even though the defenses are playing well. How rare is that to hit a home run every single game? DAVID BEATY: I think it requires dirty work on the perimeter, guys -- his long run, Steven Sims sprung him with a block that was thrown at the very point of the attack about 15 yards down field. That's key, but I think you also have to have something special about you, and he's got that, there is no doubt about it. Just to kind of go back to what you said, is it tougher, yeah, you start getting people with nine guys in the box, eight, nine, ten in the box but the thing is if you keep working at it, you keep going, it's like the old veer, you might get 2 here, 3 here, 4 here, but when somebody gets their head out of a gap, it can be a big play. It's one of those deals if we can continue to move the chains and get more chances at it, the more we get an opportunity for somebody to misfit, and now we got a chance to hit a big one, because he's got that finishing speed. Y'all have a good one. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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