|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 7, 2019Travis BruffyLubbock, Texas Q. (Indiscernible). TRAVIS BRUFFY: You know, I'm a pretty young guy. I'll stay down there. Number 10, if you ask me, i GUESS that's for y'all to write about, and if I see an updated ranking, I'll comment on that. Q. Last week, you feel like you embarrassed the double-team. TRAVIS BRUFFY: Well, we made some people proud. Honestly, I walked off the field, you know, people were very happy, but we go into games like that expecting to win. When we have the preparation, the talent that we have in this facility, the coaching staff, the plan to win that we had, we expect to win games. Around here, we shouldn't be surprised by things like that. What we should not expect is performances like two weeks ago in Norman. That's something that hits us up side the head and something we have to react to. When we prepare and we work as hard as we do and we have the coaching and the game plan in place, from the talent, the buy-in from the leadership and the underclassmen, we should expect to win on Saturdays. Q. You can say that you expect it. Is it as easy as saying, yeah (indiscernible)? TRAVIS BRUFFY: No, not at all. You just have to speak it into existence. You make it seem very easy so you don't get all worried and ask me the same questions a couple weeks in a row. But it really is try not to get too low in times like Norman. Not try to get too high when you, you know, destroy everyone's expectations like we did a couple days ago. Staying level and making sure that that level is always going upwards, the direction we want to be in. Q. You played with Jett in 2018, played with Jett in (indiscernible). TRAVIS BRUFFY: He has a couple extra inches on his dreadlocks. Kind of adds a little swagger to him. Honestly, I think he's a more developed leader. So he kind of came and you all have had the pleasure of talking to him. He's a very bubbly, frantic person, and that's exemplified in his play on the field. Kind of transitioning from how he was in 2018 as an unexpected guy that came in, made plays, a very electric personality, very electric athlete. He came into more of the quarterback role where we can design plays around Jett Duffy. We can design schemes around him. He's not just a mobile dual threat guy. He's a developed pocket passer as well as a guy who can make plays. When everything looks like it's going downhill, he can get us a ten-yard gain or can keep the offense going after a five-yard loss or things like that. He can get us back home on one page. It's something that -- the intangibles of a quarterback take a long time to develop, and I think Jett's on a great track to kind of get him to where he needs to be. Q. Jordyn mentioned about the players only meeting, we hear about players only meetings. (Indiscernible). How gratifying and satisfying is it (indiscernible). TRAVIS BRUFFY: Well, you know, I said this in the players only meeting. I think if I were to tell you what it was about or express what was in there, it's betraying my team. I can tell you I think it's foolish if we address something one time and expect people to remember it the rest of their lives. Building off of that, I think that if we think that what we said last week, it translated to a win on the football field. If we expect to slack off and not be as adamant about the things we pushed in the meeting expect the same performance this upcoming Saturday, we're silly. The leadership on this team, and we're on the same page, all of us are, we need to push little things that made us successful this Saturday, keep pushing the things we talked about in the double-team. Not let the success we recently had overshadow what we want to be. Q. Before the season, (indiscernible). TRAVIS BRUFFY: Oh, he's a great guy. He's one of those people who is never satisfied with himself. One of those people trying to get better. The person he backed up is one of the best ever to do it in the league. So learning from him has been tremendous for him. And I think that he got a kind of -- he's got a couple snaps under his belt now and is a little bit more confident. He has a long way to go. As he knows, as everyone knows, but he's on the right track and an exponentially better football player than he was last year at this time. I think he'll play Sundays eventually once he has a bit more coaching, a bit more time under his belt. He's a good player but he needs more time to settle in. If you ask me, I feel comfortable having him out there. Who is definitely calmed down a little bit. He's a very jittery person. He has more confidence and poise to him. I feel confident having him out there. I trust him with my life. Q. Travis, Baylor' sdefense is the number one scoring defense in the Big 12, only give up about 15 points a game. Matt Wells talked about their linebacker (Indiscernible). What do you see from him that makes him dangerous? TRAVIS BRUFFY: Also lead the conference in sacks. I take that to heart. We'll take that to have the A game to keep Jett up, keep our running backs moving forward, not going backward. I see a dynamic defense, a defense that's well coached. It's the polar opposite from the brand of Baylor football we've seen in years past, especially referring back to, like, 2014 and prior or even 2016 and prior. They're a smash mouth defense, very physical up front, really good defensive line and a great box for the front seven. I can't speak on their secondary. Honestly, I'm not that deep in my scouting report. Their front seven will be something we need to attack head on. It's going to be the offensive line's responsibility as well as the tight ends and blocking backs to make sure everything is going forward, make sure we're the ones attacking the line of scrimmage and not just catching everything as it comes. Q. Sometimes brings you guys from different angles. As an offensive lineman, how difficult is it to prepare for not necessarily knowing where the blitz is going to come from? TRAVIS BRUFFY: Absolutely. If I could tell you where the blitz is going to come from every single time, I'd be in Sundays right now. It's different. So especially like you're blocking more of a spot. Like you said, when they have the fronts, five men in the box, it looks like, on paper, it's an easy run box. The fact that they're folding down linebackers, they're bringing down nickel backs, something we don't expect from the (indiscernible) so it does make it more difficult. We have to stay disciplined to the rules, stay disciplined to what our coaching points are for each particular play and make sure we're not following our eyes, we're following our brains. Q. When it comes to Jordyn Brooks, blocking him in practice, how much to do you think it's helped him as a player, moving from playing outside the box playing in the box? TRAVIS BRUFFY: The stats speak for themselves. It's honestly benefitted him. He's stepped into a role as a leadership on that defense that I never thought could be replicated. I mean, Dakota Allen was the best leader I've ever been around in my enter life. I thought we'd lack that, especially someone who knew the game as well as Dakota, who could lead people as well as Dakota did. Jordyn has stepped into the role seamlessly. Honestly, he's progressed our defense a lot further than anyone could have ever imagined. You see that with his play as well as our defense's play. So blocking him in practice has been challenging. I know I'm going against the best of the league to do it every single day we put the pads on. I love doing it. Kind of know every time I get the second level, I could get embarrassed every single Tuesday and Wednesday. So, you know, he gives us a great look. Hopefully, we're making them as better as he's making us. So, yeah, I love going against him. Honestly, nothing but respect for him, how he's approached his season, how he's grown as a player and as a leader. I love having him on this team. Glad we don't have to play him. Q. Not to get into what was said at the meeting, but was he one of the people who kind of helped bring together the players only meeting and talk? TRAVIS BRUFFY: Again, you know, he is at the forefront of every positive change that this program is experiencing. He takes all the responsibility, good and bad. So if there's something that needs to be addressed, Jordyn is going to address it. I can't speak for exactly what was said or what he said, but I can tell you that if there was change to be made, he's the one to do it. Q. Travis, a couple minutes ago, the Big 12 announced your teammates swept in all categories with Jett, Trey and Jordyn. What would be your response hearing that and to see those players recognized? TRAVIS BRUFFY: Right. You know, hats off to them. Trey has played numerous hours. Being a kicker, I can't imagine that stress. I feel stressed on run plays. I can't imagine everyone, all eyes on you. Jett, his stats speak for themselves and Jordan's. Jordyn is putting up video game stats on Saturdays. I would tell them we don't play in the past. I wish we could. If we could play and every day was last Saturday, we'd finish undefeated. Unfortunately, we have to move forward every single day, every single second. We need to keep progressing. Jordyn had 19 tackles. Why can't he have 25? Why can't he have 20? Why can't he have four sacks? I can tell you why, it's almost impossible. That's expectations he has for himself as well as expectations everyone on the team has for everyone. We want to be progressing and not be as good as our last game but be as good as our next. That's what we're trying to focus on. Q. (Indiscernible)? TRAVIS BRUFFY: I'm 0-2 on the road as well. I don't think I have any answers, other than we're going to definitely change our mindset. I think that winning on the road is a difficult task, but it's something that's not impossible. I think that we approach it the wrong way, we have approached it the wrong way from the players. Our coaches have done a great job getting us prepared, getting acclimated to our setting and the stadium and the locker room beforehand. As players, I feel like we lose that confidence. You go out for warmups for timid. As I did for the Oklahoma game, we take full responsibility for that. We come out sleepwalking, trying to set the tone. It's easy when you run out of the tunnel and everybody is cheering your name, wearing your colors. When you go out, people hate you, they're screaming obscenities I can't repeat on camera, it's hard to get your confidence back and harder to get your swagger back on the field. And that refers back to our leadership, as I spoke about last week. And so our guide to that is to change that approach, to change how we view the opponent. It's going to be loud wherever we go. And we can just, instead of picturing them cheering against you, you picture them cheering for you. It's as simple as that, hopefully. Q. Almost every player on this roster (indiscernible). Just now that you've gone, played five games, had a couple of tough moments, how has Coach Wells kind of dealt with dealing with adversity with the roster that (indiscernible). TRAVIS BRUFFY: Right. So I mean, I don't think he's caught up on what he did and did not form. I think he's caught up on what he can control. What he can control is what 11 guys on each side of the ball can play out there. I think he's working every single day, every single second he's in this office to optimize the 11 players on all sides of those balls. So, you know, he's a very positive guy. He takes adversity very well. He's the person always moving forward. He's never satisfied with a good win. He's never hung up on a bad loss. He's a great -- he exemplifies everything we want to be as leaders and commanders of an organization and at the forefront and the pinnacle of Texas Tech football. We're very fortunate to kind of fall in his footsteps every single day as our captains and things like that. He does a very good job of keeping us focused and making sure that we're well prepared. I don't think he's caught up on what he did and didn't recruit, things like that but he's very caught up on how can he win now. Q. (Indiscernible). TRAVIS BRUFFY: I don't know what he'll tell you, but I love him. I was thinking this the other day. We were singing the matador song with our arms around each other. It was a great moment. We've played countless snaps together, right by our sides. I know exactly where he's going to be. And we run block on double teams, I know exactly where he's going to be in pass/throw. He hasn't gotten any faster in the three years I've played next to him so it's not like some unexpected athleticism is going to come out of him. I love being next to him. I wouldn't trade it for the world. He's my brother. He's someone I look forward to suiting up with. Just out of everyone on this team, just being next to him every single day makes it special. Q. Where you guys get that (Indiscernible). TRAVIS BRUFFY: I won't be there. Q. (Indiscernible) motivated? TRAVIS BRUFFY: I'm sure they're rest of our team is, but I won't be there. I don't do Broadway. Q. Why not? TRAVIS BRUFFY: I'm on camera. Q. Think about where Baylor was two years ago and where they are now. You guys are in the first year with a new head coach. What has Coach Wells kind of done that makes you confident (indiscernible). TRAVIS BRUFFY: That's a good question. I think that what Coach Wells has done a great job of is showing us that Coach Wells can't win football games. We win. The players win football games. We take the coaching plan and he empowers us, puts all the responsibility on us and says are the most prepared football team on the field. Attack it. I believe that. Coach Wells, though he'd love to, can't strap a helmet on Saturdays. He tells us that straightforward. As much as he'd like to, he can't hit anyone anymore. He can, but he wouldn't be the head coach of Texas Tech football anymore. He prepares us very well and tells us it's our responsibility. He'll take a bunch of blame, but the players know it's up to us to execute. That's very empowering because all the responsibility, all the ownership, when everything that we do refers back to us, and that's the God honest truth. Everything. There's no play call. There's no magic play call on Saturdays. There's no defensive scheme that's going to stop the run every single time. It's the players executing their job nine times out of ten at least. And he makes sure that we know that. So when you empower the players and people become more confident in what they're doing, more confident in the system, then the young guys do as well. That's how you build a perpetually growing culture. That's what we're trying to do here. Q. How much has last year's game against Baylor stick in your mind? TRAVIS BRUFFY: Good question. It was a rough one. We knew what it meant and we knew that that was -- we knew what that game held and we knew the responsibility that was on us, and when you walk off the field, it's different than a loss. It's different than not just going to bowl game. You know the implications are deeper than you. It's people's families, and we kind of understood what that meant. Very personal, a very hard feeling. But change has been made because of games like that. As much as we wanted it to go different, we have changed and we embrace it with optimism. I can promise you we're not going to be playing with that feeling ever over again. Q. (Indiscernible). TRAVIS BRUFFY: It's a beautiful stadium. It's very clean, very -- I actually vent been in the away locker room. I did visit there. It's a really cool place. Really interesting. Place I'm excited to see how their home crowd is, what they're like. What the energy is going to be like on game day, I'm excited. I don't know if it makes it easier, but I'm looking forward to it. Q. (Indiscernible). TRAVIS BRUFFY: Football is very underplayed. We speak about home field advantage, but a lot of people don't know what that means. Feeding off that energy, when things aren't going your way, when the defense, for instance, when a defense is giving up a couple first downs and a drive, but every third down, the crowd is on their feet going ballistic, that energy, that revamp, you forget how tired you are, you forget that you already ran 12 plays in the drive. You just want to provide for the crowd. You want to provide for the guy next to you. It's so loud you can't focus on how hard you're breathing. Fortunately, they don't make that much noise when we're on offense. But when we score and you're not just celebrating with your team, but you see everyone else's hands go up, feeding off that energy is extremely underplayed, and it's something I'm fortunate we had this past Saturday. A lot of times, we've let down -- the past few weeks, we've let down a lot of home Red Raiders, and people come to watch us play, and we've let them down. Hopefully, this past Saturday, people gained more confidence and we start seeing a lot more support, a lot more of the energy I'm talking about, and upcoming Saturdays at home. Q. (Indiscernible)? TRAVIS BRUFFY: I think I can talk about that, yeah. It was really fun. I texted him, told him congratulations. It was really good to see. I keep up with them and watch them coach and play. It's a pleasure. I think very prolific offense as well. And that t-shirt has a different logo on it but he rocks it just as good. 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
|