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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 14, 2011

Blaine Irby

Q. Blaine, how do you describe your senior class and what you guys have been through as a group?
BLAINE IRBY: I think there's a lot of maturity in our senior class. We have a lot of guys that played their true freshman year, talking about Blake, Emmanuel, Kheeston, and we have some guys that definitely red shirted as in I want to say Keenan Robinson, Tray Allen, Christian Scott, all those guys, and so it's a very diverse group, a lot of leadership. And even when we talk about Fozzy Whittaker, who we lost this last week, a lot of leadership, a very selfless class. So it's guys that just kind of really bought into the program here at UT and really waited for their turn to succeed. It's shown.
A lot of these guys were contributing during the National Championship year and even during the year when we went to the Fiesta Bowl. So it's a successful class.
Last year wasn't as successful as we wanted, and this year we're still making our mark.

Q. Given what you've been through, were you able to kind of sympathize with Fozzy and maybe talk to him or try to help him out a little?
BLAINE IRBY: Yeah, I didn't realize how bad it was during the game because I didn't see him make the cut. I only just saw him go down. After the game I kind of went up to him and just let him know that I love him and I'm praying for him. Fozzy is one of those guys that he's so emotionally strong, and he's got a lot of thoughts and prayers going out to him, and I think he's going to be fine. It's going to be a tough couple weeks or tough couple months for him, but if anyone can get through it, it's Fozzy. He's got a lot of support from our fans and from the team, and so if he needs any help at all, I'm sure it's not going to be hard to find.

Q. Can you kind of expand on what he's meant to this program?
BLAINE IRBY: I mean, Fozzy is a true leader on our football team, really is a selfless player, and so he's been here for five years, he's definitely worked his way up to the top, and even this year with two big-time running backs coming in, he took time out of his schedule to really mentor those two running backs. He just stepped aside and let these guys play, and that's -- Fozzy wants what's best for the team, and he's been like that ever since he's gotten here.
It was a sad thing when he went down. He's definitely our leader in the group. He's definitely our spokesperson, really. I mean, Fozzy is a -- the Fozzy that you guys don't see, Fozzy is obviously a goofy guy when off the football field, but when it's time to work, Fozzy is the first one in line getting everyone right. So I'm sure -- I know he's going to be fine whenever he's rehabbing and his future career with football, wherever that goes. My thoughts and prayers go out to him.

Q. When something like that happens to one of your leaders like Fozzy, how hard is it to kind of move on and keep playing? It happened so early. How much did this affect the way you played?
BLAINE IRBY: It's one of those deals in football where when a starter goes out, another guy has to come in and fill his spot. Especially during the game, he came out I think it was in the first quarter, he got hurt, and so we couldn't really think about it as much during the game just because we had confidence in Jeremy Hills' play. But unfortunately the game didn't work out the way we wanted on offense. We couldn't get anything done.
But losing a guy like Fozzy is definitely going to put a dent in our offense.

Q. Who steps up this week? Nobody really seemed to step up when Fozzy went down and the freshmen weren't playing. Who steps up for you guys?
BLAINE IRBY: At the running back position? You know, I think everybody on the team, on the offense, on the offensive line, tight ends, quarterbacks, receivers, I think everybody needs to step up to really make sure that the next guy in line at running back, we don't put too much weight on his shoulders. Everyone just needs to do a little bit more, and last week we didn't do that, and it kind of showed. We weren't able to roll at all on offense. It's just -- we can't put too much weight on the next guy that's coming in just because it's unfair. The guys that have been playing on the offensive line and our quarterbacks, we just have to do a little bit more work, and during the game we have to put a little bit more responsibility on ourselves.

Q. With everything that you've been through, is it kind of hard to believe this is your last home game?
BLAINE IRBY: It's kind of a surreal moment. I mean, it's a little crazy. I still remember the first game that we had, versus Arkansas State. I don't know if you guys remember that. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. I mean, my time here has been, I know -- it's hard to believe, but it's been definitely the five years of my life, going through the experiences I've gone through and the experiences that our team has gone through. It's been a wild roller coaster, but it's been fun. So what better way than to finish it off than with a win over Kansas State.

Q. Why do you think the passing game isn't more developed at this point in time in the season?
BLAINE IRBY: You know, I think we've had so much success in the running game in the last couple weeks that we really -- we're just trying to figure out ways to win, and so versus Kansas and Texas Tech, we were really successful in the run game, and so that's what we concentrated on during the game. But you know, during practice every week we're trying -- I mean, we're practicing hard on the passing game and running game, so it's going to come. This last week unfortunately we just couldn't get anything done, so I don't think it was really the passing game; it was more the passing game and running game that we couldn't get done.
This week, like I said before, everybody on the offense really needs to step up just a little bit more and just kind of prepare just a little bit more. Hopefully we'll have some more success this week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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