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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEAugust 26, 2013Kliff KingsburyQ. Let's go back a few years. It's August 26, 1998, 15 years ago from this date. You just come out of Spike Dykes' office, and he's told you as a true freshman you're going to be the starting quarterback; what thoughts are going through your head? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, probably not thinking too much at that age. That's one of those situations that I don't think you can prepare for mentally. I think the guys we're working with, fortunately enough, have had great high school coaches and played in big‑time high school games, so you hope that carries over to the college level. From what I've seen in practices, I think it will. Q. How do you approach game week with a quarterback who has never started a game in college? Any of the three starters (No microphone)? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, kind of the same thought process there is you don't want them to think too much. It's still playing the game, whether the game they're playing last fall in high school, or in Mike's situation he had been here a little while, but you just attack it. It's still football. It's going to move around a little faster, but we try to get all these guys a bunch of reps and I think they'll be ready to go. Q. Coach, when will you tell them? You told us we'll know when they trot out on the field; when will they know? COACH KINGSBURY: That's an internal answer there. So they'll know when they trot out there. Q. Do you think that negatively impacts the team? COACH KINGSBURY: Not at all. Not at all, no. Q. After all the talk and everything since you got hired here, how nice is it to do gaming preparations and getting ready to go here? COACH KINGSBURY: It's exciting. That's why we came here was to play the games. I think the players are ready. It's going to be a great atmosphere. We know it's a great opponent. The five years I've been coaching, we've played SMU, and I know the type of talent they have and the coaching they receive, so we know the challenge we're up against. Q. You talked about it a little bit there. But how much is it having seen them several years in a row? COACH KINGSBURY: I don't know if it helps. I do know the respect level is way up after going against them for those five years. Coach Jones has done an incredible job there from where it was at and the level he's taken it. They have really good players and great schemes. So it will be a great game to watch. Q. What can you talk about just generally, not the situation here, but just generally for a true freshman? What would the challenges be for any true freshman starting at any college program anywhere in the world? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I think not to get too high or too low. I think physically kids these days with the training they receive, seven on seven year round and the private quarterback training; physically they're ready when they get here. It's the mental aspect as far as the ups and downs, handling your composure, being poised, things of that nature. The offenses that both these kids come from are very similar to what we ran in high school, similar to what we had with Johnny last year. They feel comfortable in it because that's what they played in through their high school careers. Q.  Is Mike (No microphone) still day‑to‑day? COACH KINGSBURY: He is, he is. He's been working hard at it, but he's still day to day. Q. Given the fact that he hasn't seen much time, would it be safe to say that he probably won't be the one trotting out there? COACH KINGSBURY: We'll see. Like I said, when they trot out there, you'll know. Q. How will you break down the reps this week? I understand you don't want to say who is who, but will it be like a two‑thirds, one‑third? COACH KINGSBURY: Fairly equal, fairly equal. We'll do our best to make sure whoever steps in there is ready, and the other guy, if he needs to go in will be ready as well. So it will be fairly equal. Q. You said, and I guess it was in the Grantland video that they did, basically you want them to do it so much in practice until it's like creating a computer program and they just push the button when they go out there and it just plays out that way? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, to an extent. We're trying to avoid the whole paralysis by analysis, and that's what we want. We want them to have seen it, repped it, feel so comfortable in our system that as a quarterback, one, two, three, four, out of my hand, and over and over. That's what we're shooting for. Whether you get there or not, some guys reset level and some don't, but that's our ideal. Q. Typically, a new offense takes a while before you can really feel it is efficiently installed to be really impactful. How are your feelings about the installation process with who you've been working? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, a lot of that has to do with the players you have. I think you saw that last year with the type of athletes we had at that school and the type of players we had. We were able to install our system, and they picked it up quick and executed it at a high level. Coming here, the system they were running wasn't far from what we're doing now, so I think that's definitely going to help the learning curve as far as that goes. Q. Coach, with that being said, we know there is a lot that goes into game week. Do you have any concerns as far as position‑wise, game plan‑wise, any kind of concerns that you possibly have concerns about going into the game? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I'm concerned about all of it. You know, it's the first game, so until you get out there under the lights, you really don't know what you have. But I appreciate how hard our kids worked and adjusted to new coaching. So excited to see how they'll react when we get out there. Q. When you're working with young coaches is there anything you can do as a coach to get the confidence up really? COACH KINGSBURY: With young quarterbacks? Q. Yeah. COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I'm not a big believer in that. I think they come into the game ready to go. But let's go execute the offense that we've repped the last month, so we'll see. You you'd like to get them hit. That was the best thing when I was playing, you get hit a little bit and you get yourself going and get in the game. Q. You've got five offensive linemen out there, or are those competitions still ongoing? COACH KINGSBURY: Still ongoing. We're still figuring that out as far as our starting five goes. But it's been good competition. Some of those new guys have provided some depth. It's really helped being able to get two lines out there and rotate those guys through. Q. What about Tony Morales? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, Tony will be out. He hurt his shoulder, so he'll be out this week. Q. Can you talk about your expectations from SMU and what they'll show you offensively and defensively and how you want to counter those? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, offensively it's going to be interesting to see how Coach Mumme plays into it, obviously, those two great offensive minds coming together. So we'll have to see. If it's a blend of both or more Coach Mumme or more Coach Jones. So there is some unknown in that. Then defensively, Coach Mason's an incredible defensive coordinator. He's always giving us problems with his schemes. You look at the numbers he has last year and the takeaways and the turnovers, it's been like that since he got there. So it will be a real challenge. Q. Are you nervous? COACH KINGSBURY: More anxious. Just ready to get out there and get going. Q. What does SMU do well defensively? COACH KINGSBURY: Take the ball away, then when they get it, it's pretty astounding. Last year I think they tied the NCAA record for most return interceptions and led the country for most return fumbles. So when they get it, they'll go score with it, aggressing, attacking. For a young quarterback, that concerns you because you want him to be able to take care of the ball. Like I said, they do a great job, and he's going to have to play really well, whoever it is. Q. (No microphone)? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, really, being a quarterback, proud of his progress, actually. I thought the situation down there in Austin was tough on him. Obviously, for him to bounce back and do what he's doing now at SMU, you've got to tip your hat to the kid. I expect him to have a great senior year. You saw how he played the last two games last year, he was really hot. With Coach Mumme coming in, I expect him to have a great senior year. Q. You win the toss, defense or offense first? COACH KINGSBURY: That's a game‑time deal. Q. You want to coach more experienced quarterbacks, so first round out of the box Friday, the situation where you allow guys in the back field or others to help out and not put too much on their shoulders, or do you want him to get thrown into the fire a little bit? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, we're going to attack what the defense gives us. That's always been our philosophy. So if we can run it that first route, we'll run it. If we've got to throw it, we'll throw it. But we're not going to change our game plan based on the freshmen quarterback. We feel confident in both these guys and the camps they've had. Q. What was the key to holding them to three points last year at A&M? COACH KINGSBURY: I think it was a combination of things. Really good defensive players at Texas A&M, good scheme, and they had some things. I think Garrett was still getting used to their system. I think they still had some things open that he wasn't quite able to hit, and later in the year he was hitting those things. You could see he was much more comfortable in the system. I would say that was the biggest thing. Q. What would you say the main differences are between what Coach Jones has done over the years and what Coach Mumme is doing in terms of their offensive concepts? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, one is known as the air raid and one is the run and shoot. I would say from what I know about the run and shoot, the quarterback and receivers are more on the same page at the same time. Where in our system, at least what we do, we put more on the quarterback than we do the receivers. Q. Have you sat in any clinics with either of those guys? COACH KINGSBURY: No, I have not. I've talked with Coach Mumme quite a bit and know his feelings offense, and Coach Leach and their relationship, but I've never been around any sort of clinic. Q. Do you have any sense for what he's thinking? How to make their offense look a little different this year? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I don't. I would assume the communication would be different. In the past he's liked to bring his quarterback over to him. I figure they'll be signaling in to try to push the pace maybe a little bit more. But other than that, I don't know what they're going to do. Q. What do you think about, obviously, you're not known for offense and both of those guys are known for offense. I know it's not your offense versus their offense, but just how you feel about those guys in general? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. Not only as coaches, but the type of people they are. When you hear people speak about those men, they speak in high terms not only what they've done on the field, but how they treat their coaches and their players. It's a huge honor to be play against them, and it should be a good game. Q. Any pregame rituals you do to get yourself psyched up for the game? COACH KINGSBURY: Not really. I'm not big on that. Just show up and get it going. Q. Could you talk about this being the first day of school and maybe the advice that you've given your team or at least the guys that are stepping on to this campus for the first time? COACH KINGSBURY: Go to class. That is the biggest thing. But, no, it is‑‑ people forget these are college kids. Whether it be their girlfriend or their first day of class, they have a lot going on their minds. So you hope when they get to you they can refocus and make it about football. But the first day of school is always difficult. Q. No pregame rituals, but will this one be different for you because it's your alma mater and your first job? COACH KINGSBURY: I don't think so. I think all of that has kind of worn off, and now it's just about winning games, and that's what we're trying to do. Q. Any thoughts on that going on Friday night and just getting a jump start on the rest of college football? COACH KINGSBURY: Yeah, I think being able to be seen by a national TV audience is huge for the program. That was kind of the agreement in doing that. So our kids will be excited to play in front of all those fans, and I'm sure there will be a great Tech contingent in attendance. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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