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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEAugust 26, 2013Kerry HyderQ. Kerry, what is the mood of this team entering week one compared to the last few years? KERRY HYDER: It's exciting, man. You can feel it around campus. Everyone's excited, the fans, the players, the coaches. Everyone's looking forward to the game at SMU. Q. Can you talk a little bit about the challenge of their offense, and what you expect from them? KERRY HYDER: They look like a good group. We heard a lot of good things about their center, so I'm looking forward to the challenge and everyone's up for it. Q. Did you like the extra pressure that Coach Wallerstedt put on you guys to get the sack while at the lunch last week? KERRY HYDER: Definitely. We're right behind him. We want to support our coach, and if he wants a sack in the first two minutes, we're down for it. Q. After all this talk since Coach Kingsbury was hired, how excited are you guys to be doing game preparations? KERRY HYDER: Definitely, we're excited. We're tired of beating up on each other. We're ready to get started and get the season going. We put a lot of work in this off‑season. We've got 12 games to show it starting with SMU. Q. Can you talk about how the players are behind whoever is going to be starting quarterback, and what are they doing to support that particular person? KERRY HYDER: Whoever it is, we'll back them, our teammates and support them 100%. Whoever they go with, that's who we've got to roll with. Q. Do you like opening up the road this year? KERRY HYDER: I definitely want to open up the stadium with our new fans and the new Jumbotron, but anywhere is home for us. We can make any home ours, so that's what we want to do down there. Q. What do you think about playing Friday night? KERRY HYDER: Well, primetime I feel like we've got a lot of chance. I feel like we're the only game on TV at that time, so it's a good chance to showcase what we have this season. Q. What do you need to see from your offense that they do well? KERRY HYDER: From what I've seen, they throw the ball pretty well. They have a good quarterback in Garrett Gilbert, so we'll expect for them to throw the ball around a little bit. Q. You know there is a lot of experience on that front line. Is there any extra pressure added to make sure you guys keep pressure on the line? KERRY HYDER: I won't call it pressure. We've got a lot of good guys up front. They expect a lot of things from us, and we plan to show up. We don't try to dwell on the pressure or whatever it is. We're the captains of the team, and we expect the team to lean on us. Q. With that said, do you have any type of concerns going into this week with teammates? Do you have any concerns? KERRY HYDER: Not at all. We're confident. Coach Wallerstedt has a great game plan in order, and we look forward to putting it in place. Q. How have you guys worked on forcing more turnovers? KERRY HYDER: We do a turnover circuit every day. Working on whipping the ball out, working on jumping, and jumping routes and stuff like that. So they put a big emphasis on us this off‑season, and hopefully it will carry over to the field. Q. Have you seen that in practice? KERRY HYDER: Definitely. Guys that are raking for the ball and intercepting the ball. So, nine times out of ten, it's going to transfer over. Q. Can you guess what the score is? KERRY HYDER: No guesses. We're going to come out and play fast and play tough. So whatever the score is, that's what it's going to be. Q. Can you talk a little bit more about Garrett Gilbert? I know you probably didn't play that much when he was with Texas, but what you've seen from him on tape? KERRY HYDER: He's a good quarterback. He's a big guy. Surprisingly, he can run pretty well. So we've got to be careful in our rush lanes and making sure we get to him. Q. Talked about this is your last first game ever in college; so what's going on there? Is there any more pressure that you're putting on yourself to win this game or on defense to lead the defense? What is that pressure like? KERRY HYDER: I can say my teammates are behind me. I wouldn't call it pressure. This is something that the coaches and the players expect from me to try to lead this group, so I'm going to do my best to do that. I wouldn't necessarily call it pressure, just added motivation. Q. Any pregame rituals that you've got planned? Are you pretty excited to get this game started or anything you do before a game? KERRY HYDER: I try to‑‑ I don't do nothing too crazy. I wear the same kind of socks, and the same outfit, I feel like. I try to keep the same outfit. Q. Have the coaches changed anything as far as how they teach you guys given some of the changes rule‑wise and defensively and target players this off‑season? KERRY HYDER: We're going to play fast. You can't play the game worrying about penalties and worrying about that kind of thing. We've just got to play fast. We'll try to do our best to play within the rules. Q. This is the first year that starting out it's not the offense that's getting the big hype; it's the defense. Are there any sort of internal sort of fun kind of competitions going on between the two teams? KERRY HYDER: It's really exciting. They're known as an offensive school, everybody knows that. But the defense, we have a lot of starters coming back, and they expect a lot from us, so we're up for the challenge. We're excited to try to make a staple of the defense. Q. These last few weeks you showed among your defense who has been the most impressive or who do you think has had the best camp? KERRY HYDER: I would say like Branden Jackson. He has a real great camp. I expect a lot of big things from him this season. The work he's put in this off‑season, I feel like it's going to pay off a lot this season. Q. What about Dartwan Bush? KERRY HYDER: Dartwan Bush is another guy that's a great pass rusher. I expect big things out of him this season. He's pushing me all the time. I feel like Dartwan Bush is a guy that can really jump on the scene this year in the Big 12. Q. Do you get the feeling that the defense is on the verge of a big season? KERRY HYDER: Well, that's what it seems like. Like I said, we have the whole front seven coming back. Like I said, our secondary is kind of young, but Tre' Porter has been around and he's got a lot of plays in, so I feel like we're going to be a really stout defense. Q. As a defensive lineman who has shown up in fall camp in the secondary, who gets your attention beyond Tre' Porter? KERRY HYDER: (Indiscernible) J.J. Gaines, Ola, Bruce Jones, those guys are really coming together, and I feel like there are going to be some ball Hawks on the back end this year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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