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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYS

July 25, 2011

Art Briles

DALLAS, TEXAS

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Baylor coach Art Briles. We'll start with opening comments.
COACH BRILES: Good morning. Opening comments, I don't guess I'm any different than any coach in America or anybody that's been through this room or will be through this room in that everybody's excited. If you're a player, you're a coach, you're a fan, alumnus, whatever you are, if you like the game of football, it's a great time of year, because everybody's worked hard, prepared through the off season, spring, summer, and now it's time to put what you've worked for on the field.
So, I mean, we're pumped and ready to go and jump out there and see what can happen.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. The Kansases and Iowa States are now entering the world Baylor has been in in the last 15 years in terms of you have to play the Texases and Oklahomas every year now. Can you explain how do you build a successful program when you have to play those heavyweights year after year and you don't get that scheduling break?
COACH BRILES: You know, I hadn't even thought about that. I mean, we've got a conference schedule. You're going to play everybody one time through. I'm not sure there is one opponent that's that much more dominating over another over maybe a ten-year period. I know there's a lot of stats to contradict that.
But it's kind of what it is. Kind of what it is for us. Kind of what it is for everybody that's in this league. You're going to play everybody, mess around here in December, and see what happens.

Q. They said it usually takes two years for a guy to come back from a major knee injury. How much better is Robert's mobility now compared to a year ago?
COACH BRILES: His mobility has always been good. Last year when we started out there was a little hesitation, play calling, schematically, making sure he was okay, because he was inside of a year.
I think it takes an ACL, I think, a full year to really feel comfortable about what you're doing.
So this year starting out we know where he's at. We know what he can do on the field. And so there won't be any questions when we jump on the field September 2nd concerning that.

Q. On the subject of Robert, obviously he's a confident guy, likes to talk about his own confidence. What's your attitude toward him? I don't know, it's a little far talking trash, but his attitude about being so confident?
COACH BRILES: You know, talking trash to my nephew or talking trash -- you talking trash to your nephew might be two different things. It's kind of in the ear of the beholder.
So I never got too concerned with that. I do get a little concerned with maybe an analogy might be the new touchdown celebration rule. And I'm not sure how lax you're going to be. But if you ever watched Edwin Moses run the hurdles, he was a pretty good hurdler for a 20-year period. He's not low stepping when he's crossing that finish line. His knee's up and he's stepping long and he's stepping pretty.
What I would hate to do is have some line judge to interpret that as taunting, which I don't consider it. So, I mean, Robert talking trash is to me just being a confident athlete that has reality to back up what he's saying.
I mean, shoot, he's not worried about what people are thinking about what he's saying; he's worried about producing on the football field. And he's a mature enough person to understand that what he says he has the ability to back up, which he does.

Q. Can you talk about bringing in Phil Bennett, what he's been able to do with the defense in a very short amount of time?
COACH BRILES: I'm really excited about Phil Bennett. I really am. It's been, I hate to say, a breath of fresh air. But that man is a football coach. He and I coincide so much on philosophy and belief in how to treat people, how to make people accountable, that it's just -- I'm really excited about that side of the ball.
Because he's got one thing money can't buy, and that's experience. He's got a lot of good experience on the defensive side of the ball. So we're not going to say anything or he's not going to say anything that's surprising. He's going to have an answer for everything. He's got a plan.
He's extremely accountable as a coach, as a person, and his players are going to be that way. And it's really, really been a lot of fun. I'll really excited about meshing the two sides of the ball together with special teams and putting the football team out on the field out there that's going to be a tough out.

Q. Do you expect to get Josh Gordon back this year?
COACH BRILES: You know, I have no idea right now. You all are a lot smarter than I am. Somebody can give you the definition of "indefinitely." I think it might mean this afternoon. It might mean ten years from now. I don't know. I know we're going to move forward, we're going to play, and we're going to be good.

Q. You got Ahmad stepping into that hybrid nickel back position. What are you expecting out of him as a true sophomore and what are his responsibilities from that position going to be?
COACH BRILES: Ahmad's an extremely dynamic player. He hides his weight as well as anybody I've been around. I take a lot of pride in being able to guess how much a male weighs (laughter). But he weighs 206 pounds. If you looked at him, you'd say that guy looks like he's weighs about 183. He's put together pretty good. He's a guy that's extremely physical. He likes contact. And he's really quick twist; he can turn and make it happen in a hurry.
I think it's a great position for him. We're really, really pumped to see how he really grows at that position. He's going to make a lot of football plays for us. Great young man, too, by the way.

Q. Talk about it was such a long mountain to get to that bowl game, maybe even leaving the division for a while last year. What did that do to your program to be in the spotlight, make the bowl game, lead the division for a while?
COACH BRILES: It was big. I'm telling you, I remember thinking the game when we became bowl-eligible we had a delay, hour delay, rain delay or lightning. I know rain sounds out there a little bit. Maybe it was a lightning delay. And I was thinking, boy, it's hard to get bowl-eligible at Baylor. They're making it hard on us.
And so that was big. It was big from a recruiting standpoint, and then just from a belief standpoint for our fans, our players and everybody that loves Baylor University. So that part of it was big to get over. We're over it now. Now we need to keep growing from it, learn from it, which we have and will.

Q. You've already talked about Robert and the other guy, so I'm going to have to ask you about the Longhorn Network you were talking about recruiting a minute ago. Do you worry about the extra exposure that Texas is going to get because of 24 hours a day? Obviously it's already tough recruiting against some teams, but talk about what that will do.
COACH BRILES: Maybe I'm different, I don't know. To answer your question, do I worry about it, not a bit. I mean, they're pretty hard to recruit against anyway, you know what I'm saying? They've done a great job for numerous years.
If you want to go back to '68, (indiscernible) to Burleson who caught the spiral maybe. I'm not sure on my facts on that. Might have been '69. So they've been good a while. They've done a great job for a while. Mack over the last 12 years, average 10 wins a year.
I mean, that's fact. And when you get in the recruiting world, fact matters. They can do that, if there's a need for it, people are going to pay for it, more power to them. Let them have it. If it helps the Big 12 if we have to recruit harder against Texas, we'll do a better job, work harder and see if we can get a little better.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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