Feb. 26, 2009
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR Greg Davis
On improving to the running game: As we sit and evaluate and look at the players that we have, one of the things we felt we did in the second half against Ohio State was we got under center and we came downhill some. Most of it was out of a fast tempo, so we want to be able to continue to do that. We also want to be able to mix it up some. We’ll install some two backs in the spring. How much we use that in August, in the season, will be determined by how we are at it and the different personnel and groupings we can get in. I think the biggest thing I think that you have to do on either side of the ball is make sure, one, you’re putting your best players on the field and that you’re giving them the opportunity to be successful. As we went back and evaluated all aspects of the 2008 season, many of what goes down as passes are runs in our mind. One particular one, we threw 38 times and we completed 36 of them and averaged six yards of completion so that’s a pretty good run play. But at the same time, we want to be able to run the ball more effectively when we want to run it and when the game dictates it.
On whether the running game execution depends on the offensive line or the running backs: It’s always on all of them. It’s on the [offensive] line to get us to the second level and the backs to see the holes right to make four yards when there’s very little there and to make a bunch when we’re able to put them into the second level. It’s not one guy, one position or any of that. Usually, that’s a combination of things.
On if he wants a staff of running backs like in 2008 or one running back to emerge: I would like somebody to emerge. I would like to have a guy, as we have had most of the years we’ve been here, that was the guy, and then have a third-down specialist that was a great receiver and a good blitz pickup in that kind of situation. At the same time, until that guy emerges, we will continue to try to look at all of them. One thing about backs is in most cases, as Fozzy [Whitaker] missed some time last year, Vondrell [McGee] missed some time and Chris [Ogbonnaya] probably stayed as healthy last year as he has in the years he’s been here, you need multiple backs to be able to play in the Big 12.
On who will play at the running back: If you played tomorrow, it would be Fozzy Whittaker, because he has done it the most and he’s the most comfortable with the whole game from blitz pickups to playing wide receiver if we go to empty. He’s a little bit like Chris Ogbonnaya in that regard. He can play a lot of different places for us. We do think Tre [Newton] did some things at the end of the season and in practice that we’re really encouraged about, and obviously he’s played in an offense in high school where he was in the shotgun and had a lot of blitz pickup work.
On the blocking schemes and why they work: I think people get too carried away with man schemes and zone schemes because a lot of times when you’re in two backs, you’re manning on one side and you’re zoning on the other so it’s not a whole man scheme. A lot of the two backs that many of the pros run, it’s based on zone principle. You’ve got to be able to do both. In a one back offense, you’re set up in a better position to zone than you are man scheme because you obviously lost a blocker. So any time you want to man a one-back play where you want to double a three technique back to a backside backer, now you’re in a situation where the numbers have to be right. You’ve got six blockers up there with a tight end, you’re going to double a three back to a backside backer, you can pull a guard for the front side backer and that play, that power play and man scheme play, only works if you’re looking at a 4-2 front. The moment it becomes a seven-man front, you either have to check that play, you either have to throw the ball or whatever. The short answer is it fits the one-back [play] that we’re in so much of the time.
On what he wants Colt McCoy to work on during the spring: He was in yesterday and I pointed out several things I want him to work at. As a quarterback gets older, you get more picky. When they’re young, you just hope they can get a team out of the huddle. As they get older than you become more picky. One of the things I told him is there was a couple of different routes that we run that I thought he did a poor job of getting the ball back to number three, to the third choice. I want him, in the spring, to work on making sure he’s getting the ball down to the third choice. I want him to continue to work on when he extends a play. There’s a way to extend a play and have positive results, even if that result is throw it way. There’s a way that you can extend it and bad things happen. He made great strides on that from his sophomore to his junior year.
On the tight end injuries impacting the offense’s spring practice: I would say it is as big of a concern we have offensively. I am concerned about it. Blaine [Irby] will not be in the spring. Josh Marshall can only go through the second part of the spring. The good thing about that is it gives you a chance to give Greg Smith, Ahmard Howard and D.J. Grant a bunch of snaps so we can evaluate where we’re at. There’s no question that having to play as much 10 personnel as we had to play last year was also a factor in the run game. Not totally and not trying to dismiss it, but it is a factor because you lose a surface up there in terms of which way to run the ball. So we have to find out this spring if one of those guys, two of those guys, are going to be able to do the things that we want done. D.J. Grant is obviously moving to another position. We’ve had great success with that at the tight end, taking a big receiver and moving him inside. Greg Smith went into fall camp last year as a center. His weight is down to 265 so he’s in a little bit of a better tight end body than he was before. But it’s a concern. There’s no question about it. I’m much more concerned about that than the running game.
On finding a complete tight end: I don’t know if we’ll be able to find a complete tight end, the Jermichael Finley, the Bo Scaife, the David Thomas. They were complete in that you could run anything you wanted to. Obviously, they were better in some areas than others but at the same time you could run anything. You could flex them, you could have 11 personnel in the game and all of sudden you’re in empty formation so they gave us a lot of flexibility there.
On losing Quan Cosby: Quan was a heck of a player. There’s no question about that. We’re going to miss Quan as much off the field, and this is a big statement, as on the field. He was a great leader. He had great maturity. He was great in the wide receiver room. He was great in the offensive huddle. He brought a mature, professional if you will, attitude to practice every day. We’re going to miss that. Obviously, we’re going to miss the catches and 1,000 yards. I feel like with Brandon Collins and James Kirkendoll coming on, then Malcolm Williams and Jordan [Shipley], who won’t go through spring but we know what he can do, we’ll be okay.
On Jordan Shipley missing spring training: Jordan is a guy that if you had to pick one of the receivers to miss, Jordan would be the one because he’ll be going into his sixth year in the system. He can play in the slot. The only disappointing thing for me and for Jordan is that we were going to look at him some as a single receiver on the backside. He’ll be able to do that in the fall, but we were going to take a look at that some in spring training and we won’t be able to do that. But it does give you a great opportunity for the Dan Buckner’s, the Malcolm Williams’, the Brock Fitzhenry’s and the DeSean Hale’s. They’re going to get a lot more snaps with quality throws with Quan being gone and Jordan being out.
On his relationships with Will Muschamp: It’s great because Will and I spend a lot of time in each other’s offices. He’ll walk over and say, “What you do you think about this versus a one back, weak side zone?” I’ll do the same thing. “What does this route do versus quarters match or not do to you?” During the week is where we prepare for the ball game. We’ll be real upfront about what he thinks of the opponent and I try to do the same thing. I think one of the things that Will did at the end of the Ohio State ball game was brilliant. They were moving the ball, and I am sitting in the box and I’m thinking, “Gosh Almighty, Will. If they’re going to score, let them score now so we’ve got some time.” And what he did and what he told Mack was we’re going to run blitz and we’re going to need to stone it or they’re going to puff one. If they puff one, we’ve got more time. It was a heck of a plan. But we spend a lot of time talking to each other and visiting about philosophical things. I’ve been fortune enough to have nice relationships with all the ones [defensive coordinators] that have been here. I think that knowing Will as a player and competing against him as a coach, I knew coming in exactly what he was going to bring to the table. He brings such a high energy to the field that it makes us all better.
On spring practice: Every practice in spring, we try to do some kind of different, change-of-pace gadget play. One, so the defense can see it. Two, some of them we like and some of them we end up not using. The kids love it and it’s good for both sides of the ball.
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR Will Muschamp
On having Sergio Kindle play more defensive end: I don’t think his role is changing. We’re just going to get him more comfortable playing out of a three-point stance. He’s going to continue to do the things he did last year. There’s not a whole lot changing as far as he’s concerned other than putting him in more rep(etition) situations. He missed all of the offseason last year as lifting and running and conditioning, and he missed all of spring ball. When we got into fall camp you really didn’t know what you had. You were trying to mix and match and find out what the best thing is you can do. We just need to get him more reps in those situations and that’s what we’re going to do this spring. We’re going to devote that time to that. I look at spring as a time to experiment, to look at different things, to get guys in different spots because if you don’t ever try, you don’t ever know. We’re going to move guys around just like we did last spring. We’re going to try to find the best combination of 11 guys in those situations and to help the football team improve.
On Sergio Kindle and if the move to defensive end is permanent: He’s a powerful guy. He’s got good punch and power at the point of attack. He’s a strong-handed guy, so he’s fine where he is.
On the key issues in the front seven going into spring: I think that more than anything, just looking at it, we’re going to have to move some guys around up front. We’re going to lack a little depth because of some injuries. We need to find out how deep we can go up front, that’s obviously an issue going into spring. We’ve had tremendous pressure with four guys rushing last year, which is the best pass defense in America when you’re able to rush four guys and affect the quarterback, so we’ve got to continue to develop depth in the front and move guys around and find the best combinations. Emmanuel Acho would be a guy that we’ll experiment with in those situations. He’s got good initial quickness, long arms, he’s a kid that’s starting to blossom into a player. Unfortunately, he had the knee injury that set him back last year. He certainly would have gotten a lot more time. We’ll look at Jared (Norton) in some of those situations. In this league, you’ve got to develop more speed on the field, you’ve got to develop as many rushers as you can have in this league because when you get late in the game you’ve got to be able to rush the passer. It’s not a running league, so to speak, week to week. You’ve got to develop as many guys as you can that can pass rush and affect the quarterback.
On finding new pass rushers: I think we’ve got guys that are capable here on campus, and I think that there are a lot of unknowns. I’m hoping that some of those guys can continue to develop. They have the size, the speed, the initial quickness, but a lot of pass rush is knack of ability to feel a blocker, to read his vertical or horizontal sets. I think a lot of that in due time we’ll find out who those guys are.
On the losses on the defensive line and replacing their leadership: You take Henry Melton, you take Brian Orakpo, and Aaron Lewis was an effective mismatch for us inside. Sergio had an outstanding year rushing the passer, Lamarr Houston inside and Roy Miller. Of the guys we just mentioned, two of them are back and those other four are not here anymore. As much as anything, as good of players as those guys were, they were really good leaders. That’s what we’re really going to miss as far as the leadership. We’ve got to have those guys develop. I’m real pleased with the way our offseason program has gone, but you don’t really know until you get in that grind of spring, and you get in the grind of fall camp and you get in the grind of summer where your leadership is and how it will respond to adversity.
On if the staff is planning on moving any players on the defensive line: We won’t right now because we’re lacking some depth at the end position. We’re going to kind of maintain with what we’ve got right now, repping Lamarr (Houston) and Ben (Alexander) and Kheeston (Randall) and Michael (Wilcoxon), and Kyle Kriegel will rep both end and tackle. At the end, Sam (Acho) and Russell (Carter), Sergio (Kindle), Dravannti (Johnson) and Alex (Okafor) will all get turns. In rush situations, we’ll be able to move possibly Emmanuel (Acho) or Jared (Norton) in situations to rush the passer at end to experiment with those kids in those situations.
On where the incoming freshmen project along the defensive line: I think time will tell and depending on how they move around in the summer, and where we come out of spring ball. There are a lot of question marks. I think we recruited Derek (Johnson) and Calvin (Howell) both as inside players and Tevin (Mims) as kind of an either/or situation depending on where is body takes him. He had shoulder surgery spring of his junior season, so he missed a whole lifting period there and when a lot of bigger kids that have body mass like him get on three meals a day and eat and do the lifting continuously, his body may grow and develop and we’ll take that where it goes.
On senior DT Lamarr Houston: We’ve got very high expectations, none higher than he’s got for himself. He’s really worked hard. He’s really doing the little things off the field. He’s working with kickboxing and punching and really working his hands and feet. That’s what you like to see as a coach, guys that are really dedicated to what they’re doing. He’s got a thirst for the knowledge of becoming a better player. The off-the-field things effect the on-the-field things, and that’s what he’s trying to do right now. I’ve been real pleased with that and look forward to his leadership in the spring. I think he’s done a good job with our players.
On finding new sources of leadership: Everybody talks about leadership. I tell the guys to be themselves. Just be yourself. Be a good person. Be a good teammate. Support your teammates and do your job and you positively will affect other players. We’ve got guys on our team that play hard. That’s leadership to me – the example they set for the football team. When you turn the film on, the guys are playing their guts out.
On how the staff implements the defensive system: We’re going to play right and left starting out with Kheeston (Randall) and Lamarr (Houston). Ben Alexander is a perfect zero. He really is a run-down stopper that we feel comfortable with. We will play right and left starting out so they all will play the shade, they all can play some zero, they all will play the three inside and then we’ll kind of branch from there. I’d rather start it out right and left. We start out right and left corner, right and left safety, right and left inside. You learn more about your team as opposed to getting cornered into one thing and somebody trades a tight end and nobody knows what to do. We teach it harder in the beginning so it’s easier in the long run.
On sophomore CB Aaron Williams: Aaron played well for us last year. We’ve got a lot of confidence in him and what he’s done in the offseason. He’s got really good ball skills. He was our Ball Hawk award winner for our defense this past year as far as turnovers are concerned with the blocked kicks and the different things. He’s got a very good knack of finishing plays.
On the need to force more turnovers: Really if you want to look at the improvements of our defense, turnovers are number one. We finished 49th in the country in turnover margin. Our offense was phenomenal in not turning it over and we’ve got to do a much better job defensively in getting turnovers. That’s the number one thing, and we’ve just got to emphasize it more as coaches and do a better job of making our players more aware and cognizant of the ball and finishing plays. We had some opportunities, we’ve just got to cash in on those opportunities and make it happen.
On if he looks at other teams that force more turnovers as a way to increase turnovers: No, because I’ve been a part of defenses that have led the nation in turnovers. I know that it comes and there are times that the ball bounces your way and there are times when it doesn’t. You’ve just got to keep playing, you’ve got to keep swinging, and I think eventually the ball is going to bounce our way, and I know I said that all last year and you look at me and roll your eyes, but that’s what we’re going to continue to do. We’ve just got to do a better job of a staff of emphasizing it. That’s the way I look at it. We’ve got to do a better job of emphasizing turnovers and making the kids more cognizant of situations to punch the ball loose and finish plays.
On if the youth in the secondary contributed to the lack of turnovers: I don’t think it has anything to do with youth. Aaron Williams was really good at finishing and he was a freshman. I think it’s just a matter of gaining confidence, and when that opportunity arises and presents itself, you make the play.
On where the team is in the first spring meeting as opposed to last year: It was great. This morning we met and I felt like I was speaking English to them, that was a much, much more improvement from last year. There’s a lot of carryover and the kids have really done a good job in the offseason. We’ve made (highlight) reels for all the kids for plays they’ve made, plays they need to improve on as far as within our scheme and things we need to do. This morning was a breath of fresh air as far as talking and installing tomorrow and having them all nodding and having the interaction with the players back and forth. It’s great.
On the benefits of coaching his second spring practice: There’s no question, it’s a laundry list. You look from opponent preparation. You look at being able to practice in spring, the last part of spring, spending time every day on opponents for the season that we struggled with in the fall. We’ll be able to do that more in fall camp. We’ll be doing so much more fundamental work and technique and tackling improvement as opposed to teaching scheme. We spent a lot of time teaching scheme last year and a lot of time teaching scheme in the fall up into the first game. Also, the comfort level of what I think we can handle, what I don’t think we can handle, the unknowns that you go through as a staff of assuming that we are on the same page, maybe we’re not, and the staff has been phenomenal. I think that there are so many obstacles that you go through, and this really being my third time doing it, you learn from every stop and you learn from every situation, but there’s no question the ocean should be a little bit calmer as far as the preparation is concerned and doing a better job of preparing the kids.
On sophomore S Christian Scott: I think Christian, athletically, has got a large upside at the safety position. He’s a guy that’s just got to continue to perform more consistently, and he knows that. It’s something that we’ve talked to him about. There’s a mental edge to the game and understanding that just being a good athlete on this level is not going to cut it. You’ve got to do the little things right, the mental things right, all the time, every snap. A three technique can have the wrong gap and we can have a little bit of an issue, but when a safety is not in the right spot, then we’ve got some serious problems on our hands.
On what the defense needs to improve the most in spring practice: The three points of emphasis going into the spring are turnovers, big plays and third and three-to-six. We were right at 50 percent getting off the field and we need to be 60 percent or more. Those are three glaring areas for us that we’ve got to improve on. The consistent performance and finishing games; we gave up a lot late in games and that’s something we can’t afford to do.
On the importance of the offensive and defensive staffs being on the same page: I think it’s important to be on the same page as the other coordinator. It’s critical. I’ve been lucky, where I’ve been with guys that are easy to work with. You’ve got to be able to see the whole door and not just look through the keyhole and see how it affects you. You’ve got to understand that you make decisions that affect the other side of the ball. We install together, we talk about what we’re putting in. The worst thing that can happen is your kids lose confidence in what you’re doing. You go out on the field and you’re not prepared for something and your kids lose confidence because you’re not prepared for what they may do. It’s critical to be on the same page from an installation standpoint, which we are. It’s critical to be on the same page in the season, how we’re going to win the football game. We’re going to be able to give them some negative plays defensively to give ourselves a shot to win the game. We feel good about our situation here. We feel like we’re going to put some points on the board. Defensively, just don’t give up anything cheap and we can win the game. I think that is so critical, and it’s so overlooked in football of how important it is that everybody’s on the same page about where we are and what we’re doing. It’s not about winning the drill; it’s about making the football team better and making Texas better. I think that, unfortunately, in the coaching profession, egos get involved and they look at their side of the ball more than they do the importance of the team, and when that happens, it’s not good for your team. It’s not good for your players. It’s not good for anybody.
On using offensive coaches to help defensive coaches scheme: I think it’s important to see how, offensively, they view what you do. You may think as a defensive coach, “This is going to give them problems,” and offensively, they don’t think it’s a problem. Actually when we talk in terms of scheme, I’d rather talk to an offensive coach than a defensive coach. Does this give you an issue? Does this give you a problem from a protection standpoint? How does this look affect you offensively? As opposed to what we all think as defensive coaches – something that we think is going to give an offense some issues, and it doesn’t.
On the linebackers: Keenan (Robinson) obviously will be repping at the Sam (strong side linebacker), Tariq Allen will rep the Sam and the Mike (middle linebacker). Jared Norton is a guy that I really was pleased with how he played at the Mike position. I’m expecting an outstanding spring, on and off the field, from him. Dustin Earnest is really working hard. I’m looking forward to his opportunities in the spring. At the Will (weak side) linebacker, Roddrick Muckelroy is back. I think he had an outstanding year, a very consistent performer, led us in tackles and a guy that needs to have a good year. Emmanuel Acho really had a good year. He played as a true freshman. When you play a true freshman, you’re not looking at game one, you’re looking at game eight. Where is he going to be at game eight? I really felt like he was progressing very well and unfortunately had the injury that set him back a little bit as far as where we were in the year, and I’m excited about him. Ryan Roberson is a guy I really feel like athletically is what you want – punch, power, strike – he just hasn’t played a lot. He’s been mostly an offensive player before coming to Texas, coming out of Brenham. All of those guys I feel like have the ability to play at The University of Texas and be productive players for us. Emmanuel will be a guy that we want to look at end-of-the-line in rush situations because I think he’s got the initial quickness and punch and power and change of direction to be able to do that and be able to hold the point against some of the bigger guys. Roddrick is a guy that we’ll rep at the Mike and the Will. Keenan is a guy that’s played a little more stack backer than he has end of the linebacker, so when we come back from spring break, he will play some Will, and Emmanuel will play some Sam. I told Emmanuel he needs to put his thinking cap on. We’re going to move him around a lot this spring, and just find the best mix of guys that can be productive for us.
On Sergio Kindle’s performance against OT Jason Smith of Baylor: I think in each game, in each situation, when you face a player of that caliber, you always look at the positives and negatives. You don’t want to just harp on everything that didn’t go well in the game. Sergio played well in that game and rushed the passer really well against a quality player. That’s where you show where we can go if you just get the consistent performance and the reps. I really feel like, and I told Sergio this, we weren’t fair to him all the time last year putting him in a position without repping it enough in the situations we put him in at defensive end. A lot of it was because we didn’t really know what we had until we were rolling there in fall camp and were starting to switch and change guys around. Really when you hit fall camp, the experimenting needs to be over. We need to get ready to play and get guys comfortable with what they’re going to do.
On his expectations for his players: They need to perform every day and perform well. I view it like the business world. If you’re a salesman and you don’t sell, you’re going to get fired. Our guys need to produce and go out and be productive every single day regardless of their classification. We have, obviously, different expectation levels for our new enrollees as opposed to a senior, but every day they need to learn to compete. We’re trying to make everything as competitive as we can by position and simulate that as much as possible because the best motivator is competition. Those guys need to learn to come in and compete and compete at a high level. Hard work is a habit that you better learn early. You’ve got to learn hustle and compete.
On changing his scheme to fit the opponent: Obviously with new opponents Louisiana-Monroe and Wyoming, Wyoming will be Missouri because of Dave (Christiansen). We’re sort of facing the same animal, so we need to tweak our scheme a little bit. We ended up last year playing right at 125, 130 snaps of what I would call regular people and 630 snaps of sub, some form of nickel or dime. That’s a lot about what you’re facing. You’ve got to tweak your system and we don’t need to spend as much time on regular personnel – 21, 12 personnel. That’s also what our personnel fit for us last year. It’s who we were a little bit more. We’ve just got to continue to tweak our scheme to fit what we’re seeing each week.
On freshman DE Alex Okafor and playing as a true freshman: Let’s let him be a freshman. Let’s let him go out and compete and play. I think, these guys, just let them be freshmen. Right now with the way recruiting is, we build these guys up to be “can’t miss” and things like that and we’ve just got to allow nature to take its time and let him be a freshman. You look at Blake Gideon. Who would have ever predicted he’d have the year he had? He had it because he’s a grounded kid, he’s well motivated, he’s an outstanding athlete, he’s a guy that’s taking care of things on and off the field and he approached things in a very mature manner. Playing as a freshman, in my opinion, a lot of times doesn’t have anything to do with ability. It has to do with maturity and adjusting to being away from home, new coach, new scheme, new system, away from mom, all of those things that seem to be not important in the recruiting world, but when they come to campus, that stuff figures in to how they adjust being away from home.
On evaluating players during the off-season: I just look more than anything at work ethic, want to, flexibility, lower body flexibility, power, explosion, stamina, endurance. A lot of so-called intangible things you want to look for you would consider in the personal traits. When you get in the football part of it, then you’re able to evaluate him as a football player. That’s why I think it’s hard for me to project right now a guy as a football player. You know what you’ve seen from high school film, you have a little bit of an expectation in your own mind of what you expect, you see him move around, you see the athletic ability, the athleticism, the different things you’re looking for, but really when you put the ball down and tee it up is when you find out really what it’s all about.
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