The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Mack Brown press conference transcript: Aug. 4
08.04.2011 | Football
Aug. 4, 2011
Opening statement: This is a great day and a fun day, when all of our guys report. It's very different than it used to be, because the freshmen now are on campus and all of the other guys are in school. So even though we haven't been around the guys for the summer they have been here, and they have been working out with [Assistant Athletics Director for Strength & Conditioning] Coach [Jeff ] Madden and [Strength and Conditioning Head Coach for Football [Bennie] Wylie. You get reports from them some, of the great summers they've had, and that's encouraging. But it's not like when the parents brought the freshman in and walked them into the dorm. Our guys do have to move into the dorm from where they stayed in the summer because it's a different place. Reporting day is much different than it was because they started to allow freshman to come in June.
There are four guys that will not play this year. Trey Graham, will take a medical scholarship because of his knee injury. Brock Fitzhenry, Patrick Nkwopara, and Malcolm Williams have decided to forego their senior year and not play. Malcolm's got some family issues that he fought through during the spring. I talked to him and he fought through them. I talked to him this morning at ten o'clock and he's decided that he just needs to focus on his academics and his family and get those things back in order. We appreciate all three of those young men. Trey will still be here with us. Brock will still be here with us as well as Patrick. They are all in school. They will all finish their degrees this year, and we appreciate what they've done for us.
The other 105 [players] are here, and all of them have been released to practice. As I said, it sounds like they've had a great summer. With the heat it's really critical that the guys have worked hard and that they are in great shape because it's dangerous out there. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the coach that died in Plano, and sounds like there were two young student athletes that died in Georgia yesterday. So we are all going to have to take extreme caution with this heat because I've never seen anything like it. We are looking at our practice times, and our number of breaks that we can take. We are looking at outside compared to inside. We have got Jeff Madden, [Head Athletic Trainer] Kenny Boyd and Bennie Wylie's thoughts on the heat this summer, because they worked at different times of day to see what the best time of the day is. And that is something that we will continue to look at as we continue on.
As I said everyone is released to practice, and everyone is healthy. There might be a few guys that we limit to one practice a day, but when your only having one practice for the first five, it's not really an issue. So we do not feel like that it is a problem. Practices will be closed just like they were in the spring so that way we can focus on our guys and trying to start looking at a depth chart and moving forward as we are getting into the practices. We will have split practices like we have had over the last three years. In the morning the older guys as such, will go out and practice for an hour-and-a-half. The young ones will be there to watch, and then tomorrow afternoon we will do just the opposite.The older ones will come and watch the young ones practice, and the young ones will be watched by the coaches. We have felt like this is pretty much an orientation where in the first three days the young ones get to watch the older ones practice, and you do move some guys up and change them. We are talking about the possibility because of the heat of maybe flipping it some, and having the younger guys go in the morning, because it's a little cooler, and you have a better chance when you're out in the morning than if you were out in a 4-6pm practice. The quarterbacks will alternate between those two practices. All four of them will get to work with the older ones as well as the younger ones. Then after the three day orientation period we'll have to start looking very closely at our depth chart, and put them in competitive situations to make some decisions on who should be the starter and who should be backing him up.
Right now the only position change that I have to report right is Chet Moss. He will be playing fullback, and it's something that we're excited about, and he's excited about. So he will be in Coach Applewhite's meeting in the morning, and he will move forward in that position.
On how WR Malcolm Williams came to the decision not to play: I talked to Malcolm in the spring, and he had some family issues at that time, and what I told him was to slow down and make sure that he took his time because he has been an outstanding player for us and a great young man. He's done everything that we have asked of him to do on the field and off the field. I'm not going to go into the family situation. He has had some tough things happen that would be tough for all of us, and they got tougher this summer. He fought through it, enjoyed spring, and I think this summer he was planning on playing, but then he had some more things pop up here as of late, and it's been very difficult for him. So this morning is when he and I sat and talked, and I want what's best for him. He is one young guy that has paid his way here, and he has done a great job. I wish him well, and I'll continue to help him.
On the receiving corps with the loss of Williams: He was going to be an H-back, so he was going to be an inside wide receiver. We are thin there. You lose Marquise [Goodwin], you lose Greg Timmons, you lose Brock Fitzhenry, and we have lost four receivers since June. It puts us in a real tough spot with numbers. So tonight we'll look very closely since it happened just today. We'll look and see if there is somebody on the defensive side that can move over and possibly help us at receiver.
On if the younger players will have a better opportunity to play: Yes. We do feel like the two freshman Jaxon Shipley and Miles Onyegblue, those two guys will get a quicker look for sure than possibly they would have in June because those numbers got thin. And with the heat you have to worry about how much you are going to run those wide receivers when you are limited in the numbers you have.
On where RB D.J. Monroe will play: He is still playing what he was playing in the spring. We do feel like he will have an increased role because of the ability that [co-offensive coordinator/running backs coach] Bryan Harsin has brought us to package guys, and get them to a package that they can play in. It was more difficult last year, and as much as [former offensive coordinator] Greg [Davis] tried, we didn't get him in as much as we'd like and as often as we've liked. I do feel like that the structure of the offense is better setup to get that done.
On what he will remember most about Malcolm Williams: Tough. Good leader. One of the best special teams players we had. The great catches he made, and he had a great smile. He was a guy that just worked hard for us and did a great job for us.
On the offensive line: I think the thing that we'll look at in the offensive line is trying to create some depth. We have to find the starters, and we have some idea of what that may be. Coach [Stacy] Searels did not get the opportunity to work with the second team guys or the younger guys this spring. So there is this group of Luke Poehlmanns and [Dominic] Espinosas, plus the five freshmen that are coming in. So it will be a fun preseason for him because he gets to see a whole lot of guys that he hasn't seen before.
On the defensive tackles: Our numbers are in good shape at defensive tackle, but someone has got to step up and be a consistent player. Kheeston Randall is that player, and now we need to get him some help. There are enough guys there [with] Ashton Dorsey, Calvin Howell [and] Desmond Jackson, the freshman, coming in. You've got Greg Daniels, DeAires Cotton, Taylor Bible, and we've got enough names. I've told them all that they have been here long enough now. We can't keep talking about young- it's time to produce.
On Chet Moss switching to fullback: We feel like that we have got to do a better job of running the ball and being physical. And we are not sure about Cody Johnson. He'll be at some tailback, some fullback, and you're not sure where Joe Bergeron will fit yet, and you are really limited at fullback when you think that only two other guys are there with [Jamison] Berryhill and Ryan Roberson. So we really felt like on the goal line, short yardage we are going to be a two-back team most of the time, and we have got more quality depth at linebacker right now than we do at running back.
On if DT Kheeston Randall can improve: I think they can always improve. And we saw a guy like Lamarr Houston move from defensive end, to an average defensive tackle, to a great defensive tackle his last year and now he is a starter for the [Oakland] Raiders. That's what we want Kheeston to do, and we thought that Kheeston had an even better year when he had Lamarr [Houston], and then last year he was the guy and it wasn't as good of a year for him. So he is ready and primed to step up and be like the great defensive tackles that we've had, and he is helping to step up and be like the younger guys.
On what reports he has heard of the quarterbacks during the summer: Really and truly I get reports from the players, and I am not going to tell you what they said because it's not fair. I sat there with them confidentially in Fort Worth, and they talk and they talk and everybody knows who those four were. I know you all wouldn't tell it. If I told it today, it might get back to the four. Probably wouldn't but I just don't think it's right to do that. The players do know that I share it with the coaches, and that's the only [ones] I share it with.
On what he hopes the quarterbacks got better at over the summer: The biggest thing is leadership. You have got to have great leadership at that position. You have got to protect the ball, and you have got to be able to put the ball in the end zone. And other than that it doesn't matter. I think where we are different is that we have four capable guys. There [are] more unknowns about Conner Wood and David Ash because they haven't been out there as much and in front of people. Even Case [McCoy] has been out there more than those other two, even though he hasn't been out there a lot. We feel like it's going to be a great battle. Bryan, and I, and Major have talked at length about what we will do to try and separate them some. And that will be a lot of competitive drills. Every pass will be charted to see who has the most completions and who is the most accurate. It will be when we are in competitive drills and when we are not. We will have a lot more third down scrimmage situations to see who is making the third downs. We will have a lot more red zone situations. And we'll put them in a lot more critical competitive situations than you would if you just knew who the quarterback was going to be, and you weren't trying to separate them.
On when there needs to be a starting quarterback chosen: They'll separate in a couple of weeks probably. Then we'll start putting a game plan in, and starting moving forward, like the team. I don't remember this much discussion when it was Colt [McCoy] and Jevan [Snead], but it worked out pretty good. There was probably discussion like this at that time. I do remember we had a safety that had never played in a ball game, so that was discussion.
On having QB David Ash kick: You probably wouldn't use him to punt unless he is playing some. That's all in this equation that we are trying to work out. Justin Tucker was a great punter last year, and what Justin has been able to do is he's been able to get so he can do the regular punt as well as the rugby punt. So that can give us some more advantages for him because he can give us a directional punt from the regular punting formation. He can rugby punt to the right, or he can spring to the right and rugby punt all the way over to the left. So he gives us a lot of different options. David would only punt if we felt that he was an option at quarterback as well.
On having open practices: No. We just decided that we just have too much work to do. We got to go back to work like we did in the spring, and we don't need any distractions. We just need to work and get better as a football team because we have so much work to do.
On implementing the offense: I'll let Major and Bryan talk to you about that. Obviously those are subjective things that depends on how quickly they learn. Number one, you have to figure out who your quarterback is and do what he does best. And number two, you got to figure out if a freshman is playing, and figure out how quickly can he move, and then you go from there to trying to figure out a game plan for the opening game, and how much do you add the second week, and by the third week what can you add, and what you are doing well. We really have no clue right now of any of those things. We have a lot of questions that have to be answered. One of the things you have to look at is if you're practicing the older guys in the morning they should have more retention than the younger guys because the younger guys will have a lot of the freshman there. So how much do you put in the afternoon? You have got to try to get the whole offense in because some of those freshman will be competing for jobs. But you have to go a little bit slower in the afternoon. You don't with the quarterbacks because they have already been here. But how quickly can an offensive line learn that hasn't been here? How quickly can a Malcolm Brown, a Joe Bergeron, a Miles Onyegbule, or a Jaxon Shipley or a Steve Edmond and young guys on defense. How much time will you give them compared to Keenan Robinson or Emmanuel Acho? Those are things that we are discussing right now because they are question marks. You would like to get it all in but you don't want them so confused that they can't compete for a job. We have also told the guys coming in from spring that the freshman will have the first shot if they didn't do their job this spring. So the freshman will get a good hard look here for at least ten days.
On being ranked 24th in a preseason poll: That's high. That is way up there. I don't care. I think the only thing that you want to do is to be rated high enough that if you have a great team you can get in the mix in the end. Some teams that are 24th and win all their games get up there. We are not in a position right now to talk about rankings, at all. The way we finished is the way we start. We finished poorly, so we are going to start low. I can't tell you where we were rated last year.
On the defensive end position: Alex last year didn't get any opportunity to do what he wanted to because he was so unselfish. We put him inside and we just had to hang him in there at 265-pound playing tackle, so it wasn't fair to him and he had a great spring. Jackson [Jeffcoat] was playing great. I watched the Tech game and he was so good in the Tech game until he sprained his ankle, and he just wasn't effective the rest of the year. Those two guys, to me, should be powerful factors on the defensive side of the ball. Reggie Wilson had a great spring game, and it sounds like he has had an outstanding summer. We have got to get Dravannti Johnson stirred back up where he can be a fourth, and then with Chris Waley over there it gives you a fifth, and then you got take a look at Cedric Reed. So you have six defensive ends with a chance to play, and two of them with experience. Reggie with some, and Dravannti with some, and that could be a stronghold for us. Like we have been in the past, we will have a package of pass rushers out of third-and-long where we wouldn't have the big guys in the game.
On playing 22 players in the first quarter: I think it is doable, but we have got to find more tackles, and we have got to get more settled at corner. We can do it at linebacker. We can do it at end.We can do it at safety. As of today, we don't know who the corners are, and we don't know who the other defensive tackles are so we sure don't know who the other three tackles are. So I think that is what we have to get decided, and I wasn't trying to be cute with [Austin American-Statesman reporter] Randy [Riggs] but we don't know who the offensive lineman are yet. We've got an idea, but we have got some hard work to do to figure that out.
