The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Mack Brown press conference transcript: Aug. 15
08.15.2013 | Football
Head coach Mack Brown met with the media Thursday afternoon.
Head coach Mack Brown met with the media Thursday afternoon at Moncrief Athletics Complex. The football team, which is in its second week of the preseason, did not practice Thursday, but returns to the field Friday for a pair of workouts.
Opening Statement:
We've had really good intensity in practice. We stayed relatively injury-free. We thought the scrimmage was a good [one] the other night. Got a lot of good work, most of it ones against ones. Because we do have a few injuries, a lot of the guys that were in backup roles are working with first teams and having a chance to show what they can do. We thought that was good. The scrimmage was long and hard.
We had Big 12 officials there. Now with the eighth official, it is going to change a little bit so we were able to work with them. We worked our ball boys with tempo. We felt like overall the scrimmage went well.
We graded them very hard after the scrimmage like it was the first ballgame. It gave us a lot of information leading to tomorrow's two-a-days as well. It's been about 105 degrees. I think they've had a really good summer. They've come back in good shape and are looking forward to the next two and a half weeks to prepare for the opener.
On having and eighth official this season and the game seeming quicker to the fans:
I think after last year, everybody's going to speed up some. We talk about tempo; there will be times where you go slow. There will be what we call look-backs to the sideline. That will slow it down. There will be some times where you'll check with me, which will slow it down.
A lot of people are trying to get from the time the whistle blows the ball dead 15 seconds to snap the ball, not counting the 40-second clock. Your ball boys have to be in tune. They've got to be in great shape.
We do think as head coaches and in talking to the officials that it was more difficult last year than ever before to officiate in the Big 12 because the ball was moving so quickly. You can imagine if there's a deep ball thrown, the ball is thrown in immediately and spotted, if he leaves, there's a player that comes in in his place as a substitute, the official has to step over the ball so the defense can adjust to the substitution. If he sprints back, gets on the line, you do not have a right to substitute on defense unless you do it quickly. So all of a sudden now the official has to know did you substitute, not substitute. There was too much going on. It was more difficult for defenses to line up because a lot of times we're substituting and officials might not see it. I think it will be better this year.
On whether there were targeting penalties during the scrimmage:
We had a long talk with [Big 12 coordinator of officials] Walt Anderson. It was a real good talk. We took every play from all of our practices that we thought could be considered targeting, even if it was even close. Every time there's a big hit now, you're concerned it might be targeting. He did not think any of the plays he saw would be called as targeting. Therefore, there wouldn't be an ejection.
We took about 50 plays from last year across college football and asked him to go over each one of them with each one of our coaches. We felt like we came away with a little better understanding of what they're going to call.
On whether there is more of a fine line than in past years on hits to the head:
What we're hearing is there will be more of an emphasis put on the intentional hit to the head. If you're trying to tackle [a player], where he hit him here and slid up, they're not as apt to call that as they were last year or the year before because it's the intention that they think you're trying to take the other player out.
On whether you can appeal and get a penalty and suspension overturned:
No. The way I understand it is he's out the rest of that game and they put him out for the next week and there is no appeal, which we as coaches would rather there be an appeal.
On worries about the rule being consistently applied:
I've always thought that sportsmanship calls, unsportsmanship calls and targeting head-to-head calls were called inconsistently because we have human beings calling, especially when you get out of your league.
On concern about the length of games:
I am not concerned about the length of games. I'm more concerned about officiating being right. I like the instant replay. I think we should do more. The official upstairs, he should be your best official in my estimate. If he looks down and sees something that changes the game, he should buzz them and say, 'Let's get it right.'
On an offseason rule change being called aggressively at the beginning of the year:
I do think when a new one is put in, there's a lot more attention to it by you folks and by fans and coaches. Therefore, the officials are more sensitive about it.
This one I think, because it changes the course of the game for that player and the next game by being ejected for one and not playing in the other, I do feel like because they're changing the life of a kid, they're going to be more cautious. I feel like they're looking at this very carefully.
On the coaching dynamic between co-offensive coordinators Major Applewhite and Darrell Wyatt:
It's very much like what we did with Bryan [Harsin] and Major. The offensive staff sits down, they evaluate who they want to be, where we're headed offensively, exactly what we want. All five of them have input. They do the same with the game plan. Then on game day, Major would call the plays. Stacy might have some suggestions in the running game and Darrell in the passing game. Now Larry Porter, because he's run an up-tempo offense as well.
By and large, you talk during the game between series. Nobody is going to bother Major during the game. He's going to make the calls by himself. Conversation is between series.
On the relationship between Applewhite and Wyatt:
Oh, it's great. They're getting along great. I wouldn't have put the two together unless I'd seen that. Darrell is really bright. Major has gotten a lot of publicity because I said I think Major is a superstar in this business.
Darrell has been a coordinator at Arizona, NFL coach. Darrell Wyatt is talented, a very good football coach. He's helped us a lot in the passing game.
On whether a school will break the string of Alabama [three of last four national titles] or the SEC [last seven national championships]:
I think some of us would like to win it, but I think you got to give Alabama credit. They won it. It is what it is. If we want to talk about it, somebody else needs to win it. But give them credit for what they've accomplished.
On taking something from Alabama and its success:
Oh, I think they've been able to run the ball and been able to stop the run pretty well. Those are things that are very important in this business. They've recruited well and gotten a lot of depth. I think those are probably the things that have helped them the most. To line up in the championship game for Georgia, run it for 300 something yards, is impressive. You're not going to lose many games when on a bad day you can run the ball like that. That's where we're trying to get.
On whether he thought he would be at Texas for 16 years:
No. I looked at the history of Texas coaches [smiling]. No, I really didn't. I've been pleased with our years and what we've done, excited about a lot more for that reason. I think I am a Texan now. When we moved here, like Coach [Darrell] Royal, we were out-of-staters. Coach Royal said he came from Oklahoma and became a Texan. Grew up in North Carolina, came from Tennessee, but we moved here now and we are Texans.
On the status of wide receivers Jaxon Shipley and Mike Davis:
We're pleased that two of the last three days Jaxon and Mike have practiced. They haven't been full-speed contact yet. They've had a green jersey on, but they're running here full speed if not full speed. They did a lot in the practice on Tuesday. They did some things yesterday morning, but they were full speed last night.
We're really pleased with the progress they've made. They don't seem to have a lot of soreness after as much running as they've done for the last few years.
Quandre [Diggs] is doing drills. Josh Turner is a little bit behind them, but we hope that Josh will be ready for the opening game.
On evaluating the recent rebuilding process:
We were at a tough spot at 5-7. When you're there, you have to have some hard self-evaluations of you and your program, your players. I did a lot of that myself. I trusted friends to be very critical, as well.
We put things in place that take some time. We were ahead defensively two years ago. We were ahead offensively last year of where we were in that 5-7 season. We've made progress each year.
Now we are back to a point where I feel like we can compete each week and have a chance to win. People ask, 'Do you have a chance to win all the games?' We do. That doesn't mean we're going to. As I've said before, we have to shut up and play, shut up and coach. I think every week we line up we have a good chance to win.
On there being an indication the defense is back:
Yes. It was really strange. I thought the defense played really well in the preseason last year and seemed to get worse as the season started. That's hard to figure out. We've gone back, looked at notes and video. There were times [in preseason practice the offense] we couldn't make a first down against the first defense. For whatever reason, it broke down. Some of it was injury, some of it was tempo. We didn't do a good job, period. We did better at the end of the year.
I'm seeing right now, working against tempo offense, every day is helping our defense, helping our calls, our kids. We are really trying to force two-deep because it's important that you get more guys on the field than not.
But I thought in the first scrimmage our defense played against the run better than at any time I saw last year. Sometimes when you're playing against yourself, you're mad every play. If your defense stuffs your first offense, you're mad at the running backs. If your offensive backs and linemen make a big run, you're mad at the defense. Sometimes it's hard to evaluate.
I thought it was a good fight in the scrimmage. I thought the one defense was better in this scrimmage than the one offense.
On tight end Geoff Swaim:
Geoff Swaim is athletic. He weighs about 256, he's about 6-foot-4 and a half, 6-foot-5. He can run and catch. We're excited about what we've seen from Geoff and feel like he can be a good player for us moving forward.
On whether it's good to have the defense going against the offense's up-tempo:
We've talked to a lot of people across the country about practices in 105-degree heat with tempo. If you stay out there for two hours, you run 'em every play, your receivers and your defensive backs get dead-legged. We've talked to enough people, put some measures in place to try to make sure we still get what we need, don't totally exhaust them every minute of every day.
I know the defensive coaches and I and the defensive players feel so much more comfortable against the chaos of a tempo offense than we did at this time last year.
On an area or two that has improved since last year:
I think linebackers for sure have come the furthest. We have more depth because we had to play so many there last year. I think there are more people in the secondary that have a chance to play, probably seven right now that have been around for a while that have a chance to play. You need five a lot in this league. So that's an improvement.
The tight ends are at a better place than they were at this time last year with more balance between the run and the pass.
Our kicking game is more experienced than it was this time last year. We had great speed on our kick return teams last year, but we'll continue to have that this year.
Offensive line is older. Should be more depth there. We forget when Stacy Searels came in here last year, he had seven scholarship players in the spring. Now he could have eight to ten guys he could feel like he could play in a ballgame.
On the getting through the ups and downs of the last few years:
The people of Texas, our fans, are really, really important to me. I committed to some young coaches, new coaches three years ago. I told them we were going to make this thing work. So it's been a fun challenge for me to get us back to where we're competitive.
I've really enjoyed this. You'd rather win all the games, but you'd rather win it because you earned the right to get there. We've been working hard day and night to do it, from the recruiting hires, the analyst hires, to our coaches fighting so hard in recruiting.
We had our first 2016 commitment the other day. That's new for us. We're so far ahead with 2015 recruits. Our guys are fighting hard with 2014 recruits.
On whether you are in a better place from that standpoint:
Yes, I do. I feel I'm in a good place going forward. I like our staff. I like the kids. They've been fun to coach again. [The] 2010 season wasn't fun in anyway. Then you had coaches you had to teach, learn from. With all the new guys coming in, the new strength program, we had an upheaval about everything.
So now everybody knows each other. We got more continuity again. Things are really smooth moving forward and it's been a lot of fun.
On if it feels like you've been treated like a 6-6 team even though you went 9-4 last year:
I think sometimes for the players, people have been a little hard on them. [A] 9-4 [record] is not a happy time around here, but I'd rather us be treated like 9-4 than 6-6. We have so many fans that are pumped, excited, can't wait till the season. They understand that we're better and we have a chance. I think they can't wait till the season.
The closer we get to the season, more positives. Modern day, you're going to have some that feel like things are awful when you win all the games. That's just part of the deal.
On what defensive coordinator took from his visit to Stanford:
Manny looked a lot at what they did with Oregon. They did a really good job against Oregon. That was tempo offense. I think that's probably the number one thing he got out of it.
On whether there is an indicator from preseason practice that you are going to have a good season:
Yes. The one we couldn't tell was '08. A lot of people thought we would win six or seven games. We had two freshmen starting with Earl Thomas and Blake Gideon. That team really developed and turned out to be a great football team. Three seconds away from playing for a conference championship, maybe a national championship. The rest of them, you saw leadership, maturity, depth. All of that is here now.
On the kicking game and if it has sorted itself out:
Right now you have good competition with Nick Jordan and Anthony Fera and Nick Rose. But right now Anthony Fera would [handle place-kicking] today with Nick Jordan. Anthony would have the first shot at it.
The punting job right now is between Anthony Fera and Will Russ. Will may have a little bit of an edge, but they're both very competitive. We're proud of seeing what Will has done after his back operation. Nick Rose is the guy kickoff off, and he's doing a tremendous job for us.
They compete every day. Every competitive kick, we time the operation. Obviously we have a chart to see who is the most accurate and who is getting it off the quickest. That competition will continue.
We're in a better spot than we were last year. Anthony was just coming in, he was hurt. Will was having a bad back. Nick Rose and Nick Jordan had just shown up.
On whether three or four freshmen could have an impact this year:
It's so early, I haven't looked at that yet. We want to see where we are, see how the freshmen handle the pressure of 12 practices in this heat. Some of them hit a wall a little bit right now. I'd hate to say something about them and it not be the same five days from now.
We'll have a scrimmage Sunday. By next Wednesday you're going to see who is going to hang in there through this part of camp.
On if he's impressed with the freshman class:
We feel like all 15 have a chance.
On if three quarterbacks will play in the first game:
I don't know. I really don't know. It's too early. We haven't even thought about New Mexico State except summer plans. Tyrone Swoopes has had a sore hamstring. Limited him a little bit. Right now he would not be ready to step in and play. He has some work to do.
On having one player handling both punting and place-kicking chores:
Again, in the perfect world is if we could have each one done individually, that would take some pressure off the other. If Anthony is the best punter, that is a close battle right now, we would punt him. But it would take pressure off if each one of them did one of the individual kicking chores.
On the struggle of not having everyone practicing on the offensive line:
It's been interesting in that you'd rather have everybody healthy and at the same time we're getting to work a lot of young guys a lot. Those young freshmen that have come in have been working a lot with the second team. They're getting a lot of work they might not have gotten.
Josh Cochran missed all spring with his broken leg. Now to be limited some with his shoulder, he needs to get back here soon and start working for the opening game.
On young guys impressing him:
I think all of them. Stacy [Searels] and I were talking this morning. Great group of offensive linemen. Proud of them.
On Carrington Byndom performance:
Carrington is very bright. He works really hard. Any time you ask him to do something different, he makes an easy transition because he knows what to do. He's very natural at corner or safety. We feel like he gives us added depth because he could play either one.
On Manny Diaz's experience over the summer in Nigeria:
We haven't talked a lot about his experience there. I've talked enough about him about it to know it was eye-opening, to see what the Achos have done for their home country, trying to build that hospital. Just hearing him talk about the lack of medical care, the reason Dr. Acho wanted to do this is people are dying over there with what we could get medicine for very easily.
He loves the Achos. He didn't even coach Sam, but he's been very involved with their family through Emmanuel. They've been important to him.
On whether he can comment on the Desmond Harrison's situation:
I really can't. I think it is a waiting game. Since it is an academic situation, I can't comment on it. They're just going through a process.
On what progress he would like to see from his team through the rest of preseason camp:
I thought yesterday afternoon's practice tailed off a little bit. It was the 12th one. This team is a team that needs intensity every practice. They were challenged with that last night. They get it. They're doing everything we want them to do. Yesterday I thought just at the end a little bit it dropped off. We've got to go back and make sure. We're still not good enough to play without full intensity. This needs to be a tough team, an intense team. The only way you do that is you do it every day.
Davis Thomas talking to our seniors made a great point from Coach Belichick. He challenged him every day to win a practice. That's the challenge we've given to them.
On if he's voting in the USA Today Coaches poll:
No. Number one, I don't miss it. I think they pick the coaches. I'm not one that gets picked. Number two, I haven't looked at it enough to even think about. Until we get back up in there, I'm not going to start looking again. I hope I start paying more attention to it next year.
On last year's motto 'Rise' and whether this team has this team sacrificed enough to get its swagger back:
I think so. We won't know that till we play. I've always thought that you learn about your team in a tough fourth quarter. That's why I was so excited we came back and beat Oklahoma State at Oklahoma State in the fourth quarter. I thought that was a turning point for us. Then we didn't play as well the next two weeks.
You never know. This team has older guys that have been through a lot. They have a little edge to them. These seniors came in with us playing for a national championship and they haven't reached near those goals in those three years. They want to finish right.
They're practicing with that edge. As far as their motto, we told them, You all figure it out, and when you figure it out, bring it to us. We don't want to have a motto unless you're going to live by it. That's very important to us.
On being ready with the up-tempo offense if the season started tomorrow:
We're building toward the first game. If the game was going to start tomorrow, we would have been more proficient at this time. We would have changed things and sped up more.
I feel like we could run it right now. I like where we are. We have some things we need to do better. We're working so hard one against one because both sets of ones need to improve. That's why it will be good to get Mike [Davis] and Jaxon [Shipley] back and get your whole team together at least 10 days before you start so you can work together as a unit.
On Major Applewhite who appears to have a no-nonsense style and if the player respond:
Good, because that's who he is. He demands a lot out of them. He's hard on them. Again, he can reach out to them and talk to them. He's got a good balance. I think Major will be a great coach.
On the relationship between Major Applewhite and David Ash:
I think it's really good. I felt like Bryan Harsin did a tremendous job for us. The one thing Bryan couldn't do is talk to the quarterbacks about being the quarterback at Texas, the pressure and attention and all of that. Major can do that. I do think that helps. That gives him an advantage.
On Jalen Overstreet since his move to running back:
Jalen has done a good job for us. He is transitioning by running behind his pads inside. He's still not there yet. He has the speed we knew he had outside. He's also had better vision than we anticipated coming from the quarterback position. So I think he's happy. He's getting a lot of work. We see some hope for him down the road.
On Jalen running the Wild formation:
We've only had it a couple of times. Johnathan [Gray] is so good at it, I still think Johnathan would have the edge. He's so tough and he runs it really well. He and Jalen will work in it. We continue to work Jalen with it. Right now if we played today, Johnathan would still do it. He did it in the scrimmage the other night.
On Cedric Reed playing more last season with the injury to Jackson Jeffcoat:
Probably helped Cedric to play half the games as a starter last year. Let him understand the pressure of playing great on every play. We think he should have a great year.
On Johnathan Gray reaching his goal of 1,500 yards:
We're hoping to have a lot more plays than we had last year, number one. We only had 68 plays a game. We would like to get that up in the 80s. If you do, you'll have more touches. That's one of the things we really want to do with this offense. We want to continue to run the ball, so they're going to touch it.
I would think some of the yards now that you talk about are not just rushing yards, because they're touching it on screens, in the flat, on their little option routes underneath, so you should probably start looking at running backs in this league for touches for yards instead of just runs.
The other thing, Jonathan has been the only running back to stay healthy. That's the other thing. If Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron stay healthy, they're good players, too. We've had all three of them in the game at the same time. For the last two years we haven't had three healthy running backs for many games. Hopefully this is a year where we can have them out there all already.
On Johnathan Gray's progression and his potential:
I think Johnathan has an unlimited ceiling out there. He has a guy that has a chance to be really good. Tough, mature, works really hard every day. I'm excited about watching him go forward.
