The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
08.07.2013 | Football
After two days in shorts and helmets, UT donned shoulder pads for the first time on Wednesday
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Head coach Mack Brown met with the media after Wednesday evening's football practice, which was held at Frank Denius Fields.
The Horns completed their third practice of the preseason and first in shoulder pads. The team will once again practice in shoulder pads on Thursday and don full pads Friday.
Practices on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be held at Denius Fields and be open to the public. Click here for information.
Head Coach Mack Brown
Opening statement:
Practice has been good for three days; the guys are working hard. [Strength and conditioning coach for football] Bennie Wylie and [assistant director for strength and conditioning] Jeff Madden have them in good shape from the summer. I think it's evident that we have better leadership. There was more work in the summer because we just look like a different football team. We've still got a lot of work to do, but the guys are excited. They're moving forward, and they are looking forward to the fans coming out here tomorrow night. I think I heard today about 77,000 season tickets have already sold with still about a month out. They're excited about fans coming out tomorrow night, and the big guys will be signing autographs after practice tomorrow night. You'll have the offensive and defensive fronts, defensive ends; they'll be signing autographs tomorrow night with the kickers, punters, snappers and holders. Then on Friday it'll be the running backs, tight ends, and linebackers. Then on Saturday it'll be the wide receivers, defensive backs and quarterbacks, so that'll be a fun time for the fans as well.
[Junior transfer offensive tackle] Desmond Harrison is dealing with some academic issues that we feel should be fixed any time. He's still in school; he cannot practice, but he can basically do everything else. We feel that he'll be back on the field soon.
On what he wanted to take away and accomplish from the first three days:
The first two days are just orientation because they're in shorts and I've said it a lot but Joe Jamail said it the best, 'You can't learn to swim without a pool, and you can't learn to play football without pads'. So what you do is teach the guys, and you hope that there is a lot of carryover from spring. At the same time you want to see if they're in shape or not. You want to help the freshmen get ready for today and tomorrow. Then in pads the first day, we'll be able to take this video and go in and watch them very closely and see who didn't back away from that young bunch today. So it'll be a fun video to watch tonight. You can see there are so many things that go on out here that you usually go to video to find out exactly what happened. We'll see the same thing tomorrow in front of fans. We didn't want the fans out until they had a chance to get into pads. That helps us today with the heat. We think they are more ready for the heat than they were three or four days ago. They've worked really hard and to this point we've gotten everything out of it that we want to. Both staffs are ahead of where they were last spring in my estimation. We have more depth and we have more speed. We have more size and strength, but also our staffs have really, really worked hard throughout the summer to make sure that we are better prepared today than we were the day we left spring. I heard [junior quarterback] David Ash say two days ago, 'We're a better team right now than the day we left spring practice,' and that's true.
On how the decision to not conduct split practices has worked out:
Yes, because of tempo we have to really, really work. We haven't had tempo in the heat before. That's going to be something that you really work at. How does that affect your defense? We're learning and we're stepping through it, but we feel like we've learned a lot in the first three days to help the guys because we have more depth. They have to sprint every time that they're out there. We can't have a lazy step by anybody. If you can't do that, get out and we'll get somebody else in there. With tempo practice, that's running for two-and-a-half hours. Â
On who has stood out among new offensive linemen:
It's hard [to tell after three days]. [Freshman offensive tackle] Kent Perkins has done really well. He had a sore shoulder a little bit today and that limited him some, so I hope he can get back tomorrow. Desmond [Harrison] looked really good when he was out here the first day, so both of those guys could be factors. Then you have to wait and watch the other guys. I saw [freshman offensive tackle] Rami [Hammad] knock someone completely down today in an inside drill, and he did a good job.  [Freshman offensive guard] Darius James was a little bit overheated the first day, but he's done better adjusting to the heat the last two days, so that should help him. Of course we had [freshman center] Jake [Raulerson] already out here this spring, so we knew a lot about him. I think the offensive line will be really, really good before they finish.
On concern that Desmond Harrison will not get enough reps in preseason:
It is, but it's early. You have 29 practice opportunities, and hopefully he'll miss one or two here and then be right back in it. The good thing is, he can be at practice. He can work out on his own; he can't workout with the team and he can't practice with the team, but other than that, he can be ready to go. Â
On slimmed-down junior linebacker Steve Edmond:
Yeah, Steve has had three really good days of practice, and we're impressed with him so far. We have told the guys that we have enough talent and we've played well enough at times, but we've got to do it all the time. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about a win every practice. If you come out here and you don't have your best practice, you're not helping your team. That's why we won nine games instead of all of them last year. They can't not show up for every play at practice and expect to be able to turn a switch on game day and get that done. That's our biggest push right now. We have enough players, we have good enough coaches, we have enough depth, we are talented enough, and we are experienced enough. It's got to be every minute of every day to be the team that we want to be. Â
On the freshmen receivers:
Yes, it's really helped us to be forced to look at the freshmen. Jacorey Warrick has done some good things, and that's been fun to watch him. Both of the other two, other three really because [freshman wide receiver] Chevoski [Collins] is working over there. All of those young ones have shown ability, but we probably wouldn't have given them as many snaps if [junior] Jaxon [Shipley] and [senior] Mike [Davis] were out there. We've really been impressed with [sophomore] Kendall Sanders. I thought [sophomore] Marcus [Johnson] did ok the first day; he's had two really good practices since then. Both of those guys could be a factor for us, and we need them.
On Jalen Overstreet's comfort level in the wild formation:
Yeah, it was just quarterback [he was playing]. It wasn't really wild, but we're looking at he and [sophomore running back] Johnathan [Gray] at that position and he gives you the ability to throw better than Johnathan. So, as good as Johnathan was in it last year, if Jalen continues to progress that would give him something he could do. He's so fast. We're enjoying what we're seeing, and I think we're seeing more out of Jalen right now because he has more confidence since he's actually playing a lot more than being some redshirted quarterback. We've been impressed so far with what we've seen. Â
On sophomore wide receiver/running back Daje Johnson:
Daje's looked really good. He's in great shape. He's more confident. One of his issues last year was that he would play a day and then take a day off and be inconsistent. He's had three good days. We're really impressed with that. He's put a lot of work into conditioning this summer, and his speed just gives us another dynamic out there that we don't have in a lot of ways without him. We'll play him some at tailback, but right now he's getting slot, because we're trying to put in the basic concepts and get them down really, really well before we start putting in a whole lot of stuff. I'm impressed with [junior quarterback] David Ash. He's getting the ball to the right places quicker and he seems confident. I think that's a product of knowing exactly where to go with the ball. Â
On how he feels about the running backs this season versus last year:
We feel as though we have three really good older running backs [who] all have things in their mind they want to improve and they want to accomplish - mainly staying healthy. It's obvious [junior running back] Joe [Bergeron] has lost a lot of weight. He's got his weight down and looks good. [Junior running back] Malcolm [Brown] has worked so hard for the last year and a half to get his body in great shape, and Johnathan [Gray] is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen. We are really excited about having those three, and I'm impressed with [running backs coach] Larry [Porter]. Like I said, he brings a toughness to them. He probably caught them at a good time because he got them older, he got them in good shape, he got them hungry, and it's a good time for him to help them take another step.
On thoughts about defensive end Bryce Cottrell and other possibilities at that position:
Bryce is very quick and in this league you need quick defensive ends that can pass rush. So you are really looking at [senior] Reggie Wilson, who has had his best three days since he has been here, so I am impressed with him and he needs to keep doing that. But you look at [redshirt freshman] Caleb Bluiett, you look at [sophomore] Shiro Davis, and you look at Bryce and all three of them are quick enough to help us in pass rushing. Shiro is 247 pounds now so his body is fit and he runs 4.5 or 4.6 [in the 40-yard dash] so he is a guy that can get there. Bryce is really smart so he is a hard guy for them to block. So we do feel like right now that we have six defensive ends for the chance to help us and we have challenged the coaches that Bryce might be starting and we got to have some depth. There may be a game he is starting with injuries or a problem with anything else so we get them all ready to play and that is why we are pushing them all.
On where quarterback Case McCoy's game is right now after taking off summer:
You would think Case has been here and he has been around long enough. The thing Case has got to do is continue the things he has done in the past and protect the ball. We just can't turn the ball over and that is our big push this fall. He has done a good job and he is really helping [quarterback] Tyrone [Swoops] a lot. He understands that we need Tyrone to come along and he has come back with a great attitude.
On thoughts about the energy from the team today since it was the first day in shoulder pads:
They like pads. When they are in shorts, it is to learn and the NCAA makes you do that for conditioning. But it is also dangerous because you have guys running into each other in shorts and they're excited when they come out here in shorts. But you have to be careful and spend time saying 'be smart', 'be careful', 'stay up', and in pads, you turn them loose. I thought they had a lot of fun with that today.
On feelings that the defense has a slight edge over the first three days of practice:
You can't tell. One of the things that is hard to tell when you come out here, number one is in shorts and shells the offense can't cover and they don't cover in practice anyways so practice should always be an edge to the defense. The defense can't hit the quarterback but the offense can't cut. So backsides you will have some ends and tackles penetrate and make plays and everybody is cussing and yelling at them and really those are plays you'll cut in the game and it probably won't be that way. So it is hard to tell sometimes and now the thing that happens early in camp is you never have a game plan. So there is some defense that is lined up and you will never run that play against it but that play might not be in yet and you are there and don't want to spend your time on game plans until you get closer to game time. So some plays just look bad. So what we do is we look at individuals more than anything else in camp and when you get your two-deep together then you start working on your game plan and then you can figure out who gets the edge.
On who impressed him at defensive tackle:
I think we have got a lot of really good defensive tackles. [Ashton] Dorsey has made plays and we need him to be out there for every play. Malcom Brown is very talented. The challenge I have given the front four guys is that you are big and elite that is all over the place with speed, draws and screens so you have got to be able to take on the run, but I want you sprinting sideline to sideline on those strings, those hitches, and those sweeps and we have got to do that better than we have done. So all the guys up front understand that that is a true key but I do think you can't play only two guys in this league anymore on the defense line. There are too many plays and with tempo you are going to have to roll some guys in. Chris Whaley is playing well, Desmond Jackson always is playing well, I said Malcom and Dorsey are doing a lot of good things in there. And you got Hassan Ridgeway that needs to be in better shape and you got to play hard all the time and those five right now will be the guys you are talking about.
On Hassan Ridgeway being a third-down specialist this season:
He is really talented and he has got to play hard every play. In this league there are a lot of third downs and you may not be able to put a guy in anymore on third down because you can't substitute. So it is a little different than it use to be but he can be a talented guy and we have told some of these guys that if you can only give us eight plays a game, give us eight full speed plays a game. But you have got to prove that you are in great enough shape in practice to get us four before we can ask you to give us eight in a game. That is what we will go grade right now.
On safeties Mykkele Thompson and Adrian Phillips:
Both have had a good start and I also saw that Quandre [Diggs] was working drills today so he is closer than I would've thought [about returning from injury]. We won't rush Mykkele, Jackson [Jeffcoat] and Mike [Davis] at all. Josh [Turner] is going to be a little bit longer we think but I think maybe sometime next week all those guys will be out there going and that will be good but those guys have played well.
On quarterback David Ash after three practices:
I thought David was good the first day and then really good the second two days. I was really impressed with him today. The ball is getting out of his hand quick, he is not hesitant or holding onto it, and I think that the fact we have simplified some things and that he is more comfortable anyway going into this. With this many young receivers, he could've looked really bad early, but they have looked pretty good to have this many young ones out there to learn.
On having to teach quarterback Tyrone Swoopes to improve his accuracy and not think too much:
No, we think it's his feet. He has got really good feet but he has to get his fundamental footwork because when you look at it and he does that right. He has got a great arm and he is very accurate. When he doesn't get his feet set that is when he is uncomfortable. I think [offensive coordinator] Major [Applewhite] is a great teacher and he will continue with his feet and Tyrone has got a really big upside—and I don't mean 6-foot-5, 250-pound upside. I mean a talent upside.
On strategy behind using the play clock time:
Tempo sounds like you are going 95 [mile per hour] every play but you are not because if you call a play and it is not the one you want that is when they stop and look back to the boundary. Sometimes they will call two plays. There is a run or a pass, and you won't see them look back but they will slow down a little bit to get into the right one. And then sometimes they will repeat the play they just had in full speed or they will have a play called that they are going to run that they call 'anytime play' and he can run it anytime he wants to. We make sure that we can go 95, we can go as fast as we need to but we can also slow down and make sure we are in the right play. But you also see it for our defensive line and front right now because snap count is one of the things that you can utilize the most. When you are going fast and going fast and then you look like you are going fast but you stop and look, it is really easy for people to jump offside or get relaxed and then you snap the ball. So that is where we think our defense is learning from it so well.
On thoughts about Chevoski Collins at wide receiver:
What we will do is probably let him stay there through the weekend, maybe first of next week, because he has made some really good plays at wide receiver and then we also feel like with Quandre [Diggs] coming back and Josh [Turner] coming back that we will be okay on defense and safety because he would probably be a safety. So we are going to get through the weekend and see where he is.
On Chevoski Collins not being intimidated by the position switch:
No. He has got good hands. He is really quick and he has got a good burst. After being a quarterback basically in high school a lot of the time or a defensive player, we have been impressed with his ability to go out there and do things in the slot.
On how cornerback Antwuan Davis looked:
He looked real fast and he looks older and more experienced for a young guy coming in.
