The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
10.14.2014 | Football
Assistant head coach for offense/QB coach Shawn Watson and players met with the media
Longhorns Gameweek | Texas-Iowa State Preview | Tickets
Following Tuesday's practice assistant head coach for offense/quarterbacks coach Shawn Watson, senior wide receiver Jaxon Shipley and junior defensive back Duke Thomas met with the media to discuss the team's preparations for the Iowa State game. Below are quotes from Watson, Shipley and Thomas.
Assistant head coach for offense/quarterbacks Shawn Watson
On how much progress Tyrone Swoopes made in the OU game: I thought he made significant gains, and most importantly, his confidence and level of competing. I think all young quarterbacks have to go through that process of learning to trust themselves in what we're asking them to do. I think last week in the same news conference somebody asked me about what I see in Tyrone at practice – that's what I see in Tyrone in practice. I see him competing like that. I see him yelling, playing at a high level. That's why there's never been any doubt in our minds. There's been nothing but conviction that he's our guy, that's our starting quarterback. He's the guy that we need to develop. His challenge was to do what he did on Saturday, which was to compete and just really trust what he had been taught and what he knows.
On the best thing Swoopes did Saturday: I just think it's that. Not to make it too simple, but I thought he was very competitive with his style of play. He played fast, he played smart. He was spot on with all of his checks – moving our protections, he didn't miss a beat. He did a really nice job in the read game. He had one misread, and when I'm talking about that, that's our run options. He had one misread, and then after that, he was pretty much spot on. When the play broke down, I felt like he did a really great job there of extending plays and making plays, both with his feet and with his arm.
On Swoopes' comfort level with no huddle and if it's something they're taking into consideration: Yeah we always do. I know that's a way for all of the young players, especially you get defenses to numb up, go a little vanilla for you. Plus, the players, they're moving so fast they're not overthinking the process, so it definitely helps out – especially the younger quarterbacks.
On how he defines the "it" factor and whether or not Swoopes has it: The "it" factor is something that is instinctual. The best analogy is probably going out and playing pick-up basketball. You're playing 1-on-1 against your buddies, it's just natural. Those instincts can be developed. I think a lot of that goes with confidence, and there's a style of play that comes along with it, and those are all things that can be developed. Ty is developing those things. Again, where he's come from and what we're trying to do with him is develop those things. One of the big things I want to do with Ty is not limit him and his creativity. I want him to learn to play outside the offense because that creativity is very important. When a play breaks down, you know, taking a scramble run, he had a few. He converted a key third down drive, and then extended plays, passing plays and moving in the pocket – he had some unbelievable pockets. We work hard on creating protection in the pocket. I do several different drills to move him around, and he did it, he did it. He was textbook in it. He would kick, he'd slide, he created protection, would find his window and get his ball out. He's learning. All of those things are things that can be developed. Now it's a matter of taking those tools and then using them, and that's what I was referring to earlier when I said what Ty needed, I saw it in practice. I said dude here's the deal, I see it in practice. Every day, I see it in practice. I see you doing this, now stop thinking in a game – play, react, see and react, see and react. Trust yourself. I asked him after it was over and during it, too, are you having fun? He said yeah. And I said, okay you've found what I'm trying to get you to find. I just call it competing, and he did that.
On junior offensive lineman Taylor Doyle: He did a really nice job. He was a hard spot for us that we needed, especially against the nose guard we were playing. I thought he battled and held his own and did a really nice job for us. When you're asking a guy to go in, the center is like quarterback, it's a hard transition because now you're captain for the entire offense – the entire offensive line's blocking patterns. He did a really nice job at identifying, communicating, getting it echoed out. He's a really conscientious guy, too. He's a smart, bright guy, and he takes a lot of ownership in that. He did a really nice job. It was a really hard spot for us, and he battled.
On starting 2-4 at Louisville in 2011 and then turning it around and if there are similarities with this team: There is quite a bit, honestly. We were a team in transition, a different type of transition. It was more total youth all the way across the board. When we were playing West Virginia, we had eight freshmen out there, and we're at their place, and I'm talking true freshmen. That was Teddy's (Bridgewater) class. It was very similar in there was a lot of transition, but what was a little bit different was there was a lot of younger players. There were a lot of true first year college students. What we did was there was more of a youth movement that went on at that time. We just buckled down. We knew we were a program that was in transition, and that we had to work the process. We just continually worked to move us forward, and by the time the season ended, we became a good football team. When we got out of spring ball, we became a really good football team, and at the beginning of the 2012 season, we became a great football team. We grew to it.
On junior wide receiver Marcus Johnson: Marcus had a couple of opportunities that he needs to finish, but it was nice getting him involved because he can make a difference in the game. He's somebody we're always mindful of and working in to target how we match him up and where we put him in our different formations to create those touches for him. He helps a lot because he takes pressure off of John (Harris), he takes pressure off of Jaxon (Shipley), and now you've got a third option in there. We'd like to get even more than that, too.
Senior WR Jaxon Shipley
On Tyrone's passion and having fun: Yeah I think what you're seeing with Tyrone is a more calm guy who's playing out there who feels like he's a lot more comfortable. I think when you're more comfortable, you can be a lot more passionate out there on the field and you can kind of let yourself go a little bit. When you're first starting out and it's your first couple of games, it's hard to really let loose but I think Tyrone was feeding off the crowd. We all were feeding off the crowd in the game. We had an awesome fan base. I feel like Tyrone has really settled down and he's really finding his role right now and it's been really fun to watch.
On fixing special teams: The only thing you can do is you can watch the film and listen to the coaches and what they have to say about it and correct it. It's been kind of a new thing every time. We haven't really been repeating the same mistakes. Like you said, it's kind of the perfect storm. Something new has happened, like the fake punt that they (Baylor) had. There hasn't been another one of those. It's just little things here and there that we can get corrected and I think once we've talked about those things, you don't really see those mistakes being made on the things we've talked about.
On the freshmen receivers: This freshman class has been one of the better freshman wide receiver classes I've seen. I think they're really mature beyond their age and they're guys who have just come in and kind of picked it up. In two-a-days, they were already getting a ton of snaps, that I know when I first came in, some of the freshmen weren't getting near as many snaps. They've got a lot of snaps with the ones and obviously they haven't played a whole lot but they've gotten a lot of reps against our one defense, especially during two-a-days. When it looks like they may not have a whole lot of experience, they've been going against some really good guys in practice because our defense is unbelievable and they've been going against those guys every day. Dorian (Leonard) had his first catch this week. It was a pretty big play. He got a first down on it and he's a guy that I think has really stepped up and he's made a lot of improvements, as well as all those other guys, Armanti (Foreman), Roderick (Bernard), Lorenzo (Joe), they've all been great. I think that class is going to be really, really talented when they get older because they're so far ahead of probably a lot of other freshmen at other places because they're getting in and getting a lot of reps. Especially when we go up-tempo offense, they're getting in there and getting reps and that's great for us and it's great for them too because not only are we getting a breather, they're also getting some experience and that'll only help the team in the long run.
On Marcus Johnson having a big game: I think me, John (Harris) and Marcus all had right around 100 yards. All three of us and that's huge for this offense. I think it shows we've been stretching the field a little bit more and if we can have us three guys playing up to the best of our abilities, that's only going to help the offense out. It's going to give Tyrone a lot more confidence, as well, because he had an awesome game and he really saw that his receivers have a lot of trust in him and also he can have a lot of trust in our receivers. I felt like John made some really good plays, Marcus made some great plays, too. I think we have really solid receiving corps and with Marcus stepping up like that, it's huge for our offense.
On if he believes this team is about to turn it around: I really do. I can sense it. Obviously we didn't win this last game but there were so many positives to come out of the game. With the exception of a few plays, I thought we played really, really well. That's the thing, when you come in for film and you play really well offensively and defensively except for a few plays and a few plays on special teams, you can't really get all that mad about that. You can be mad that you lost. Yeah we were disappointed but when you look at it, we played a pretty good game. You've got to take those positives and move forward with it and we're just taking it one game at a time but I feel like we're about to get this thing rolling.
Junior CB Duke Thomas
On if Iowa State has any weapons: They have a pretty big wide receiver, number 5. All of them have pretty good size so we've got to have pretty good position on those guys and not let anybody make any catches.
On watching himself in film from last year: I was young. Everything I see on film was bad in my own eyes. Just watching myself how I've grown so much and how I play now versus last year is a big difference.
On preparing for a team like Iowa State: Iowa State, they're a team, too, that can beat you just like anybody else. I just come out every week knowing I've got to handle my business. That's how it is week in and week out. It's a one game season. Looking at every week, that's the way we're looking at it right now.
On how much easier his job is if the front four is able to get pressure on the quarterback: Oh, 10 times easier. Just knowing you've got to cover a guy for four seconds and if you take away the guy's first look, you already know your d-line is about to eat. So it takes a lot of pressure off of you knowing that you have to cover a guy for three or four seconds, because after that, you're pretty much good because Malcom Brown and Ced(ric Reed) and them are going to get back there.
On the frustration of not getting interceptions against Baylor and OU: We've got to capitalize on our plays. Coach is letting us know that right now. Either it's interceptions, fumbles or fumble recoveries, just trying to get takeaways.
