The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
11.12.2014 | Football
Defensive coordinator/Secondary coach Vance Bedford met with the media Wednesday
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Defensive coordinator/secondary coach Vance Bedford met with the media Wednesday morning. Bedford talked about Mykkele Thomspon's big hits in the WVU game, previewed Saturday's game at Oklahoma State (6:30 p.m. Central, FOX) and discussed the momentum the team is gaining. Quotes from the availability are below:
Defensive coordinator/secondary coach Vance Bedford
On the hits by S Mykkele Thompson: We nicknamed him the "worm." I said the worm made a play. It's a beautiful thing to see him put a face on somebody like that and it got us all excited. To see him right now where he is and to see how he has developed this season; everybody expects Quandre [Diggs] to make that hit or Jordan Hicks. But to see the worm make that play - I got to be honest – I really got excited for him, for the team. It was just a lot of fun.
On if he had to work on hitting with Thompson: He has developed. He hasn't been put in that position a lot playing safety, playing corner, playing nickelback. It's always been there for him, but I think the opportunity that he had and the trust that we have in him and his teammates that have the trust in him also. You are starting to see those things in him now. He's playing with a lot confidence. He needs to keep playing that well. We need him to keep performing how he's performing.
On Oklahoma State ATH Tyreek Hill: He has to be the main focus of what you are doing. He lines up at wide receiver, running back, punt returner, kick returner. If we get him in space one-on-one, we're in trouble. It has to be a team concept. We have to keep him corralled, don't let him outside. We have to keep him between the hash marks. That's our game plan right now – to keep turning him back, don't let him get to that sideline because if he turns up he turns into an invisible man. My man can fly. He really can. It's a scary thought of how fast he can change a game.
On what happened to Oklahoma State's offense the last three games: You go back and look and it's been injuries. They've had some injuries in the quarterback situation early on and key guys nicked up. That's a big part of it. When you have certain players on your team with injuries, you can always say the next guy steps up. Well this is college football with 85 scholarships and parity all over this country. People don't have the depth anymore and they are in that situation right now. They've had two weeks to get ready for us. They've had a chance for certain guys to get healthy. We expect to see their best on Saturday.
On if he's had Oklahoma State circled on the schedule: No. Whoever is the next week that game is circled for me. To me, every game is that important. I have friends back in Stillwater and it's going to be a lot of fun going back to see them and having a chance to play against Oklahoma State. But going against Baylor I had that same feeling, going against Oklahoma I had that same feeling. I don't put any special emphasis on any particular game. They all are special to me. Every game is a championship game no matter if we are 5-0 or 0-5. That's the approach I've always taken as a coach. The next game, the game you are going into now is by far the most important game no matter who it is.
On the reserve linebackers and their potential: Peter Jinkens is a young man out of Dallas Skyline and he has a lot of upside and potential. He's a guy who is going to play for us. We have some young guys who at this time are being redshirted. We think potentially they can be good players, but the key word I'm using right now is potential. You just have no idea how they are going to turn out to be. You hope because they are athletic they can run, they have a great change of direction in space and they are going to be great players. But we are going to miss [Jordan Hicks and Steve Edmond]. Jordan Hicks gets everybody lined up. The front, the secondary, he makes checks for us. Steve is really playing well for us right now. He's made a lot of plays. Those two guys are going to be hard to replace. So those young guys stepping up, it's going to be really big shoes to fill.
On freshman LB Cameron Hampton: Right now, I just really like his attitude and his enthusiasm. He walks around like he's a tough guy, but right now he hasn't done anything. He'll find out in the spring how tough he is. He's an undersized guy, but he's gotten bigger and stronger. We'll find out this spring if he can go out there and play for us.
On how his tenure at Oklahoma State ended: You had a new staff and sometimes things just don't work out. That's just being real. I wasn't the right fit. [Oklahoma State Head] Coach [Mike] Gundy's assistant has done a tremendous job. My hat is off to him and his staff and the players that he recruited. It just didn't work out for me at the time and it was time for me to move on and that's what happened.
On if he still had confidence as a defensive coach after the OSU job: I was confident I could be a football coach first. The most important thing for me is that I also was the safeties coach and the defensive backfield coach. That comes first, being able to coach a position. When Coach Strong gave me the opportunity, here we sit today talking now. So what happens is anytime you have some adversity in your life, it teaches you to grow, to change, and to adjust. That was something that for me personally probably was a good thing to happen to me. It gave me the opportunity to go back to the University of Michigan. I was Lloyd Carr's first hire when he got the job in 1995. Believe it or not, I was his last hire in 2007. It was a great opportunity for me to see him go out a winner as a head football coach. I have a lot of love and respect for Lloyd Carr. I worked with Urban Meyer when he was at Colorado State and it gave me the chance to go there. Coach Strong and I have known each other for a while through recruiting and when he got the job at Louisville, it was a no brainer. A lot of good things have happened and the best thing that probably happened, was for Gundy to let me go. It put me in a situation to develop more as a man, to make me a better person, to make me a better coach. So what happened was it put me in a position to be where I am today.
On Coach Strong's comment on a linebacker needing to be the leader on the defense: He is 100% right. Just think about the term linebacker. It means he is half of a lineman and half of a defensive back. He's in the middle of our defense and controls our defense. He gets us to the line. He makes the checks. He has to be able to drop back in pass coverage and then he has to be like a defensive lineman and take on the offensive guard one-on-one to shed the block and make the tackle. You need a guy who can do it by example but also a person who's vocal. Jordan Hicks has been that guy for us this year. You hear Coach Strong talk about Brandon Spikes all the time when we were at Florida together. Brandon Spikes was that guy. You're talking about a linebacker. My guy was 255 pounds and that's being nice. He was probably 260. He loved the game. He let you know he loved the game. A year ago, we were at Louisville and Preston Brown, another 255 pound linebacker, was the leader for us and now he's one of the top linebackers in the NFL as a rookie. It's no doubt in the middle of your defense, if it's a strong corps of linebackers, you have a chance to be pretty good on defense.
On if he was worried about having a linebacker on West Virginia's Kevin White: I worry about everything. I worried about defensive backs covering White, let alone Jordan [Hicks]. I saw it and I'm like "Jordan, you know it's coming." I'm looking and I said "Ok Malcom Brown, we need you to pass rush. Ced [Reed], I need pressure now. Come on. Help my man out." That's what I'm thinking on the sideline. Jordan is a young man who's smart. Football is a game of angles. Jordan knew where his help was and defended the inside, and took the angle away. That's why the linebacker needs to be the leader on your football team. He has to be smart. He has to be a coach on the football field. Jordan gives us all of those things.
On getting a win last week at home and the postgame celebration: I've seen it before. For our fans and to play at home and especially our student body to see them get into it, that was exciting for me. This is home. I think when you talk about a football game, for me it starts with the student body. The students on this campus that bring the energy to this stadium. You've heard me talk about the previous weeks at Texas Tech and Kansas State about their student bodies and how they get into it. Our students the other night, they got me fired up. Then after the game, we go and sing to our band and the student body is right there. That's what college football is all about – the students and the enthusiasm. Ten years from now, those students who were at that game are going to say that they were there the night we beat West Virginia and they went in the locker room and the players body surfed Coach Strong. I was there. That's what college football is all about to me.
On if the coaching staff feels positive momentum: Right now, we are deep in our season and getting towards the end of it and we have seen some positive things. I keep saying that I'm the negative coach. I always see the glass as half empty. We are heading in the right direction right now. I believe the players are buying in. We need to continue to recruit to fill some needs and to fill some needs that are going to be leaving us like Jordan, who's a senior, and Steve Edmond and Ced Reed. We're taking those steps. They are baby steps. Those are the things we've talked about. Just one step at a time. You can't take a giant step. If you take one giant step, there's a good chance you're going to stumble. It's one baby step at a time and eventually you'll start taking big steps. I think we've seen some of those things. Are we where we want to be right now? Of course not. We still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do and I think the players understand that and they know that.
On the importance of the Oklahoma State game: I'm just going to go back to what I said last week and you guys asked me about if you just are going for a bowl. My thing is this – it's just one game at a time. I'm not going to put any extra stress on the players. To me, the game itself is important, no matter what the situation is. If you understand that, you can go out there and have the ability to play well. If you start putting extra pressure on guys for all the wrong reasons, you can get in trouble. Let's just go out and be us. Let's go out and play like The University of Texas. If you do that, the rest of it takes care of itself. That means if I'm a three technique, I'm going to be the best three technique that day. If I'm a linebacker, I'm the best linebacker that day. If everyone plays with outstanding fundamentals, at the end of the day, the score will take care of itself.
On how he grew when he left Oklahoma State: A lot of times, we as individuals sometimes we are our own worst enemies. I'm an outspoken person. That's just my personality. I haven't changed. I've adjusted. I've grown as a young man. I go back to this. My wife has taught me more than anyone ever has. I was a person who at times didn't always listen. My wife taught me to listen. She said, "Sometimes Vance, you don't need to fix everything. Sometimes you just need to listen." It made me a better coach because it caused me to sit back and listen to the players to understand who they are. It makes me step back and listen to the head coach and assistant coaches, even people walking down the hall. That's what it does. When you have some adversity in your life, sometimes it's a good thing. That was a good thing. Mike Gundy did the right thing. He really did. People say you ought to be a little frustrated. No. It helped me grow as a person and as a coach. I wish the best for Oklahoma State and Mike Gundy and the guys who are there. Joe DeForest is at West Virginia. DeForest was [at Oklahoma State] and we cracked and laughed about those things. Doug Meacham who was there. Last year we played University of Houston last year at Louisville and we laughed about those things. Those are things you look back and you say you know what it was a good thing for all of us. We all learned something from that situation. At the end of the day, that's probably one of the best things to happen to me, because guess what, I'm able to sit here and talk to you guys right now.
On seeing ex-players in the NFL: When the season starts, to be honest I really don't follow. I hear some other guys talk about it. Somebody might make a point where, for example, Teddy Bridgewater had a great game. I might go look and see on my phone what kind of stats he had. Preston Brown right now is one of the top tacklers in the NFL, so I might see that on Monday or Tuesday. But on Sunday for the most part, I don't watch any NFL football. First thing I do – I get in around 8 o'clock – I'm starting to grade our game. We get together as a staff and everyone grades the game and we look at it as a defensive staff. Then we get together as a staff, so from 8 to 2 o'clock, I'm in lockdown mood. At the same time, I'm working on my next opponent because we have practice that afternoon because the players come over at 3. We have chapel at 3 for our players, then we get back watching video with the players, then we go to practice, then we have dinner, then I come back over here to start looking at the video and I leave here by 10-10:30 at night. I don't watch the games. My Sundays are very busy right now. I don't know anything about the NFL until Monday the day after the game, but I try to stay up with them as much as I can.
