The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
11.21.2014 | Football
Defensive coordinator Vance Bedford and assistant head coach for offense Shawn Watson met with the media
Defensive coordinator/secondary coach Vance Bedford and assistant head coach for offense/quarterbacks coach Shawn Watson met with the media Friday afternoon to preview next Thursday's game with TCU. The Longhorns are in a bye week before taking on the Horned Frogs in their regular season finale on Thanksgiving day at 6:30 p.m. Below are quotes from Bedford and Watson.
Defensive Coordinator/Secondary Coach Vance Bedford
On TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin: I think the kid is a special player. He can beat you in a lot of ways. He reminds me of Michael Vick a little bit – a very athletic guy. Remember, he played receiver and running back there. He's dangerous with the football. It's a scary situation. We haven't faced a guy like him this season. He can beat you with his feet. When he gets on the perimeter, he can improvise, and that's where I get concerned because a lot of times your defensive backs and linebackers have a tendency to watch the quarterback, and all of a sudden he just threw fifty yards for a touchdown. We're really concerned about him athletically.
On TCU having a similar coaching system as Oregon: I would say that it's the same. If you take The University of Oregon, you see the same style offense. Everybody wants to say look what I did and look what I made, and I've got to put that out because there's a lot of people doing that right now. It's a variety of all of those things together, and you put your own spin on it. Everybody wants to say they're going to patent -- this is my stuff. No it isn't. It's a variety of what you do and your philosophy. It's just that simple. It's a little bit of everything. That's how offenses are today. It's what you put into it and your philosophy and what you learn from watching other people, and defense is no different. It's all the same.
On the similarities between him and Quandre Diggs [regard to playing at Texas]: Personality wise, yes. I was a little bit on the outspoken side. I had the opportunity to see Coach (Fred) Akers yesterday at practice. I could say a lot of things a lot of times that didn't make a lot of sense, but I do the same thing today. What's the difference? I had a lot of fun. I played with a lot of players that had a lot of fun. Back then, it was a different era, and we all talked. That was part of the game. If you could talk a receiver out of a game, you would do that. If he's willing to listen to you during the course of a game, that was his fault. Quandre has a little bit of the old fashioned mindset. If he can talk you out of playing a game listening to him talk, you might win a down when the game is on the line. That's just part of the game. It's just having fun.
On what he saw from the seniors after the Kansas State game: The guys, they started to believe. You're looking at first touchdown drives going back to that game. We played them pretty decent. It's 6-0, they converted two third and longs. We said if we would've executed on any one of those third down and longs, the game might have been 6-0 at halftime, and you're still in a good situation. It didn't happen that way. When we sat back and we watched the video that Sunday they saw that. They saw that if we go out and execute and play to the details of the game, we have the chance to be pretty good and win every ballgame. That's what those guys saw, and they started to believe at that time. Let's just go out there and execute and take care of the details during the game, and we're going to win some ballgames because of that.
On the team's confidence in the coaching staff: When we first got here, one of the first times I stepped up to this podium, and somebody asked me the question of the players being afraid of us. I had about three people ask that question. Now, the players come up here all of the time. They're laughing, they're joking, they sit down, and they talk to us. That's part of the confidence factor, the trust factor, and believing that we helped do things to help develop them into young men and get ready for the rest of their lives. When they started coming around and doing those things, watching video on their own, coming up to our meeting room and knocking on our door asking what's going on and just sitting down, that took to the football field. There's a certain comfort level with the coaches, a trust factor with the coaches, and now belief in the system. Whenever you have that, you can take the next step to go out there and win football games. That's what you see right now.
On if there is relief now that they've won three games in a row: That's an interesting question. This is still not where we want to be. Our record is not where we want it to be. You're at The University of Texas, and people say well you have three wins in a row. Really? At Texas that's not good enough. You can say it's the foundation right now or something that you hope to start seeing go in the right direction, but we have a long way to go. The confidence factor the guys have at this time, we wish we would've had that going back to the BYU game. They were still learning what to do, how to do and when to do it. We have one more home game this year for our seniors against a great opponent. An opponent that no one has really stopped. They have been outscored by Baylor, but no one has stopped them. We've got to find out who we are. They're going to come in here with one goal in mind, TCU that I'm talking about, trying to score 50 points a game saying put me in the championship game. That's what their mindsets are, so we've got to come out here and find a way to slow them down. If that happens, we can talk about what you just asked, but as a coach and as a former player of The University of Texas, I'm not excited about what our record is right now. Coach Strong is not excited about what our record is. We're excited about the direction we're headed in and the steps that we're taking right now, but we have a long, long road ahead of us. It's going to take a lot of work. It starts with finishing this season off the right way at home on senior day with a capacity crowd of 103,000 people. That makes it hard for (Trevone) Boykin to make those checks. We need 103,000 people to make it hard for Boykin to make those checks; 103,000 people, after you eat the turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce, 103,000 people fill that stadium. The student body needs to go home and eat their Thanksgiving dinner and come back and cheer us on to make it hard for the TCU offense; 103,000 people, I did say that correct.
On being upset by 7-5 pre-season predictions: I was upset. I'm still upset with our record, so from that standpoint to now, I haven't changed. It's The University of Texas, and we've taken positive steps. At the end of the day, you look at our quarterback situation early on thinking [David] Ash was going to be our quarterback. There was a lot of "what if." Losing our center who was a leader on offense that was a lot to lose. You'll always go back and wonder if Dominic [Espinosa] was our starting center for every game, what would have happened. What if? What happened was supposed to happen, and we're where we're supposed to be at this time. It's hard to talk about next year when we've still got to talk about this year. We still have TCU to go and a bowl game, and after that, there's stuff we can talk about at that time, but you hope that at The University of Texas that we have guys that are ready to step up. That's been the history of, hopefully, a top 10 program.
On if he's shocked that TCU is at the top of the conference: No, they have played great defense since those coaches have been there, and now, offensively, they are really lighting it up. They have an excellent quarterback and an excellent coordinator in Doug Meacham, who I worked with at Oklahoma State. He was at the University of Houston last year. He has a great offensive line. He's done a tremendous job, and they are very difficult to defend because of what they do. If you look at the skill set they have with their receivers, they play five wide receivers. They are really good. They have two running backs that do a tremendous job, and when they put the running backs out wide, they're just as good as the wide receivers. They're bad matchups for defensive backs. The quarterback, again, he's a mini version of Michael Vick – athletic, has a good arm. He's tough to defend. Doug Meacham is using everything that they have, and he puts a defense to the test.
On thoughts about playing Texas A&M: That's political. I'm not able to speak about it at this time. I continue to see things about the Aggies and the Longhorns, but the only people I'm concerned about is TCU. One day if you ask me not as a football coach and as a former University of Texas football player, it would be a totally different answer, but politically, I'm not supposed to speak on that, therefore I'm going to take the fifth.
On how excited the team was when it became bowl eligible: The players are really excited. I've got to be honest, for me personally it's for our seniors because of what they've gone through and how hard they've worked. I was really, really excited for them. For our seniors to have the opportunity to go out and play in a bowl game, I think that's special because to say you're from The University of Texas and the senior class does not go to a bowl game, I wouldn't know how that would feel. I've told our seniors that I'm disappointed for them for one reason, and it's because of our record. Last year when we first got here, [Quandre] Diggs and [Cedric] Reed, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with both of those young men. They were thinking about coming out early. We sat down, and I said it's two-fold. You come to The University of Texas number one to earn a degree because football is not guaranteed, and number two is to win conference championships, which we didn't get that done, but both of those young men will earn their degrees. Hopefully, then if you do the right thing and play well you'll have the opportunity to go to the National Football League. I believe both of those young men have helped themselves out by coming back, by playing in our system and learning the game of football.
On his favorite Thanksgiving dish: My mom made the best cornbread dressing in the history of cornbread dressing. She passed away two and a half years ago, I miss her. My sister makes a great cornbread dressing. She learned from my mom. My wife has a recipe she got from Louisiana – outstanding. I think about that sometimes sitting down, and it brought tears to my eyes it was so good. My grandfather used to have this story – I was a kid growing up in Louisiana. After a great meal, he would sit in his recliner and say it was so good that he'd have to unbuckle his belt because he just felt so good. When I think about my mom's cornbread dressing, it makes me want to unbuckle my belt and say thank the Lord, it's really good. I love my wife's dressing, don't get me wrong, but my mom was an outstanding cook. If she would've opened up a restaurant and sold that dressing, do you know that I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today (laughs)? I'd be living off of my mom's money coming in, smiling with cornbread dressing dripping down my face. I would probably weigh about 250 pounds right now, so I would need to unbuckle my belt.
Assistant Head Coach for Offense/Quarterbacks Coach Shawn Watson
On where the team is now: I'm really proud of them. They fought through a very difficult time in the beginning of our season. They've been very resilient; they've been great leaders in the locker room and on the football field. You can't say enough about the positive things they brought to us and the foundation they laid for leadership with all of our players. It will be something we'll be able to draw on as coaches what these guys have done for us in this first year. Their leader ship was outstanding.
On how well has RB Malcolm Brown performed this year: Unbelievable. He's always been really positive about everything. I've mentioned several times how positive he's been. He's been the biggest outlet to the offensive line. He's appreciated every moment on the field, and he's been an excellent teacher for younger players at his position. I think for all of us in the entire football team, he embodies everything you want in a player in terms of what it means to be a true teammate, to be a true leader. I know he had high aspirations and goals, I'm sure rightfully so. He went through the transition with us and kept the positive attitude and always kept his play at a high level. He's begun to benefit from that in these latter games. It's very rewarding for all of us as coaches to see it happen for him.
On what he thinks Brown's future is after Texas: I think Malcolm has got a future because he's a guy that can obviously run the football behind his pads, he can make moves in open space, he's a tough runner between the tackles, he can get outside on edges and hurt a defense too. He's excellent in protection; he's a great route runner. I think the things you have to be in the NFL to have a future, have an opportunity beyond here, is you have to be a detailed player, you have to be an assigned player and really in that league, because everybody can run the ball, it comes down to being a willing soul in protection, first knowing the scheme, and then being willing to take on linebackers and safeties coming from the distance, which is a tough chore. He'll wire you up in a heartbeat. He's always assigned, he plays big and plays physical in the protection game, and then he's got great route running ability and excellent hands to go along with it. We've used him several times in those roles. He's an all-around player in my opinion.
On the decision of not playing QB Jerrod Heard all season: You make all those decisions as you go through. It all depends on what's best for the team. Charlie and I, we talked about it each week. We're always on top of what we're doing. It was best for his development. In the end, to be honest with you he wasn't putting the work out there yet, because he was still learning. It would make us look like what we say is not what we mean or what we deliver. He's gotten better as a result of it. He's been growing, he's progressed, especially in the latter half of this season has been good; he's coming along a lot better. He didn't have the spring as for example Tyrone Swoopes did, and that's really where you see him right now.
On how has Jerrod Heard been getting better on the field: To be honest, just from getting the reps. It takes time. He's never been a part of a passing game like we have and that's a major transition. He hasn't been a part of all the different coverages that go on in football. In the week to week preparation, one week you see a middle closed team, next week you see a quarters team that plays cover two, you see a team that plays quarters and has man pressures…Every week it's always evolving, and that's the transition that Tyrone has had to go through really fast. He was better prepared for having been around last year, where Jerrod hasn't had that benefit. He's just coming out of high school; he's been getting his feet on the ground with the system. He's got a better understanding today of what college football is, what is going to require to be an elite player. That's going to be a lot of study and hard work, which he's going to put in. Initially, and I haven't been around one that hasn't been this way, they're overwhelmed by the preparation that you have to do. I've been around one guy that got it right away and that's Teddy Bridgewater. He got it right away. Everybody else had to learn, they have to go through that growing curve.
On if Heard has gotten any closer to where he wants him to be: He's a lot closer. What he does is that he comes over and he and I go over the script before practice and I'm able to take him through it to better articulate what he's ready to get into. It helps him in practice, and it helps me understand what he doesn't understand, it helps me teach him what he needs to know. And then when we can get the execution on film, that's positive feedback for him. You're always evolving with the player, that's how he learns best and that's a little teaching strategy we're using. That's part of his growth and now he's starting to get it. He'll be really competitive for us in the spring.
On what goes into creating an opening script for each game: A lot of things. Presenting ourselves with the information that they've got prepared for. There's nothing that they're going to get that we've done. It's presented differently. Its touches, its targets, who we want to have the ball, how we want to get them the ball. I don't want them to ever be the same. I want to get Daje Johnson involved in a different way. I want to make sure that John Harris is involved from several different spots, not just from one spot, because one spot is easy to take out. Also, how we get the tailbacks involved, how we create touches for them. Then, the line scheme, what we're doing blocking wise, what we're running at them, we're running tight zones, wide zones, we're running gap schemes, pin-pulls, and then how were countering the field. There's a lot that goes into it. Usually, I spend about three hours on that, going through it.
On if there was a day in specific where they as a staff felt like they had broken through and felt that things were going to be okay: Probably the week of Texas Tech. That was coming after a week of adversity. Probably the thing you saw was a result of the kids. They have to be willing students, they have to be alert, and you saw that in the players. We felt that we knew exactly what type of line we had, we knew what those guys would do best, we knew what our backs did best, we knew how we could merge those together. We knew what gave Tyrone rhythm and gave him a feel for the game. We started to get a flow for it. When we went through all the transition at the beginning of the year, there's so many things that Joe [Wickline] was just trying to do. We're trying to get five guys to work consistently together then somebody to captain and target the calls, growing a quarterback. Those were the two biggest issues that we've faced this year. When it really kind of got together for us, it was that week at Texas Tech.
On what the coaches talked about in the flight back from the Kansas State game: We didn't really talk at all. There's no talking going on. You're deepened thought into what you need to do to get it fixed. We just got a great group of guys who really care about what we do for our players and how we present ourselves as a program. A lot of pride involved. We just kept going and kept working. Charlie sets that tone as the headman. I've been around him and he's just relentless. He's got a clear picture of what he wants this program to look like and be. We're never going to yield for what we want, so we keep pushing.
On if there's a lot of introspection going on with the evaluation from coaches: What you do is you look at yourself, look at what you've got. There are some things to the game that they're so fundamental that you have to do. Some of those things are things that we honestly had to get taught and they take time to teach, and you just have to keep teaching it. The teacher will appear when the student is ready so you've got to keep teaching. There are things like covering after a throw, or covering downfield after a run. Ball security. I want to see our backs with the ball high and tight, our receivers, and our quarterback making decisive decisions on time. Scramble. When the quarterback breaks the pocket, that everybody knows how to scramble, the fundamental pattern that you've got to execute to get open. Those are the things that you keep working to develop and it takes time. But once you're in a program, you start taking off. Now those things have come together and players have a feel for them. And there it goes along with what we're doing scheme-wise too. Getting to this point goes back to what we mentioned earlier, what the line did well, what the backs did well, how we merge all these things together.
On the players not giving up the season after the shutout against Kansas State: There's just too much character. There's way too much character in this program. We knew that from the very beginning. There were really good people in this program. I'm talking about the players. You always start with what is character. Character is good people, people who have purpose, have goals, have dreams that they want to accomplish. We knew that about them. We just knew that we had to raise them. We had to teach them to get out of their comfort zone. We had to teach them it wasn't easy, that you have to earn victories, that things are not given to you. The difference between winning and losing many times can come down to five or six plays that really turn a game around. You've got to be an all-day fighter, you've got to play every down. Those are the lessons that have to be taught. That's the biggest transition in taking over any program; changing the attitude into a winner's program, a winner's attitude in terms of understanding that you've got to earn it. You've got to work at it every day at practice. Every day at practice counts, every rep at practice counts.
On what changed for them to be able to put together the third quarter drive against Oklahoma State after struggling all year in the third quarter: I think a lot of it goes to development. Whenever he (Swoopes) can make throws, and the receivers can do what they did, offensive line protects, its bringing all those pieces together because you have to balance your offense, and in order to do so, the throwing game is critical. We would like to take those drives down. I know the first one we were backed up. An area in which we need to get better at is coming out and knock it out, change your field to at least get one first down. The ultimate goal is obviously is to drive and score. A lot of that has to do with raising the team and what we just talked about, being relentless and making sure that you keep coaching the little details that I've mentioned before.
On if they make adjustments to achieve those goals: Honestly, I was around a Hall of Fame coach in Coach Weeb Ewbank, he's awesome. He told me one time: "Let me tell you, adjustments are made Monday through Thursday." It's called preparation, it's called knowing your opponent inside and out, it's called having a plan for how to expose and work your opponent. That would be having a first half and second half plan. Some of the things that I've learned from him, honestly, adjustments are really found inside the plan they've been prepared for, and that's what you've got to get to. Sometimes people think that adjustments are things that you just start drawing up on the board, but you don't call things in a game that you don't practice. That goes back to the big picture; you've got to see the big picture in the beginning. Here's what they do, here's what their adjustment is, what is our adjustment to their adjustment. You just play a chess game all week long so you stay ahead and you're never behind. Now we've got to go out and execute better in the third quarter. That's our biggest Achilles heel right now.
