The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Football begins spring practice
03.18.2014 | Football
Tuesday’s practice was Charlie Strong’s first as Texas head coach
Charlie Strong and the football team took to Frank Denius Fields on Tuesday for Texas' first spring practice.
The Longhorns, in tip-top shape from the offseason conditioning program of Pat Moorer, were excited to begin preparing for the 2014 season. Though the season opener against North Texas is more than five months away, Strong and the Longhorns were ready for the first of 15 spring workouts. Strong, who was hired in January, emphasized the foundation for a great team is here, but work still needs to be done, not only before the season opener on Aug. 30, but also in the 13 more practices leading up the Orange-White Spring game, which is set for Saturday, April 19 (1 p.m. Central).
After two-plus months of hiring new coaches, recruiting and adjusting to his new job, Strong finally led his new team on the field for practice. Strong said the team wants to prove itself and the senior leaders will be the ones who need to guide the way.
Opening statement: I've been waiting on this day for a long time and it finally arrived today. As I said earlier this season, there are five phases when you talk about January to your start to season. Phase one was winter conditioning. That was a time when we were able to get stronger and try to find out just who your football team is. Our strength coach, Coach [Pat] Moorer, had a good time with them. Then during that period you just try to recognize who will be your leaders. Phase two started today for us, and that's spring practice. This time is where you go out and refine the fundamentals. We are able to coach and teach as coaches and motivate and inspire. Today was a good day for the first day. I'm really excited about how our guys ran around. I think the tempo was different for a lot of them just running on and off the field. But you're going to get better with that because we're going to be able to coach that. It's all about coaching right there and guys just understanding what we want and players, they're always trying to figure you out as a coach and as a coach you just have to know the personality of the player that you're dealing with. But it was good to get out there today for the first day. We're really excited and now we look forward to Thursday and I know this, that you want to improve day by day. We have an opportunity to do that and we're so excited. The thing you like about this group of guys, and I said it before that Coach [Mack] Brown left us a great group. The thing you like is just how they work. There's been no resentment. Everyone has done everything we ask them to do within this program and that's what makes this exciting, that you don't have to just deal with issues. There's always going to be issues that pop up but you can deal with them because of the group that you have. You have leaders that are emerging that understand what we're looking for.
On having players visiting him in his office: I know this, we have a great facility here. Everything is kind of locked down. What I did, I said, take the locks off the doors. I told the players now when come up you can just walk right in; if I'm not doing anything, a lot of times if I'm sitting in my office. If I'm not in my office, I'm in the defensive meeting room. But I just want them to know who we are. When a young man knows that you care about him then he will do everything you ask of him. That's what I want them to understand and just understand what life is all about. You know this, if you get them a degree, then they have a chance to go be successful. But a lot of them, when you're dealing with young people, they have those big bright eyes and they're thinking it's the next level for me and it may not happen. It doesn't always happen for everyone. But you want to know that and you want them to know what you're all about and for them to know that you care about them.
On the team's attitude: It's always going to be an attitude where they have something to prove. I know that they're looking to prove to themselves that they can be a good football team if they just put it all together. There's still work to be done. We're nowhere near where we should be and we have a long ways to go and we know this, that I still have a lot of practices to get it ready. You have 14 more, but still we're not trying to win a game right now. We're just trying to just continue to build guys and just see what we have as a football team.
On his final three phases of the season: The third phase is summer conditioning. So now we went from winter conditioning and you go back to summer conditioning. The good thing about summer conditioning is you get your freshmen in. Now that they're about to become part of the program, you still have a chance to go get bigger and stronger. They have a chance to work with our strength and conditioning staff. Then you get to the fourth phase, which is our preseason camp. When you get to preseason camp, now you really feel like now it's time we have to build this football team and now we have to come together as a team with the chemistry and with the focus and now it's all about the preparation because now we're looking into the season. Now you get into the season, which is the fifth phase. Now you have 12 guaranteed opportunities [to play a game]. Are you going to build on those opportunities and how are we going to match up with those opportunities? You only get 12. The thing I like about when you get to phase five, I say this, now that work with winter conditioning and all that work with spring practice and all that work with summer conditioning and preseason camp, now you have a chance to go out and show everybody what you have done. But you only get 12 opportunities and you can't waste one.
On if there is a time when he plans to start determining his schemes: We have that personnel. When you walk out there you can say, hey we have a first unit on offense, we have a first unit on defense. But with the fundamentals, there are some guys who have left the program, who have graduated so some guys are moving up. Those guys who are moving up that haven't played a lot. You just want to see where they are and how much work you need to do with them. When you talk about it, if a guy takes a wrong step, it's a wrong step. And you can't take a wrong step. Today I talked about receivers dropping balls. You can't turn the football over. You have to make the catch when you're talking about turning the ball over with fumbles. The quarterback just working with tempo, let's get up there, let's get a rhythm going. Let's get guys up to the line of scrimmage and let's go. That's mainly what I'm looking for. Defensively, we want guys getting around the ball. They want to make sure that we keep the ball inside and in front and take the correct pursuit angle to the football. And not giving up the big throw on defensive and not letting the ball get thrown over your head. So many things to work on but you just try to take it day by day. The good thing we have, we had practice today so we have the film to look at now. So there can be a lot of corrections we can make.
On where the leadership will come from on offense: You would hope that your leadership comes from the quarterback position because he is the guy that has the ball in his hand, he's the guy that makes a lot of decisions so you want to see if [David] Ash and [Tyrone] Swoopes can grow and develop as a leader. Obviously, [Dominic] Espinosa because he is the center and the anchor of the offensive line. He can make the right calls for us there. I look at our running backs. You look at those three running backs that have played a lot. With [Jonathan] Gray, with [Malcolm] Brown and with [Joe] Bergeron, those are three backs that have played a lot for us so you feel like you're going to get some leadership out of that position there. Then you go to the defensive side of the ball. There's Malcom Brown, there's Tank (Desmond Jackson) inside two big guys with Cedric Reed. I look at our defense up front and I feel like you have a really good established defensive front sitting there looking at you. Then you look at [Steve] Edmond who has played a lot of football with [Dalton] Santos. So you have some guys in this secondary as a group that are back. It's all about this senior group coming together and growing together and now just maturing and letting the whole team mature around them. I always say this about a leader, if he can motivate, if he can inspire, then you have the chance to have an outstanding leader and get guys to play up to their ability, even play above their ability.
On how well he knows the players and if they have followed the framework he set for them: I think that each day they're growing. Like I said, when you have a good group of young men, and that's what Coach [Brown] did in the way he recruited. He recruited guys with character. When you have a group then when you walk in there was no resentment, it was more like they were more accepting to us as a coaching staff. We didn't have to try to come in and go overboard to win anyone over. We didn't have to do it. But when they felt like we had their best interests at heart, then they start coming around and that's why they will come in the office and come up here and hang out. Even if we go out and eat dinner with them, they are going to sit down at the table and joke around. But then they see that side of us, but then they see that side when they step out of line, then they can get corrected real quickly. When it's real quick it's real quick. But you like what you have. I like what I have and I know they are eager and they want to get better. When you have pride and when you have tradition in a program, then it's not hard to get players to do what they have to do.
On who has the final say in offensive play calling: The one final voice will be Shawn [Watson]. Joe [Wickline] is the offensive coordinator. Shawn is the assistant head coach in charge of the offense — two guys that worked together. When you look at guys that have been in the program, guys have been around coaching for a long time, they're very mature. My years at Florida, one time I was co-defensive coordinator and Greg Mattison. So it was never an issue who called the defense. Walking down the sideline, I would make a call and he would call it. I think one time I got questioned in calling the defense. It was [former Florida head coach] Urban [Meyer] and we were playing Georgia. What a game. We had just scored and we go up and it's fourth down and I'm walking toward him and I call an all-out blitz. He goes down on his knees and says "Oh Charlie, please don't do it." I said "Okay, time out." So then I changed the call and my guys got lined up the wrong way anyway. I said, "Hey, Urban, look. We're lined up wrong. If I had just made a call we would have been fine." But we ended up sacking the quarterback and getting out of there. But when you talk about play-calling duties, they're mature enough. They've been around it enough. Neither one has an ego. Wickline is going to be involved in it. He's going to make some calls. Shawn is going to make some calls. When we go down the stretch and we have to have a call made, I think Shawn, because he's been doing it for a long time and I'm comfortable with him. I don't think it will ever been an issue because those two guys have been around too long for the egos. I'm not going to put up with it and they know that. We're not here for ourselves, we're here for these players and if you have an ego you're working at the wrong place. Check your ego at the door and let's get going around here. We're here to win and get these young men graduated.
On defensive coordinator Vance Bedford: My guys always have energy now. The thing about him is he's an outstanding coach and has a great relationship with the players. That's why he's such a special coach. That's why the players like him. You see him out there and he's joking with them and I always tell him, he has bad knees, you keep doing that one of these days you're going to go down and I'm not going to come and pick you up. We're going to call a trainer and have them move you out of the way. But the thing he does, he loves this university. He played here, he's a Texas-ex. He's no different than Les [Koenning]. When you get coaches like that and you have coaches on your staff who have played and they're part of it, it's special to them. He has that special bond for this place, I can see why, because it's a great place.
