The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
09.08.2014 | Football
Head coach Charlie Strong and players met with the media
Longhorns Gameweek | Texas-UCLA Preview | Tickets
Head coach Charlie Strong and several players met with the media Monday morning to review the BYU game and preview this Saturday's game vs. UCLA. The Longhorns take on the Bruins at 7 p.m. inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Quotes from Strong, senior RB Malcolm Brown, senior CB Quandre Diggs, senior LB Jordan Hicks and sophomore QB Tyrone Swoopes are below.
Head Coach Charlie Strong
Opening statement: Embarrassing loss, when you look at our loss and you think about how you're at home. You're in a home stadium and you talk about just defending your home turf, and never, ever should we lose like that. You have a football team and it's my fault that I didn't have them prepared. We were not focused, but it's not an indication of the type of team that we have. I can remember, I was standing there at pregame warm-up, and I said to one of our coaches, "We're not ready to play yet. I want you to blow this whistle in about one second and I'm going to send them back in the locker room." I did that one time at the University of Louisville, I sent them back in the locker room because I knew our team wasn't ready to play.
I said to our football team, with this coaching staff last year not being here, we're taking this game more personal than you are. But it's just our leadership and just how much further we have to come with our leadership and get guys that need to lead this football team, where the seniors need to take ownership. But as a coaching staff, we had to get our team ready to go play, and we weren't ready and that's what happens; when you're not ready you get embarrassed and you get humiliated and it's tough, but we have to move on.
We're getting ready to play an outstanding UCLA football team and you think about the quarterback, he's a Heisman candidate, but it's going to be a big task for us, and now it's just how we're going to bounce back from this loss.
On the status of junior QB David Ash: Well, right now David is indefinitely out until the doctors decide; the doctors are going to make a decision. Tyrone is our quarterback, and he's going to be our quarterback, and we're just going to go with him.
On any clarity of the offensive line and if there is a timeline on getting Desmond Harrison and Kennedy Estelle back: No, there's no timeline, and the reason why is because we have core values within our program, and they broke a core value, but there's no timeline on the amount of games and when they will be returning.
On what he saw in the third quarter after watching tape: Well, we come out in third quarter: we kicked the ball off, they're driving and there's two third downs that we gave up, but it's third-and-short. We have to win on second down, and we didn't win on second down—then it was 13-0. Then we hit the quarterback and the ball comes fluttering out and we have a chance to intercept it, and probably could have changed the game right there. The ball is batted up and the receiver comes down with it, and then the quarterback goes in to score. We just have to be better, and it was a game of discipline because whoever is responsible for the quarterback, we allowed him to take off a couple of times and hit the diagonal. Whenever you get your back against the wall, you still have to continue to play because if you play hard enough, then some good things could happen to you because you never know if you create a fumble or interception or something. But you can't get down when the points are on the board, you're 20 down or you're 26 down. Just continue to play, guys, because you never know what's going to happen.
On what his count was on missed tackles after watching film: I'm not exactly for sure, but we missed more than 10, and that's why you get beat the way you got beat. But I'm not exactly for sure the number, but it was a large amount.
On the process he went through with suspending players: There's no committee and there's no one I ever have to appeal to. When I make a decision to suspend someone, I make that decision. There's nobody I have to talk to. Usually I just tell the coaches what has happened and then I make a decision on what we're going to do. But there's no committee at all involved.
On what he learns from the team after a loss like that: You know, when you look at a loss like that, you can't let this beat us twice, and players will listen after getting hammered the way we just got hammered. But when you look at your team, you've just got to say we're better than what we are, but how could this happen and how could it happen like this at home. Sometimes I look at it, and I told our players, I said, we're only allowed 20 hours a week, and when you play a big game, you've got to put the time in. You yourself have to be willing to come over here during the day and study film. It's all about the little details, it's about your preparation, it's about your focus, and how much are you willing to sacrifice. Because with our limited amount of time, now, as a team and as individual players, you need to study up. You can't get everything you really need from the meetings that we have. So I told them, I said, how many of you guys really came out here last week and just looked at tape. Not many hands were raised yesterday. I said, just tell me, who came by. Not many guys. Just give me a show of hands. Not many at all. But that's what it comes down to, it's just studying the game because if you really want to be a good team and a good football player, go study the game. But you don't just walk out there game day like we're going to go beat a really good football team because that wasn't going to happen, and it did not happen.
On if he had any indication that Saturday was going to happen: No, nothing at all because I would have thought that after last year, like I said, that we would have played a lot better than what we played. And I did, I told our team, I said that we weren't even here last year as a staff, but we took it more personal than you guys did, and we weren't even here. Here's a great example: Within the locker room I'll put up different things. Last year through the locker room I put up 500 yards rushing, total. I said anywhere else I would have been some player would have ran through there and tore all that down and probably would have burned it in the locker room. There would have been a fire in the locker room. They would have done something with it or they would have just balled it up and threw it in the middle of the floor. It's like nobody did anything, and I did it for a reason just to see what we would do. I wanted to see if somebody would just get pissed and somebody would pull it down, and then the next day go there and put it up again, somebody walk through there and tear it down again. But it is, it's a process, and we've just got to continue to build it.
On if he went to the dean of students and fought for Kennedy Estelle and Desmond Harrison:
The dean of students, I don't have to talk to the dean of students. I don't. I'm not trying to be funny here, but no, that did not happen. When I make a decision to suspend guys within this program, I make that decision, and no one else but me.
On if the suspended tackles are coming back Saturday: They will not be back Saturday.
On if saying you're embarrassed is a dangerous message to send so early on: No, it's not. I told them after the game, it's embarrassing and humiliating when you get beat at home. I don't think I've ever been a part of throwing your team under the bus and they heard it from me, and they've heard it from me for two or three days and have continued to hear it from me. But you just don't walk out into your stadium with a home crowd and get beat. A lot of times when you're on the road, things can happen. You can catch a team and they get hot at their place and the momentum swings and you can't get back and then all of a sudden, boom, you get embarrassed on the road. But coming home with a team that embarrassed you a year ago? I mean, if you were a player, what would you do?
On how simplified the offense was on Saturday and if the gameplan for QB Tyrone Swoopes will be expanded: Well, it's going to be expanded, but when you walk into a game with someone starting for the first time and you look at Tyrone and what we asked him to do, the thing he did was he executed the offense and he managed it very well. We thought we could run the ball better. We weren't able to run the ball and knock people off the ball. But just each and every week it'll be something added for him because now he's shown that we all were just wondering how it was going to go, and I think it ended up going very well, and he played very well.
On if he was disappointed in anything with the offense: Well, when you look at it, you had your center who started, your quarterback and then the offensive line. We had to kind of just move that around and get those guys because you end up taking [Kent] Perk[ins] from guard and moving him outside, then we ended up starting Taylor [Doyle]. But with that offense going out there for the first time, because I would have thought defensively we would have played better and kept the game tight, and just tried to get us a score somewhere because it's 6-0, you come back the second half late, let's go get us a touchdown, get it 7-6 and let the defense go out there and continue playing as hard as they're playing and maybe we can walk out of here with a win. But it didn't happen, so then when it all started going bad, it wasn't so much the offense, I mean, it's all three phases, but defensively we could have played much better.
On if he has any frustration with the players that aren't following his team rules: Well, when you look at it, you have 95 percent of the team that are doing it the right way, and then you have five percent. You say to that five percent, why can't you do what Malcolm Brown does, why can't you do what Johnathan Gray does, why can't you buy in? We will never become them, they're going to become us, and that's just the way it is. You get frustrated because you look at a talented group of players that you have to suspend that could really be helping this football team, but who knows if they can be because they can't do the little things we ask them to do.
On if the players suspended broke a core value and they are serving a punishment or they are continuously breaking core values and being monitored and can return after they stop breaking rules: No, they have stopped. They're not going to break another one because they won't be here if they break another one. The thing is they won't be back until I let them know when they will come back. But they're still part of the team, so it's not like they've been booted off the team. They're still part of the football team.
On his level of concern with the kicking game: Well, very concerned. We go out there the opening game we miss a field goal and then we go down there and the one shot we have we end up missing it. The thing about it with [place-kicker Nick] Rose, he's good enough to make them, and it's all a confidence factor with him. Then just the punting, we've just got to do a better when we're punting the ball. We've just got to do a better job of covering. But the kicking game, you look at the kickoff return, we had too many penalties, and it really hurt us. You look at the drives for our offense, I think our average starting field position was around the 14-yard line, and some of it was because of just the return, with getting a penalty or whatever it may be. But we have to do a better job. We have to be better in the kicking game. When you talk about all three phases, that's what we have to do because you can generate points, and that's what we're not getting, and field position kills us.
On if he has to be careful on how he handles the players so he doesn't lose them: Well, I don't think you lose them because it's the second game of the season, so there's no reason for us to lose them. But when you've been through a lot and you're a group of seniors that's been through a lot, at some point you would like for one to just stand up and just say, hey, enough is enough, let's get this team headed -- we're not playing at the level we need to play at with the talent that we have. But you would think that someone would stand up and do that, but you're right, they've been through a lot. But that's the thing, when you've had setbacks and you've had adversity, how can you dig yourself out of a ditch? This team can. As a coaching staff we're going to have to do a better job and we're going to have to get it done ourselves, but we can get it done.
On if he thinks the coaching staff was more embarrassed of the loss than the players and if that is a concern: Well, it's a combination of both; we all should be embarrassed. I just feel for this university that when you look at your football team and it's kind of the face of the university for us to go out there and get embarrassed the way we did. I'm really embarrassed, I'll tell you that right now. It's been tough the last few days just to see that happening, and there's no reason for it to ever happen. We're too good of a football team for that to happen, especially, like I keep saying, out here in this stadium.
On the players having to respond and to get the seniors to stand up, how much can the coaches do; does it have to come from within the locker room: I tell our coaches all the time, when we're in meetings I talk about it. You have to talk about leadership because a lot of times with young people no one really wants to stand up and be a leader because they feel like they're going to hurt someone's feelings, and you won't hurt anyone's feelings because there's different ways to lead a football team. But it has to come from the coaches and the players. We still have to continue to talk about it and the players are the ones who are going to have to respond. But it is, and that's what you're looking for, and you're hoping that you'll get is just that response and get someone to just stand up and say, hey, guys, we've been through this. I think about last year out there the embarrassing loss and then come back and beat Oklahoma. So it can be done. It's been done, so it's not like it can't be done.
On if he considers taking some of the defensive starters off of special teams to keep them off of the field for so much of the game: Well, when I look at special teams, it's a phase of the game, and you look at it, defensively if you're out on the field 11 minutes, get off the field. I mean, it's simple. It's third down. When third down comes, let's get off the football field, and I think about the starters on defense, I think [Jordan] Hicks is on the punt team, [Peter] Jinkens is on the punt team, so there's two starters there. Then on the kickoff team, which we didn't kick it of that much so they couldn't have gotten tired, so we only have a couple of starters there. Special teams is so important, so I'm not looking to take those guys off. The defense, if they have the ball for 11 minutes, there's a reason why, and we're not doing our part.
On UCLA QB Brett Hundley: Another strong runner for us, you're right, in Hundley. The thing about it, I think he threw for 396 yards against Memphis the other night and they beat them by seven. But a really strong runner, a really good football player, and he has enough wide receivers around him now, same thing, that we played a lot of man on Saturday where we just tried to just man up and just cover, and we did a pretty good job. They caught a few passes, but overall we were able just to just play some man coverage, and we're going to have to mix it up with some zone and man, but just try to get him off balance and making sure that we blitz him. We have to go attack him and we have to go blitz, what you call the blitz, and guys got to hit their gaps and be gap sound and have gap integrity, and we didn't get that done the other night. But there's so much that it's mostly what we have to get done and what we have to get accomplished. I look at teams and I know they're pretty good, but we ourselves, we've got a lot to get corrected.
On if he is going to take more chances and open up Tyrone's game plan later on down the road: I don't know if it was; it was just the way the game went. It wasn't so much because what [assistant head coach for offense/QBs] Coach [Shawn] Watson did is he gave him the throws. We gave him the throws early, but then once you get down, you're playing, first half it's 6-0 so why take chances when your defense is playing as well as it is. And then when you got back into the second half, the field was so short for our offense, you think about where the average starting field position for our offense in the second half was the 14-yard line. One time we dropped back to throw the ball, the guy comes loose, and luckily he broke the tackle or it would have been a safety. Then we get the ball backed up to like the one foot line and then they come through again. But I think that the field position, it takes a lot on how much offense and what we can do and whether we can release the ball down the field, which we will because we have guys who can get down the field. But it's all just through the flow of the game.
On what it means for him to coach a game at the AT&T stadium and if he knows Jerry Jones: Oh, yes, I know Jerry Jones. I've had a conversation with him. You know what, I'm not looking at that venue, I'm just hoping I get that football team ready to go play. I know the venue is big, but I think I have more issues now to worry about more than that venue.
On UCLA struggling against some teams they've played so far, what he sees their opponents doing that he wants to try to do as well: Well, they may have struggled, but they ended up winning the game so they find a way to win. They go to Virginia and beat Virginia, then they come home and win against Memphis. It's probably not an indication of they didn't play that well, so you study the film, you watch the film, we take the plays, and then we just have to game plan off of what we saw. But we've just got to. It's more of us and our team and our defense getting ready to go play, our whole football team, not only defense, but offense and the special teams.
On is it true about what people say about not playing man when facing a running quarterback and on getting WR Marcus Johnson more involved: Well, when you say is it true that you can't play man against a running quarterback, you can play man against a running quarterback because what you're doing is you're taking away the throws on the wide receivers; you're not giving him the alleys to throw the ball. But if you load the box enough, you can play man coverage against a running quarterback. But Marcus Johnson, it's not so much we dictate where the ball is going to go when we say, hey, throw the ball to Harris, it's just what the coverage and what the defense is going to give you and then I think his role will pick up.
On how difficult for him right now, coming off a tough loss, facing a ranked opponent it is to keep his players suspended: Well, that's what I'm going to do. It's a process. The thing about it, and if you watch, a lot of times it happens in society, it's like raising your children because you feel like you really need them, that you're going to just all of a sudden just jeopardize what you feel like is important to you that it's not that important because you feel like you need them bad enough to get something done? So what lesson are you teaching them? You look at it, too, like this: Okay, even if you have the suspended players back, how much good are they going to help you? Will they do something in the game because now all of a sudden you let them back, you feel like you really need them? No, we have a good football team and we have what we need and we have more than enough, and what we have, we can get done with it, and we will continue to get done with it.
On how he thought the young offensive line did and if he can jumpstart the running game a little more: We can. We talked about that yesterday. We can do some different things on offense to get it jump started, because more than anything just go cover up a guy and just get in a guy's way and hand the ball back there and let those guys -- if you look at offenses now, a lot of them are zone blocking, so if you can just zone block a team, give it a chance to get in front of a guy and just lock up and hand the ball to the running back and see if he can make a guy miss or just get through a seam and get to the second level, then you always have a chance.
On if he feels like the honeymoon is already over: I don't even know if I ever had one. Did I ever have one? No, when you're at a program with a lot of passion and a lot of pride and a lot of tradition, that's what you expect, and I'm never going to look at it any different. Whether we were 2-0 sitting here right now—we're not going to coach any different. We're going to continue on. It's a process, and we know this. It's going to take it a while, but the fact is, we have what we have, and we have enough to get it done. That's all about our players just locking in and focusing, and the preparation.
When I made the point earlier, when I talked about guys just studying the film and studying the game, if you're going to be a great player you have to study the game and you have to study film, and you have to do the extra. You just can't come to meetings when we have meetings and then all of a sudden think an hour or 45 minutes that we have you, that I can look at this tape and be ready to go play on Saturday. That would never happen. You have to put in your time, and the players have to understand that. But if you want to be a good player, you're going to do that. If you want to have a good football team, that's what you've got to do, and that's why as a coaching staff it's our responsibility to get it done.
We talk about accountability and responsibility all the time. It's on the coaches, too. We're held accountable. I'll tell you right now, I'm just eating up inside because of that performance the other night, and it's hard for me to get over it, and I can't let one loss beat me twice. I know at some point I have to get over it, but it's hard for me to get over it right now just because I just know it's not an indication of how good this football team is or where this football team is at. We're a much better football team than what we showed out there the other night. It's my fault and I take the blame and it doesn't bother me one bit, but that honeymoon, I don't know if it ever started.
Senior RB Malcolm Brown
On whether the players are as embarrassed as their coaches and what can be done to fix the errors in last week's game: We're embarrassed as well. That's something that shouldn't happen to us as a team, and we just need to get it back together. We're definitely not happy with the results. We just need to get things right between us as players and go on to next week.
On what the team needs as motivation: That's part of the coaches' job to try to get us ready and everything, but that's something that us as players need to take responsibility for. We'll get ourselves ready and get each other ready to go out and play a game.
On who has the ability to take on the leadership role: There's a bunch of guys. A lot of the seniors are kind of stepping into the role. I'm definitely trying to step outside of what I'm used to doing and trying to speak up a whole lot more, and we've definitely got a lot of guys on defense doing the same. We're all just, as seniors, trying to speak up.
On why the team wasn't ready Saturday: We just didn't execute come game time. We've got guys practicing hard and trying to do what we can. Of course it can always get better during practice and everything, but we just didn't execute come game time. That's about it. I mean, you can go out and have some great practices, then go out in the game and not play well and vice versa. You can go out and have some bad practices and maybe play well against a team. We just need to come out and execute during game time. That's what it comes down to.
On if the team is still trying to figure out what Coach Strong wants: No, we know what he wants. He's told us plenty of times. He wants us to be a disciplined team and be so disciplined and so focused in on what we're doing, that we can go out and play fast and be ourselves on the field.
On the effect of the BYU signs Coach Strong put around the locker room: I wasn't thinking of it as BYU was everywhere and tearing everything down. It was just something that he's told us that he's into, the little acronyms and everything like that. He's been saying, "Believe you're unbeatable." That's just a little bit of motivation for me. That's how I took it, as motivation. Believe you're unbeatable. That's something that needs to be in your mind, something that needs to be your mindset, not just throughout that one game, but throughout the whole season.
On Tyrone Swoopes' performance and whether they need to open up to help the running game: I believe Tyrone did very well for his first game. I believe he went [8-of-8] the first couple of throws. He did very well, and I'm definitely proud of him. I wasn't really surprised. I knew what he could do, and this whole team knew what he could do. As far as the question about the run game, we had a good game plan going. We just needed to execute better. We just had to go out there and do what the coaches told us to do. Like I said, they had the game plan for us, and us as players, we need to go out and execute that.
On Tyrone Swoopes' confidence in the huddle: I knew once he got those first couple of completions, he was going to be on a roll a little bit. I know as for anybody, you get those first couple of plays out of the way, and it just starts turning into that normal game of football that you're always used to playing. In the huddle, Tyrone, he was great. He was fantastic. He was taking control and he was calling out all the right plays and all the right assignments. He did very well.
On how close the running game is to being on track: It's very close. It's just one or two assignments here or there on each and every play -- maybe a wrong step by somebody or wrong track by me. It's always just one small thing that kind of gets at us a little bit, and that's something that we definitely need to fix and something that we will get fixed.
On his impressions of the UCLA defense: The UCLA defense, I haven't watched a bunch. I watched a little bit this morning. They have a solid group of linebackers, and they have some big guys on the d-line as well. They're a bunch of solid players. They've got some good guys on their defense. They were ranked, what, 12 or something like that preseason. It was for a reason. There's some good ball players on their team, and we're just going to go out and focus on this week, focus on them, and just get to work.
On playing at AT&T Stadium: It's going to be a crazy environment. Hopefully we'll get that thing as packed out as possible. We've got the big Jumbotron above us and everything, so it'll be really fun for us, and I'm excited for it.
Senior CB Quandre Diggs
On who will step up as a leader: As a senior, I have to do better. I can only go off what Coach is saying. If he said that, then I've got to do more. I've got to be more of a leader. We've got to continue to get more guys to rally around us. We've just got to go into this week with a great focus and just get ready and let things play out.
On the third quarter vs. BYU: We didn't come out and didn't execute in the third quarter like we had been doing the first half, plain and simple. We let those guys march the ball down the field, and we didn't do what we were supposed to do on certain changes. That's what happens when you don't do your job.
On if the team has taken responsibility: We didn't go out and execute what we were supposed to do on defense, plain and simple. We have a job to stop those guys, and we didn't.
On the secondary facing UCLA QB Brett Hundley: Those guys are going to test us. Brett is a great player. I played with him in the Under Armour game, so we're kind of familiar with each other. He's up for the Heisman. He's a great quarterback. He can make all the throws. If you're a defensive back, that's what you want to go against. You want to go against a team that's going to throw the ball. We were tested a little bit last week, and this week we'll get an even bigger test.
On importance of defeating UCLA and the opportunity it presents: It's a great opportunity. Going against a team that's in the top 12, tremendous offense, tremendous defense, tremendous team, great coach - it's a great opportunity for us to go out and make a statement that we didn't make last week. Everybody has to be up for the contest and be ready to go. It's an opportunity to go out and play the game we love and have fun. That's what it's all about. I think we'll get things worked out, and we'll be ready to go on Saturday.
On frustration from Saturday: I'm really frustrated because I don't have a next year. It's all about this year. For us seniors, it's an opportunity that we let go down the drain and something that we didn't expect. There's a lot of emotions tagged up into this. You go out and you spill it all on the field each and every week. You go out and practice six days a week, and it's frustrating when it doesn't come out the way you want it to come out. We've just got to regroup, rebound and get ready to go for this week and take advantage of the opportunity we have. The guys have to get focused and be ready to go, and we'll go with what we have.
On UCLA's record of struggling with unexpected teams: We can't look at that. We're The University of Texas; everybody is going to come out and give us their best shot. Those guys will be ready to come out. We played those guys my freshman year, and we were able to beat them, so I'm sure they're going to have some type of little thing that they're ready to get us back. Like I said, it's going to be a fun game, and we've just got to be able to go out and compete and play all four quarters.
On playing in AT&T Stadium: It's going to be fun. It's something I looked at last year as an opportunity for me to come back and play in [AT&T] Stadium, which a lot of people don't get to play in. We haven't played there since they played Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship. It's a big opportunity for us to go out and be in the spotlight and just have fun. We need to go out and play and just be loose and put on a good rush for Texas.
On the lack of players watching film: I'm sure you guys can remember me at Media Day saying a lot of guys just didn't love football. Some guys feel like they're entitled. They think they're going to go out and play and they're going to do well without watching film. It's something that you should be able to do on your own. You should be able to go out and watch at least 15 to 20 minutes of film each and every day to get ready for what those guys are going to do. I understand that we watch film when we come up for meetings and stuff, but that's not enough. I can definitely understand where coach is coming from. I know we're student-athletes, but classes are just starting. I understand that some people are trying to get used to their class schedule, but I think with the way things came out Saturday, guys will take that step to go out and get in their playbook and get on Huddle and see what we've got to go against each and every weekend. We have cutups, so it's not like you have to cut it up yourself. It's going to be there for you to go watch. It's surprising when guys don't take advantage of those opportunities. That's kind of what I meant when I said guys don't love football - that's where it comes from.
On what it will take to strip the entitlement from the players: I feel like we're not as good as the people that are entitled think we are. We just got our butts kicked at home. I don't understand what reason you have to be entitled for. I've played a lot of football games here, and I really think I go out and I watch a lot of film. I go out and I study the game enough, and I just don't understand why if you have guys that haven't played as much, why they think they're entitled. I've been in secondaries with guys like Kenny [Vaccaro], and he watched film all day. He took extra time to go out and just watch film, and that's something that I learned when I was playing with him. It's all about being accountable, and if you don't want to be accountable, then that's between you and you. That's kind of what Ray Lewis said, effort is between you and you, and being accountable is between you and you, also. You've just got to try to continue to get those guys to learn and get better with some of their ways.
On if he should be more demanding to the guys about watching film: Well, I don't stay with the guys. I stay by myself, so it's not for me. Those guys have an iPad just like I have an iPad. If you can't pick up your iPad and you can't watch film, then that's on you. I can get you up to the facility and watch film, but we're all going to be up here watching film, and when you go home, you don't have anything to do after you get out of practice. Today is an off day; you can watch film today. There's no excuse. No man should ever have to push you to go and watch film. You're a grown man. I've grown up around the game, so I know. When you have people that just don't really care like they should, then that's the kind of predicaments you get yourself into.
Senior LB Jordan Hicks
On if he agrees with Quandre Diggs and Coach Strong saying certain players have a sense of entitlement: I agree with both of them. There's a feeling people have that they can just go out there and get the job done. That they don't need to put the necessary time and effort beforehand in the film room making sure they understand what the scheme is asking of them. I think it showed this week, and we've got to get that fixed. The leaders need to get that fixed and make sure that everybody is coming in and putting in the necessary time and understanding what's going on.
On how you fix the entitlement issue: I think, number one, we'll meet as a defense in the film room, ask questions and be open to asking questions. If somebody doesn't do something, point them out, call them out. We don't need to be afraid to call somebody out if they've done something wrong. I think I'm definitely going to pull the LB group in. I'm sure Quandre is going to get his guys; the d-line will come in. It's a team effort, so it's not just on a single person, but we're all working to fix it.
On who will step up as a vocal leader: Honestly, at this point, I think it's a collective group, and that may be what disappoints him so much - that it's more of a collective group instead of one guy. I'm not sure who that would be at this point, but leadership-wise, it's a collective group.
On if there is a lack of vocal leaders because there are more playing quiet leadership roles: I think we have a large group of guys who have a lot of experience, guys who have been in situations before who have been in adversity before, who understand what it takes to win here. I think we can't single it out to one person. I don't think that there is necessarily just one guy. It's got to be a group of guys who lead by example and are also vocal at the same time.
On whether he agrees with Coach Strong's stance on the team not being ready: Being ready to play is playing a full game. Coach Strong is completely right. We were flat when we came out, and he saw it, everybody saw it. It wasn't a secret. He said something about it, and he told us that if we came out there with no energy and were a flat team that we would get beat the way we did, and it happened. For us to come out ready to play, we've got to be able to carry it over. Carry over the first half into the second half and be able to rise to the occasion when our name is called.
On if the team can get their readiness back: I believe we can get it. It's something that is a mentality that has to be trained and carried over until the end of the game. We came out the first half, played well, but again, people thought it was just going to happen. Everything was just going to continue to happen instead of carrying over that edge, carrying over that competitiveness to go out there and to say we're going to dominate them no matter what the circumstances. No matter what happens in the game, we're going to stop them and we're going to three-and-out, and we're going to score. If it's kickoff return, we're going to get it to the 50, and we're going to score on special teams. We have to be able to compete and say every play we're going to go as hard as we can to the fullest of our ability and get the job done.
On what he sees in UCLA and what challenges they will present: A lot of challenges. Like you said, they're a great team. It's a great opportunity for us to go out there and prove something coming off of this past week. We're going to get in the film room, and we're going to study them. I know they have a very explosive offense - very strong, dominant defense - and we've got to come ready to play a lot better than this past weekend.
On the difference of UCLA predictably throwing the ball more than BYU: It's different. It's different, but I think a lot of the concepts will carry over. They like to get their running back the ball, just as BYU did. I think a lot of the passing concepts are the same. We've seen a lot of different stuff from our offense going through camp, so I think there's a lot of carryover from what we've seen already.
On what he has seen John Harris do differently in practice, off the field, and during the first two games that is causing success: I think it's his mindset. His mindset has completely changed. They gave him an opportunity, and he took full advantage of it in camp this year. I'm proud of what he's done. I think everybody knew he had it in him. Nobody is surprised at the numbers he's putting up and his ability because we've seen it for four years now. He's a very explosive wide receiver. I'm extremely happy for him and glad the way this senior year is starting to roll.
On fixing missing tackles: That's just angles - angles and the want to actually tackle. There's an attitude that comes with tackling, and that's just something that comes with the game. We've got to focus on it, and we've got to make sure it doesn't happen again. We've got to put it on ourselves to make sure it doesn't happen again.
On playing at AT&T Stadium: I've never been in there before. I'm excited to be in there. I think it's going to be a great atmosphere, especially with our fans traveling the way they do. I think it'll be a lot of fun.
Sophomore QB Tyrone Swoopes
On how he feels about his performance Saturday: I think I did pretty well being my first start and all. I think I handled everything well. As a team, there's some things we've got to clean up, but I think I did pretty well.
On offensive expansion and growth: That's in the hands of [assistant head coach for offense/QBs] Coach [Shawn] Watson and [offensive coordinator/offensive line] Coach [Joe] Wickline based on how we do this week in practice and what they see. I think they'll put things in that they think we can execute and do well on Saturday.
On knowing he will be the starting QB against UCLA and the different mental-preparedness this week: I got my first start, so I'll be a little bit more confident going in just because I wasn't really sure what to expect with it being my first start and everything. This Saturday, I will be more confident and ready to go.
On becoming more comfortable with the first-team: I get more comfortable with the first team receivers, first team o-line and the running backs and everybody. I'll get more comfortable, and we'll get going here pretty soon.
On whether he feels he could have made a bigger impact outside of what the coaches were telling him to do: I'll just leave that in the hands of Coach Wickline and Coach Watson because they know what we can do, and they game plan based on what they see. They obviously saw something in BYU last week that had us doing what we were doing, so I trust them when they tell me to do.
On what he learned in his first start: I'll be more confident in the passing game, of course, and trust the o-line because they're fighting up there for me to keep me safe. I'll be more confident in myself and what I have around me.
On Coach Strong wanting someone to step up as team leader: I think he just wants somebody to step up and call people out when they're not doing right. Someone to be the voice of the team that everybody listens to and looks to when something is going good and something is going badly. He's trying to find that one guy to step up and lead everybody.
On whether that can be him: I think in the future it could be, yes, sir.
On his mindset moving forward knowing he is starting QB: It's my responsibility to stay ready any time they need me, so that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to stay ready, and every game they tell me to start, I'll make sure that I'm ready to perform and do the best I can for the team.
On his leadership and if he feels comfortable stepping into that role: I'd say I'm more of a lead by example kind of guy just because I'm not really the type to give the whole rah-rah, get in front of the team and give a whole big speech. I'll say something to somebody or a group of people if it needs to be said, but I'd say I lead by example.
On what he sees from John Harris as receiver that has made him come on strong during the first two games: John worked hard in the off-season. He lost a little bit of weight, so he moves a little bit better now than he had been. I can tell that his demeanor has changed and he's been working hard. I've been working with him since last year when I got here, so he and I have a really good relationship. He'll be a really good player in the future.
On whether he's ever thought about starting at AT&T Stadium: I did not. I saw it on the schedule, but of course I wasn't the starter at the beginning of the season, so I was just excited to be in the stadium. Now that I'll be starting, I can't even imagine what it'll be like on Saturday.
