The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
03.11.2016 | Football
Texas Football head coach Charlie Strong met with the media on Thursday to discuss the first spring practice in pads.
Head coach Charlie Strong
Opening statement: Today was the first day of pads and you know what was really great was to just see the excitement and the energy from our players. Just how they moved around and it's still competitive. It's all about fundamentals and it's all about technique and about guys individual improvement each and every day. The coaches are moving around and when the coaches move around you get the players to move around. But you just like the energy and the passion right now with this group of guys and just how well they're working.
On the new offense making practices always stay at a high level: They have to stay at a high level because now you are up on the ball and the good thing about it is each guy has to listen because he has to look to the sideline and get the call. And it makes the defense have to get aligned where they have to get their feet in the ground also. So there's really no lull in practice because each and every play guys are going and just getting aligned.
On the quarterbacks: Well, we're still evaluating that position. Tyrone [Swoopes] – just because he has experience and he's been there – but you watch him and he's been making the throws and getting us in the right place with the right plays. And also with Jerrod [Heard], he's doing a really good job. He had a couple of breakaways there today where you could see him breaking and going along ways with it. And then just to watch Shane [Buechele] – he's still learning but the good thing about it is he knows where to put the ball. Now it's all about just placing it and making the good throws.
On how much offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert is stressing accuracy from the quarterbacks: What's really good if you watch this, and Sterlin's doing a great job with it, is just breaking down the field where you take your eyes and making sure this is the side we're working it and it helps the quarterbacks where the ball is coming out. So it's not one where they are holding it. The ball is coming out, and if it isn't there just pull it down and take off. And you have so many run and pass options with it, and I think that's really helping our quarterbacks.
On how he makes sure to get time to spend with the defense: Well today if you watch us, we're always going to do some where we start off with three-on-three. It's going to be some one-on-ones. It's always going to be that and then with the inside drills – you're going to get the pounding with the inside drill. So when we get the team there at the end, guys can know how to fit blocks and get off blocks. At the end of the day, it's still about us making sure that we play with great fundamentals, we stress fundamentals, we stress the right technique. But guys just getting off of blocks on defense and then guys making the blocks there on offense – blocking and tackling. But we're going to do that each and every day where it's going to be a segment and the segment is going to be designated where it's going to be good-on-good where we're fitting blocks, getting off blocks and making that happen so that we can just stress fundamentals over and over and over.
On which players impressed during the inside drill: Well, we just came from three-on-three to the inside drills so those guys, everyone was still fired up. And I tell you, you look at [C Zach] Shackelford, he's doing a good job there inside and he's at the center position where we knew we needed some help and has really stepped in and done a great job for us. And then on the defensive side, [DT Paul] Boyette, Poona [Ford], you know both of those guys, inside guys, are really having these first three days, really doing a good job.
On LB Malik Jefferson's leadership responsibilities: I told Malik, I said that at that position –when you look at the middle linebacker position – you always expect that guy to be your leader. And plus because of the year he had last year and so much is said about him, so much is written about him then it's almost like it's been placed on him. But I said, "Just don't feel like that it's all on our shoulders because you have enough guys around you. You just lead by example. Lead by the way you work and then everybody else will follow you." And that's what he's been doing these first few days of practice. You see Boyette who can come with him, Poona who can come with him, but he has enough guys around him. You look at the back end, there's Dylan Haines who's a senior sitting in the back end, but enough guys around him where he can be special but he can also pull a lot of guys with him.
On freshman WR Collin Johnson: Collin is making some plays. You look at him and he covers a lot of ground, has a lot of height but covers a lot of ground, and made a ton of plays today. He has enough speed where he has enough breakaway speed and where he can run past people. But if you watch him, watch him just develop each and every day. He's going to just get better and better and better. You look at [John] Burt on one side, you look at Collin on the other. You have guys with height, which you like to have so they can go up and get the ball.
On junior OL Brandan Hodges needing to step up: When you look at Brandon, he comes in and it's a totally new system for him. With him, it's just trying to get familiar with the program and then just trying to get his feet placed in the right place, so that he can be an addition to us. And it didn't happen but now it is. He's doing a really good job right now and I said what I said because he has everything you want. When you look at him, he has the height, he has the size, he has all of the ability, all of the agility, and that's what you're looking for. And he's done a great job so far.
On Hodges' role in the offensive line: You have to look at it because if you get that center position solidified with Shack [Zack Shackelford] and then you go Hodges at one guard and you got [Patrick] Vahe, and then you're looking at Perk [Kent Perkins] and 55 Connor [Williams], then we have a really good chance to have a solid line.
On the quicker tempo on offense from the viewpoint of a defensive-minded head coach: Well, when you think about it, and you look at the tempo, you like the tempo because more than anything it gets us in shape and we have to get aligned and guys have to hear calls. But the focus, you have to be totally focused. You have to be totally locked in, because it's coming from the line of scrimmage and guys are already aligned, so the defense, whichever way you're moving the coverage or whichever way you're dropping down, you have to be ready and guys have to communicate. So more than anything with defense, it's about the communication, and that's why I really like what we're doing because it forces our guys to have to talk.
On if the up-tempo offense forces the defense to have some juice: Oh yeah, they'll have to have some juice now because you're on the ball right now and they're not waiting. So you see guys running around trying to get aligned, and what's been good for us is that we haven't been misaligned. There may have been one time where we probably didn't have enough personnel on the field or the right person out on the field, but at least guys are getting lined up and the defensive line is dying to get their feet in the ground.
On having to start practices over: No, not right now. And if you look at the way we're practicing, you would think that it's nothing like there's not a game that you have to be looking forward to, but guys are coming out and competing. And you like that, and I think that our guys see it. The offense is new for them, so the learning process and the learning curve is going to be there. And that's what I told our coaches - just be patient. We have to be patient. We're going to learn it, but just be patient and don't be frustrated when a young man doesn't get it, because we got to take our time and just teach them. More than anything, they want to learn. So it's more about us just teaching them and making sure that they pick it up and once they all have a chance to learn it, then you have a chance to really do something and go move the ball.
On freshman C Zack Shackelford in winter conditioning: Very competitive. He has a lot of attitude to him and I remember one day I was out there watching him and we were outside and we had those competitive drills. I forgot who he was going against, but he was almost about to lose and you see him kind of come, you know, guys are running side-by-side, and he just kind of nudges this guy and tries to push him down to go win it. And I just started laughing. Because you knew right there he kind of had a different attitude to him.
On sophomore S P.J. Locke III: This is a guy that blitzes a lot for us, a guy who has to adjust a lot to the different formations. And the thing about P.J. is that he's one of those guys, size-wise, that you like, because he can go back and play the safety position or he can go drop back down and play the nickel for you. He could probably play some corner if we really asked him to. But a very good athlete and has really good speed. A guy who can blitz off the edge, but it's all of those combinations where it's just his speed and size and those things that make him a really good blitzer.
On sophomore CB Kris Boyd: Right now we have him at the corner because we have P.J. down at the nickel. We can always shuffle those guys around, because you look at Boyd and what he can do outside, and you look at [Holton] Hill and what he can do outside. You also look at Davante [Davis]. Even with [John] Bonney, you can move those guys around. Once they pick up what we're doing right now, then we can be very flexible with where we place them and what we do with them.
On senior CB Sheroid Evans: Well I just like the way Sheroid has bounced back and how he just comes out and works and doesn't say nothing, and puts in his time. The thing you like about him is that he is so good with the younger guys. He's just trying to stand out there and coach them and making sure they're in the right spots. But he's out there competing right now. For someone to be off two years and watch him come back and do what he's doing - it's been fun to watch him, it really has.
On if there was hesitation for Sheroid Evans to come back this season: He was all in. He came to me and said "Hey Coach, I'd like to come back." It was after the injury last year and he said he was going to rehab, he was going to work hard, and wanted to come back. And I said "I would love for you to come back."
On breaking practices up before the spring game: The spring game is the 16th and what I wanted to do is, since everything's new, is try to get these three days out of the way. So when we bounce back, we'll go Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday but Monday, Wednesday, and Friday gives us a chance to install, so it gives us more time with the meeting time with the coaches or the walkthroughs or whatever it may be. But you have that time where we can spend more time with the players and teach them. Before, the way I had it was we went Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. So that gap was never a good separation between Friday and Saturday, and then you bounce back on Monday, so if you scrimmage on Saturday, you never really got the chance to really watch all the tapes. So now we have a chance to review everything and coaches have a chance to sit down with the players and really go over what needs to be done.
On examples of how invested OL Brandon Hodges was in winter conditioning: Well last year he was trying to just learn it, and now that what he's done is that he's taken ownership. He's really taking ownership for himself and it's really becoming the player and the person we thought he could be. When he came in last season it was just a learning curve for him where he was really just trying to get his feet in the ground and just with academics and then with the football side of it. But now he's been here, and the thing about him is that he works and he wants to be good. So now his whole attitude has changed. You see him when he comes out to practice and he has a lot of energy to him and now you're beginning to see that passion he has for the game.
On freshmen OL Garrett Thomas and OL Buck Major: They're going to have to get bigger and stronger. They're right there with their size, but it's all about continuing to develop them and develop their bodies. They're not a long, long ways away, but it's still about the development process.
On QB Tyrone Swoopes having more fun at practice, and whether it's attributed to his experience or if he's opening up: It's a combination of both, because you look at him now and he's been here and he's a senior, so now you see it. I think that last year, with the package that we put in for him, he's had some success with it and that, more than anything, helps him with his overall attitude and how he really feels about himself. So now when you watch him take the field, he has that confidence about him, which I didn't think he had last season. Now he has that confidence factor there, now it's more or less now, "Hey, I know I can do this now. Now it's about me going to go get it done."
On if that surprises Coach Strong: No, it doesn't surprise me. I knew it would take a little time, but it doesn't surprise me. You like the way how he's going about it now and just his overall attitude and he works really hard. You just want to see good things happen for him.
On the message he wants to send to quarterbacks heading into spring break: The good thing about every one of these guys right now is now they're putting in the work. You don't even have to say it to them now because they understand and they know it's a whole new system and they have to learn the system. So they're going to have to put in their own time to learn it. But you know what, it's just managing the offense and putting the ball in the right place to where it needs to go, and Sterlin [Glibert]'s doing a great job with them with really coaching them and slowing them down and teaching them and making sure, you know, this is where you have to put it and making sure they totally understand the offense.
On if his biggest concern is depth: When you look at it, it's depth, because you look at the defensive line. We got to get some guys ready there and make sure that you have a good solid group there, because when you look at Poona [Ford], you look at [Paul] Boyette, you look at "40" Naashon [Hughes], and then you look at Bryce [Cottrell], and then you got to make sure that Chris Nelson comes along but, you know, [Charles] Omenihu comes along, but guys have to come along for us there. And then you look at the offensive line, you look at those first five and then we have to continue to develop. The help is coming, it's just not here right now. But it's coming. When we get it here, it's all about us making sure that where guys learn it, but depth has to be built and we have to be comfortable playing guys.
On current players feeling a sense of urgency to perform knowing that there are freshmen on the way: It does, and guys understand it and they know that guys are coming. Now it's about them continuing to get better and this spring they're going to have all of those opportunities to get it just because of our numbers right now. So when we do get that group in here, we know that it's a good thing to be up-tempo right now, because we have to learn and it's got to be learned fast.
On freshmen defensive lineman potentially getting game action and if that makes him nervous: No, it doesn't. I think back to some of my days and I can remember that [Carlos] Dunlap was a true freshman and he started. At that position, it doesn't. Sometimes they're going to be facing guys who are going to be bigger and stronger than them, but if they have the athletic ability where it's just your quickness or where you can fit a block and get off a block and use your hands, then you can teach them and they can learn it. Then you'll feel comfortable playing and we will feel comfortable playing the freshmen. And some of them are going to have to play. If you think about it, Poona [Ford] played when he was a true freshman. But you put them out there, and it's just step-by-step where you coach them and teach them and not be afraid to play them.
On if the offensive transition has been cleaner than he's expected: I like it just because a system is in place and Sterlin [Gilbert] and [offensive line coach] Matt [Mattox] have both done it before. And now it's where they've been able to teach the coaches and the coaches have been able to teach the players. So that's why it's been able to move the way it's been moving right now. It's been pretty fluid out there where you don't see many gaps, but guys are moving around but it's just because they have a system and they know the system. They understand the system, so now they can teach it.
On sophomore LB Breckyn Hager: The thing about Hager is that he's one of those guys that can find the football. That's where he's really good at, because when a ball is there he's going to be around the ball and he'll be able to find the ball and he'll make some plays.
On chemistry between Hager and sophomore LB Anthony Wheeler: Well those two are in there a lot together. If you look at the last game, they ended up in that last game together. And they're really close friends, so it's always good to watch those two and watch how they continue to build. Even the whole team has good chemistry coming with the whole football team.
