The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
08.10.2016 | Football
Seniors Kevin Vaccaro and Sheroid Evans, junior Naashon Hughes and sophomore John Burt spoke with the media following Wednesday's practice
Senior CB Sheroid Evans
On the first setback he had: I never went through an injury like that. I was a track guy, so I always had hamstring injuries and stuff like that. It was pretty devastating. I got my mind right and bounced back. I didn't bounce back as quick as the second one, but I bounced back.
On what kept him going through the injuries: Friends. I just talked about how I had a conversation with A(aron) Ross, and he just kept telling me because one of my big things was talking about how old I was and coming back and being with these young guys. A. Ross told me he had to do the same thing and he had to come back and fight for a position. I was just like, "If he can do it, I can do it." That's probably one of the big reasons why I came back.
On what made him want to come back for this season: Like I said, just talking to people. I really wasn't sure. After just having conversations with my friends, my mom, she's like, "You've been through so much. You can only go up from here."
Senior safety Kevin Vaccaro
On what the secondary hopes to accomplish this season: The mission is to be headhunters and lock everybody down. We have the freshmen, and they're great athletes. For me, as a senior like Dylan [Haines] and Sheroid [Evans], we've been leading them pretty good and showing them the ropes, because it's hard coming out as a freshman because you don't know anything and you need someone to help you, and we've been doing that. I think they're comfortable and they're getting used to the way we practice. It's coming along good.
On instilling confidence in the incoming freshmen and if the seniors are okay with identifying themselves as "DBU": Yeah, of course. This is DBU. This is why you come here. It's that simple. You come here to ball.
On who's had the big hits in the secondary: I mean, everybody's been hitting hard. We've been really aggressive, everyone has. And that's been awesome, especially when we first got in pads to see everyone in pads just hitting everything. So that's been good.
On what the vibe has been around practice: It's been pretty crazy. The offense and the defense have been going at it… we've gotten into a couple tussles. The offense and defense have been pretty aggressive toward each other. Today we had 3-on-3, which is always fun because everybody is just going at it. It's real intense.
Sophomore wide receiver John Burt
On if he thought he had a chance to make the Olympics this year: Not really this year, it being my first year in college and getting used to the height of the hurdles. I'm getting ready for the next one.
On what he thinks of the new offense: I like how a lot of the routes are vertical. A guy with my speed likes to get down the field so that's one of the things I really like about this new offense. It gets a lot of our different playmakers the ball. I really feel like this offense is really going to be something to look forward to.
On if it gets any better for the receivers to shine this season: I really feel like this offense is geared towards receivers of all sizes. We can hit people deep outside, we can hit our smaller guys inside for big gains… yeah, that's what this offense is all about. It's about moving the ball around, getting different guys the ball and creating opportunities later on for big plays.
On working with freshman quarterback Shane Buechele: He's a real good kid, but Shane, Tyrone [Swoopes] and Jerrod [Heard] are all really good quarterbacks. When it comes time for the game, whoever's in there I feel like the coaches will put the best person in there to get us the win.
Junior DE/OLB Naashon Hughes
On what the progression has been like so far this season: As far as D-Line, we're getting those younger guys and all the recruits we just got. We're bringing them along, just showing them how to practice and how to handle game-like situations.
On the freshmen: They're all fast. They've surprised me with the plays they make. They study really hard. I wouldn't be surprised if any of them play.
On what he has worked on at camp: Basically, pass rushing and getting off of blocks. I got a little bigger, so running with that new weight and carrying that weight around.
On the up-tempo offense: As far as I'm concerned, our offense is a lot faster than most teams. Anything slower than that, it's easy for us to adjust to.
