The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Tracking the Longhorns: Tom Herman press conference
11.06.2017 | Football
A transcript from Tom Herman's Monday press conference.
Opening statement: Not a whole lot to say other than obviously disappointed in Saturday's result. You know, spoke on that Saturday after the game. But excited about the resiliency and relentlessness of our team right now.
This is a team that, again, really, really believes in what we're doing. It's a team that has bought into the truth and reality of that if you play really, really hard, and really, really physical, and you play with a purpose greater than yourself, regardless of talent level, you have an opportunity to be in every game.
I've said before, we need to find ways to win those games against Top-10 opponents. They are ranked in the Top-10 for a reason, too. It's really hard to win. It's really hard to win on the road. But we've got to find ways to do it.
That being said, I do think, you know, that our guys really believe in what we're doing and they understand the urgency here going into the last quarter of the season, and that time is ticking on guaranteed opportunities to play this game this season, and you know, the urgency is definitely there and definitely palpable. But energy level is fantastic yesterday for a team that has suffered some pretty hard losses and treacherous schedule, as well.
Injury updates: Sam Ehlinger practiced non-contact yesterday. He is going to be evaluated today around 4:30 for his inner ear problem, I guess is the best way to put it.
Zach Shackelford, Toneil Carter, both practiced non-contact yesterday and are expected to be fully cleared for contact practice on Tuesday.
P.J. Locke is still on the mend. So I would put him in the doubtful or questionable category probably for this week, which would be -- we've got five captains as voted on by their teammates, and this will be the second straight game we'll be playing without three of them. So we've got to find some young guys to step up and lead.
And then Jeffrey McCulloch suffered a high ankle sprain. He will be out this week and probably a couple weeks.
Before we open up for questions, I do want to express our heartfelt condolences to those suffering because of the shooting to the south of us; and our thoughts and prayers, I know that sounds cliché, but they are certainly with those affected by the horrible tragedy, and something being that close to home, we're still trying to find out how, if at all, we can help. So please keep all of those affected in your thoughts and prayers.
On if Sam Ehlinger could be out for the year: I have not heard that, no. This type of injury is not one that is typically more than a couple weeks if at all.
So that's what I've been told is that, you know, today, he thinks it's going to be all signs point to go, but even if it's not, then it will be just -- it will be re-evaluated every couple days, yeah. So it has nothing -- nothing long term.
On fixing the problems on the offensive line: Well, fixing the problem is probably a very tall order to expect in three weeks. Derek Kerstetter is not going to gain 20 pounds in the next three weeks. All of the issues aren't going to be solved. They are going to be solved through Bowl practices and with an off-season and spring football and all of that.
So I think the biggest thing that we can do as a staff is mask the deficiencies as best we can. I think that comes in getting the ball out of the quarterback's hands quicker. It comes in, you know, not maybe asking our offensive linemen to block anybody one-on-one; is to try to set up as many double-teams as possible in the run game.
I think getting the ball out on the perimeter and away from inside the box; those are all things just in specifics that we can do as coaches, continue to do. Obviously this is not something new that we just discovered today or yesterday or after the TCU game.
These are all things that we're attempting to do on a continual basis, and some of it is defense-predicated, too. You're not going to throw a bubble to a guy that's cover down without anybody to block for him. You've got to take what the defense can give you.
But I think to answer your question, the biggest thing that we can do right now is try like heck to make sure that some of those deficiencies aren't exploited is probably the best way to put it.
On Tim Beck and the offensive coordinator position: No. No. I think -- and I expected that question to come, and I want to go through a couple things.
One, Naashon Hughes is a fifth-year senior. He's seen 33 assistant coaches come through here. In the 12-year run that Coach Brown had of nine wins or more, there were 15 total assistant coaches.
So I think continuity and consistency with your staff is really, really important in college football. It is one of the most underrated reasons for success in my opinion, and it's why now as a head coach -- now I see why all the other head coaches that I worked for were always so protective of their assistant coaches and didn't want them to leave because they understood the value in continuity. So that's one; that's a real thing and one that needs to be in my opinion.
The second thing is the way that we call plays on offense is very collaborative. It is pretty much -- I think most places I've been around and seen is that we have discussions in between series on: Hey, what do you like? What's good? What adjustments do we need to make? Hey, if they're in this, we want to run this. Or hey, they have been showing us a lot of this. The offensive line coach and the running back coach chime in: Hey, the front is slamming to the tight end every time we're in two-by-two. So, hey, Tim, you might want to think about this or that.
So I think -- and then at the end of the day, and even like with substitutions and all that, assistant coaches are rolling their guys in. But at the end the day, even the same goes for on defense, as well. If something comes out, a play that comes out that I don't think should be run, I'm going to say no, don't run that play.
Again, I'm going to reiterate, every offensive play is designed to score, other than quarterback sneak, and there isn't a defense that a defense can throw at you that you say -- you call a play and you cross your fingers and say, man, I hope they don't call this defense because if they do, it's going to be a five-yard loss. There are answers to every front and every coverage built into every play that's called.
So are some answers better than others? Certainly. But there are answers to avoid negative plays and avoid disaster. And so I think a lot gets made out of that, when at the end of the day, a lot of what we do offensively is collaborative.
On wanting to stick with the same nine assistant coaches at the end of the season: Oh, my gosh, yes. 100 percent. We're all going to be evaluated and coached. It's my job as the head coach to coach the assistants and provide them feedback as to areas I think they need to improve, provide them with support and praise in areas that I think they are strong at and allow them to continue to enhance their strengths. But that's my job as the head coach is to coach the assistants.
Now, at some point, just like with players, I would imagine that sometimes coaches become uncoachable like with players, and as you've seen in other programs; I can't attest to other programs, but you've got to move in a different direction.
But no, I hired these guys knowing exactly what I was going to get, and we've all got to get better, especially on that side of the ball. But I have full confidence that we will.
On the running game and improving in all facets on offense: Yeah, it's pick your poison: Do you want to be a Jack-of-All-Trades and master of none, or do you want to try to try to master a couple of things and hope that you can execute better than your opponent?
There's a fine line there but right now we're not mastering anything offensively. We've got to figure out some things that we can get good at, whether the defense knows it's coming or not.
On Connor Williams' status: Close, yeah. I think we'll know more. He's been working out. I don't know if you guys saw him pregame, TCU, even out there prior to the game was out there getting a workout him and Elijah both.
It's day-to-day at this point. I think we're hopeful for maybe this week, but still I would say probable is probably too optimistic.
On the offensive struggles and the defense knowing it has to make more plays: No, I think there is a definite early game issue that Coach Orlando and myself have addressed with the defensive players. Whether it's too excited or too wound up to go play, we haven't -- we haven't -- we played a lot better after the first couple series in each game. I think Oklahoma State scored on first or second series and TCU scored on the first two series, if I'm not mistaken.
And once we settle in, boy, it's fun to watch, but we've got to find a way to settle in from snap one. So I don't think -- if anything, it's an early game issue. It's not, hey, we need to make plays for the offense issue.
On the kicking game: I think depending on how practice goes, you know, we had a two-minute drill yesterday that ended in a field goal and Mitchell Becker was the one that kicked it.
So I think that will just -- who do I expect? I don't know who to expect. But it's not -- there's really, at the end of the day, there's no -- maybe no more easier position to grade than kicker. You either made it or you didn't, right.
And so we chart kicks. We give them equal kicks throughout the week. We put pressure on them. We have the whole team around them screaming, yelling, doing the whole waving up and down and doing all that stuff. Through the first, whatever, nine weeks, you know, Josh Rowland's percentage has been a lot better in those situations.
On where he has seen improvement on the offensive line: I've seen Patrick Vahe get better. I believe he's the only one up there that's started all nine games. So that's probably to be expected.
You know, Terrell Cuney is a guy that's been around this program for a long time that probably everybody had forgotten about that has now started the last couple games for us at center. You know, even for him, where he came from in the spring to now to even just be serviceable is a testament to him and Coach Warehime.
And then I think even again with those two tackles, Kerstetter and Denzel, even the thought of putting them in the game in training camp was a big-time reach. They have worked to, like I said, at least become serviceable. We've got a lot of improvement still left to go there.
But I believe I said it on the conference call, too, that you look at the really good offenses in this conference; and I've said it before. Seven of our nine conference opponents have fourth year junior or fifth-year senior quarterbacks.
There's at least two, if not three, if not redshirt senior, offensive linemen on those offenses. That's real. Derek Kerstetter is not going to add 30 pounds to his bench press and gain 20 pounds in the next three weeks. That's something that has to happen over the course of time. I think in a perfect world, it's very difficult to play true freshmen offensive linemen. That's why you don't see it very much.
Those guys redshirt and then they develop and then they develop and then they turn into third-year sophomores, is really, probably when you want to start playing guys. At some point we'll have the cupboard stocked to where we can do that and develop those guys, but we're not there yet. And so these guys are thrust into this trial by fire and they are doing the best they can.
On needing more pressure on punts: No. I mean, that was a -- we sent everybody. That was down by whatever we were down, knowing that you're not going to get it faked. The probability of a fake punt at that point is astronomically low; where on the other ones, the more pressure you send, the more susceptible you are to getting the fake run on you or rushing the punter, too.
We're a return-based unit that is going to pressure you a couple times every game to make sure you know that it's there and keep you in protection. But in today's -- the way punt teams are nowadays, boy, blocking a punt is really, really hard. You have to basically sell out everybody like we did on the desperation one and got a hand on it.
On considering using Jerrod Heard as the starting QB: Thank you. I think starting Jerrod, the issue with him is always going to be dependent on the health status of the other two. You know, when you start the season with two scholarship quarterbacks, two trained scholarship quarterbacks, that's what happens.
If, as you have seen before, when both of them are available, even if one of them is in an emergency deal, but is at least cleared medically to play, then Jerrod can play receiver and Jerrod can run and do some wildcat stuff. But if the other one literally is not cleared to play, I don't see how you jog a guy out there and run a bunk of wildcat stuff. He sprains his ankle and let's say, last game, and then Shane goes out and breaks a shoelace. Now what do you do? It's a shame for him that we're in that situation.
But hopefully we'll have Sam cleared and we'll have two healthy quarterbacks again and he can go back to being kind of our wildcat guy/receiver.
On if this season can be a success or if it's already a "huge disappointment": I think anything better than previous years has to be considered somewhat of a success. It's called improvement, right. And so I think for anybody that's really kind of looked under the hood of this team and this program and what we lost offensively, up front and at the tailback position, and -- but yet, how transformative the product that you see on the field is, and just from an energy and physicality standpoint; I think the fact that the kids are buying into that, and that you see it every week on a consistent basis: You see really, really hard-playing guys that are playing very physical and very intense; that in and of itself is a success, and we've got to continue to then translate that success into success on the scoreboard.
On using last year's Kansas game as motivation: -- the past is in my opinion not a great motivator. I think if it gives a kid a little extra edge, knowing that they were embarrassed last year, then so be it. It's not something we'll dwell on.
We understand that this is -- again, that the clock's ticking on the regular season and opportunities to win a football game. Regardless of the opponent, we are going to attack this week as we have each and every week with fanatical effort in our preparation and be motivated to go 1-0 on Saturday.
On this season being a rebuilding year and balancing winning now versus winning in the future: I obviously didn't expect the struggles offensively. But we had Elijah Rodriguez, Connor Williams and Andrew Beck, too. So that was a big piece of that puzzle offensively.
But I did know that this is a banner year in terms of depth in the Big 12, and parity. The teams that are in the Top-25 and Top-10 in our league, week-in and week-out, just casual observer, I don't know a whole lot about the other conferences. But I think it's a bit incomparable what teams in the Big 12 have to face week-after-week after week. So I knew that would be difficult.
I don't think there's ever -- you don't ever want to sacrifice anything. You don't ever want to sacrifice winning now for winning in the future, so I don't think there is a balancing act or a high-wire act or any fine line. You've got to win. The seniors deserve a staff and a head coach and a team that's going to put every ounce of effort into winning immediately.
On Chris Warren: I don't know. I know Chris is very good catching the ball out of the backfield and I know Chris is definitely a very good pass protector, as well. And so there's only so many carries, and I think you've got to -- much like the receiver position, you've got a lot of parity there.
And so the guys that perform in practice, and then if given the opportunity, also perform in the game, are going to be the guys that continue to get those opportunities. He'll be given opportunities throughout the week of practice, too, just like the other backs.
But for me to predict the future is a bit far off.
