Oct. 4 Football Press Conference
10/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 4, 2004
HEAD COACH Gary Pinkel
"We're in the process of preparation for Baylor right now. Coaches are game planning as we speak. It is very typical that our players have off on Monday's and we'll get going tomorrow with our players and all the preparation.
I think Guy Morriss is doing an excellent job in building that program, and I think they're 2-2 right now. You look at them against Texas, obviously Texas is, I think, one of the best teams in the United States of America, and I think they (Baylor) played them pretty well. Our focus is on becoming a better football team, and that's kind of where we are; respecting who we play and focusing on our game plan and also in practice, becoming football players fundamentally, and that's where we stand.
Their quarterback (Dane King) is a lefty, a transfer who's doing a good job. You can see him getting better each and every week, and he's got a great delivery. They have a very potent offense, and one that's very multiple. They can do about anything they want on offense; running plays, passing plays, whether it's two-back or several personal sets. On defense, they put a lot of pressure on you and give you a lot of different looks, so it'll be certainly a difficult task."
On the Defensive Line Potential
"Well, I think that certainly in the last game we had a really good game physically up-front. On the defensive front, we have some pretty good players, we have two All-Conference tackles in there, players that were honored last year in the Big 12, two who are obviously really good-sized defensive ends. We substituted two or three different players, so I think we're making progress, and I thought in the second-half we really kind of elevated our play a little bit more. It certainly was necessary, there were a couple third-and-one, fourth-and-one, one or two stops that were very critical. So as always, tests come, that was a test and there are many more to come. We're certainly excited about the progress we're making, although I just really believe we can become a lot better football team, not only at the defensive line, but at others."
On Shirdonya Mitchell Now Playing On Defense
"Well, just as a receiver, I saw him as a great athlete. It's just the consistency of catching that wasn't there. When I brought him into my office I just thought this guy has remarkable explosiveness and great quickness, but it's very difficult to be a high-level receiver if you can't catch consistently. I brought him in and just said that I thought that is not a necessity. Obviously you want corners to have really good hands and also defensive backs, and certainly his hands have shown up pretty good thus far at playing defensive back. He trusts what we're doing, he listens and he thought about a day or so and he came back and said he would. It's neat to see him mature as a defensive back, and he's coming along and obviously the play he made in that game was a huge, huge football play."
On How Brock Harvey Was Injured Against Colorado
"What he (Brock Harvey) does, he's a safety in all our punting, and a safety means he stays about 20-25 yards behind, or in front of the football, but behind our coverage people, and he's just kind of the last guy there. We looked at, and some of our players saw, that he got hit pretty hard. What happened was that somebody came and blocked him and it was legal. It had appeared to our players because it was right in front of the bench there, our players were really upset at halftime. They thought it was a real cheap shot, but if you look at it was a legal football play. I just think that he caught Brock by surprise; just got him at the one side, kind of spun around, and he fell into the turf. I asked our staff about that, and obviously, we try to analyze, try to be critical when it's necessary. He didn't see him coming, and that happens sometimes. He's not going to need any surgery, but it will take about eight weeks to heal."
On New Punter Matt Hoenes and the Current Kicker Situation
"I think he (Matt Hoenes) did an excellent job for the first time ever doing something like that, and I just think we kind of handled it the right way. I asked Coach (Don) James, when he was over at my house, `in twenty-three years did you ever lose a punter?' He said he lost the ones he wanted to. I said `seriously coach,' and he said `to an injury, never.' We've lost two punters in three years, and that's unfortunate for Brock because he was doing a good job. As far as Joe (Tantarelli) is concerned, I believe Joe is a real good field goal kicker. I think he is good. One thing, if we move the ball up a little closer that might help out a little bit. We score more touchdowns that might help a little bit. I think you can lean on some other people out there, and not just to him. Certainly, he's going to take the responsibility because of the competitor he is, but I think he's going to do a good job for us, and we're going to work on helping him along. Two of the misses were just missed by a foot-and-a-half. Most of them were long field, we didn't give him any chip shots, those were 40-yard field goals, all in that range."
On Marcus Woods Receiving More Work
"He did some good things. I thought he ran a little tougher, and he's good, he going to get better. Damien Nash is a lot different player than he was a year ago, that's a player maturing. I was pleased, he did some good things, and his quickness, and playing in the Big 12 the toughness of running is a huge factor. You have to be able to run physical. A lot of the smaller, high-level running backs in the NFL and college football don't take too many big hits, Marshall Faulk rarely takes a big hit. They can kind of athletically sense things when to go down and when not to. I think he improved."
On Sean Coffey's Improvement
"His was focus, and just maturity a little bit. Sean has really good hands, but he's catching everything in practice now. He looks like Justin Gage in practice, Justin Gage would catch everything all the time. Honestly, I never told Sean this, but when we recruited him, I thought he was so big, I didn't know how big he was going to get. I thought he might have been able to play defensive end. It's neat to see him develop, and it's all about consistincey, and that's the big difference between the Sean Coffey this year and the Sean Coffey of last year, and it was really great to see him catch that ball, and go up field and get a nice block. His determination to get that thing in the end zone became very personal for him, and I like to see that."
On Marcus King and Calvin Washington
"Calvin Washington and Marcus King both, we had to play as true freshmen because of our secondary problems, and we were forced to do. Then, as we moved Mitchell, a lot of things happened. I told our staff that just a year of maturity would help both of those players, and so the second year, we red shirted Calvin (Washington) and then last year we red shirted Marcus King, so we got those years back. Just because what it does from a maturity stand point, it applies to athletes, and last year I just thought it would really help and we did as a staff we tried to red shirt him because the next year would really pay off. That year we would have like to get him red shirted, we got back a year later, two years later, one year with Calvin. We just thought that the experience of doing it another year, practicing more, working harder, that it pay big-time maturity wise."
PLAYER QUOTES Matt Hoenes
On Brock Harvey getting hurt:
"I was a little concerned. Punter is not a very high intensity position. You're not thinking that you're going to get hurt. I came in the game not even contemplating that I would play, but he went down at halftime. I kind of knew the way that he went off that I would probably be out there. So I got ready at halftime and came out hoping to perform."
Brock Harvey On getting hurt during the game against Colorado:
"I went down the field and got blind-sided and hit on the ground, and that's what broke my collar bone. It was one of those things where I was trying to watch what was going on, but he caught me pretty good, and the ground caused the break."
On how much confidence the team should have in Matt Hoenes:
"100% confidence. At any position in this level you've seen back-ups come in and be very consistent, and Matt's one of those guys. It was a battle in two-a-days with who was going to play, and it's been a battle all year. As a punter, I have a hundred percent confidence that he's going to go in and do just as good, if not better as could have done out there. I think he has a great chance to go prove that we still have a great punting team."
Brad Smith
On knowing Sean Coffey before being teammates:
"We played against each other in high school our senior year, and we didn't know each other then. Then as the recruiting process went on and we committed, then we started talking more."
On Sean Coffey's performance changing over the years:
"His whole attitude and work ethic has changed. You can see it when he plays and in drills. He's catching balls, and that stuff pays off."
On trick plays:
"We just take it one play at a time, and when they call them, we do it to the best of our ability"
Sean Coffey
On the difference in his performance this year compared to the past:
"I would have to say everything. I'm a lot stronger, faster, and just smarter with the football, period. That there can take a player a long ways. A couple catches here and there can build a lot of confidence."
On being pressured to be more consistent this year:
"Coach Pinkel drilled it to me all season - that I need more consistency, and he told us all that, but he told me personally a couple of times. I took that kind of personally, and it's been in the back of my mind everyday."
On the comparisons between him and Justin Gage:
"When I first got here, I had only played high school football. He pretty much introduced me to a lot of things, a lot of mechanics in college football, so I'm always going to have to give credit to Justin. When I got here he was my older brother. We've got a little group going where there is an older brother for the younger player, and he showed me a lot, and I took that. Then he left after my second year, and I took that and built from it, and a lot of good coaching from Coach Hill. It's kind of put me together to where I am now."
Thomson Omboga
On the team having a number one player:
"There's not a number one guy. We've got a lot of play-makers and a lot of guys that have the ability to be that guy. We really play as a team."
On how important being 2-0 in the Big 12 will be:
"It's going to be real important. In order to win the Big 12, you've got to got out there and win every game. You can't bank on someone else losing a game, so it's going to be real important. We're going to be ready to play."
