University of Houston Athletics
Houston vs. Tulsa: Press Conference
10/1/2018 12:03:00 PM | Football
HOUSTON FOOTBALL
Monday, Oct. 1, 2018 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH MAJOR APPLEWHITE
On focus during the off week
"The four points that we talked to our team about were, number one get healthy. We have to take that into consideration, in terms of how we take care of our bodies. As coaches, how we practice our players and the strength staff as well. We're trying to get guys back, and eliminate the bumps and bruises. The guys that have been out, trying to rush those guys back. Not too soon, but trying to get them back to our team. Academically, get ahead on academics. It's a great opportunity with no game this weekend, our academic staff does a great job. It gives us a great chance to get ahead on that stuff. You start getting into finals, late November early December. We talked about our opponent. That's what we worked on, that was our three main areas of focus during the off week. We made some progress, I don't think you're going to change anything and everything over three days. We made the efforts to get some progress towards what we want. We understand that we're going to have to get better as the season goes along as well."
On Raelon Singleton returning
"It was good to see Raelon back yesterday. He practiced some for us last week. I saw him yesterday, it's great to see us add some depth and the experience. Obviously you saw him play for us against Texas Tech, but to have him back helps in rotation with how many stops we're taking on offense."
On the progress of Darrion Owens since his injury
"It's all touch-and-go in terms of when the guy is actually going to be able to play. He's starting his movements, so it's just a matter of true change of direction and being able to lift weights and strike. So, he is progressing the way we thought. How soon he comes back is up to the doctors and how he moves around."
On preparing for both of Tulsa's quarterbacks
"They both have their different set of skills. As a coordinator, you're going to lean your game plan to certain skills and they still have their system they're going to run. We've got to be prepared for both of them. We're working for both of them. We've got to be able to do exactly what you need to do against great quarterbacks, and that's to put pressure on them, hit the quarterback, great coverage, and disguise looks. It's a lot of the same things, but you do get a little bit more of this and that with one guy."
On Marquez Stevenson
"He's done an outstanding job. Everything he's been through to get healthy and come back and play is the same stuff he needs to continue to do to play at a high-level. There's no secret that he has battled injuries and come back from those things. He's kept his mind focus on what he wants, how he wants to play, and what level he wants to play at and those are the same exact things he needs to continue to do. You get two off weeks and it was great to see our offense go out there and have a great practice yesterday. Everyone is patting you on the back, telling you how great you are and our guys are still staying hungry and have a bright-eyed look about them and playing with a great energy. It was a really good practice yesterday, so it makes you feel good after two weeks to see guys continue to work and that's what Marquez has done. He's had setbacks and overcame them over two years and has got off to a good four game start. He's ready to go finish these next eight one at a time.
Seeing benefits of Marquez Stevenson from reducing the amount wear and tear of during camp
"I think that was a benefit for all are players; specifically our offensive players. Our defensive players have played quite a few snaps, but our offensive players, you know the indoor facility. It is one of those deals that is an accumulative effect. If you continue to stay out there, stay out there, stay out there, stay out there, and you can dive out there for 20 to 25 minutes of a practice, take them out of the heat, save legs, hydration, body mass, all those things stay together when you have those kind of facilities. It has been a gift to all of our players.
On the chance for younger players to get reps in the previous game against TSU
"There are a lot of reasons why we put those guys in, especially to develop the roster. Some guys work their tails off and get an opportunity to play when the score is out of hand. It builds moral for those guys who are constantly selfless, and in most cases, paying for their own school and not on scholarship. It's a great opportunity. That's what we like to focus on; create trust with your coaches, create trust with your teammates, and be productive. For a game opportunity, it's a real rep to provide real trust with your staff in terms of 'he can do this on gameday', and not only in practice, but when it's a controlled situation."
On seeing the standings and prepping the players for conference play
"I don't pay attention to standings. When they come into this facility at 2:45 pm for practice, it's about Tulsa. The only way you make a conference run is if you play one game at a time and that's our focus. Let's have a great day on Wednesday's practice, which is a Monday this week, and come 7:00 pm at our place on Thursday, it's Tulsa."
On advising players about paying attention to standings
"We have discussions, and coaches do a great job with their positions, but it's more so about the old saying of 'who do you sanction' and 'who do you listen to and allow in'. We tell them to take into consideration who has past experiences, who has had success in this business, and then decide who to really allow in. It could be a family member, or a twitter comment, but they have to be the ones who decide whose statements have value for them.
What we know for sure is that we've got to beat Tulsa, so that's all that our focus is on, and it's all we're talking about right now. They dominated us last year, so our focus is Tulsa, and that's how we approach all our games."
On defensive issues
"There's always a lot of different things, but what are the things we can focus on? Know that you're not going to necessarily solve it in three days of an off week. It has to be a continued focus week in and week out. Number one was tackling, especially tackling in space. We're going to play a lot of space teams in our league. Let's continue to drill tackling. Let's evaluate ourselves on how we're coaching it. What drills can we do to eliminate some of the big explosive plays that have been missed off of missed tackles? We have to develop more defensive linemen. We have to increase the number of plays that all of our defensive linemen can play, in terms of cutting back on the starters and increasing the second and third team guys, so we can stay fresher up front. When we have missed tackles that created explosive plays, it has been free ones. Like the free one we gave to Texas Southern late in the game. Those are the things we have to eliminate. We talked about tackling, depth upfront with the defensive line, and not giving up free things.
Those have been the area of focus. They're not all going to be solved by Thursday at 5:30 when we finish practice. We have to continue to focus on that day in and day out. Seven hours of practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I would love to think it's all going to be over with and now we're perfect, but that's not the reality of it. We have to focus every day and battle those things every day and get better every day."
Monday, Oct. 1, 2018 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH MAJOR APPLEWHITE
On focus during the off week
"The four points that we talked to our team about were, number one get healthy. We have to take that into consideration, in terms of how we take care of our bodies. As coaches, how we practice our players and the strength staff as well. We're trying to get guys back, and eliminate the bumps and bruises. The guys that have been out, trying to rush those guys back. Not too soon, but trying to get them back to our team. Academically, get ahead on academics. It's a great opportunity with no game this weekend, our academic staff does a great job. It gives us a great chance to get ahead on that stuff. You start getting into finals, late November early December. We talked about our opponent. That's what we worked on, that was our three main areas of focus during the off week. We made some progress, I don't think you're going to change anything and everything over three days. We made the efforts to get some progress towards what we want. We understand that we're going to have to get better as the season goes along as well."
On Raelon Singleton returning
"It was good to see Raelon back yesterday. He practiced some for us last week. I saw him yesterday, it's great to see us add some depth and the experience. Obviously you saw him play for us against Texas Tech, but to have him back helps in rotation with how many stops we're taking on offense."
On the progress of Darrion Owens since his injury
"It's all touch-and-go in terms of when the guy is actually going to be able to play. He's starting his movements, so it's just a matter of true change of direction and being able to lift weights and strike. So, he is progressing the way we thought. How soon he comes back is up to the doctors and how he moves around."
On preparing for both of Tulsa's quarterbacks
"They both have their different set of skills. As a coordinator, you're going to lean your game plan to certain skills and they still have their system they're going to run. We've got to be prepared for both of them. We're working for both of them. We've got to be able to do exactly what you need to do against great quarterbacks, and that's to put pressure on them, hit the quarterback, great coverage, and disguise looks. It's a lot of the same things, but you do get a little bit more of this and that with one guy."
On Marquez Stevenson
"He's done an outstanding job. Everything he's been through to get healthy and come back and play is the same stuff he needs to continue to do to play at a high-level. There's no secret that he has battled injuries and come back from those things. He's kept his mind focus on what he wants, how he wants to play, and what level he wants to play at and those are the same exact things he needs to continue to do. You get two off weeks and it was great to see our offense go out there and have a great practice yesterday. Everyone is patting you on the back, telling you how great you are and our guys are still staying hungry and have a bright-eyed look about them and playing with a great energy. It was a really good practice yesterday, so it makes you feel good after two weeks to see guys continue to work and that's what Marquez has done. He's had setbacks and overcame them over two years and has got off to a good four game start. He's ready to go finish these next eight one at a time.
Seeing benefits of Marquez Stevenson from reducing the amount wear and tear of during camp
"I think that was a benefit for all are players; specifically our offensive players. Our defensive players have played quite a few snaps, but our offensive players, you know the indoor facility. It is one of those deals that is an accumulative effect. If you continue to stay out there, stay out there, stay out there, stay out there, and you can dive out there for 20 to 25 minutes of a practice, take them out of the heat, save legs, hydration, body mass, all those things stay together when you have those kind of facilities. It has been a gift to all of our players.
On the chance for younger players to get reps in the previous game against TSU
"There are a lot of reasons why we put those guys in, especially to develop the roster. Some guys work their tails off and get an opportunity to play when the score is out of hand. It builds moral for those guys who are constantly selfless, and in most cases, paying for their own school and not on scholarship. It's a great opportunity. That's what we like to focus on; create trust with your coaches, create trust with your teammates, and be productive. For a game opportunity, it's a real rep to provide real trust with your staff in terms of 'he can do this on gameday', and not only in practice, but when it's a controlled situation."
On seeing the standings and prepping the players for conference play
"I don't pay attention to standings. When they come into this facility at 2:45 pm for practice, it's about Tulsa. The only way you make a conference run is if you play one game at a time and that's our focus. Let's have a great day on Wednesday's practice, which is a Monday this week, and come 7:00 pm at our place on Thursday, it's Tulsa."
On advising players about paying attention to standings
"We have discussions, and coaches do a great job with their positions, but it's more so about the old saying of 'who do you sanction' and 'who do you listen to and allow in'. We tell them to take into consideration who has past experiences, who has had success in this business, and then decide who to really allow in. It could be a family member, or a twitter comment, but they have to be the ones who decide whose statements have value for them.
What we know for sure is that we've got to beat Tulsa, so that's all that our focus is on, and it's all we're talking about right now. They dominated us last year, so our focus is Tulsa, and that's how we approach all our games."
On defensive issues
"There's always a lot of different things, but what are the things we can focus on? Know that you're not going to necessarily solve it in three days of an off week. It has to be a continued focus week in and week out. Number one was tackling, especially tackling in space. We're going to play a lot of space teams in our league. Let's continue to drill tackling. Let's evaluate ourselves on how we're coaching it. What drills can we do to eliminate some of the big explosive plays that have been missed off of missed tackles? We have to develop more defensive linemen. We have to increase the number of plays that all of our defensive linemen can play, in terms of cutting back on the starters and increasing the second and third team guys, so we can stay fresher up front. When we have missed tackles that created explosive plays, it has been free ones. Like the free one we gave to Texas Southern late in the game. Those are the things we have to eliminate. We talked about tackling, depth upfront with the defensive line, and not giving up free things.
Those have been the area of focus. They're not all going to be solved by Thursday at 5:30 when we finish practice. We have to continue to focus on that day in and day out. Seven hours of practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I would love to think it's all going to be over with and now we're perfect, but that's not the reality of it. We have to focus every day and battle those things every day and get better every day."
Players Mentioned
Media Availability: Ashton Porter
Monday, April 20
Media Availability: Kentrell Webb
Monday, April 20
Media Availability: Keisean Henderson
Monday, April 20
Media Availability: Conner Weigman
Sunday, April 19