University of Houston Athletics
Houston at Texas Tech: Press Conference
9/10/2018 1:05:00 PM | Football
HOUSTON FOOTBALL
Monday, Sept. 10, 2018 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH MAJOR APPLEWHITE
On what D'Eriq King has done offensively
"He's done a great job of taking care of the football, taking shots down the field, knowing when to tuck the ball and when to run with it. He's making good decisions with the football. In addition to the kind of competitor he is and what kind of leader he is, he's doing a great job with the ball. That's the stuff that shows up on the field and is allowing us to have a lot of success offensively. There are a lot of other great plays being made by great players, but ultimately the quarterback – the decision maker- has to make good decisions with the ball. That's what he is doing right now."
On how much D'Eriq King has matured on and off the field in the last year
"It was apparent to me when I went to visit his house during recruiting, how he was raised. His family, his siblings, I knew we were getting a great young man, because I met his parents. I knew what kind of young man he was going to be. When you get him in a football setting you see what kind of competitor he is. You see the record his high school had and how he led as a quarterback. You start talking to different athletes around town, different schools and different districts, you learn more about the competitor side of D'Eriq. I'm pleased with the way he's competing, I'm pleased with the way he's playing and leading. These are all things we expect and certainly things we don't take for granted. We're very appreciative and blessed to have a quarterback like this."
On the offensive line through the first two games and the number of sacks they are getting
"That's something we obviously want to strive towards. In terms of taking care of the football; zero turnovers, limiting negative yardage plays, sacks, TFL's, things like that, so we can stay on pace and play with tempo. There's a lot of things that we need to improve on, we mentioned that yesterday at the team meeting. They say there are great improvements from week one to week two, why not two to three or three to four? Let's make sure that whoever plays us says that we are not the same team that they saw on film. Let's go after the right things, be about each other and hold each other accountable. Coaches can get better to. There are things that I didn't like that I did Saturday, so let's focus on that and move our attention towards Texas Tech."
On what is expected playing Texas Tech?
"It's never too early to start getting prepared for what your players are going to go through, in terms of their first road trip. This is their first time actually getting on an airplane, and all the different things going in and out of your brain as you get ready to go compete at three o'clock on a Saturday. Those are the things that we'll talk about through the week and eliminate that from their thought process. In terms of playing at Jones Stadium, it's always a great environment and they score points. In my 20 years of experience with them as a coach and player, they always score points, have a great tempo, and they take the ball away. They're averaging somewhere around 600 yards and 50 points a game. Defensively they're holding you under 400 yards, and they have nine starters returning on defense. They're a very good football team and it's a great challenge to go on the road and we're looking forward to it."
On preparing for Alan Bowman or McLane Carter at quarterback
"They're both really great quarterbacks and we'll prepare for both of them. Both guys are playing at a high level and we'll prepare."
On playing Texas Tech before and if there are any head-to-head matchups
"I don't really remember. None of that is important. It's about our guys and understanding where we were on Saturday, where we need to go, and enjoying the preparation for a really good opponent. This is a great challenge. If you're a competitor, you love these type of weeks where you get to prepare and dial into your opponent. Same thing offensively, we didn't do well offensively last year. That doesn't matter, we have a different offense, different players, and a different season. They're going to play different than they did last year and this is a better defense in my opinion. It's a great challenge and I'm looking forward to the preparation part of it and we'll be on the plane Friday and ready to go."
On running backs
"Patrick (Carr) has provided some explosive runs for us. Right now if you're in that kind of game of who's leading the race, he's obviously the guy who has had the most yards per carry. He has developed a tremendous amount of trust in the play caller for the offensive line. "
"You know in this day and age that you have to three or four. It's not like back when Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker in the mid-80's where they're going to have 45 carries. iIt's just not it. So you have to play three or four of them. You have to try and keep them healthy throughout the season, and now the game is run on the perimeters with wide receivers and quarterback runs. "
"It's just a different ball game. You're going to see the rushing game yard distribution different and wide receivers involved in rushing stats. You're going to see quarterbacks involved in them. We just need to keep doing the right things right, and worry about preparation. Depth chart and stats, all that stuff will take care of itself."
On keeping down penalties so far
"We had three penalties Saturday. We had a couple of offside penalties and a late hit on the sideline. I think every coaching staff preaches that. I don't think we're any different. I don't think I am any different from any coach out there."
"You have to give credit to players. They're the ones in the middle of the game. They're the ones playing with emotion. We talk about it; play with emotion, but don't be emotional. Understand how you have to control that. Let's not give anybody free yards at the end of the play. Let's make sure it benefits us. You have to give them the credit for that. They're the ones that realize that, and they put a premium on discipline."
"It can change at the drop of a hat, because you can let emotion overrun you in the course of a game. Then all of a sudden you have some penalties. Sometimes that happens. What we have to do is be cognizant and mindful when it has happened in practice, and point it out as coaches. Don't ever brush over it and bring it up to the team."
"Help everyone understand that this is a selfish deal when we have penalties. Nobody likes to hear that word, but it's selfish when we do things that affect the team and move the entire Houston Cougar football team back five, 10, 15 yards."
On freshmen playing first game
"There's different flows to games. I don't want to get into this guy is no longer a redshirt. We're going to play him beyond that. I don't have a crystal ball I can't do that for you. We have gotten quality reps from guys in there. We are keeping tabs. This guy has played two games, this guy has only played in one. What are we going to do with this one? Are we going to travel him? We don't know if he's going to play, but if there's an opportunity we want to play him. We monitor them on Sundays when we get back and do inventory of the game, in-game participation reps and where we're going the next week in terms of our game plan."
On Raelon Singleton
"He went in for a couple plays. Then we pulled him back out. We wanted to make sure he was healthy, we want to play the guys that will play fast."
Monday, Sept. 10, 2018 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH MAJOR APPLEWHITE
On what D'Eriq King has done offensively
"He's done a great job of taking care of the football, taking shots down the field, knowing when to tuck the ball and when to run with it. He's making good decisions with the football. In addition to the kind of competitor he is and what kind of leader he is, he's doing a great job with the ball. That's the stuff that shows up on the field and is allowing us to have a lot of success offensively. There are a lot of other great plays being made by great players, but ultimately the quarterback – the decision maker- has to make good decisions with the ball. That's what he is doing right now."
On how much D'Eriq King has matured on and off the field in the last year
"It was apparent to me when I went to visit his house during recruiting, how he was raised. His family, his siblings, I knew we were getting a great young man, because I met his parents. I knew what kind of young man he was going to be. When you get him in a football setting you see what kind of competitor he is. You see the record his high school had and how he led as a quarterback. You start talking to different athletes around town, different schools and different districts, you learn more about the competitor side of D'Eriq. I'm pleased with the way he's competing, I'm pleased with the way he's playing and leading. These are all things we expect and certainly things we don't take for granted. We're very appreciative and blessed to have a quarterback like this."
On the offensive line through the first two games and the number of sacks they are getting
"That's something we obviously want to strive towards. In terms of taking care of the football; zero turnovers, limiting negative yardage plays, sacks, TFL's, things like that, so we can stay on pace and play with tempo. There's a lot of things that we need to improve on, we mentioned that yesterday at the team meeting. They say there are great improvements from week one to week two, why not two to three or three to four? Let's make sure that whoever plays us says that we are not the same team that they saw on film. Let's go after the right things, be about each other and hold each other accountable. Coaches can get better to. There are things that I didn't like that I did Saturday, so let's focus on that and move our attention towards Texas Tech."
On what is expected playing Texas Tech?
"It's never too early to start getting prepared for what your players are going to go through, in terms of their first road trip. This is their first time actually getting on an airplane, and all the different things going in and out of your brain as you get ready to go compete at three o'clock on a Saturday. Those are the things that we'll talk about through the week and eliminate that from their thought process. In terms of playing at Jones Stadium, it's always a great environment and they score points. In my 20 years of experience with them as a coach and player, they always score points, have a great tempo, and they take the ball away. They're averaging somewhere around 600 yards and 50 points a game. Defensively they're holding you under 400 yards, and they have nine starters returning on defense. They're a very good football team and it's a great challenge to go on the road and we're looking forward to it."
On preparing for Alan Bowman or McLane Carter at quarterback
"They're both really great quarterbacks and we'll prepare for both of them. Both guys are playing at a high level and we'll prepare."
On playing Texas Tech before and if there are any head-to-head matchups
"I don't really remember. None of that is important. It's about our guys and understanding where we were on Saturday, where we need to go, and enjoying the preparation for a really good opponent. This is a great challenge. If you're a competitor, you love these type of weeks where you get to prepare and dial into your opponent. Same thing offensively, we didn't do well offensively last year. That doesn't matter, we have a different offense, different players, and a different season. They're going to play different than they did last year and this is a better defense in my opinion. It's a great challenge and I'm looking forward to the preparation part of it and we'll be on the plane Friday and ready to go."
On running backs
"Patrick (Carr) has provided some explosive runs for us. Right now if you're in that kind of game of who's leading the race, he's obviously the guy who has had the most yards per carry. He has developed a tremendous amount of trust in the play caller for the offensive line. "
"You know in this day and age that you have to three or four. It's not like back when Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker in the mid-80's where they're going to have 45 carries. iIt's just not it. So you have to play three or four of them. You have to try and keep them healthy throughout the season, and now the game is run on the perimeters with wide receivers and quarterback runs. "
"It's just a different ball game. You're going to see the rushing game yard distribution different and wide receivers involved in rushing stats. You're going to see quarterbacks involved in them. We just need to keep doing the right things right, and worry about preparation. Depth chart and stats, all that stuff will take care of itself."
On keeping down penalties so far
"We had three penalties Saturday. We had a couple of offside penalties and a late hit on the sideline. I think every coaching staff preaches that. I don't think we're any different. I don't think I am any different from any coach out there."
"You have to give credit to players. They're the ones in the middle of the game. They're the ones playing with emotion. We talk about it; play with emotion, but don't be emotional. Understand how you have to control that. Let's not give anybody free yards at the end of the play. Let's make sure it benefits us. You have to give them the credit for that. They're the ones that realize that, and they put a premium on discipline."
"It can change at the drop of a hat, because you can let emotion overrun you in the course of a game. Then all of a sudden you have some penalties. Sometimes that happens. What we have to do is be cognizant and mindful when it has happened in practice, and point it out as coaches. Don't ever brush over it and bring it up to the team."
"Help everyone understand that this is a selfish deal when we have penalties. Nobody likes to hear that word, but it's selfish when we do things that affect the team and move the entire Houston Cougar football team back five, 10, 15 yards."
On freshmen playing first game
"There's different flows to games. I don't want to get into this guy is no longer a redshirt. We're going to play him beyond that. I don't have a crystal ball I can't do that for you. We have gotten quality reps from guys in there. We are keeping tabs. This guy has played two games, this guy has only played in one. What are we going to do with this one? Are we going to travel him? We don't know if he's going to play, but if there's an opportunity we want to play him. We monitor them on Sundays when we get back and do inventory of the game, in-game participation reps and where we're going the next week in terms of our game plan."
On Raelon Singleton
"He went in for a couple plays. Then we pulled him back out. We wanted to make sure he was healthy, we want to play the guys that will play fast."
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
WR
/ FootballNational Signing Day Press Conference
Wednesday, December 03
Postgame Press Conference (at Baylor)
Saturday, November 29
Postgame Press Conference: Football vs. TCU (Players)
Saturday, November 22
Postgame Press Conference: Football vs. TCU (Coach Fritz)
Saturday, November 22