University of Houston Athletics
Houston vs. Texas Southern: Press Conference
9/17/2018 12:52:00 PM | Football
HOUSTON FOOTBALL
Monday, Sept. 17, 2018 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH MAJOR APPLEWHITE
Opening Statement
"Terence Williams has a knee injury, probably out three to six weeks. We'll miss him this week obviously, and try to get him healed up for the off week following this game. Garrett Davis, I hate it for him. He's worked so hard coming back for his senior year. Poised to have a great year, broke his foot and is estimated to be out for eight weeks. He could possibly be back for a bowl game, just depends on how his surgery goes tomorrow. Keep him in your prayers for tomorrow, he's a great person and a great person for our team. He's really worked his tail off, and hate that it's his senior year and he's having to go through this."
On medical insurance
"We're exploring all of the language in that. There's a lot of different things that go into that. It's not really our decision, it's an NCAA decision and our compliance office. We're working through those things and trying to see if it a possibility for him."
On Courtney Lark's shoulder
"He just took a shot to the shoulder. Didn't have to have it popped back in, just took a hit. He finished the game, played well and was out there at practice yesterday."
"While we're talking about injuries. That was a long game. One-hundred and nine snaps on defense and 93 snaps on offense. That's a lot of physical plays, and the guys were out at practice yesterday. That told me a lot. It's one thing that you look at after a loss. Who's out there at practice, and who's there licking their wounds in the corner. It was good to see all the guys out there."
On Ed Oliver's' statement about bouncing back
"I saw a team that was agitated and ticked off. That's really where our team was yesterday, and they were that way in the locker room. I saw it in their eyes. They played hard, there's a difference between playing hard and playing well. We didn't play well at all times, but they played hard. You turn on the tape and you see the onside kick at the beginning of the game, Ed Oliver and Terry Mark going 100 miles per hour after a loose ball. You see the effort even when the game seemed to be somewhat determined. You saw that same mentality in the locker room.
They fully expected to win, prepared to win and were ticked off that they didn't win. That's your response as a coach Sunday. Who's going to walk through the door, and what are they selling? When you look at their body language, how they approach practice, and how they come to meetings, they were irritated and wanted to win. You saw clenched jaws and a bunch of guys that wanted to go to practice. You didn't see them on the sidelines in yellow jerseys saying they were hurt. You saw guys who couldn't move their arms, because they played 190 snaps on defense, going out to practice.
This is a really good football team, that's what I told them. I was proud of the way they fought, and I was proud of the way we played and coached. I'm proud of the way they fought, and we have a really good team. The guys feel that in our locker room, and they feel that's the difference between last year after a loss and this year. It hurt, and let it hurt, let it sting and tick you off. Get ready to let it go. We have a great opportunity this week to be 3-1. Go into an off week, and then come back for conference with confidence and healed up. We're ready to go win our conference."
On what challenges they faced creating pressure upfront?
"They played well and we played an offensive line with four or five starters returning. They're a good offensive line, but you've got to win your one-on-one battles. You're going to get matched up and you've got to defeat your opponent. There's a thousand different ways to draw it up, but at the end of the day, it's about beating another man and getting to the quarterback. We've got to execute our job and then put those guys in the right position to do that.
We talked this morning about having that parental-coaching type of relationship in terms of what can I do to get my child prepared or player prepared, and if he's not ready for the situation, don't put him in, put another guy in. If it's not the player or the scheme of us asking him to do something he can't do, let's put ourselves in the full front of it and make those decisions as we go forward. It was very obvious we didn't tackle very well and that's the easy thing. When you don't play well on defense, and you come out and say we didn't take the ball away and we didn't tackle, that's common. It's been said for a thousand years in football. You understand that. If it's the guy, then we need to replace him. If it's not the guy, then what are we doing and what are we coaching? Do we need to coach it better, do we need to drill it better, do we need to take some of this off of his plate so he can play cleaner and faster? In terms of the pressure to the quarterback, some of it was not winning your one-on-one battles, some of it was execution, and some of it, you come out of the game and say 'we need to do more of this' and 'less of that'."
On what the solution is to missed tackles
"Technique. Gathering your feet and understanding where the ball is in relation to where you are. There's times when the tackle is right on the spot, times when you can unload on plays, and times where the guy catches the ball before five-yards and you've got to have your eyes on his hips and slow your feet and limit the yards after the catch. You can be super aggressive and go fire your cap, but you better hit it, because there's nobody else behind you. You've got to be able to understand what kind of tackling position you need to be in based on your distance from the ball carrier. There's some technique things that we have to go back and address from there and that's the issue. Don't just say it's tackling, but how are we going to fix this, drill this, and what depth is this guy going to be when he catches the ball and tells our defender to go? We've got to tackle better."
On how the game against Texas Tech shows where our weak spots are
"On the sidelines, I'm watching their defense sub-in and they're playing more guys on their defense than we were able to play on our defense. The first thing is recruiting. We've got to continue to build our team and recruit. We also have to continue to play more players. If we're going to play more snaps, then we're going to have to play more players. We've got some injuries we have to figure out, in terms of who is going to be the starter now, but beyond that we have to develop the two's and three's behind them. I've said it before, we need everyone for the season, that's the reality for a conference championship. When you get down to week nine, 10, 11, 12, you're probably not going to be playing the same 22 you started back with in September. That's where our focus is and we've got to make those two's and three's better and understand what kind of game it's going to be."
On adjustments to the offense to supplement defensive struggles
"Your job as an offense is to score one more point than our defense gives up. Your job as a defense is to hold them one point less. We started off the first six drives of the game with four stops. We have to score there. In the second half where you get two or three stops we have to convert fourth down to score. It's going to be a shootout. Surprise we're in Lubbock playing an air-raid offense. It's that kind of game. We have to be able to answer those scores.
From a time of possession stand point, we have to run the football better. We have to run the football better as an offense. It's great to be explosive, but there's times where you need to control the game. Running it for 2.4 yards a carry and 99 yards is not going to get it done. We have to run the ball better. I'm not trying to poo-poo on the offense that's not my point. The point is, we have to understand who we are on both sides of the ball. When you start getting up around 109 snaps, there comes times where you need to run the ball and run the ball effectively to take time off the clock. "
On what running back jumps up due to Terence Williams being injured
"That's where the depth chart is in terms of Patrick Carr being our starter and Mulbah Car rolling in with him. Kevrin Justice would be the third back off the bench. Kelan Walker and Chandler Smith at four and five will have opportunity to play as well. Johnathan Phenix because of some injuries at corner. We're just trying to find the quickest way to get Johnathan on the field. He needs to be able to come back at corner and work there. Let's see where the depth is at running back, before we get back into conference play. Putting Johnathan over there with the corners gives us some depth at corner right now. If Terence comes back on time, then he can stay there. If we have some issues with Terence as he comes back, then Johnathan will have to move to running back before we get into conference to get some reps there."
Impression of Gleson Sprewell to replace Garrett's starting position
"You lose a lot of experience when you lose a guy like Garrett who has seen a thousand curl flats and a thousand bubble screens. He's just had so much experience out there playing the game, you lose that. One thing I saw from Gleson, is that he came up and hit people. He came up and tackled people. He enjoys the game and loves the game. I imagine he will have a great curve in terms of his learning, because he does love the game so much and Coach Morgan does a great job with him.
He made some great plays. There are some things, in terms of communication and alignment. Things like that will continue to get better as he gets repetitions. He is engaged in the game, loves the game, loves to play the game physically, and likes to get out there with his teammates. He is just one of those guys that has that spirit about him on the field. You can feel the guys who really love the game and enjoy it, and he is one of them. He will take the coaching and you will see him improve as the season goes on."
Thoughts on Texas Southern
"I worked for Mike Haywood. Mike was the running back coach at Texas whenever I was a grad assistant there in the early 2000's, so I know Coach Haywood. I know his football philosophy. In terms of toughness, running the football, being an aggressive defense, but also being smart from a defensive standpoint, he has got skill players like Tren'Davian Dickson. He's got a couple wide-outs that are really good football players that you have to make sure you've got a plan for. I know how they are going to be coached and understand what you're going to be presented from Mike Haywood. He is a very detailed coach, his team is going to play with great discipline. They are going to be a little bit different from what we faced offensively last week. They are a huddle team opposed to 109 snaps, so we kind of have to go back into that mode off not playing as fast on defense, which is easier to get lined up for. He does a great job. We will have a challenge on Saturday."
His approach on neutralizing the ball and keeping it away
"You just answered the question. They are not going to run the A and B gaps. They are going to play outside. So guess what, guess where we need to be strong? We need to be strong outside. It is part of knowing who you are, knowing what you are and what your opponent sees in you. That's why we are going to need to go back to work, get better outside, and understand that they are not going to cram the A and B gaps. They are going to play the game on the edge. We need to play better on the edge, we need to tackle better on the edge and we've got to have a better plan than we did last Saturday."
Monday, Sept. 17, 2018 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH MAJOR APPLEWHITE
Opening Statement
"Terence Williams has a knee injury, probably out three to six weeks. We'll miss him this week obviously, and try to get him healed up for the off week following this game. Garrett Davis, I hate it for him. He's worked so hard coming back for his senior year. Poised to have a great year, broke his foot and is estimated to be out for eight weeks. He could possibly be back for a bowl game, just depends on how his surgery goes tomorrow. Keep him in your prayers for tomorrow, he's a great person and a great person for our team. He's really worked his tail off, and hate that it's his senior year and he's having to go through this."
On medical insurance
"We're exploring all of the language in that. There's a lot of different things that go into that. It's not really our decision, it's an NCAA decision and our compliance office. We're working through those things and trying to see if it a possibility for him."
On Courtney Lark's shoulder
"He just took a shot to the shoulder. Didn't have to have it popped back in, just took a hit. He finished the game, played well and was out there at practice yesterday."
"While we're talking about injuries. That was a long game. One-hundred and nine snaps on defense and 93 snaps on offense. That's a lot of physical plays, and the guys were out at practice yesterday. That told me a lot. It's one thing that you look at after a loss. Who's out there at practice, and who's there licking their wounds in the corner. It was good to see all the guys out there."
On Ed Oliver's' statement about bouncing back
"I saw a team that was agitated and ticked off. That's really where our team was yesterday, and they were that way in the locker room. I saw it in their eyes. They played hard, there's a difference between playing hard and playing well. We didn't play well at all times, but they played hard. You turn on the tape and you see the onside kick at the beginning of the game, Ed Oliver and Terry Mark going 100 miles per hour after a loose ball. You see the effort even when the game seemed to be somewhat determined. You saw that same mentality in the locker room.
They fully expected to win, prepared to win and were ticked off that they didn't win. That's your response as a coach Sunday. Who's going to walk through the door, and what are they selling? When you look at their body language, how they approach practice, and how they come to meetings, they were irritated and wanted to win. You saw clenched jaws and a bunch of guys that wanted to go to practice. You didn't see them on the sidelines in yellow jerseys saying they were hurt. You saw guys who couldn't move their arms, because they played 190 snaps on defense, going out to practice.
This is a really good football team, that's what I told them. I was proud of the way they fought, and I was proud of the way we played and coached. I'm proud of the way they fought, and we have a really good team. The guys feel that in our locker room, and they feel that's the difference between last year after a loss and this year. It hurt, and let it hurt, let it sting and tick you off. Get ready to let it go. We have a great opportunity this week to be 3-1. Go into an off week, and then come back for conference with confidence and healed up. We're ready to go win our conference."
On what challenges they faced creating pressure upfront?
"They played well and we played an offensive line with four or five starters returning. They're a good offensive line, but you've got to win your one-on-one battles. You're going to get matched up and you've got to defeat your opponent. There's a thousand different ways to draw it up, but at the end of the day, it's about beating another man and getting to the quarterback. We've got to execute our job and then put those guys in the right position to do that.
We talked this morning about having that parental-coaching type of relationship in terms of what can I do to get my child prepared or player prepared, and if he's not ready for the situation, don't put him in, put another guy in. If it's not the player or the scheme of us asking him to do something he can't do, let's put ourselves in the full front of it and make those decisions as we go forward. It was very obvious we didn't tackle very well and that's the easy thing. When you don't play well on defense, and you come out and say we didn't take the ball away and we didn't tackle, that's common. It's been said for a thousand years in football. You understand that. If it's the guy, then we need to replace him. If it's not the guy, then what are we doing and what are we coaching? Do we need to coach it better, do we need to drill it better, do we need to take some of this off of his plate so he can play cleaner and faster? In terms of the pressure to the quarterback, some of it was not winning your one-on-one battles, some of it was execution, and some of it, you come out of the game and say 'we need to do more of this' and 'less of that'."
On what the solution is to missed tackles
"Technique. Gathering your feet and understanding where the ball is in relation to where you are. There's times when the tackle is right on the spot, times when you can unload on plays, and times where the guy catches the ball before five-yards and you've got to have your eyes on his hips and slow your feet and limit the yards after the catch. You can be super aggressive and go fire your cap, but you better hit it, because there's nobody else behind you. You've got to be able to understand what kind of tackling position you need to be in based on your distance from the ball carrier. There's some technique things that we have to go back and address from there and that's the issue. Don't just say it's tackling, but how are we going to fix this, drill this, and what depth is this guy going to be when he catches the ball and tells our defender to go? We've got to tackle better."
On how the game against Texas Tech shows where our weak spots are
"On the sidelines, I'm watching their defense sub-in and they're playing more guys on their defense than we were able to play on our defense. The first thing is recruiting. We've got to continue to build our team and recruit. We also have to continue to play more players. If we're going to play more snaps, then we're going to have to play more players. We've got some injuries we have to figure out, in terms of who is going to be the starter now, but beyond that we have to develop the two's and three's behind them. I've said it before, we need everyone for the season, that's the reality for a conference championship. When you get down to week nine, 10, 11, 12, you're probably not going to be playing the same 22 you started back with in September. That's where our focus is and we've got to make those two's and three's better and understand what kind of game it's going to be."
On adjustments to the offense to supplement defensive struggles
"Your job as an offense is to score one more point than our defense gives up. Your job as a defense is to hold them one point less. We started off the first six drives of the game with four stops. We have to score there. In the second half where you get two or three stops we have to convert fourth down to score. It's going to be a shootout. Surprise we're in Lubbock playing an air-raid offense. It's that kind of game. We have to be able to answer those scores.
From a time of possession stand point, we have to run the football better. We have to run the football better as an offense. It's great to be explosive, but there's times where you need to control the game. Running it for 2.4 yards a carry and 99 yards is not going to get it done. We have to run the ball better. I'm not trying to poo-poo on the offense that's not my point. The point is, we have to understand who we are on both sides of the ball. When you start getting up around 109 snaps, there comes times where you need to run the ball and run the ball effectively to take time off the clock. "
On what running back jumps up due to Terence Williams being injured
"That's where the depth chart is in terms of Patrick Carr being our starter and Mulbah Car rolling in with him. Kevrin Justice would be the third back off the bench. Kelan Walker and Chandler Smith at four and five will have opportunity to play as well. Johnathan Phenix because of some injuries at corner. We're just trying to find the quickest way to get Johnathan on the field. He needs to be able to come back at corner and work there. Let's see where the depth is at running back, before we get back into conference play. Putting Johnathan over there with the corners gives us some depth at corner right now. If Terence comes back on time, then he can stay there. If we have some issues with Terence as he comes back, then Johnathan will have to move to running back before we get into conference to get some reps there."
Impression of Gleson Sprewell to replace Garrett's starting position
"You lose a lot of experience when you lose a guy like Garrett who has seen a thousand curl flats and a thousand bubble screens. He's just had so much experience out there playing the game, you lose that. One thing I saw from Gleson, is that he came up and hit people. He came up and tackled people. He enjoys the game and loves the game. I imagine he will have a great curve in terms of his learning, because he does love the game so much and Coach Morgan does a great job with him.
He made some great plays. There are some things, in terms of communication and alignment. Things like that will continue to get better as he gets repetitions. He is engaged in the game, loves the game, loves to play the game physically, and likes to get out there with his teammates. He is just one of those guys that has that spirit about him on the field. You can feel the guys who really love the game and enjoy it, and he is one of them. He will take the coaching and you will see him improve as the season goes on."
Thoughts on Texas Southern
"I worked for Mike Haywood. Mike was the running back coach at Texas whenever I was a grad assistant there in the early 2000's, so I know Coach Haywood. I know his football philosophy. In terms of toughness, running the football, being an aggressive defense, but also being smart from a defensive standpoint, he has got skill players like Tren'Davian Dickson. He's got a couple wide-outs that are really good football players that you have to make sure you've got a plan for. I know how they are going to be coached and understand what you're going to be presented from Mike Haywood. He is a very detailed coach, his team is going to play with great discipline. They are going to be a little bit different from what we faced offensively last week. They are a huddle team opposed to 109 snaps, so we kind of have to go back into that mode off not playing as fast on defense, which is easier to get lined up for. He does a great job. We will have a challenge on Saturday."
His approach on neutralizing the ball and keeping it away
"You just answered the question. They are not going to run the A and B gaps. They are going to play outside. So guess what, guess where we need to be strong? We need to be strong outside. It is part of knowing who you are, knowing what you are and what your opponent sees in you. That's why we are going to need to go back to work, get better outside, and understand that they are not going to cram the A and B gaps. They are going to play the game on the edge. We need to play better on the edge, we need to tackle better on the edge and we've got to have a better plan than we did last Saturday."
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