University of Houston Athletics
Houston vs. Navy: Press Conference
11/25/2019 12:30:00 PM | Football
HOUSTON FOOTBALL
Monday, Nov. 25, 2019 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH DANA HOLGORSEN
On recruiting…
"I think the message has been received loud and clear. We're going to do our due diligence with high schools here in the city and recruit them first and foremost. Get into other areas here in Texas and Louisiana. We'll get out there and see people, we have two weeks to get out there and close the deal on some guys. Looking forward to that. It's not an exact science. Whether it's high school guys we feel good about or junior college guys, and transfers. We're going to fill the spots with the best guys we can fill them with. We have to make decisions on who those guys are, cause there's a lot of guys that want to come and be apart of what we're building right now. It's hard and we're always going to make mistakes when it comes to that. We're going to do the best we can with the decisions that we make on those people that we want in the program.
I think our staff does a really good job at evaluating, if you look at the guys we've brought in since we got here. I think a few of them have panned out already and we're sitting some guys out that have to sit but will be a big part of what we're doing next year. That's going to be the motto moving forward. There's not a whole lot of high school guys on our team right now, there's about six of them that are red shirting that are playing for us. They're gaining experience for next year and transfers after that. I think we're in a good spot, and the roster is being built the right way. We're excited about what's coming here in the future."
On signing new players…
"We can sign sign 23. Two of them like Joe Owens who's arguably our best defensive player this past game; he counts as this class because he was blue shirted that moved forward. Eyabi Anoma is red-shirting that was blue-shirting that moved forward. Those two count in this class, you have to count those numbers somewhere. We have 23 available if we find 23 guys we like we'll sign all 23, I doubt that happens. I remember the signing day stuff back in the day, where if you didn't hit your numbers you're stressed out and depressed all month. Those days don't happen anymore because there's so many different signing periods. This one's important and will be interesting to see. I think 75 percent of the high school guys from last year signed in December. I don't think that will happen this year honestly. We have guys that we like that we've been recruiting for a long time that we're going to sign. However many mid-year transfers we get, that's still yet to be determined. We have two big recruiting weekends coming up in December that's going to play a big part in that. However many end up coming in and we end up signing, I think there's still a lot of time to figure it out."
On players holding off on signing…
"It's risky, the ones that we've been on and we want we're going to send them papers and if they don't sign then that means that their probably still open, which means that we're probably still open. That's just the way that works. You go through a dead period after that for about a month, then after that you go back out there and start recruiting again. We will really start to reevaluate again and see what spots we have open after the signing period and figure out what this team needs. We may find out that we need to sign more in February, and more after that. But, there's only 23 spots so if you want one of those spots it's probably in your best interest to sign in December."
On Navy…
"They're really good, they're as good as a team that we've faced all year. Obviously the triple option offense stuff is hard, you can't prepare against that in six days, it's hard. We've taken some specific days throughout the course of the year in spring and summer and started introducing stuff. Getting things on video and starting to reevaluate it. It's challenging, the quarterback is dynamic. I think he rushed 38 yards last game, and he can throw it. They throw it better than we do right now. They're challenging and that's just one area. You turn on their defensive film, and statistically it's the best defense we've faced all year. They're not defending a lot of plays but they're good. They play hard, this new DC that they got is good. We watched them in the summer and they are really challenging with what they have. I don't know how they coach all of this stuff. I know this is just a different dynamic and they play from different rules, but they coach well and their players are smart and tough and play well. It's going to be a huge challenge for us. Right now they're 8-2 with a close loss against Memphis, they won that game late. Then the Notre Dame game, as good as a game that I've seen played this year with what they did against Navy. It's going to be a pretty big challenge."
On Navy's offense…
"I don't know how you can make my job any harder than it is right now. When you think it can't get harder it does. Obviously we play them every year, so we better get used to figuring out how to play against these guys. This will be a good experience. We're going to line up and try to win, there's no doubt we do that every week. This is good practice for us for the future. We have to learn how to play against these guys offensively, because it is different. From what they do defensively, it'll be a good challenge for us. We're looking forward to it.
On Senior Night…
Senior Night is a big deal. I know I talk a lot about the future, but the hold here is based on the fact that we're all going to be here and what we're doing offensively, defensively, kicking game wise, all that stuff going to remain in place. We got better in a lot of areas last week and we're going to try to get better in a lot of areas this week. Those seniors are still pretty important to us. There are 14 of them, we're going to line up and we're going to try to send them out right."
On injuries…
"I think if they are ready to play, they're going to play. You only get so many opportunities to play, so if you're ready to play you'll play. A guy like Patrick Carr, who has been out for five to six weeks, was our best running back early. He has had two different injuries throughout the course of the year and he could've shut things down pretty easily, but he came back and he played last week. I think it's a matter of health. We take that each and every week and if they're good to go they go. If there are guys that can play then they will play. I don't want to ever put anybody out there that's not ready to go. Most of the time it's not even my call.
Josh Jones has had a really good year and I appreciate everything he has done. If you look at what he did game one to what he did in game nine the guy got better each and every week. He's got a bright future. We're aware of that, but I think he'd be the first one to tell you if he is able to go. He's going to want to go out there and fight with his team. He just hasn't been able to do that the last couple of weeks."
On the improvement of defense…
"I give our players a lot of credit. They play hard. They line up and they try to get better weekly. We challenged them last week. Memphis is a really good team. We didn't meet that challenge. Not just defensively, but offensively as well. We left some stuff out there in the kicking game as well. They got challenged and they improved. I think we had three missed tackles in that game, which the previous week we had 28 or 31 missed tackles.
Our coaches, Joe Cauthen and Doug Belk, are doing a heck of a job. All the coaches are. They are coaching them hard and our guys have responded. We have a lot of youth and inexperience and we don't have a whole lot of depth. Those keep playing and fighting. Obviously that was a big reason why we won that game, we created some turnovers and the minus one-yard rushing was the best since 1998. We pressured the quarterback and got to him. We didn't get off blocks against Memphis. We just stuck on them and couldn't get off at them. This game we got off blocks, played hard and made tackles. We probably could've got two or three more sacks if Payton Turner had any fingers he could use right now. He's all wrapped up. It's hard to grab guys, but he was incredibly disruptive."
On the offseason…
"I talk to these guys everyday. They're in these meetings everyday and they're out there practicing everyday. They're very unselfish when it comes to that. They understand what the bigger picture is. We got six days left in 2019. That's just the facts. We are going to put everything we can into these six days and play against Navy. We have the mindset that everything we do for the next six days is about getting better and propelling us into 2020. Our 2020 starts in six days. We got work to do in December when it comes to a lot of meetings, recruiting, and building for what is going to be a pretty good 2020. That starts in six days. The next six days is about preparing and getting ready to go play our last home game here. We have a pretty good opponent coming once again. It's the sixth ranked team we have played this year. We'll put everything we can for that. Once Sunday hits its about 2020.'
On Jack Freeman and Keenan Murphy…
"We should. He's out of the protocol. That doesn't mean he is going to go out there and practice today. When you get out of it, you still have to progress. It's way above my paygrade, but he's progressing so we'll hopefully get him back. Willie Smith III didn't make the trip. He's got one more game. He was going to play in his fourth game and then sit out against Navy, but he had some health issues last week. He'll be back and will be able to play. Ronald Nunnery was in concussion protocol as well. He should be clear to play and ready to go. Getting Jack Freeman back will help quite a bit. We didn't lose anybody to my knowledge that won't be able to practice today."
Monday, Nov. 25, 2019 • Houston
Carl Lewis Auditorium • Athletics/Alumni Center
HEAD COACH DANA HOLGORSEN
On recruiting…
"I think the message has been received loud and clear. We're going to do our due diligence with high schools here in the city and recruit them first and foremost. Get into other areas here in Texas and Louisiana. We'll get out there and see people, we have two weeks to get out there and close the deal on some guys. Looking forward to that. It's not an exact science. Whether it's high school guys we feel good about or junior college guys, and transfers. We're going to fill the spots with the best guys we can fill them with. We have to make decisions on who those guys are, cause there's a lot of guys that want to come and be apart of what we're building right now. It's hard and we're always going to make mistakes when it comes to that. We're going to do the best we can with the decisions that we make on those people that we want in the program.
I think our staff does a really good job at evaluating, if you look at the guys we've brought in since we got here. I think a few of them have panned out already and we're sitting some guys out that have to sit but will be a big part of what we're doing next year. That's going to be the motto moving forward. There's not a whole lot of high school guys on our team right now, there's about six of them that are red shirting that are playing for us. They're gaining experience for next year and transfers after that. I think we're in a good spot, and the roster is being built the right way. We're excited about what's coming here in the future."
On signing new players…
"We can sign sign 23. Two of them like Joe Owens who's arguably our best defensive player this past game; he counts as this class because he was blue shirted that moved forward. Eyabi Anoma is red-shirting that was blue-shirting that moved forward. Those two count in this class, you have to count those numbers somewhere. We have 23 available if we find 23 guys we like we'll sign all 23, I doubt that happens. I remember the signing day stuff back in the day, where if you didn't hit your numbers you're stressed out and depressed all month. Those days don't happen anymore because there's so many different signing periods. This one's important and will be interesting to see. I think 75 percent of the high school guys from last year signed in December. I don't think that will happen this year honestly. We have guys that we like that we've been recruiting for a long time that we're going to sign. However many mid-year transfers we get, that's still yet to be determined. We have two big recruiting weekends coming up in December that's going to play a big part in that. However many end up coming in and we end up signing, I think there's still a lot of time to figure it out."
On players holding off on signing…
"It's risky, the ones that we've been on and we want we're going to send them papers and if they don't sign then that means that their probably still open, which means that we're probably still open. That's just the way that works. You go through a dead period after that for about a month, then after that you go back out there and start recruiting again. We will really start to reevaluate again and see what spots we have open after the signing period and figure out what this team needs. We may find out that we need to sign more in February, and more after that. But, there's only 23 spots so if you want one of those spots it's probably in your best interest to sign in December."
On Navy…
"They're really good, they're as good as a team that we've faced all year. Obviously the triple option offense stuff is hard, you can't prepare against that in six days, it's hard. We've taken some specific days throughout the course of the year in spring and summer and started introducing stuff. Getting things on video and starting to reevaluate it. It's challenging, the quarterback is dynamic. I think he rushed 38 yards last game, and he can throw it. They throw it better than we do right now. They're challenging and that's just one area. You turn on their defensive film, and statistically it's the best defense we've faced all year. They're not defending a lot of plays but they're good. They play hard, this new DC that they got is good. We watched them in the summer and they are really challenging with what they have. I don't know how they coach all of this stuff. I know this is just a different dynamic and they play from different rules, but they coach well and their players are smart and tough and play well. It's going to be a huge challenge for us. Right now they're 8-2 with a close loss against Memphis, they won that game late. Then the Notre Dame game, as good as a game that I've seen played this year with what they did against Navy. It's going to be a pretty big challenge."
On Navy's offense…
"I don't know how you can make my job any harder than it is right now. When you think it can't get harder it does. Obviously we play them every year, so we better get used to figuring out how to play against these guys. This will be a good experience. We're going to line up and try to win, there's no doubt we do that every week. This is good practice for us for the future. We have to learn how to play against these guys offensively, because it is different. From what they do defensively, it'll be a good challenge for us. We're looking forward to it.
On Senior Night…
Senior Night is a big deal. I know I talk a lot about the future, but the hold here is based on the fact that we're all going to be here and what we're doing offensively, defensively, kicking game wise, all that stuff going to remain in place. We got better in a lot of areas last week and we're going to try to get better in a lot of areas this week. Those seniors are still pretty important to us. There are 14 of them, we're going to line up and we're going to try to send them out right."
On injuries…
"I think if they are ready to play, they're going to play. You only get so many opportunities to play, so if you're ready to play you'll play. A guy like Patrick Carr, who has been out for five to six weeks, was our best running back early. He has had two different injuries throughout the course of the year and he could've shut things down pretty easily, but he came back and he played last week. I think it's a matter of health. We take that each and every week and if they're good to go they go. If there are guys that can play then they will play. I don't want to ever put anybody out there that's not ready to go. Most of the time it's not even my call.
Josh Jones has had a really good year and I appreciate everything he has done. If you look at what he did game one to what he did in game nine the guy got better each and every week. He's got a bright future. We're aware of that, but I think he'd be the first one to tell you if he is able to go. He's going to want to go out there and fight with his team. He just hasn't been able to do that the last couple of weeks."
On the improvement of defense…
"I give our players a lot of credit. They play hard. They line up and they try to get better weekly. We challenged them last week. Memphis is a really good team. We didn't meet that challenge. Not just defensively, but offensively as well. We left some stuff out there in the kicking game as well. They got challenged and they improved. I think we had three missed tackles in that game, which the previous week we had 28 or 31 missed tackles.
Our coaches, Joe Cauthen and Doug Belk, are doing a heck of a job. All the coaches are. They are coaching them hard and our guys have responded. We have a lot of youth and inexperience and we don't have a whole lot of depth. Those keep playing and fighting. Obviously that was a big reason why we won that game, we created some turnovers and the minus one-yard rushing was the best since 1998. We pressured the quarterback and got to him. We didn't get off blocks against Memphis. We just stuck on them and couldn't get off at them. This game we got off blocks, played hard and made tackles. We probably could've got two or three more sacks if Payton Turner had any fingers he could use right now. He's all wrapped up. It's hard to grab guys, but he was incredibly disruptive."
On the offseason…
"I talk to these guys everyday. They're in these meetings everyday and they're out there practicing everyday. They're very unselfish when it comes to that. They understand what the bigger picture is. We got six days left in 2019. That's just the facts. We are going to put everything we can into these six days and play against Navy. We have the mindset that everything we do for the next six days is about getting better and propelling us into 2020. Our 2020 starts in six days. We got work to do in December when it comes to a lot of meetings, recruiting, and building for what is going to be a pretty good 2020. That starts in six days. The next six days is about preparing and getting ready to go play our last home game here. We have a pretty good opponent coming once again. It's the sixth ranked team we have played this year. We'll put everything we can for that. Once Sunday hits its about 2020.'
On Jack Freeman and Keenan Murphy…
"We should. He's out of the protocol. That doesn't mean he is going to go out there and practice today. When you get out of it, you still have to progress. It's way above my paygrade, but he's progressing so we'll hopefully get him back. Willie Smith III didn't make the trip. He's got one more game. He was going to play in his fourth game and then sit out against Navy, but he had some health issues last week. He'll be back and will be able to play. Ronald Nunnery was in concussion protocol as well. He should be clear to play and ready to go. Getting Jack Freeman back will help quite a bit. We didn't lose anybody to my knowledge that won't be able to practice today."
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