October 14, 1997
Why is this team able to focus on taking it one game at a time better than last year's team?
"You get different personalities, different people and there's no question that sometimes people can learn from example. You don't have to learn every lesson in life first-hand. We talked at length in the spring and at the start of this season that we ought to be able to learn from some of the experiences we've had in the past. The biggest thing is putting things into context of playing football and enjoying football and looking forward to the game this week. Who cares what happened three weeks ago? It's really foolish for us to sit around and wonder what going to happen three weeks from now. We've got a game this week and we ought to be preparing for that game. You either win or lose it, and if we lose it, then we have another one next week.That's one aspect. The other one is if I'm getting prepared for this week's game and I'm worrying about how many sacks I'm going to get and using the game as another tryout for the NFL then I'm really missing the boat. If you go the whole year like that and are distracted by that, it results in you not being as good of a player. Then at the end of the year you haven't had that much fun playing football, plus you're not a very good NFL prospect either. So the key is keeping everything in the right prospective.
Just talk about having more fun this year ...
"They say I'm looser this year. Dang right I'm looser, I've got guys doing what I'm asking them to do. I've been very pleased. We've had minimal distractions. We sit down and say here's what we expect. This is what we want you to do. This is how we want you to dress. And I haven't had to come out and say we just talked about this yesterday. Like last year for example, the week of the USL game I had made a big deal about going class and the next day I have a star on each side of the ball - (Albert) Connell on offense and (Keith) Mitchell on defense - cutting classes. So I was in a bad mood that day."
With the way it's working this year, does that make last year more frustrating?
"No it just makes me more determined to do everything I can to make sure it's done right. Your resolve gets stronger to make sure you have fun and if a guy doesn't fit inside the mold then we're going to do what we can to get him changed or get him elsewhere. They need to go somewhere where they have a different set of rules."
Who's the last quarterback to hurt you with his mobility?
"(Ramon) Flanigan (of SMU) in the game we tied them. They had a designed quarterback draw out of the shotgun that had us spread all over the field and then he'd just take the ball and take off with it. That complicated things because you're not only trying to defend the pass, but you're also concerned with trying to keep him from running. The guy that also comes to mind is a little guy named Quentis Roper from Rice. He'd drop back and see where you were rushing and then he'd pick a spot and take off for it. He was about a 4.3 in the 40 and you worried about him taking off for 80 yards. This guy (KSU's Michael Bishop) has some of those capabilities. He's not some little skinny guy with good quickness. He's a big, physical running back playing quarterback. He can break tackles, he can make you miss him, he can do it all. He's a really impressive player. We will not play against a single player this year in any of our games that will cause us any more concern. Whether it's a receiver, running back or whatever, we won't face anyone who causes us more concern than this guy."
The quarterbacks are sharing time and don't seem to be in conflict. How much credit goes to them as people and how much to your team and what it is?
"Were doing that (sharing time) at a bunch of positions and there seems to be an acceptance of it. It's a real delicate thing. You can only have so many starters and it's natural for everyone to want to be the starter. You can get into this good deal for a while and then the reality sets in that he's ahead of me. Then its not unusual to have some of those egos coming out. We haven't had any of that this year. One of the things that has helped is that we talked as a staff last summer about playing a lot of people. We said we were going to be committed to playing a lot of people; not just at quarterback but at a lot of positions. If you put a guy in for a few plays then he comes back the next week and practices better because of that and he's happier. I think you help your overall morale. If I had to guess, off the top of my head, I'd say we're playing an average of 50 players a game."
Did you consider Stewart's and McCown's personalities before deciding to split time at QB?
"I never really stopped and had to decide. It has evolved into this and it's never been a problem and I don't anticipate it being a problem. And I do think it's a credit to those two guys. If one of those guys had a different personality, then it could have been a problem. It could have been the starter that said 'I don't want to come out. I don't want to share time.' Or it could have been the backup that said 'I deserve to be the starter. What do I have to do to be the starter.' One guy could have messed this whole deal up."
Does it help to play more people and get everyone involved?
"I think so. I think it's helped the whole team. After the game you have 50-plus parents that got to see 'Johnny' play, as opposed to having 30-something. So when we go out to practice, we have 50 guys that are getting ready to play on Saturday. Regardless of how this game goes this weekend we will play a large number of players. It's not one of things where we play a lot of people because we're ahead of Sam Houston, and then when we're in a tight game it shrinks back to the same guys out there. We're not going to do that. Period."
Did you try to recruit Michael Bishop?
"Out of high school. He was over here for a number of visits. When he came out last year, we really weren't in the market for a junior college quarterback."
Are you surprised with the way KSU has built up their program?
"I probably appreciate, as much as anybody, what they have done there because they took an area that is not a highly populated area, in fact it's sparsely populated, with a very limited football history and made Kansas State into a solid football program. It's really a credit to the administration and to the people there. Someone there decided they wanted to be good and they have taken every step they could do to be good. They said they needed a good facility, so they built a good facility. They had to hire and keep good coaches, so they hired good coaches. They had to get recruits, so they spent the money to recruit. They had to get guys in school so they made some allowances from an academic standpoint. With scheduling, they will tell you, they tried to schedule teams that theycould beat in the non-conference schedule. They were not as concerned with making money with the non-conference as they were with getting wins and getting confidence. They got to the point where they could win four games in the non-conference, then you have seven games in the Big Eight where if you could win three of those you're looking at a 7-4 season and a bowl game. Once you get to a bowl game then you can recruit a little better. If you were looking at how to build a program, Kansas State would serve as a pretty good model. They did all the right things."
How about a scouting report on KSU. The players said it's the most talented team A&M has faced.
"I don't have any question that they're the best team we've played so far. Their offensive line is about 330 pounds per man. They have good ability at wideouts. They have a reliable quarterback and good tailback. They've got a talented secondary, athletic. They play a high percentage of man coverage with their corners and commit the other nine defenders to the run. They've really got good people in their front seven. They're well-coached and they play hard. They're a solid, real solid football team."
Injury Report: OT Cameron Spikes (retina tear) out of contact for 10 days; CB Shun Horn (strained hamstring) will miss practice Tuesday (doubtful for KSU); 12th Man Matt Moore (hand surgery) will miss practice; DB Joel Bryan had knee surgery on 9/13, out for season; OLB Chris Thierry (stinger) will miss practice today; questionable for KSU.