October 18, 2005
Audio from Tuesday's football media luncheon is available through the links to the right. Files can be downloaded and are in MP3 format.
A transcript of Coach Dennis Franchione's press conference on Tuesday at the Bright Football Complex is posted below.
The Aggies return to the field Saturday at Kansas State. Kickoff from KSU Stadium is set for 1:10 p.m. and the game will not be televised.
Coach Fran Weekly Luncheon Transcript
"Jordan Chambless tore his anterior cruciate ligament and will be out for the rest of the year. He'll have surgery in a couple of weeks."
How did that happen?
"Probably I think not long into the second half (of Saturday's game against Oklahoma State), it kind of bothered him. It happened on a kickoff. He didn't think it was too bad and he continued to play with it but when the game was over it swelled up big."
You guys have really had a lot of bad luck. In all your years of coaching, can you remember a time when you've been this snake-bitten?
"No. This is by far the most I think I've ever been a part of in one year. We've had eight surgeries this year. We've just had a lot of people in and out of the lineup."
Your depth has really been tested with all of this. Coming into the season, how close was your depth to where it needed to be?
"I think it's been easy for you to see that as we've had experienced players get hurt, we've had to replace them with freshmen for the most part, or in a few instances redshirt freshmen. Coming into the season, you didn't know what your depth situation would be. Fortunately, several of those guys have developed for us and have made key contributions."
Marquis Carpenter, as far as punt returning, would he move back there?
"Him or (Chad) Schroeder."
In the age of the 85 scholarship limit what's the best a team could hope for as far as having experience at the backup positions? How deep can it be, or will there always be freshmen?
"There will always be a certain number of freshmen. We don't have a large scholarship junior class, so that impacts our ability to make replacements with older players. We're just in that period in time where, if you have a rash of injuries, you are going to have to utilize your young players."
The fact you've redshirted so many guys the first two seasons...are you guys maybe paying a little bit for that now?
"Oh, you know, I think for the moment we could maybe say it might have helped if they'd gotten some playing time. But if you continue to look at the big picture, and trying to build a program, you cannot say that. How much it would have helped, I don't know. It's kind of a different point to diagnose I think."
Who will take over Jordan Chambless' role?
"Devin Gregg has certainly stepped in and provided a role for us. John Ray will have to, and we'll probably use maybe Brock Newton at safety also."
As far as injuries opening doors for others...at tailback obviously Jorvorskie Lane had a big game. Courtney (Lewis) had always been the undisputed guy there. How do you look at that position now?
"Jorvorskie's certainly made a big statement. He certainly has some things that he does very well. We'll try to utilize his skills more and more now I think as we go through the season, especially in certain plays that I think he's really good at."
Does he provide you a nice change-up from a more finesse to an instant power run game?
"He does. Our first touchdown the other night he carried about three guys into the end zone with him. Courtney would have probably made them miss. Jorvorskie just drug them along beside him. Either way is good."
After Cotton Bowl one of your big statements was that you would become a more physical team, not only on the offensive line but with a big back like Jorvorskie as well...
"Yeah. We didn't have a power back in the past quite like him. Keith Joseph provided some of that. We put (Jorvorskie) in on the goal line, and like I tell him every time, you shouldn't need much blocking to get a couple yards. You ought to be able to make them fall backwards for two."
Do you prefer a big tailback over a smaller guy, or does it matter?
"I don't care. I just prefer a good one. If you can get them big and fast you really have something."
How fast is he?
"I'm not sure we've timed him since he's been here. He's fast enough I guess for his size."
Others who recruited him said they wanted him to play fullback. But you saw some potential in him as a tailback?
"I think the thing that helped us was Jorvorskie's offense at Lufkin was similar to ours. We could see him playing tailback and visually take that and say, 'Okay, he can plug in to ours very well.' Maybe some people might not have seen that. I've had to defend those 270-pound tailbacks before that cause you a lot of concern. I think that led us to believe that he could be back there and be a tailback."
Where does Brandon Leone get thrown in the mix?
"Brandon offers a little bit of speed and power. He's been hurt so much since we started two-a-days. Our very first scrimmage he tore his hamstring. He came back, started to get in to the flow of things, re-injured his hamstring, finally got healthy last week, had a good week of practice, and felt like he gave us some dimensions there. I was concerned about him not having much game time in that. When he didn't take care of the ball, Jorvorskie became the guy that got more of the carries. (Brandon's) certainly not out of the mix, but one thing (running backs coach) Lee (Fobbs) does well I think is try to utilize for a play the back whose skills are best for that play."
If Courtney (Lewis) is healthy, and if eventually Jorvorskie will continue to get more carries, even with Courtney healthy we'll see more Jorvorskie?
"I think so. Don't hold me to that rock hard solid. Jorvorskie got into a flow the other day and carried it 22 times. Any back that gets into a flow you're going to see more of him than maybe that statement leads you to believe. Let me hedge that a bit with you so you understand that."
Do you temper us just a little bit by saying with Jorvorskie it was "just one game" and he "still has some room to grow?"
"I don't think there's any doubt about that. He took a big step last week. He's getting better and better. The step from the Colorado game to the Oklahoma State game was pretty significant. He got more playing time in both games and as a result more improvement on what he did. He made a statement yesterday...I forget how he worded it, but it was kind of funny. 'This isn't high school anymore, coach. You've got to play every play,' or something like that. 'These guys are fast. They can catch me,' something like that. So it's still a transition for him, but he's doing well with it. We're very pleased with what he's done to this point in time and we know that he's going to continue to improve all year and through spring practice and continue to get better."
Could you envision a set where Courtney and Jorvorskie are back there at the same time?
"Sure."
They haven't yet this year, have they?
"No. There might have been a short yardage set, maybe one of those, but there hasn't been one in the field. Jorvorskie didn't get that much playing time early. We've kind of brought him along and fit him in."
Is there any area outside of (kicker Todd) Pegram or (punter Justin) Brantly that y'all haven't been hit by injuries?
"Not really."
Do you get to that point where you think, "What's going to happen next?"
"Yeah. Every time the trainer comes I duck. It's been very unusual in that regard. You guys really don't know the half of it because I don't talk about all the injuries. I know you would love to hear about it. Turn off all these recorders and cameras and maybe I'd tell you something. (laughter)"
At right guard, are you having some issues there?
"The injury issue has been the issue as much as anything. I think we've been fortunate. We felt like we went into the season with eight or nine offensive linemen, maybe 10, that could play. So far we haven't had to exceed that limit. You know D.D. (Dominique) Steamer did a tremendous job. I don't know that D.D. practiced at all at tackle last week. If he did it was minimal. Very quickly in the game, all of a sudden he's playing tackle and Aldo (de la Garza) is back in at guard because of what transpired. Coach (Jim Bob) Helduser's done a good job of keeping guys trained to play more than one position and utilizing them."
Has Aldo (de la Garza) been banged up, or are you just not getting what you need from him?
"I think at one point in time, D.D.'s performance got a little better. We certainly weren't down on Aldo, and he's had his share of nicks too. I think that as I said Sunday, D.D. deserves a pat on the back because he's raised his game from anytime he's been here. As a result, he has become somebody that we can count on."
How was the offensive line's play overall last week?
"You don't have 600-some yards without playing pretty well. We'll have bigger challenges along the way. We pass broke fairly well. We ran the ball fairly well. It was a game where I think matchup-wise, even with our alternates and guys moving around, we were still able to have matchups that helped us...or didn't hurt us, maybe I should say it that way. So we continued to function pretty well."
Is (Dominique) Steamer in a position where maybe he'll start now, or is he just part of the rotation?
"He's in a position where he may start now. I don't know how this is going to go right now until I see this week. Today's the first day of practice."
What would you say is probably an average number of season-ending injuries or starters missing games...or what would you have to expect to account for at the beginning of the season?
"That's hard to define...maybe four or five or something like that over the course of the year. We've had years where we haven't really lost anyone of significance for the whole year like we have this season. There were three freshmen on offense playing and starting pretty much the other night."
It's still early on with Jordan (Chambless), but has he talked to you about his football future? Obviously baseball is a big thing with him...
"No, not right now. We'll let him get past this. You know, he can redshirt in baseball this coming season and it'll probably be March or April before he'd be ready to play baseball, I'm guessing a bit. They may need him by then too. I think we've got time to talk about that issue."
You've obviously played lot of freshmen this year. How much of that just comes from a sign of the times, with 85 scholarships and how much of that is just what you have to do now as coaches?
"I don't think there's any doubt that there's a degree of that that you do have to do. I believe the other thing that it says, in our regard, is that this freshman class is pretty good. There's some guys in that freshman class that were obviously reasonably ready to play at this level-Martellus (Bennett), Jorvorskie (Lane), Howard Morrow, Devin Gregg-I may have missed somebody there, but there are several guys that are playing a good bit. In past years we were able to redshirt them and give them another year. These guys I think we felt early in August they'd be part of our rotation, but I don't know that we anticipated being in a position to have to play as many as we are."
Is there something to what goes on at the high school level with these kids that makes them more prepared and more ready? Also, obviously having a chance to get them in during summer and getting them in to your conditioning program as opposed to them kind of doing it on their own must be important...
"I think that's the most significant change. You're always going to get well-trained, well-prepared and well-coached players from this state. The high school coaches do such a tremendous job. Probably the thing that in my eyes made a little bit of difference this year was Jorvorskie (Lane) has been here since June, taking summer school and working out with guys, so his transition was very smooth. With all the Lufkin connections here, for him it was very easy. For Martellus (Bennett) it was easy. Just having the two months of June and July to get your feet on the ground, socially and academically and workout wise, is a big factor for us."
Can you talk about Jason Carter? In light of some of the injuries you've had, how important has he been?
"I think Jason (Carter) and Chad (Schroeder) have been two rock solid performers for us. Jason's done just about everything. We don't make him bring the balls out before the game. But he's throwing it, he's ran it, and he's returned it. He hadn't kicked any yet, I don't think. He's done a lot for us and he's been a consistent player and a guy that's made plays for us. The coaches have done good job of putting him in positions in our offense to make plays for us."
When arrived he was obviously one of those kids who didn't fit in to your system. Can you go through the process of figuring out exactly where he could help you best?
"Well if you go back three years ago, at the time we had (quarterbacks) Dustin (Long) and Reggie (McNeal), and Chad (Schroeder) was also a quarterback. It was going be difficult in our first year to get a third (quarterback) ready. It was going to be hard enough to get one and two ready, whoever those may be. Just with what we knew about situation, we felt Jason was too good an athlete to wait in that competition. We talked to him about making the move and he did."
Was he receptive to that?
"I think he had to think about it, but he wanted to play bad enough that he was willing to do it. We probably tried to give Jason too much as coaches that first year. We tried to play him at receiver and back in the backfield some, which we are doing now and he's ready to do, but he wasn't ready back then. So, we just put him at receiver and said 'Be a receiver,' and he started to understand that position well enough. As his confidence level and growth at that position has grown, we were able to give him more this year than ever before. It's been a process for him. It's not unusual for that to happen. Chad (Schroeder) is another good example, coming in as a quarterback and moving to receiver and learning how to play receiver. It's not as easy as you sometimes would like to think it is. It took him a while but the last two years he has really set in for us."
Do the demands and pressures that come with your job allow you to go back to Kansas and it to be more special or more significant for you personally?
"It's a business trip for me. But Manhattan, Kansas and Kansas State University are special places in my heart. It was our first coaching job. There were some days I wasn't smart enough to know what I didn't know. I worked with great people. We had a great time-we loved Manhattan, it's a great town. When we went there my first year, K-State hadn't won a Big 8 game in three years. We won one non-conference game and three Big 8 games my first year. Everybody we beat fired their coach. Our fans were pretty excited and that really made it fun. We worked with some great people. Coach Dickey and his wife were very special to us. The whole staff was really special. Ashley was born while we were there. She's going to go back with us, and this'll be her first time to ever go back to Manhattan since we left. Kim's going to see a lot of friends from when we were there. There's still some people on the staff at K-State that I know very well. They were close friends and great people that I coached with or worked with in one way, shape or form. That's always kind of special."
Have you coached a game in the state of Kansas at all since you left Pittsburg State (in 1989)?
"No. (This is the) first one."
Can you talk about Kansas State a little bit? What kind of game do you expect?
"I expect it'll be a tough, hard-fought, physical game. Their defense went through the 'Texas Tech experience' last weekend. They've played pretty solid on defense until then and were ranked pretty high. They have been able to contain their opponents pretty well. They play a lot of man coverage. They do a lot of putting as many people as they can in box to stop the run. They do a good job of mixing the run and the pass and maintain balance offensively. They certainly have guys that can make plays. The tailbacks are capable of making big plays. Their receivers are capable. They've made some big plays in the return game and kicking game, and that's concerning. Last week I said in here that there's a lot of us (in the Big 12) that there isn't much that separates us, and I think the score will read that out, unless we win big. But I do think these are two teams that aren't far apart in a lot of ways. Who you play, when you play them, and who's healthy and who's not, always enter in to that factor too. I think it'll be a good, hard-fought, well-coached game. I know (KSU Coach) Bill Snyder will do a good job."
Do you even bring up the "being on the road" issue anymore with your players?
"I think it'll be brought up, but I don't think it's anything we'll dwell on. I don't think it's anything were overly concerned about or have a paranoia about. We know we have to go and play well on road. We didn't do that last time on the road, but we're capable of it and the guys are confident they can do that."
Do you feel like y'all played well on the road when you went to Clemson?
"Obviously in the first game we could have played better in some areas, but I didn't feel bad about that at all. We fought hard and we played it right down to the end. We were in a difficult, hostile setting and we didn't let it bother us. We kept our poise and our composure. We didn't get frustrated. We kept battling all way through. I really like the way we managed that game and that atmosphere. Obviously it probably wasn't that good in the Colorado game because of that snowball that got rolling on us early, but I did feel pretty good about it at the Clemson game."
Do you expect Courtney (Lewis) back at some point this season?
"Yes."
...and Jason Jack?
"All the ones I've told you are season ending, they won't be back. Everyone else has a chance to be back."