Oct. 27, 2008
- Colorado Media Luncheon - Coach Sherman (mp3)
- Colorado Media Luncheon - Coach Kines (mp3)
- Colorado Media Luncheon - DB T. Hunter (mp3)
- Colorado Media Luncheon - QB J. Johnson (mp3)
- Colorado Media Luncheon - WR T. McCoy/TE J. McCoy (mp3)
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Head coach Mike Sherman and selected players met with members of the press on Monday at the weekly football media luncheon on the Texas A&M campus.
Click the MP3 links above to listen to audio from the press conference. A transcript of Coach Sherman's comments is listed below.
Looking at the defense the last few games, you really have given up a lot of yards. When looking at the film does any one area jump out at you as a concern?
"Well, the yardage is definitely a concern. We have given up a ton in this last ball game no exception. We're constantly looking at it, trying to tweak things, trying to make sure our players are able to fit into our scheme. We mix it up, we pressure, we play zone, we play some man. So it's just a work in progress as I've said all year long. I hate to keep saying it, but it is. I know it's indicative a little bit of the way the Big 12 is going, but we can't use that as an excuse for giving up that much yardage. We have to be able to say we're better than that, and I believe we are. We have to get better with the underneath coverage and matching up with receivers and routes, our communication has to be better in the context of the game, and understanding the call that we're calling, and having a comfort level. I think sometimes we get a little flustered when things go askew and we don't respond sometimes as well as we should on the next play. To give a specific reason why we're going to be this much better this week, I can't give a you specific reason. We have to practice better, we have to understand what we're trying to get done on defense better and move on from there."
Is there much sibling rivalry between the McCoys (TE Jamie and WR Terrence)?
"I hope so. I hope there's some motivation between two of them. Jamie's kind of been coming into his own and now Terrence obviously had a nice ball game as well. I've seen this coming with Jamie, he really played probably his best game. He's had some good games for us. It's not like this is a surprise to me that he's played that well. I told him after the game, and I think I told you guys, I said "I think you'll be a good tight end some day.' He kind of looked at me. But he's got a ways to go. He needs to get some weight on, get stronger, and block better at the point of attack. But from a route-running standpoint I think he had his best ballgame. And Terrence as well. Actually at his position as a receiver, for the most part, blocks pretty well and I thought he caught the ball well."
What do you think the win did for everybody? Did you notice a change around the room?
"I don't know about everybody, but it sure helped me a lot (laughter). You know, it kind of... credit to the kids. Coming off the Tech loss, my biggest concern was it would have residual effects on the next week's preparation. I was honest with them. I told them that I know going to Iowa State, getting on a bus getting on a plane, driving an hour to the ball game once we get there on Saturday, is not as flashy and juicy as playing at home in front of 85,000 people against Tech. But it is another ball game, and it is a Big 12 ball game, and they are a very worthy opponent. So we better have our best effort in this ballgame. And in order to do that we have to have great preparation. I thought they practiced well in spite of the fact you have some residual, from an emotional game like Tech, where we're able to hang in there for a half and play a great half of football I thought, and really wear our emotion on our sleeve. I told them the challenge this week is going to be can you replicate the emotional level you had last week? I don't think when you're playing at home that's hard to do, but I think they were pretty close. The sideline had a lot of juice as I like to say, and a lot of electricity, so that was good. The thing I was most proud of our team was-you're in a game like this, it's almost like a basketball game, up and down the court. You have to respond their points with your points, and we were able to do that offensively pretty well, then actually get the lead, and then they had to play catch up to us. But I thought that was a great credit to the offense because there's a lot of pressure to out there and get it done. From a defensive perspective, in spite of the fact we were giving up yardage and points, I thought they came over to the sideline very disciplined, very engaged with the coaches, trying to get things fixed. Obviously not fixed well enough, but there were times in the ballgame...at the end of the half, previous to the poor penalty that we got that we created that put them in field goal range, which I really thought was going to hang over our heads throughout the entire ball game. We had them stopped there and gave them those three points, which was not a very smart thing to do. But I thought there were times in the game that we did do some good things. When we needed a sack, Michael Bennett and (Cyril) Obiozor got us a sack. At the end of the game, to finish up on fourth down I thought they did a good job there. There was a lot of communication on the sidelines. The guys never hung their heads. There were struggles in the game defensively, obviously, but I thought they tried to battle back."
When you have a situation like you had at the end of the half, when something bad happens to your team at the end of the first half, how do you deal with that in the locker room?
"I didn't deal with it very well I don't think. I was very upset with the player and raised my objections very vociferously and very personally (laughter). And he didn't play the second half because of that. But I was very upset with that. You know, you go into halftime and...I don't know, as a coach you always want to go in there on a positive note, or definitely not a negative note. Maybe it's not positive but you definitely don't want to go in negative, and that was a negative message. We allowed them to score points that we personally give wrapped for them. That really bothers me. Hopefully that won't happen again. I doubt it will with that player."
Plus or minus, Colorado coming in here after the game they had on Saturday?
"I always like a team to win when they come in. Good teams with character, you know they had a tough game, we've had tough games before, and I never bet against a team with character after a loss. They'll have a tough week of practice and want to get that behind them. So they're going to work real hard this week and be ready to play. I think it's very premature to evaluate, particularly this year as I'm learning in college football, one team one week to the next. A team can get on a roll scoring points and it's hard to stop sometimes. Watching the Missouri game, they just hit on some things and -- you know, not to say Missouri's not a good football team...they are. But Colorado, I've watched them before in games we've studied, and they're a good football team. Missouri put it all together the other day and everything was perfect, and the game fell to them. Take nothing away from Missouri, they're a heck of a football team, but I don't know that they're that much better than other people."
Talk about their quarterback situation and what you expect there...
"From their quarterback? I really don't know. I don't know what to expect. They have some decisions to make as well. So I don't have any expectation until I see something or hear something."
You got four sacks the other night, that's been a problem area this year. Is that something that was really emphasized going in?
"Well, that's been emphasized every week. I still think we should have had more. I think there were more opportunities in the game to sack the quarterback and I think he did a really nice job of avoiding them. But I'm pleased we got four. It's a heck of a lot more than we've had and we need to continue that trend hopefully."
Have you been surprised at how quickly Jerrod (Johnson) has grasped a hold of this offense and how well he's done the last couple of games?
"The last two weeks, the last two ball games, he has really disciplined himself more. I think if you look at how he's playing the game, he's not playing the game as dangerously as he had earlier in the season. He's not putting us in high-risk situations. You know, quarterback can affect the outcome of a game more than anybody on the field, even more than the coach of course, in many ways because the decisions he makes directly affect us either in a positive way or negative way. He can either win it or lose it for you just by the decisions he makes. So it's so important that he makes great decisions. I thought he made very good decisions in this ballgame. From where he was at the beginning of the year to now, it's night and day. So he's made a lot of progress. He certainly hasn't arrived. I told him that there are a lot of plays out there left on the field that we have to go back and get, and get you to get, but I think he's making progress in the right direction."
Was that a point of emphasis in practice, him not holding the ball out?
"Well we've talked about it a bunch...he still does that but now he does less of it. That has been a big emphasis from day one, a big emphasis after the New Mexico game, and I think he's really -- the thing about him, when you tell him something, he listens to you and tries to fix it. He asked me the night before the game, 'How you think I'm doing?' I said, 'Well, you've got work to do, you've got a ways to go, but you're making progress. I think your decision-making is better. I'll know more about it tomorrow.' And I thought he played well. Are there more plays for him to make? Yes. Can he make improvement? Yes. I told him this after the game: 'You have a ways to go to be that complete quarterback but you're making progress.' It really goes to his decision-making, his progression. I thought he missed...on the first play of the game we ran a play where his first read was over the ball, and I thought he bypassed it. I was upset, yelling at (quarterbacks coach) Tom Rossley about it. But he saw the play right and I saw the play wrong. He wasn't open initially, and it didn't go in there as clean as I thought. So he came off him and was right to come off of him."
What are the chance that (Mike) Goodson's back this week?
"We'll have to see how he runs-and take it day by day. We'll see how he works out today and tomorrow, and I'd hate to put a number on it just yet. I really don't know. I wouldn't say it's a hundred percent but I wouldn't say it's less than 50 either."
What about (Travis) Schneider?
"I think he'll be available for us this week."
After looking at the film how did you feel about the offensive line in particular your first starter there (freshman Joe Villavisencio)?
"I told Joey V before the game-I use the term Joey V for lack of proper pronunciation (laughing). That's what I call him. But I told him before the game, I said, 'Joe, the reason why we have you up is I know you're going to play hard and give us everything you have. You're going to make mistakes, but just play hard.' And both of those were the case. He played hard and made mistakes, but he did play hard. And he did a lot of good things. I have the players grade themselves after the ball game, where we watch the tape and go through it with the coaches, and they write their comments and what they did well and didn't do well. He had a big list of things he has to work on, and he gave himself a very honest and hard grade. He graded himself as poor. I wouldn't necessarily say that. I think he played okay. He did okay for his first start. He hung in there. And he'll just keep getting better."
He's another freshman that you've had to trot out there...is that something that it's not ideal now but two years from now will pay off for you?
"Payoff for somebody, yeah (laughing). Hopefully me (laughter). Can't do this too many times, you know? But yeah, I'm hopeful it'll pay off next year, in particular, more than two or three years down the road."
Do you see the offensive line improving, especially with all the mixing and matching you're having to do?
"I thought they made a big improvement in this ball game. You've got to remember, you know, the player you're playing against is not equal from week to week...and studying the tape and watching them against Nebraska, I thought this was a formidable group for our guys to go against. So I'm pleased with the progress we made against them. I thought our pass protection for the most part was very good. I thought very few times did our quarterback take a shot in the ball game that would detract from his ability to make throws. Even though the numbers weren't great, I thought we ran the ball better than we had been. If you notice, we ran the ball downhill a little more, a little more decisive with our backs. I thought they did a nice job. We still have some work to do there."
Is (Stephen) McGee to the point now where if you had to put him in you'd feel better about it?
"I asked him before the game how he felt. He's feeling better. Not a hundred percent, but he feels better and I think he feels that he could protect himself enough in the ball game that going out and getting hit wouldn't necessarily send him in a back slide. So I feel better about him and his availability this week more than the last week."
Were there any thoughts at all of playing him at any other position?
"No. Particularly with his injury, you try to protect him as much as possible. So no, we wouldn't do that. Not to say he couldn't-he's the fastest of all the quarterbacks, although they would argue that. But he would say he's the fastest."
Can you break down Colorado's defense and what problems they might present your offense?
"They're very multiple. You know, against two back we're probably going to get a four-man front. Against a one-back set a three-man front. They played the last ball game we call it a three-buzz coverage, where you bring the safety down and then have the curl flat defender detach. Their pressure-they'll play some man defensively against you. They hustle, they chase to the ball very well. They have an excellent inside player who's going to be a Big 12 candidate, an all-American candidate I'm sure. They have really a dominant inside player I think could make a difference. I think it's wrong to suspect just because of what happened last week that they don't have it. As you look across the league, you can have a tough game like that and they did and Missouri just hit on everything. Missouri's quarterback was just phenomenal in that ball game. He's played great all year long but he was extra great in that ball game."
How do you rate Bradley Stephens?
"Bradley did a nice job. I thought he ran hard and held onto the football well and made some good cuts. I was pleased with Bradley. Our emphasis was to get him more involved in this ballgame. You know, I'm sure he would have liked to have played more than he did but he played more than he has so that's a good thing."
Feel good about your kicking game with Randy (Bullock) in there now?
"Bullock's done a nice job for us. He made all his extra points. I wish his kickoffs were better. Richie (Bean) has gotten better distance and hang time on his kickoffs. We were kicking into the wind, and instead of just driving it hard into the wind and having poor hang time possibly or have the ball go anywhere, we just kind of put them up there for great hang time and we were able to keep them on the 30-yard line. I thought that was good. He was able to make those kicks for us. His extra points were very good. One he missed a little bit but overall he's done a nice job for us. I can't say enough about (Justin) Brantly. Brantly is just a totally unselfish player. To be able to have two punts put down in the proper spot like that and, you know, he has to do what we ask him to do obviously. It's certainly not great on his average but it shows that he's a very good punter because of what he can do with that football."
Is Richie healthy enough to kick off?
"He was healthy enough to kick extra points and short field goals, but not kickoffs last week. I'm hopeful he'll be back this week."
What about (Colorado's) special teams? They've got a kid that's pretty good kickoff returner...
"Well, I thought our special teams overall were pretty good in the game with the exception of the one kickoff return they had, which was a crucial play in the ballgame. We had just scored and they come right back and get great field position, and put our defense in a very precarious position. We haven't been consistent enough on any phase of our special teams. Our return game is getting better, our punt wasn't really challenged from a rush standpoint. We did okay there, but we only punted twice and they were pooch punts. Our kickoff coverage was okay, mainly, except that one. This young man that they have certainly has the capability of bringing it all the way back. There is some concern there. We have to be very good in our lanes and avoiding our blocks in the proper leverage position to be successful."
You went with a lot of quick snaps the other night, was that just for tempo, or the opponent? You seemed to have a lot of success doing that...
"I believe the tempo of the game has to be dictated by the offense. You want to change it up, and sometimes when you got us to get them to jump offside on a couple sequences, that was on a slower tempo. Then we have a hurry-up tempo, and it was something that we'd been practicing and thought it was time we pull that out. It seemed to have some success. It certainly puts them back on their heels a little bit, so I thought we got some value out of it. That was something we planned to do."
Talk about the development of this wide receiver corps in the summer. It was kind of a sore point with you after a lot of practices. What's been the biggest key to the unit developing the way they have?
"I think the emergence of (Ryan) Tannehill added to that group. You know, we had struggled catching the ball as a receiving corps, and I really have to credit Tannehill going in there and being -- he's had some drops this year, but for the most part, if you watch from practice and games, he catches just about everything. I always think catching balls and dropping balls are contagious. It just develops confidence, or non-confidence. When we start practice and we drop a couple balls early, a lot of times I'll stop practice and we'll start over again, just because I feel like it's just going to continue that way. So I think it's very much something that's a mental aspect of the game, catching footballs. I'm adamant about every ball -- these teams like Missouri this past week, or like Tech against us -- the balls are not on the ground. These people are throwing the ball year-round. So they're very successful doing that and they have a lot of confidence. I think Tannehill, going into that group, was very sure-handed and was able to be a steady receiver. And I thought the other guys started to blossom a little bit. (Jeff) Fuller took off, and (Jamie) McCoy started catching more balls, and (Howard) Morrow, and so forth. And Pierre Brown. So I think that had a lot to do with it."
What area of Terrence McCoy's game has improved the most to get him to where he is now?
"He did a great job on that touchdown. We had a play pass weak, and he came across in motion about eight yards, put down and ran a vertical route, and sold the corner part of the route and then hit the post. He moved that guy just enough and kept that route high and Jerrod was able to lay it out there. It looks like an easy throw and catch from the stands or from the television, but I've seen that overthrown or underthrown a number of times in my career. Both parties had a lot to do with that. But I think his route-running has really blossomed and I think moreso than anything, his confidence. I can see confidence in all our receivers. The more and more you do something the better you get at it, and we've been doing a lot of it lately. They've had a little bit of success, and I think the confidence is taking hold."
Just to clarify on the kicking situation: If Richie (Bean) is healthy will he kickoff this week?
"With kickers I always think they have to -- all the other positions are fairly competitive, so I like them to compete every week. If he ends up kicking off in practice better than Randy (Bullock) then yeah, he will. And they'll always compete every week."
With what this team's been through this year, now that they have a win, can the confidence build and momentum start rolling?
"I think it's important we start well this week in practice and then obviously in this ball game. I would hope our confidence - you know, we're disappointed about the Tech game, but I thought coming out of that first half we were confident and ready to go. Then the wind came out of our sails in the second half. I think this last ball game, going on the road and winning up there, and I know Iowa State is having their growing pains, too. But I do think we came home a more confident team than we left. I hope it plays out well this week."
Would it be nice to go out in front of the 12th Man and try to get a winning streak?
"Yeah. It'd be nice to get two in a row, particularly here at home. We haven't won enough here at home and we're going to have a big crowd. To be able to win at home in front of our fans will be special. We're definitely looking forward to that. It'll be fun."