Kliff Kingsbury. Texas Tech University Football Media Conference Monday, September 7, 2015

Transcription

1 Texas Tech University Football Media Conference Monday, September 7, 2015 Kliff Kingsbury Q. Coach, did you see anything on the film that you were encouraged a little more than what we heard from you Saturday night? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, there were some positives, but like I touched on, the biggest disappointment was not finishing the game. That's what I felt. Coming off the field, I still feel that way. But there were some positives from young guys who made some plays, which was good to see when the lights came on, but lots of room for improvement. Q. The lack of killer instinct, can you coach that, can you force that or is that natural? KLIFF KINGSBURY: We'll find out. We're going to try to coach it and try to put our guys in situations to do that, but I think we have some guys that have it, with you as a collective group we have to get better at it. Q. Did the weather affect anybody or were you happy with the conditioning of the team? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I thought I was pleased after the game. I didn't see many guys cramping, and I thought effort was good. It was hot for both teams. It was hot down on that field, but that comes with the territory this time of the year in Texas. Q. What's it say about your opening weekend when you had an offensive player of the week and special teams player of the week for the Big 12? KLIFF KINGSBURY: There are some positives, for sure. That kickoff return by Jakeem was big, and then Pat moved around, made some plays, had some good numbers. Could have had huge numbers had we not dropped eight passes, but I thought he protected the ball well. Q. What is Pete Robertson's status? KLIFF KINGSBURY: He is day-to-day. It's still being evaluated. That's how it's going to remain. Q. (Indiscernible)? KLIFF KINGSBURY: It's just day-to-day, we'll put it that way and leave it at that. Q. Is Pat going to be your starter again this week? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Pat will be the starter. Q. And how is Davis handling everything? KLIFF KINGSBURY: He's disappointed as a competitor. You can see that, but couldn't be more proud of the way he's handled it with his teammates. The way he's coached up young wide receivers, the way he's worked with Pat, complete professional in that regard, and that's not easy on do at that age. With him knowing how good he can be and how good he is, but I couldn't be more proud of the way he's handled the whole situation. Q. Will Reggie Davis be good to go for the entire game Saturday? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Reggie Davis will play the entire game, yes. Q. How much did Pat check on Saturday and how did he do in that area? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Getting better, not a ton, but there were some times he got us into better plays. Would still like to have some back, come decisions he'd like to have back. But for the most part, like I said, I thought he was pretty sharp. Q. What's Dylan Cantrell's status for Saturday? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Still being evaluated. He's day-today as well. Q. Micah Awe? KLIFF KINGSBURY: The same. All these guys are day-to-day and be evaluated and basically be gametime decisions. Q. (Indiscernible) differently to the Big 12 Saturday? KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, I don't. I think we want to do what's best for him, and we felt like Ja'Deion High, Keke Coutee had given us enough confidence that they could come in there and get the job done. So Reggie was able to come out in the second half. But he wasn't feeling it, so we decided to keep him out. Q. What was his injury? KLIFF KINGSBURY: It was a shoulder injury of some sort. Q. (Indiscernible)? KLIFF KINGSBURY: One of those, yeah. Q. What concerns do you have about UTEP? KLIFF KINGSBURY: A lot. We played them last year, page 1 of 3

2 obviously, and were very fortunate to get out of there with a win late. They went to a bowl game last year. Coach Kugler's in his third year. You can tell the players are understanding his schemes, what he wants to do. They were second in the country last year in time of possession, so they're going to hold the ball and they're going to pound you. They like to run the rock and do a good job at it. One of the top running backs in the country. Lot of the things scare you. Defensively they're aggressive. Changeup a bunch of looks, and give you a lot of pressure and you have to win. Q. Coach, what does Aaron Jones do running the ball and out of the back field receiving that is so special that he's hard to cover? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Just a very good player, and they do a good job of -- their offensive line does a good job of finding ways to get him the ball both in the run game and the pass game. We faced him last year and he had a great game. He's a guy that we're going to have to find a way to get to the ground. But he's a very talented player. Q. It seemed like last year you guys were disappointed a lot with the response specifically defensively. So after a tough first two quarters, did it speak to maybe a change that you had to shut out third and a little bit of a response there? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I hope so. I think it was a great job by that coaching staff, that group of gathering them up, not going into panic mode and making adjustments and the players felt that and they settled in a little bit. Still not where we want to be obviously, but that is the type of responses you want to see in a first game. Q. What specifically do you need to see your defense change and do better going into this week that you didn't see this last weekend? KLIFF KINGSBURY: First and foremost, eliminate the mental mistakes. A lot of things we had repped a ton in preparation for that that we saw and just didn't react appropriately. Then tackle guys in space. We really struggled in space and getting guys down. We have to tackle better. Q. Is your kicking situation settled? KLIFF KINGSBURY: We'll continue to look at both guys. I thought Taylor punted the ball extremely well. I thought his kickoffs were great. And Barden kicked what we asked him to hit. And Clayton will be ready to go, and we'll try to get him some kicks if we can. Q. What happened to Josh Outlaw? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Josh Outlaw is no longer a member of this team. Q. Was he dismissed? KLIFF KINGSBURY: He's just no longer a member of this team and that's kind of how we're going to leave it. Q. Given what you've seen in the fall, were you surprised shocked or for the first half of the defense? KLIFF KINGSBURY: First of all, I appreciate you dressing up today. You look good. Q. Thank you, Coach? KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, I knew going in we didn't know what we had exactly. I wouldn't say disappointed. They had a great scheme. They hit us with some things. Quarterback moved around, we had a 3rd and 15 early, and they scrambled for it, and it kind of piled up from there. First games big things happen, and you usually make your biggest improvement from week one to week two, and that's what we're looking for. Q. We hear a lot that there is a change and a big jump from week one to week two. What do you attribute that to? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I don't know. Maybe just firstgame jitters. First time you've seen that type of speed in a long time. First time going through the game-day routine live. I think there are a lot of things that contribute to it, and it may just a little coach talk as well. You hear that a bunch. It seems to be the second week guys are more focused, more locked in and able to do their job better. Q. What do you tell your teams when you're going up against a team that's very different from the first week? Basically both teams trying to impose their style. It's very different. They're going to try to make it look like a game like last year? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Luckily we have that game from last year to base a lot of what we're selling them this week on. Them holding the ball, possessing the ball. So offensively when you get drives, you've got to try to make them count. Defensively you've got to be ready for a downhill run game, play-action pass, and sit in there and stay focused on some of those long drives. Q. Obviously having your next two opponents playing each other last week, will this game (Indiscernible) leading into that game? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I never look at it that way. Each week is so different as far as barometer goes. I think things happen within a week and teams play other teams differently, so I don't see it that way. Q. When you were watching that game, did you make some notes when you saw some stuff from page 2 of 3

3 Arkansas or are you just focusing on UTEP for this week and you'll watch it again? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I'll just watch it again. I really focus in on UTEP. Q. Coach, the cost of attendance, players are starting to get those checks coming in. How are they responding to that? What's different? KLIFF KINGSBURY: They're happy, I know that. No, I think different guys spend it on different things. There may be one day that we can appropriate the funds where we'd like them to go, but I think they're not wanting for anything currently, put it that way. Q. (Indiscernible) go out and buy some headphones? KLIFF KINGSBURY: We talked financial issues with them, financial planning. We've had those discussions, those type of presentations. Whether they're effective or not, I'm not sure. Effective or not, I'm not sure. his nose in there and mix it up, which was good to see. Q. The 2016 signees that you'd like to red-shirt this season? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Still sorting through that. I think that's a decision that will be finalized once we get into conference. Q. With four returning offensive linemen for UTEP, they're a good rushing team, but do you challenge them this week? KLIFF KINGSBURY: They'll be challenged. When they watch that film today, they know there is a long way to go, and they know what's coming. Based upon last year and playing this team, it's a very good football team and they're going to come right at us, so we better be ready. Q. Do they get those checks the first of the month or at what point? Have they already gotten September's check? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Yeah, two checks a month. They split them up. Q. I guess there was some talk about coaches fining players cost of attendance money. Is that something you would do? KLIFF KINGSBURY: No, they're not professional athletes yet, so I wouldn't do that. Q. Do you have any reaction to what happened in the Marble Falls game with the referee and the players apparently targeting him? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I saw that. I'm down from around that area. It's shocking, really. I don't know what caused it, but I was just shocked. That's really my only reaction. Q. Thoughts on performance of your offensive line Saturday? KLIFF KINGSBURY: Not bad. The false starts were concerning to have an experienced group like that put us in first and 15, second and 15 four times, which I don't think we had four of those the entire camp. So we have to get that figured out. As a unit I thought played fairly well, kept Pat on his feet and provided some good holes for the running game. Q. You played several freshmen on Saturday. Did anybody stand out? KLIFF KINGSBURY: I thought Giles had a great look in his eye, made some plays, was very physical in the run game when he had a chance to block. And D'Vonta Hinton running on special teams was not afraid to stick page 3 of 3

4 Texas Tech University Football Media Conference Monday, September 7, 2015 David Gibbs Eric Morris Q. Coach, what was your message to your guys after the game? DAVID GIBBS: Just smile and wave. You know what? It is what it is. I've said all along, you are what you put on tape on Saturday afternoons. Obviously, we didn't play very good, don't know why. I'm still in the process of figuring it out. But I've done this a long time. I'm not going to panic. We're not going to panic, old-school coach. You go back to the basics and you go back to stance, you go back to alignment, you go back to reading your keys and doing your job, and it all sounds good. For whatever reason, they went out there, I don't know if it was first time in front of a crowd, I don't know what it was, but unacceptable. I take the blame. It's not their fault. They weren't prepared. That's your job as a coach was to get them ready to play. Sam Houston was better than most people thought they were. Now, were they that good? No. But they were Saturday. So, obviously we've got a lot of corrections to make, we'll get started this afternoon at practice and build off the turnovers, which is probably the only positive we had. Didn't tackle well, didn't lineup well. Played a lot of guys, so I guess that's good news. But we'll get back to work this afternoon. Q. Coach, they forced four turnovers, I think, and also one including on downs in the second half. But how did they grade out from the first half to the second half just based on assignments and where they're supposed to be? DAVID GIBBS: They obviously got better. They got more comfortable with the game. Half the fans left the stadium, so it was probably a little more quiet, you know, so they could communicate a lot better. A lot of it was communication. But that's not an excuse because you know going in it's going to be loud and they knew. Just didn't get it done. There was improvement. You'd have liked to see them finish the game, but got tired. I mean, I got a bunch of excuses, but bottom line, didn't get it done and we've got to play better this week. Q. When you talked about the adjustments you made at halftime, would you say you saw that improvement from the first half to the second half? DAVID GIBBS: We really didn't do anything different. We really just talked about -- the very first play of the game by formation I knew what play was coming and so I made a call to stop that play, and we didn't execute. So once you get to that stage where the players, they should know by what call I make by what I'm trying to stop. That's where we're going to get, eventually, and that's a process. But I give the kids credit for coming out in the third quarter and making some plays. But as far as the scheme goes, we didn't do anything much different. Q. Were you surprised by some of the option plays that they ran? DAVID GIBBS: No, we practiced every play they ran. Every one of them. Q. Were there some plays or some fits that kind of gave you some trouble? DAVID GIBBS: You know what? Yeah, I'll say that. It's my fault. They weren't ready. But hopefully we'll improve this week. Q. (Audio issue)? DAVID GIBBS: Football. Got to coach them better. Q. What did you see from your guys? DAVID GIBBS: Yeah, you know, they didn't panic. They're just, you know, it's part of trying to build a defense. They're so used to doing bad and then freaking out and giving up big plays, just going crazy. I didn't feel like they went crazy. I just kind of felt like they weren't sure exactly what they were supposed to do, which comes from a new system and new coaching staff and all those things. But we had plenty of time to prepare for that offense, and it's not acceptable. Like I said, we'll be back to work this afternoon. Q. Can you talk about the turnovers a little bit? The interceptions and the fumbles, they're all big plays in the game? DAVID GIBBS: They were, they were. You know the thing I try to preach to them is if you have a chance and I put you in position to make the play, just make the page 1 of 5

5 play. That happens on every play, whether it's a tackle, whether it's taking on a block, whether it's intercepting a pass. To their credit, they took advantage of the passes. They took advantage of the fumbles. When they had a chance to punch the ball out, they did. But the same thing happens on an every-down basis. You have this gap or you have to leverage the football this way. The more we do this and the more we keep practicing and playing, the more they'll understand that it's an every down process. Q. You mentioned before the season you said if guys don't stay in the gaps they're not assignment sound they won't be playing. How many instances of that? DAVID GIBBS: Man, you're going straight for that, huh? I hear you. You know, somebody's got to go out there. We'll see. For the most part I felt like they tried to do what they were supposed to do. Obviously didn't do it. When you give up that many yards and that many points to a team that you're supposed to be a lot better than. I'm not going to defend anybody. Nobody played good. We won't have a defensive player of the game. It's not acceptable. But we'll build off the positives. It does no good to be the grim reaper and cuss everybody out and fire everybody, because at the end of the day we've got to go back out there Saturday and go play a bowl opponent who is a really good football team. Q. Coach, from what you've seen, what makes Aaron Jones their running back such a great player? DAVID GIBBS: He's elusive and he's hard to tackle. I mean, Arkansas, there are four or five times Saturday where they couldn't tackle him. They ended up pushing him out of bounds. He rushed for 70-some yards against him. Just the way the game got out of hand, they couldn't hand it to him every time, but I'm sure he'll get it 40 times against us. So we've got to find a way to tackle him and just slow him down. You're not going to stop him. He's too good a player. He obviously was underrecruited coming out of high school. He's a big-time player. Q. Are you going to spend more time watching last year's Tech-UTEP game or the Arkansas-UTEP game? DAVID GIBBS: I'm going to spend more time watching us and fixing us and fixing our problems and trying to get us better, because at the end of the day we know what's coming down the road. And UTEP's got some great players, but until we can lineup and know what gap we have and know what leverage we need to keep on the football, then who we're playing really doesn't matter to me. Obviously, we'll talk about certain players, the running back, the different quarterbacks they play, because they run different plays with different guys. But we've got to fix ourselves before we can move on to the next phase. ERIC MORRIS Q. It looked like you guys were maybe a little more big play capable this year than last. Do you see some of that? ERIC MORRIS: Yeah, no doubt. Had a lot of explosions, as many as we've had since we've been here. In the passing game I think we had over 13 explosions. We had four in the run game. You know, it's just the guys are a little bit older. They're playing faster, and obviously there are a lot of things out there. The film is as good as we have to teach off of. There are some small things that are so little that are costing us some big chunks of yards. Obviously the two penalties. I think I counted up -- I made them chart it yesterday -- like 92 yards off of penalties, and that counts we have two explosive plays and penalties come back. That's inexcusable. It's stupid, and we've got to get that fixed immediately. On the eight drops that we had, 173 yards that we left out there. So I think a much better starting point than where we were last year at this point. I thought 5 did a great job of getting in and out of some good plays. Obviously, when it breaks down he can do some stuff that's fun to watch. But we're just this close from really being like ultra, ultra explosive. So it was good to see. It was good to see. Some of the freshmen didn't -- they're just not many -- you saw it last year. First pass we threw to Ian Sadler at UTEP. It's going to be a 60-yard touchdown. He looks nervous as all get out and he drops it. Saw some of that with some of the freshmen. I thought Jonathan Giles was probably the best freshman we had. His look was really good before the game. He played hard. He played smart. He got open on some stuff. He didn't get the ball, but overall, there is a bunch of stuff that's bad with the tape. Don't get me wrong. But a really good starting point. Week one and week two, we have to make a big jump on some execution things. Q. (Indiscernible) a great game for you guys, really seemed like he was stepping up to be the next big receiver. Did that just seem like he carried that momentum from last year what he brought into fall page 2 of 5

6 camp and finally did it on Saturday again? ERIC MORRIS: Yeah, no doubt. Really explosive, but really disappointing on his overall effort every single time. And that is the scary part is that if we can fix a couple of those things, that's what we told him. He can be as good as there is in the country. He has to stop taking a couple plays off here and there, and dropping here and there. He can be scary good. He's not a selfish guy, and if he's tired and needs to get out. But he's a guy that's more consistent. If he brings it consistently like he did for the majority of the game, then he can be as good as anybody in the country. Q. The drop passes, are you attributing that to just like a lack of focus or what is it? ERIC MORRIS: Yeah, I mean, just those guys got to catch balls or the next guy's going to get in the game. I don't know if anybody has any remedies to the point where I'll take suggestions on it. But, same thing. Lauderdale had three, and he had won the whole entire fall camp. So, yeah, focus, they get tired. After we played a little bit, besides the second play of the game, he scores on if he catches the screen. So it's something that those guys got to fix. Q. Were you surprised how quickly Giles picked up receivers? ERIC MORRIS: Yeah, it's been fun to watch. We watched him run a couple routes when he was a wideout and we were evaluating him in camp. You could tell. He was just really rusty, but real natural hands. He has great hips. But as far as from day one through fall camp to practice 19, he's the kid that got better every single day. It's been fun to watch his process. The tricky part is Ian Sadler's playing pretty good right now and finding reps. So we've got to find a way to get him on the field a little bit more because he's earned that right. But he's playing behind a pretty good player right now. So that's my job as a coach. I've got to get him maybe 10, 15 more snaps a game, different places. Whether he goes to some of our empty packages, because he's playing better. Q. You talk about the lack of killer instinct there at the end. How do you address that this week? ERIC MORRIS: Yeah, I think that's got to be handled by our players. It's something we sit in here and talk about. We have older guys, Le'Raven and Jakeem, and guys that are putting out some great individual efforts, but at some point all the good players I've been around, and you have that, that comes in a huddle with them together, and some of those leaders saying, hey, come on, let's bury these guys right now. So hopefully some of these players, they've even made points of emphasis about it, so hopefully we can get some of these key leaders. You watch Le'Raven, he has his guy on the ground the whole entire game. But at some point, we have, as a team, we have to feed off that mentality. He's got to do a better job. Jakeem played outstanding. As good as he's played here throughout the course of the whole game, not just catching the football, but blocking, so same thing. He's a fiery guy. He's got to get -- when it gets in those situations, we have some guys that I think have the ability and they have to do it in the huddle and get those guys going a little bit. Q. The ones that don't have it, don't realize they don't have it. And the ones that do have it need to say to the other guys, you Sneed to step it up? ERIC MORRIS: You know in sports, there are guys that coaches call it the "it" factor, and nobody knows exactly how to explain it. But we have to have some guys that step up in those moments and can really lead the charge on it. Q. (Indiscernible) to work with. How much easier is it to teach off a good tape instead of telling them how you want them to fix it? ERIC MORRIS: Both are good. Both are good. You know, my dad told me a long time ago you can learn just as much from a dumb person as you can a smart person. So we try to do both. We point out the good examples and point out the bad examples. You learn what not to do sometimes, and sometimes you praise the kids for their effort and what they're doing right. So I think it works both ways. I think you have good tape to teach off that can be mistakes and that can be, you know, encourage them after having some positive reinforcement. Q. You guys had ten receivers, each catch the ball. How much does that help you guys as a team? ERIC MORRIS: Yeah, I think I talked about it last week. It's going to be challenging how we're going to get all these guys touches, along with the backs. So, I think what they gave us was a little bit more inclusive for us to tackle them down the field and where they played and where they played their safeties. So that's kind of what we did, starting with the second drive there when we hit Lauderdale down the field. We saw something in that first drive that we liked, and we thought we could move Lauderdale inside and attack a safety, so we did. But I thought Pat did a great page 3 of 5

7 job of getting it to the different people in space and not zeroing in and going through his reads, and actually just getting the ball out to different people based on what their coverage and leverage was. But, yeah, that's what we've got to do. We've got to make them cover the whole field. I thought that as far as us getting it to every single receiver, I thought it was pretty good. Q. You want your receivers to catch every single ball. Is there a number that maybe you go into the game expecting two or three drops? Is there a number where hey, that's probably going to happen every game? ERIC MORRIS: Yeah, we throw it so much. You expect them. You're not going to go through and have a perfect season. But eight's way too many. And too, we did a drive chart, and when we had penalties and drops where the drives that we ended up having to punt or kick a field goal. So it's a direct reflection of what we're trying to preach in here day-in and day-out. We need to take care of the ball number one, which we did a pretty good job of for the most part. We had the one tip that passed Ian's hand and got intercepted. And interceptions are going to happen when you throw it that much too. But eight's way too many. You heard the numbers. If we cut that number in half, we're talking about an extra 150 yards added on to what we did. Q. What is the number you're looking at? ERIC MORRIS: I don't even know. I'd like to say zero, but we're not going to -- we don't expect these kids to be perfect either at any time. So if you leave with one or two, I think would be the most that you're looking for during the course of a game. We're talking about uncontested balls hitting them right in the chest. We counted Jakeem's as a drop. He's got his hands on it, he dives. That's a really tough catch. We expect him to make that. But just the routine, nobody's around you, ball's right on the money, those are the plays we can't be giving up. Q. That tip ball, is that pass intended for Ian? ERIC MORRIS: Yeah, intended for Ian. Q. (Indiscernible)? ERIC MORRIS: I don't remember off the top of my head. Stockton, Stockton had two. One on the wheel route, and we threw a screen out to him that he dropped as well. Q. (Indiscernible)? ERIC MORRIS: Yeah, it was pretty cool to see Ja'Deion High, huh? Really proud of him. Kid that's worked his butt off for three years here. We move him down to the bottom of the depth chart twice since he's been here and he's had great springs. Just ended up that he had the opportunity to go out there and start a game, and he played exceptionally well. He graded out great. He ran some great slant you routes where he beat man coverage, which we've been looking for that for a couple years now. He went down and got a low ball and got up field without putting his knee on the ground and got us out of bounds so we could score at the end of the half there. Thought he did great. Proud of him. His whole family was in from Hereford and that's one of the good stories where the kids been working and he's found a way to fight through adversity and got himself on the field. Q. UTEP, what do you expect out of them? ERIC MORRIS: Same thing. Same thing we saw last week. They're really similar. They're going to pressure a lot. They're going to play similar man coverage, one high, safeties are extremely aggressive. They have some young guys in the secondary. I mean, they started a couple freshmen last week and a freshman nickel back. Obviously the film against Arkansas doesn't give us a good judge if they've changed anything. So I thought they had some success against us last year, so I don't know why they wouldn't come out and do what they did last year which was similar to Sam Houston, so same thing. We're going to continue to have to beat man coverage, which we did a better job of this last game. We'll try to get some of these play makers in space and try to get them going early. Q. (Indiscernible) didn't check some of those earlier reads that he was hoping to, I guess, fix this off-season. How easy is that to fix and how big is that that a true sophomore realizes that this early in his career? ERIC MORRIS: Yeah, that's what I told Coach Kingsbury after the game. That's his position and he does a phenomenal job coaching them. Sometimes I said, Coach, this is the fifth time he started a college football game. Is it fifth or sixth? How many did he start last year? Four last year he started, right. So this is his fifth start. The kid is not going to be perfect. He did a great job, I thought of getting us out of some run games that we called that were bad looks and had safeties down in the box. Checked some stuff to get it out quick. On third downs he checked some stuff in the quick game stuff, which I think we were 4 for 4 on all the page 4 of 5

8 quick game checks he made on 3rd and medium, which we call 3rd and medium, 3rd and 5 to 3rd and 7. So third downs are huge in this game, as you all know. So did a great job. I think we were 63% on third down, 62%. Which is good. So I thought he saw it well. I mean, there are a couple things that he's going to come back and watch film and he's going to learn from. But for his fifth game to start, I thought he did a remarkable job of getting us in and out of some stuff, and getting the ball out quick and into the right person. page 5 of 5

9 Texas Tech University Football Media Conference Monday, September 7, 2015 Jared Kaster Branden Jackson Q. Jared, how did you feel like you guys played on Saturday? JARED KASTER: O-line, there was some good things put on film. Some things that we've got to go back and correct. Our effort was good. It's probably not where we want to be as an O-line-wise. Still we've got to work on penalties. We had a couple up front that are just stupid penalties you can't have. They pushed us back. The only thing that's going to stop us are penalties, and you could see that going into the game. Overall, we saw good things. Like I said, there are a lot of things we do need to work on though. Q. Do you think that's kind of just first game, kind of getting into the rhythm? JARED KASTER: Yeah, you could say that. Just a little bit of jitters out there. But you've still got to work on it, and go out there with the mindset that this is the game and you've got to bring it your all. Q. Coach Kingsbury talked about a lack of killer instinct. Coach Morris talked about that needs to be a player thing. So who amongst you guys do you expect to step up and talk with the non-killer instinct guys? JARED KASTER: Just us leaders. We'll bring it every day in practice. What you do in practice is going to have to transition on Saturdays, and we'll bring it. This is the first game. It's something that us as a team, us leaders, are going to have to work on to get this season going. Q. During the game itself? JARED KASTER: Yeah, exactly. Q. What did you think of Pat's performance? JARED KASTER: He did good. He did good. He came out there and did things that Pat does, which is being a good quarterback. Q. Are you happy to have him as a starter? JARED KASTER: Yeah, I'm happy with whoever it would have been, whether it was him or Davis. Coach Kingsbury does a great job of getting both those guys ready. Us guys up front just worry about protecting either one of them. Q. What do you remember about that UTEP game last year? JARED KASTER: It was fun. It was a great atmosphere. UTEP is a very, very good football team, a lot of guys that work, phenomenal effort. They gave us a little trouble at the beginning, but they're a great team, and we've got to bring in our A-game. They're coming off a tough loss against Arkansas, which they're a very good football team. It's going to be fun to play them here in the Jones, another game Saturday at the Jones, but it will be fun. Q. You guys were rotating, working with the rotation on Saturday. Does it disrupt your chemistry as a unit to kind of bring guys in and out during the game? JARED KASTER: I don't think so. I think we all over the off-season built a great chemistry together. Anybody that can go in there and work can get the job done. Coach Hays does a great job with getting all of us ready. Whoever is in there is going to bring our full, because that's one of our goals is bringing your effort and being the best you can be. Whoever's in there is just going to get the job done. Q. What did you think about Justin Murphy's performance? JARED KASTER: He did good. He's young, he's excited. I see myself in him a little bit just with his attitude. He's a Hunter. He goes out there and he hunts guys down, which is what you need in offensive linemen. Q. (Indiscernible) your cost of attendance checks every two weeks? JARED KASTER: It needs to be spent on the things that they -- Kirby has done a phenomenal job with that. We really appreciate what he's done for all of us. It really helps us guys that aren't as lucky to have the money that they do. Thank you to the NCAA for really helping us out and put it towards good stuff. Q. How tough was it last season not having that extra money? JARED KASTER: Oh, you just use it where you it needs to go. It's something that guys can really put that money towards good things. You could see it was page 1 of 4

10 tough for some guys, but it's good to have that and have to not worry about not knowing where your next meal is or whatever. But it's good. Really thankful for what the NCAA and Kirby has done for us. Q. What did you do with that first check, how (Indiscernible)? JARED KASTER: It's great. I think all of the athletic department has done a great job with really organizing how we get that and managing it for us as players. Q. Coach mentioned there weren't too many players that are kind of needing some things with those checks coming in. JARED KASTER: I won't talk about my personal business or how my -- Q. Just in general in the past some guys say coming to school without the checks, there was a lot of stuff that they were needing that they didn't have. JARED KASTER: Yeah, you go back to us guys that (Audio issue) but I see guys on a team that are putting it to good use. You know, if it's toothpaste or if it's food, whatever it might be, it's putting it to a good use. Q. Coming off the bench, (Indiscernible) how do you think he performed? JARED KASTER: Great, man. When you've got a guy like that who has been through so much, you feel the world for him, man. He's been put through hell and back. Really see a guy push like that through all the stuff he's been through, you give it your all for people like that. That's what you play the game for are people like Tony. It's exciting to see him out there and get his first start which is great. He's one of the guys that you wake up and you play for. BRANDEN JACKSON Q. We all remember the huge plays the defense was able to make in the second half. Talk about how important it is to make routine plays consistently? BRANDEN JACKSON: Yeah, the more times we get the ball to the offense, we've already discussed it, the better this team will be. Just getting off on third downs and just being effective in flipping the turnover margin is something we've been preaching for years. It was good to see Coach Gibbs technique and things he's been preaching and making us practice throughout practice had shown up a little bit in the second half. We've just got to make sure we do it in the first half. Q. What happened in the second quarter when they were able to have the ball for nine minutes? BRANDEN JACKSON: Yeah, a really good team. A really good team. They played really good football, won a lot of games. They're a confident group and talented group. They came out there and made us play to their scheme and what they had. They just had the game going right there and kind of rode the way as it was gone, and we had to make a stop to force them to change it. They had a couple of big plays and they stuck with those plays like anyone would do when you're having success. They forced us to make them change it. Q. With Pete's status still being unknown, do you feel an added pressure to be a leader with the front seven? BRANDEN JACKSON: Absolutely not. If anyone knows Pete, you know it doesn't matter what you do to him. He's always going to have his presence known. No added pressure at all. The defensive line as a group is a very close-knit group, so whether I'm not there or Pete's not there, someone's going to be there to step up because everyone respects each other. The defense as a whole, we're pretty close also, and it really doesn't make a difference who is being vocal or who is not. It's kind of lead by committee. Q. How vocal was he on the sidelines? BRANDEN JACKSON: Yeah, I said you can't shut the guy up, so he was in everybody's ear. He was hollering at the same time he was talking to the young guys letting them know what he sees out there, what they're doing wrong. Telling me I need to pick it up and things like that. He's a great leader, you can't stop that. Q. You guys were able to force four turnovers in that second half as compared to the first. But how did you guys grade out on film after you've had a little bit of time to watch some tape and digest everything? BRANDEN JACKSON: Yeah, it's never as good as it seems or as bad as it seems. In the second half we were able to get some turnovers. I feel like the game kind of slowed down for some of the younger guys that were just getting their feet wet. All the fans had them screaming and hollering and excited. Second half we were able to get straight to football. As far as grade-wise, we grade each other critically, and we probably grade ourselves a little harder than most people would have. But when your expectations are high, you have to never let yourself get too high on yourself. Q. Do you feel like the first half was just a little bit of nerves and jitters, and then finally that second half -- Coach Gibbs said you guys didn't make that page 2 of 4

11 many adjustments. It was just kind of the same, but you seemed to be making the plays? BRANDEN JACKSON: Yeah, Coach Gibbs came in at halftime and told us nothing's going to change. We're doing things the way I want it to be done. Make the plays when you're in position to make the plays. In the second half I feel like all the nerves were out of there. All the younger guys that hadn't played so much on defense, so to speak, they were one snap and clear, and they were getting down to the game they love and playing ball and playing at a higher level. That's why we had a better second half than first. Q. From what you remember last year from Aaron Jones and UTEP, what's he do that's so hard to defend? He's not that big a guy, but can really run the ball well and catch out of the back field? BRANDEN JACKSON: Yeah, he's not that big. But it's the things you can't measure that make that special. He does everything well. He's a pretty speedy guy, but at the same time he has some power. Sees the holes quickly, reacts fast, and dictates the holes. He knows how to pick and choose where he wants to go, and that's what makes him so difficult. Q. How did you guys evaluate the missed tackles from Sam? BRANDEN JACKSON: We were kind of hard on each other about that. Pick your head up, see what you hit, things like that. A lot of it you take good and bad. We're happy the guys were shooting the gun, but at the same time, like Coach Gibbs preaches, see what you hit. Don't just go out there and diving around. So I'm sure we'll get out on the practice field and have a few more tackling circuits, but nothing too major to focus on with that, as long as guys continue to rally around the ball and make people stutter their feet, there will be a second man there to make the tackle, if you miss the first one. Q. Do you feel Saturday guys were more focused on trying to rip the ball out before securing the tackle? BRANDEN JACKSON: No, I honestly feel a lot of guys were nervous. They wanted to make a play. The fans came out and they were great. That environment was second to none. I've seen a lot of young guys looking up and just smiling. Kind of lost a second there. Hold on, bro', focus on the game type of thing because they were just locked in the moment. They get out there and want to make a big hit, so they're diving with their head down. They're not seeing what you hit. When you do that in Division 1 ball with good opponents, they're going to make you miss. Q. As a defensive player, you guys have just given up a long run, a long series of plays and Jakeem runs back for a kickoff return. Is it a thing there where you're excited for Jakeem, but knowing you have to go out there without getting a break? BRANDEN JACKSON: No, it's more of a thing. We were down on ourselves about the long drive. But when Jakeem sparked that long run and scored, it got everyone excited. Everyone was like take it to the field, get back to fence and pick it up. We kind of forgot about the series which had just happened. You get lost in the moment of success with your brothers, and that eases the pain of the play that happened before. Q. How much of Saturday's performance were guys still adjusting to their responsibilities schematically? BRANDEN JACKSON: Yeah, in practice we always do our 1/11ths. We try to focus on that. In the game, when your nerves are going, some people try to do more than one thing. That's what we had to control was the urge to want to make the extraordinary play, and just do your 1/11th, and that's when we started playing better defense. Q. How do you feel about the defense's conditioning? BRANDEN JACKSON: Yeah, a very hot afternoon, but that's to be expected in Lubbock. Coach Dennis and the strength staff we've got over there is second to none. I feel like we're in game shape. It's just every once in a while 110 gets you and you kind of get fatigued. But that's no excuse. Everyone's in shape. If we're not in shape right now we wouldn't be on the field. Q. Big story line off-season was more rotation up front. Did you notice a difference personally? BRANDEN JACKSON: Absolutely. It was definitely a difference. I think I only cleared 57 snaps, 60 snaps, something like that. Last year I was 80, 90 snaps, so the rotation was phenomenal. Talor Nunez got out there and got me a well-needed break when I needed it in the heat, and Zach Barnes and Mike Mitchell were rotating frequently. The rotation was as expected, and Coach has been doing that often in practice. Q. What's it mean to get the cost of attendance checks for yourself? BRANDEN JACKSON: That means the world to me and my teammates. We just want to thank the NCAA and thank Kirby Hocutt, our AD, for doing what he did to make sure he could get us the maximum amount. I mean, it just does so many things for you. We've got guys in place who have to learn how to budget and save money and things like that. The cost of attendance is a great help, and it's helping us learn how to save money as well as get things done page 3 of 4

12 that we may not have been able to do last year. Q. What sorts of presentations did you go through in terms of not spending too much on video games and head phones and stuff? BRANDEN JACKSON: Yeah, so we had a team meeting whenever they announced the cost of attendance. They listed how much we'd be getting whether you're on campus or off campus, and we talked about setting up a budget and letting guys know you'll get your check this time, you'll get another check this time. Spend this right here on rent. Put this here in savings. Coach Jones and people met with him personally and learned how to budget money and have some banking things. Then we had Miss Dana go through with when to shop and how much to shop being that we'll get more money and things like that. Our staff did a great job of getting us prepared. So far I only know about five people that have a new Madden, so we haven't been spending that money too crazy. Q. In the second quarter when Micah Awe goes down, what do you do as a defense to rally and not let that stay in your mind? BRANDEN JACKSON: One snap and clear. When we seen him down, and watched him stand up and walk to the sideline. Are you all right, bro'? He said I'll be all right. I'm be back. That's all we needed. Dakota came in there. He was eager to play. We got him out there, he had some nerves flying. He settled down and everything went smoothly after that. page 4 of 4