March 30, 2009
Opening statement: This last week of spring, you're trying to finish the goals that you have for spring practice and specifically the last part of spring. You're trying to continue to get the older guys better, who are trying to reach another level, but there are still a lot of questions to be answered with the younger and more inexperienced guys who are still fighting for jobs. That's what today was about and that's what Wednesday will be about. It'll be a scrimmage. The same on Thursday, we'll be in shorts because it's an NCAA rule that you have to have three shorts practices out of your 15.
Then we've got a great weekend planned. Saturday, the lettermen come in for their lettermen's golf tournament. Half will play in the morning, we'll have lunch with them Saturday afternoon, and then the second bunch will play and we'll have a reception with them on Saturday night. Obviously the Texas Relays will be going on, but we'll come back on Sunday and because of a celebrity basketball game with our NFL guys, they will all be in town. We think they'll all be at the game and that'll be fun to interview them and let people get to meet them.
We're dedicating the spring game to our military forces. We actually need to shorten the field by 10 yards because of the work being done in (the south) end zone. So we'll work on a 90-yard field, but we're going to take out the 40-yard line in honor of the 40 percent of our reserves and current active military that are deployed right now. We're inviting our veterans back, we're inviting our military from across the state back in their honor. At the same time, Maj. Gen. Jeff Hammond played for us at Southern Miss. He is the commander at Fort Hood and he will be my guest to come out. We feel that will be a great way that we can honor our military and say thank you to them.
We'll have a great game and say thank you to our current NFL guys, and at the same time, let the guys have a lot of hoopla before they start to play because this will be the first game a lot of these guys have played in this stadium at Texas. Then they will start [installing] the turf on Monday as soon as the spring game is over.
On spring practice thus far: We chart every practice, and we've done it for 11 years, this now being the 12th spring here at Texas. You can tell when a practice is a good one, an emotional one or not. It doesn't change that much. We were outside today and it was hot, so a lot of the guys were challenged today. It'll be fun to watch that film tonight and see who stepped up. That's why we continue to change depth charts because we feel like we can't allow a player to get complacent. It's one of the great advantages we have at Texas - we have enough depth that if a player doesn't perform well, somebody's going to on this team.
On where the best position battles are taking place: If you truly go back and judge it every day, they're all over the place. You're constantly looking at an older guy who may want to be complacent in his last four days of spring practice and you're trying to get somebody to challenge him. Obviously, you've got a lot of depth in the secondary and it's fun back there. There are some receivers there who are really competing now that John Chiles has moved to receiver. We're trying to see who the three are and then who the fourth would be, and especially when you're in the "I" [formation], who the two are. Defensive line, we're still not totally pleased up front. That's an area of concern that we've got. Backup linebackers are trying to work themselves through some depth issues to see where they are. Because we're running some "I," with fullbacks, Antwan Cobb has stepped up, done a good job and stayed healthy. We're excited about him, but you've got to have another guy if you're going to run some "I." [Behind him], we've got Aaron Smith. And at tight end, which was an issue before, and running back - they've all been hurt most of spring. Vondrell McGee has been the experienced guy that's practiced every day. The other guys have had some little something wrong with them throughout the spring.
On the tight end position: Ahmard Howard has come a long way. He and Greg Smith are competing right now for the job and they're at the top. Ian's [Harris] been in and out of practice with a stinger.
On the consistency of the running back group: We've had the same issues coming out of spring at running back. Vondrell's been the most consistent and the most healthy. If we lined up to play today, Vondrell would be our starting tailback.
On the comparisons between now and this point a year ago: We were concerned about most of the depth chart last year. Now we've got it down to three or four spots. This isn't pro football. You lose guys and you have guys come in. It's a change in dynamics and leadership that you're most concerned about. We'll be good enough as far as talent, but will the chemistry be good? Will they play hard every time? Will they take on the personality of last year's team or the 2005 team? That's what we're looking for and those are questions that won't be answered until fall.
On the players that have most impressed the staff this spring: Other than the knowns, Christian Scott has had an outstanding spring to this point. Aaron Williams has had an outstanding spring. Nolan Brewster, those guys on the back end. Emmanuel Acho, Dustin Earnest have both played well at linebacker. Obviously we've talked about Alex Okafor as a true freshman. He's gotten people's attention just being here for a very short time. We're looking for consistency inside. Probably of the defensive tackles, Ben Alexander's had the best spring. He just competes every play. We're just looking for guys who will do that and fight hard, and continue to play well every play. Russell Carter has made some improvement at defensive end. Ahmard Howard has stepped up at tight end. We've played Tray Allen some at guard and tackle and he continues to improve. Britt Mitchell has had an outstanding spring. Antwan Cobb looks like he did before he got hurt, so he is a factor now in what we're looking at. We do think John Chiles has got to lose some weight and get in better shape, but he's got a chance to be really good outside. Kheeston Randall is doing fine, he's just got to be more consistent.
On Ben Alexander's role in the defense: He would be better against the run on early downs than he would late downs. Tomorrow if we started [the season], it would be Ben Alexander and Lamarr Houston [starting at defensive tackle].
On the preseason projections that are already public: Last year, we were 12th and we [ended up] third or second. So they don't know. I'm proud that Texas is in the mix. That's what we want to be. We want to be considered really good every year, but obviously none of that matters.
On the team's best quality thus far: Consistency is what I'd say about this bunch so far. What they showed last year, they've done the same this year. What we've got to do, after a year where things worked good and went really well for us, you can't get complacent. More people will be positive about this upcoming season than last year, and they'll have to handle the positives. What I've found is traditionally at our school is that the guys handle the negativity and criticisms. It is a much better motivator for them than the positives. This bunch cannot sit around and listen about being number two in the country without earning it and understanding what that means. I don't know who was number two last year, but they didn't finish up there.
On how the staff approaches this preseason differently than last: We tell them the same thing, that it's about who performs. It's about who produces and that's what you're about. We're pushing them really hard. The staff's pushing them. We're demanding. We hit for two hours today. We're really pushing them, we're getting after them and they understand that. They understand the urgency that they need to play at their highest level to be good. Last year, we did that and we were good every week but one. This year, there are no guarantees. We lose some really great athletes but truly great leaders. That's what they've got to replace and that's what we're looking for right now. That's why we're pushing them so hard.
On the team's leadership and chemistry situation: They haven't been tested, so that's why you won't know until the fall. You look at things and try to see signs - they're acting right, they're practicing hard, they're attentive, they're on time. All of those things really bode well for the possibility of a good team. We probably won't know about the leadership until they get in trouble on the field. When they're behind and they have to fight back, that's when we'll know how good they are. Last year's team really was so good that they just jumped out and got ahead of everybody fast. OU was the first team we were in trouble against and when they were, they came back and performed really well.
On the special teams return situation: Jordan Shipley would be the punt return guy and he'd be backed up by Curtis Brown and maybe Earl Thomas. Jordan and Curtis would be the first two. Your kickoff return guys, we've talked about Jordan who's fighting to do it. If we started today, it would probably be Jordan and Christian Scott, and they would be backed up by Malcolm Williams and Aaron Williams.
On whether the staff worries about Jordan Shipley in the return game: You just have to go back to the OU game. He changed our season, changed that game with one play and he returns punts. He can get hurt any play. We just don't want to wear him out, so we might alternate him some on kickoff returns and let him return punts until the game's over, then make sure we get him out.
On the team's ability to retain new information: The best teams are the ones that retain. There are so many guys who played last year, we're trying to fill those few gray positions and we're trying to fill the leadership qualities that those guys had. Roy Miller's toughness is hard to replace. He's just tough every day. He's tough in practice every day. We didn't have to coach much up front last year because he and Rak (Brian Orakpo) would threaten them. Serg (Sergio Kindle) is trying to take that role and we're looking for somebody else to step up on that line and be the same type personality that Roy Miller was. You look at linebacker, Jared Norton has really stepped up and played well. Muck (Roddrick Muckelroy) plays well all the time. So we're really pleased with those two guys at linebacker. They're having a great spring. You're secondary was so young last year, they were kind of feeling their way. Now they're confident and they've got outstanding experience being so young. We feel like we're in good shape at that position. Offensive line, we're trying to be more aggressive and run the ball better. We're trying to knock people off the ball and that's something that we didn't do as well last year as we wanted to. We weren't as consistent at running back last year in the areas we needed, with tough runs at the end of the game. Those are all things that we need to get answered. We won't know the answer until fall.
On the depth on the offensive line: A lot of people would like just to have 11 starters. We'd like to have 22 starters on each side. If we can get 15, that's what we've got. David Snow is a starter. He's a guy that rotates in. Britt Mitchell is a guy who could be a starter. We think Tray Allen is really close to being a starter. Then you can rotate them at the regular rotation and not when you bring the second group in. We would like to have a second group that is ready to play on the offensive line and we could substitute them maybe every third series. Right now we couldn't do that. We're not two-deep. Charlie Tanner had the flu and missed two or three days, so that forced us into playing Tray a lot at guard to develop that seven- or eight-man rotation on the line.
On the excitement that surrounds the spring game: When you look at what we need, number one, we need a lot of fans to come out because it's a great chance for all of us to say thank you to veterans and our military, who do not get enough thanks. It's tough enough for them. We're really excited that we can say thank you publicly, and we'd like to have all Texas football fans come out and do the same. Hopefully there'll be a lot of military there who can get a free Sunday off.
Secondly, it's really important for the young guys to play in front of a big crowd. This'll be the first game for a lot of those guys who redshirted, who may have been backups and haven't had a chance to put their game on the line. Sherrod Harris for one will come out and it will be a chance for him to be seen in front of 40-50,000 people. We want to put a lot of pressure on the guys and have it feel like it's the opening game of the season, and we want to see how they respond.
On the spring game being the last game on natural grass in the stadium: I do think that it'll be fun for the people that are there on Sunday to say I saw the last time that they were out there on the grass. Monday they're going to start bringing it up and I think it'll be finished by July 4, so the guys can work on it this summer.
On playing certain players at multiple positions: I think that with our defensive staff working together for a full year, Will [Muschamp] expanding on the package, which he'll be able to do now with some things he might have wanted to do, but the freshman in the secondary weren't ready. We've added some things this spring that we won't show on Sunday, but I think it'll be really good for the fall, especially some blitz packages.
On Lamarr Houston's role in goal line situations: We haven't run a lot of goal line stuff yet, and we probably won't do goal line on Sunday, but he would be the guy to take the Roy Miller-Derek Lokey spot, both of which worked in the running game.
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