Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian pleased with teams response in practice, offers injury updates
October 21, 2024 • 10 mins
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke with the media on Monday and offered injury updates about safety Andrew Mukuba, points of emphasis in practice this week, and how the team leaders have stepped up in the locker room.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
We're back. It's the Craig Way Show with Hall of
Fame broadcaster and voice of the Texas Longhearts Craig Way.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
All right, continuing here on this Longhorns Monday, Let's get
back to some of the comments from Longhorns head coach
Steve Sarkisian from the weekly news conference, and let's go
right to this. This ten toes down quote you've got
you got this here, cam.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yes, so Steve Sarkisian posted on his Instagram story Steve
dot Sarkisian. For those who do not follow coach, it's
a Nipsey Hustle quote. Craig who is a former rapper.
He's passed away, but he's from from the West Coast,
so you know, obviously sark a West Coast guy. You know,
he talked about his affinity for Tupac and Nipsey Hustle
(00:59):
in the ask. But the quote is the game will
test you, never fold, stay ten toes down. It's not
on you, it's in you, and what's in you they
can never take away. Hashtag tough all day. Yeah, okay,
good quote. Yeah, no doubt about that. Okay, So he
was asked about it. I guess it was our friend.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Corey Mos from KU asked him about that ten toes
down thing and Nipsey Hustle and is he a fan
of that and how it applies to his team.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Yeah, I think I think in the end, like there's
a life of a competitor, and when you're a competitor,
you know, as much as we love the wins, we
have to learn and endure the losses. And but but
what's in you is in you. And we've got a
bunch of great competitors in our locker room. We've got
a bunch of great competitors on our staff. So we need,
we do need to stay ten toes down and we
(01:48):
need to get back to work and we're a really
good football team. We just got to get back to
playing our brand, our style of.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Football all right now. He was asked about third and
long versus third and medium because long Ward's had trouble
try to convert on third down and the third and
longs were more difficult than the third media, but there
were some third and mediums they just flat out didn't convert,
and so he was asked to explain, you know, the
difficulty level and dealing with third and long versus third medium.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Honestly, I don't mind third medium, you know, third and
third and four to six, that's that's a decent sweet
spot for us. You know, I just didn't love our
execution in some of those situations. You know, I didn't
didn't love the timing with the routes with the quarterback.
I didn't love some of the protection that we had
(02:33):
for the quarterback. I didn't love some of the decision
making by the quarter So it was all kind of
everybody kind of took their turns in those situations. Now, granted,
I would like to run the football better than we
did the other night. Again, it got away from us
a little bit there as the game started to stretch
and the leads started to stretch, and we got a
little bit one dimensional, and we tried to kind of
(02:53):
use the run game as an offset to the past game.
But ideally we have balance, and that balance usually at
the end of the game. What does it look like
from a balance standpoint, And I think so many people
think balance is you're balanced all game long. You know,
I've done a lot of a lot of my time
as studying some of the best play callers in the sport,
(03:13):
and Bill Walsh to me is an icon of play calling.
And if you ever watch those old forty nine er
teams with with you know Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, John Taylor,
Roger Craig, Tom Rathman, a lot of times they came
to throw and then that led to the run. And
every game was a little bit different, and we try
to do what's in our best interest to attack a team.
But we just didn't get enough balance the other night
(03:35):
at the end of the game. But I think a
lot of that was a byproduct of the turnovers and
the score going the way that it did. But we
need to extend drives and and two of fifteen obviously
is unacceptable, especially for the standard around here, and so
we've got to find ways to convert those makeable third downs.
Third and six or less we should be hitting that
at a really high rate. Third and seven plus, I
get it is difficult, but six or less we should
(03:58):
be converting those at a high rate.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
He was then asked the long words went back to
the practice field this morning. They meet on Monday mornings.
He has what he's called is Good, Bad, and Ugly
film review. He picks out about twenty plays, good ones,
bad ones, and really ugly ones, and so he does that.
Then they go to the practice field and they had
practice this morning inside the stadium. So then he was
(04:22):
asked what is the emphasis that he and his coaching
staff trying to get across to the players in practice
this week.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Well, getting back to our standard, getting back to what
we believe in, and getting back to who we are.
You know, I think I didn't go into the team
meeting this morning pointing the finger at one person or
one thing. I made it a point today in our good, bad,
and ugly to really touch on just about every position
group of where they can improve. And I think that's
the mindset that we have to have. Everybody's got to
(04:49):
go out and improve this week. Everybody's got to get
back to, you know, playing our brand, our standard of football.
And I think that's the message, right, It's not about Hey,
just this one thing, he's get fixed and we're gonna
be okay. We've all got to improve, coaches included, and
so that that's really been the message, all right.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So then he was asked for a review of his
offensive line play because it was kind of a mixture.
You're a lot of really bad reviews. And then there
were other reviews that came out said, really, wasn't that
that bad overall? There were bad moments, circumstances certainly on place.
So he was asked for a review what he saw
from his oat line.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Yeah, you know, it was kind of a few different
things happened. You know, the first sack, not the first sack,
but the sack fumble on the corner blitz was a
communication era at the line of scrimmage. Quinn thought he
was protected on the backside. Clearly he wasn't. So for
all the all the Monday morning quarterbacks who said Quinn
was late with the ball, that was incorrect. All right,
(05:47):
he thought he was protected and he wasn't. Okay, we
have another one where we don't block the Mike linebacker
coming off the edge. That was a running back issue.
We have another one where a running back gets ran
over through the gap and we all want Quinn to
step up, but the running backs on his back, he
can't step up, and then Kelvin ends up giving up
some pressure. We have another one where Cam loses his
(06:08):
you know, kind of fundamental technique and gets wiped and
we give up a sack there. So it was kind
of a variety of things. And that's my point. It's
it's not this one. Hey, this guy just got his
butt kicked. That's not really what happened. There was a
we dropped back forty some odd times in the game, right,
And so one guy, when you play tackle, you may
have forty four really good reps, but those two you
(06:29):
got beat on, right, can rear the ugly head. And
that's the life of being a tackle. That's a life
of being a dB. You can play great all game
and give up one deep ball. And boy, he didn't
have a great game. And so we've got to find
a level of consistency. We've got to find a level
of balance. And then we need to play as a
cohesive unit on the offensive side of the ball, and
that starts up front for us.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Okay, all right. Then he was asked about Trey Moore's
presence on the defensive front. He rotates in, but he
does lead the defensive and snaps taken all along and
how all that works out.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Yeah, he treys a really versatile guy. We asked him
to do a lot. He's a very smart player. He's
been really active in the run game. I thought he
had some really nice Rushes the other night, just didn't
quite get home the step ups and then maybe forced
an errant throw, maybe got another guy to get a
hit on a quarterback. So again, his versatility is beneficial
(07:23):
to us. I think his motor is beneficial to us.
And then, you know, I think again, you know, the
idea that he can be an every down player for us,
that he can defend the run on first and second
down but also be effective on third down has been helpful.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
All right. So after invariably after loss is like this,
coaches are going to be asked about leadership. Leadership from
the coaching sta have leadership from the players. And Sark
was asked about that leadership thing. How much does he
have to take on? Sark had a pretty interesting response
about all this.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
You know, I liked our leadership in the locker room.
Even before I went in there to speak, I could
hear a few of our leaders speaking up. And the
beauty of that statement I just made was a few
A few years ago I might have had one, you know,
And now I've got a few guys speaking up and
really speaking our language and believing in what we believe in.
I think one thing that I was proud of our
(08:14):
guys today. They were all coachable. A lot of the
times after a tough loss, you know, pride can get
in the way from getting coached, and I didn't feel
that today. I felt a lot of guys wanting to
get better, wanting to get coached. Where can I improve?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (08:30):
And then they came out with a good spirit about
them today, And naturally there's a bad taste in our mouth. Naturally,
you know, we're a prideful group. We want to play
better than we did. I do think we have a
lot to prove and I think we've got a chip
on his shoulder and that and that, and again there's
nothing wrong with that. I think that's a good thing.
I've always been a guy that has thrived when I
have something to prove to somebody. And again, I think
(08:52):
that our team has taken on that personality as well.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
All right, So that he was asked also about how
he bounces back after lost, how his team can what
they have to do to flip this.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
It's it's relatively similar situation in that you know, every
week's a championship game. Now, you know, it is similar
to last year in the Big Twelve with with no divisions,
now we come into the SEC, there's no divisions again,
and so a lot of the teams that are at
or near the top of our conference standings right now
(09:22):
we don't play. Some of them we do, but a
lot of them that we don't, and so we have
to really make sure that we take care of our
business one week at a time. We can't just point
to one or two games say if we win that one,
we're gonna be okay. And so it really feels like
from here on out we're kind of in an SEC
championship game. And that's the same mentality we had last
year in the Big Twelve, that every game matters to
(09:46):
that degree, and we have to put ourselves in Atlanta
right if that's what we want to be, We have
to put ourselves there every Saturday, that that's what we're
competing for.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
So there's more from logrn's head coach Steve Sarkisian. We'll
hear more from start coming up next. How we're gonna
get some NFL notes up next when we continue on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.
We're back. It's the Craig Way Show with Hall of
Fame broadcaster and voice of the Texas Longhearts Craig Way.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
All right, continuing here on this Longhorns Monday, Let's get
back to some of the comments from Longhorns head coach
Steve Sarkisian from the weekly news conference, and let's go
right to this. This ten toes down quote you've got
you got this here, cam.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yes, so Steve Sarkisian posted on his Instagram story Steve
dot Sarkisian. For those who do not follow coach, it's
a Nipsey Hustle quote. Craig who is a former rapper.
He's passed away, but he's from from the West Coast,
so you know, obviously sark a West Coast guy. You know,
he talked about his affinity for Tupac and Nipsey Hustle
(00:59):
in the ask. But the quote is the game will
test you, never fold, stay ten toes down. It's not
on you, it's in you, and what's in you they
can never take away. Hashtag tough all day. Yeah, okay,
good quote. Yeah, no doubt about that. Okay, So he
was asked about it. I guess it was our friend.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Corey Mos from KU asked him about that ten toes
down thing and Nipsey Hustle and is he a fan
of that and how it applies to his team.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Yeah, I think I think in the end, like there's
a life of a competitor, and when you're a competitor,
you know, as much as we love the wins, we
have to learn and endure the losses. And but but
what's in you is in you. And we've got a
bunch of great competitors in our locker room. We've got
a bunch of great competitors on our staff. So we need,
we do need to stay ten toes down and we
(01:48):
need to get back to work and we're a really
good football team. We just got to get back to
playing our brand, our style of.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Football all right now. He was asked about third and
long versus third and medium because long Ward's had trouble
try to convert on third down and the third and
longs were more difficult than the third media, but there
were some third and mediums they just flat out didn't convert,
and so he was asked to explain, you know, the
difficulty level and dealing with third and long versus third medium.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Honestly, I don't mind third medium, you know, third and
third and four to six, that's that's a decent sweet
spot for us. You know, I just didn't love our
execution in some of those situations. You know, I didn't
didn't love the timing with the routes with the quarterback.
I didn't love some of the protection that we had
(02:33):
for the quarterback. I didn't love some of the decision
making by the quarter So it was all kind of
everybody kind of took their turns in those situations. Now, granted,
I would like to run the football better than we
did the other night. Again, it got away from us
a little bit there as the game started to stretch
and the leads started to stretch, and we got a
little bit one dimensional, and we tried to kind of
(02:53):
use the run game as an offset to the past game.
But ideally we have balance, and that balance usually at
the end of the game. What does it look like
from a balance standpoint, And I think so many people
think balance is you're balanced all game long. You know,
I've done a lot of a lot of my time
as studying some of the best play callers in the sport,
(03:13):
and Bill Walsh to me is an icon of play calling.
And if you ever watch those old forty nine er
teams with with you know Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, John Taylor,
Roger Craig, Tom Rathman, a lot of times they came
to throw and then that led to the run. And
every game was a little bit different, and we try
to do what's in our best interest to attack a team.
But we just didn't get enough balance the other night
(03:35):
at the end of the game. But I think a
lot of that was a byproduct of the turnovers and
the score going the way that it did. But we
need to extend drives and and two of fifteen obviously
is unacceptable, especially for the standard around here, and so
we've got to find ways to convert those makeable third downs.
Third and six or less we should be hitting that
at a really high rate. Third and seven plus, I
get it is difficult, but six or less we should
(03:58):
be converting those at a high rate.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
He was then asked the long words went back to
the practice field this morning. They meet on Monday mornings.
He has what he's called is Good, Bad, and Ugly
film review. He picks out about twenty plays, good ones,
bad ones, and really ugly ones, and so he does that.
Then they go to the practice field and they had
practice this morning inside the stadium. So then he was
(04:22):
asked what is the emphasis that he and his coaching
staff trying to get across to the players in practice
this week.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Well, getting back to our standard, getting back to what
we believe in, and getting back to who we are.
You know, I think I didn't go into the team
meeting this morning pointing the finger at one person or
one thing. I made it a point today in our good, bad,
and ugly to really touch on just about every position
group of where they can improve. And I think that's
the mindset that we have to have. Everybody's got to
(04:49):
go out and improve this week. Everybody's got to get
back to, you know, playing our brand, our standard of football.
And I think that's the message, right, It's not about Hey,
just this one thing, he's get fixed and we're gonna
be okay. We've all got to improve, coaches included, and
so that that's really been the message, all right.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So then he was asked for a review of his
offensive line play because it was kind of a mixture.
You're a lot of really bad reviews. And then there
were other reviews that came out said, really, wasn't that
that bad overall? There were bad moments, circumstances certainly on place.
So he was asked for a review what he saw
from his oat line.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Yeah, you know, it was kind of a few different
things happened. You know, the first sack, not the first sack,
but the sack fumble on the corner blitz was a
communication era at the line of scrimmage. Quinn thought he
was protected on the backside. Clearly he wasn't. So for
all the all the Monday morning quarterbacks who said Quinn
was late with the ball, that was incorrect. All right,
(05:47):
he thought he was protected and he wasn't. Okay, we
have another one where we don't block the Mike linebacker
coming off the edge. That was a running back issue.
We have another one where a running back gets ran
over through the gap and we all want Quinn to
step up, but the running backs on his back, he
can't step up, and then Kelvin ends up giving up
some pressure. We have another one where Cam loses his
(06:08):
you know, kind of fundamental technique and gets wiped and
we give up a sack there. So it was kind
of a variety of things. And that's my point. It's
it's not this one. Hey, this guy just got his
butt kicked. That's not really what happened. There was a
we dropped back forty some odd times in the game, right,
And so one guy, when you play tackle, you may
have forty four really good reps, but those two you
(06:29):
got beat on, right, can rear the ugly head. And
that's the life of being a tackle. That's a life
of being a dB. You can play great all game
and give up one deep ball. And boy, he didn't
have a great game. And so we've got to find
a level of consistency. We've got to find a level
of balance. And then we need to play as a
cohesive unit on the offensive side of the ball, and
that starts up front for us.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Okay, all right. Then he was asked about Trey Moore's
presence on the defensive front. He rotates in, but he
does lead the defensive and snaps taken all along and
how all that works out.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Yeah, he treys a really versatile guy. We asked him
to do a lot. He's a very smart player. He's
been really active in the run game. I thought he
had some really nice Rushes the other night, just didn't
quite get home the step ups and then maybe forced
an errant throw, maybe got another guy to get a
hit on a quarterback. So again, his versatility is beneficial
(07:23):
to us. I think his motor is beneficial to us.
And then, you know, I think again, you know, the
idea that he can be an every down player for us,
that he can defend the run on first and second
down but also be effective on third down has been helpful.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
All right. So after invariably after loss is like this,
coaches are going to be asked about leadership. Leadership from
the coaching sta have leadership from the players. And Sark
was asked about that leadership thing. How much does he
have to take on? Sark had a pretty interesting response
about all this.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
You know, I liked our leadership in the locker room.
Even before I went in there to speak, I could
hear a few of our leaders speaking up. And the
beauty of that statement I just made was a few
A few years ago I might have had one, you know,
And now I've got a few guys speaking up and
really speaking our language and believing in what we believe in.
I think one thing that I was proud of our
(08:14):
guys today. They were all coachable. A lot of the
times after a tough loss, you know, pride can get
in the way from getting coached, and I didn't feel
that today. I felt a lot of guys wanting to
get better, wanting to get coached. Where can I improve?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (08:30):
And then they came out with a good spirit about
them today, And naturally there's a bad taste in our mouth. Naturally,
you know, we're a prideful group. We want to play
better than we did. I do think we have a
lot to prove and I think we've got a chip
on his shoulder and that and that, and again there's
nothing wrong with that. I think that's a good thing.
I've always been a guy that has thrived when I
have something to prove to somebody. And again, I think
(08:52):
that our team has taken on that personality as well.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
All right, So that he was asked also about how
he bounces back after lost, how his team can what
they have to do to flip this.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
It's it's relatively similar situation in that you know, every
week's a championship game. Now, you know, it is similar
to last year in the Big Twelve with with no divisions,
now we come into the SEC, there's no divisions again,
and so a lot of the teams that are at
or near the top of our conference standings right now
(09:22):
we don't play. Some of them we do, but a
lot of them that we don't, and so we have
to really make sure that we take care of our
business one week at a time. We can't just point
to one or two games say if we win that one,
we're gonna be okay. And so it really feels like
from here on out we're kind of in an SEC
championship game. And that's the same mentality we had last
year in the Big Twelve, that every game matters to
(09:46):
that degree, and we have to put ourselves in Atlanta
right if that's what we want to be, We have
to put ourselves there every Saturday, that that's what we're
competing for.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
So there's more from logrn's head coach Steve Sarkisian. We'll
hear more from start coming up next. How we're gonna
get some NFL notes up next when we continue on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.
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