November 25, 2024 • 12 mins
Hear from Steve Sarkisian at his Monday press conference as he discusses the upcoming game against Texas A&M and his confidence level in the Horns reaching the College Football Playoff.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
The broadcast in voice of the Texas Long Bots, Craig Way,
I hope your Monday's going all right.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
It is, after all, Monday, but it's a Monday of
a holiday weeks. Maybe they're in as much of a
grind on you.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I hope not.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Anyway, school is out right now for a lot, including
on campus at ut which is why some things were
shifted with the football program. No practice in the morning
because the guys didn't have afternoon classes. So practice this
afternoon so those guys could sleep in a little more,
(00:49):
the bodies rest up and restore a little bit, and
they moved the press conference up with coach Sartin. Sark
spoke to the media at eleven o'clock this morning, Steve
eleven thirty, which you heard live here on the Zone,
and among those comments was the fact of the noise level,
(01:12):
and we know how noise he did. If you've ever
been to a game at Kyle Field, you know how.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Noisy he is.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
The over one hundred thousand people are. It's very steep,
it's very loud, it's very noisy, and there's all us
talk about Expert speakers have been brought in to increase
the decibel. Level and the noise level and all that
kind of stuff and sarcus as had he heard about
that and how does he feel about all that?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
First is the speakers have to be turned off when
we're getting ready for play, So make sure the officials
know that. The second, the second key to that is,
you know, I think it's a mentality that we work on.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
All of the time.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
We don't wait for games like this to say, hey,
we got to have great poison composure. We really try
to work on that throughout the summer, throughout training camp,
as the season goes on, so that when games like
this come we can we can play a really poised
and composed game. Or even last Saturday when when everybody
(02:12):
you could almost feel a level of frustration with everybody
in the stands and ourselves included on the sidelines of
we had three out of four plays we put the
ball on the ground that we were able to regroup, resettles,
keep our composure, and stay together as a team to
go do those things. And so again, I don't think
this is like a one shot thing where we're talking
about poison composure when it's a big game. I think
(02:33):
there's a level of consistency and our approach to that
that allows us to feel comfortable talking about poison composure
when you're going into a game like this.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Ex what's a question. I think it was a friend
Terry Middleton Orange illustrated as Sark. He said, when I
visited with Quinn, I asked him about things, and he
said that his key is just to get the ball
in the hands of the playmakers. And he asked about
that being and that is something if you talk to Quinn,
if you talk too if you talk to Trey Weisner,
(03:04):
if you talk to just about any of the guys,
they talk about the totality of the team concept. And
Sark was asked about that player focused mentality.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Well, it really is, you know, and that's on that's
in all three phases, you know, Terry, like, we don't
talk about individuals like that, you know, we don't. We
don't go into games thinking, man, we got to get
this guy three sacks, or we got to get this
guy ten catches, or we got to get this guy
to throw five touchdowns. It's about let's do what we
(03:34):
need to do as a team to go win the game.
And there's a team first mentality we use an adage.
We not me around here. It's about us, and you
guys hear me say it all the time, being enamored
with us.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And what comes out of that.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
The byproduct of team's success is individual accolades, awards, honors,
and achievements. And there's probably not a national award right
now that that's going out that we don't have somebody
nominated for as a semi finalist or a finalist for.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I'm sure when the.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
All American teams come out we'll have players that make those.
I'm sure when the NFL Draft rolls around here in
a few months, we'll have a ton of players get
drafted in that. But all that stuff is a byproduct
of the team's success. And I think it was really
well said by Quinn. You know, it was about how
do I get the ball to those guys so that
they can go do what they need to do, rather
(04:26):
than how do I throw X number of touchdowns or
whatever completion percentage? And I think if you really asked
any of our guys that question, you'd probably get a
similar response predicated on the position that they play.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
No question about that.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
And then he was asked about how much reinforcement goes
into this being a different kind of week, and it's
only ninety five miles wherever you are, depending in the
Greater Austin area, it could be anywhere from ninety to
about one hundred and ten to go over to the
Brasses Valley. But we're talking an hour forty five minute
drive something like that. And he was asked about how
(04:58):
does he gear his guys into the difference mentally speaking
of what they're encountering.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I just think that the best thing that we get
to do is sleep in a little bit. You know,
being a Division one football player, Power five, Power four
football player is a grind, you know. You think about
these guys do every single day. We look at them
just on the field, right as like an NFL player.
These guys go to class every day. These guys are
(05:25):
going to study Hall, right, They're doing other things in
their lives that consume time and energy as well. And
so I'm really just trying to recharge their batteries a
little bit, give them a little bit more time to sleep,
understanding that the game this week is at six point
thirty in the evening as well, and so a little
bit of their biological clocket and that in the right frame,
(05:46):
and so we're just trying to take advantage of the time.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
But I do think it is helpful.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
It's interesting that you know, our guys are coming in
now for treatment and different things before we get ready
to go this afternoon, and they all look bright eyed,
they all upbeat. Even our staff looks up beat because
everybody's just getting a little bit more sleep, which I
think is helpful.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Now you want to stump Sark, ask him which player
has made the most improvement this season.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I'll start ground floor and work my way up.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Like Kobe Black had his best game on Special Teams
this past week.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And I know that probably doesn't seem.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Like much because you gouty to see him play corner
and different things, but he was one of our Special
Teams players of the week. And so when you can
watch the development of a young player grow into that,
I think has been tremendous. I think Jelanie McDonald has
really grown into playing safety and where he's at now
and it's easy to point to that interception, but he's
he's a great tackler man. He's really good in the
(06:45):
open field. That's been a great improve I think Jermaine Lola. Continue,
here's an older player that came in a little nicked
up with his knee but continues to play better and
better and better. Had a great stop for us there
on fourth down this past weekend.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Jeez, that's a that's a that was a loaded question. Uh.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
But those are some, you know, just throwing some guys
out that I think have really shown the ones that
are just popping into my head, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Off first thought, Yeah, there's a lot. There's also a
lot of guys who were on this roster. The fact
that it's about a fourth of the roster and a
lot of the starting positions manned by guys from the
Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. Sark was asked, what was that
a specific effort when he first got in there to
(07:37):
establish DFW as recruiting hotbed, because you look at it
right now, like, for example, in the offense, Jake Majors
the centers from Prosperous in Collin County north of Dallas.
D J. Campbell, the starting right guard is from Arlington
Bowie Cam Williams. The right tackle was from Duncanville. Jan Davis,
one of the tight ends that rotates him Gunner Hilm
(07:58):
is from Everman, Trey Wisner is from Desota, Quinn Ewers
is from South Lake Carrol. So there's several guys from
the Dallas Fort Worth air alone. Bert Auburn is from
flower Man. That's on the on the offensive side, and
then on the defensive side. They got plenty of guys
(08:21):
from the Metroplex as well. Malik Muhammad is from South O'cliff.
That's in that You're gonna hear Sark talk about this,
this southwest Dallas County corridor that features Duncanville, De Soto,
South Oakcliff. There's other good programs there too, Lancaster, Cedar Hill,
There's other programs that are good there. Uh, then you
(08:41):
got Anthony Hills from Denton. Ryan, you have Warren Roberson
is from Red Oak. You have there's somebody else on
the I was trying to think of a thought on
the defensive front. Well though, Jordan Johnson Rebella is from
Fort Worth, but he played it. I amg Academy, you
know the which there's lots of guys. Alex January's from Duncanville.
(09:02):
Colin Simmons is from Duncanville. So there's lots of guys
from the Dallas forward area. Was there a concerted effort
to make the FW recruiting hot bid for this university.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
When we came on board, we just kind of assessed
the rosters of kind of our rivals, and we assessed
the rosters of some of the better SEC teams and
where were they getting their players from. And then we
assessed the roster here and we really felt like we
were we didn't have enough of the marquee players coming
(09:35):
out of the Dallas region. And oddly enough, at that
time when we came on board, we made a huge
emphasis to go do that. But at that time too,
the South Dallas area in particular really had this big
uptick in play, and it just happened to coincide almost simultaneously,
(09:58):
as those programs really star had to grow and go,
we came in and that was like our focus. And
we've been able to get some really good players out
of that region, not just South Dallas but the Dallas
region in general. And but all that being said, we
can't just rely solely on that, right. We have to
(10:18):
spread our wings and we have to do a great
job in Houston, We have to do well in East Texas.
We have to do well in Central Texas. We have
to do well in our surrounding states where we can
where we have a reach into Louisiana, where we can
start to reach now into more of the southern states
with being in the Southeastern Conference, we have to continue
to reach some into California because that's kind of been
(10:39):
my home and so I know a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Of people there.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
And so as much as Dallas had been a focal
point for us, I think it's important that, Yes, but
we still have to spread our wings and get into
the other areas.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
And one more comment from Stark this hour, and it's
about again it goes back to that unselfish play. Roger
Wallace had asked a question about the I'm for this
guy and for that guy, and the DB's all saying,
you know, Jade for Thorpe. They were even said it
on the post game interview with Hey, Jade for Thorpe,
Jade for Thorpe, for the Thorpe Award. And he was
(11:11):
asking about that all for one and one for all things,
but they're all really promoting that, and he was asked,
what does that mean where you've got several guys promoting
one specific guy for the award.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, No, I think it's really neat. Man. I love
that stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
It's like I see Michael Taff wearing a Jade for
Thorpe T shirt, Macouba talking about ja Day and then
Jah Day's wearing a Quinn Yours T shirt, you know,
and I think that just speaks to the team we have,
the culture, we have, the love these guys have for
one another.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
You look at the six sacks, five different guys getting sacks,
and I look at the celebrations with Colin and Baron
Currell or Trey and Alfred Collins and all these different
guys like they're just playing for one another, and then
they love one another and then they want to promote
one another, and like I said, in the end, the
individual accolades come because these guys are playing really well
as a team.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Right now. Yeah, good stuff too.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
All right, we'll hear more from Start coming up next hour,
and some more NFL stuff up next on Sports Radio
AM thirteen under the Zone and the iHeartRadio app.
The broadcast in voice of the Texas Long Bots, Craig Way,
I hope your Monday's going all right.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
It is, after all, Monday, but it's a Monday of
a holiday weeks. Maybe they're in as much of a
grind on you.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I hope not.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Anyway, school is out right now for a lot, including
on campus at ut which is why some things were
shifted with the football program. No practice in the morning
because the guys didn't have afternoon classes. So practice this
afternoon so those guys could sleep in a little more,
(00:49):
the bodies rest up and restore a little bit, and
they moved the press conference up with coach Sartin. Sark
spoke to the media at eleven o'clock this morning, Steve
eleven thirty, which you heard live here on the Zone,
and among those comments was the fact of the noise level,
(01:12):
and we know how noise he did. If you've ever
been to a game at Kyle Field, you know how.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Noisy he is.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
The over one hundred thousand people are. It's very steep,
it's very loud, it's very noisy, and there's all us
talk about Expert speakers have been brought in to increase
the decibel. Level and the noise level and all that
kind of stuff and sarcus as had he heard about
that and how does he feel about all that?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
First is the speakers have to be turned off when
we're getting ready for play, So make sure the officials
know that. The second, the second key to that is,
you know, I think it's a mentality that we work on.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
All of the time.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
We don't wait for games like this to say, hey,
we got to have great poison composure. We really try
to work on that throughout the summer, throughout training camp,
as the season goes on, so that when games like
this come we can we can play a really poised
and composed game. Or even last Saturday when when everybody
(02:12):
you could almost feel a level of frustration with everybody
in the stands and ourselves included on the sidelines of
we had three out of four plays we put the
ball on the ground that we were able to regroup, resettles,
keep our composure, and stay together as a team to
go do those things. And so again, I don't think
this is like a one shot thing where we're talking
about poison composure when it's a big game. I think
(02:33):
there's a level of consistency and our approach to that
that allows us to feel comfortable talking about poison composure
when you're going into a game like this.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Ex what's a question. I think it was a friend
Terry Middleton Orange illustrated as Sark. He said, when I
visited with Quinn, I asked him about things, and he
said that his key is just to get the ball
in the hands of the playmakers. And he asked about
that being and that is something if you talk to Quinn,
if you talk too if you talk to Trey Weisner,
(03:04):
if you talk to just about any of the guys,
they talk about the totality of the team concept. And
Sark was asked about that player focused mentality.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Well, it really is, you know, and that's on that's
in all three phases, you know, Terry, like, we don't
talk about individuals like that, you know, we don't. We
don't go into games thinking, man, we got to get
this guy three sacks, or we got to get this
guy ten catches, or we got to get this guy
to throw five touchdowns. It's about let's do what we
(03:34):
need to do as a team to go win the game.
And there's a team first mentality we use an adage.
We not me around here. It's about us, and you
guys hear me say it all the time, being enamored
with us.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And what comes out of that.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
The byproduct of team's success is individual accolades, awards, honors,
and achievements. And there's probably not a national award right
now that that's going out that we don't have somebody
nominated for as a semi finalist or a finalist for.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I'm sure when the.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
All American teams come out we'll have players that make those.
I'm sure when the NFL Draft rolls around here in
a few months, we'll have a ton of players get
drafted in that. But all that stuff is a byproduct
of the team's success. And I think it was really
well said by Quinn. You know, it was about how
do I get the ball to those guys so that
they can go do what they need to do, rather
(04:26):
than how do I throw X number of touchdowns or
whatever completion percentage? And I think if you really asked
any of our guys that question, you'd probably get a
similar response predicated on the position that they play.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
No question about that.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
And then he was asked about how much reinforcement goes
into this being a different kind of week, and it's
only ninety five miles wherever you are, depending in the
Greater Austin area, it could be anywhere from ninety to
about one hundred and ten to go over to the
Brasses Valley. But we're talking an hour forty five minute
drive something like that. And he was asked about how
(04:58):
does he gear his guys into the difference mentally speaking
of what they're encountering.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I just think that the best thing that we get
to do is sleep in a little bit. You know,
being a Division one football player, Power five, Power four
football player is a grind, you know. You think about
these guys do every single day. We look at them
just on the field, right as like an NFL player.
These guys go to class every day. These guys are
(05:25):
going to study Hall, right, They're doing other things in
their lives that consume time and energy as well. And
so I'm really just trying to recharge their batteries a
little bit, give them a little bit more time to sleep,
understanding that the game this week is at six point
thirty in the evening as well, and so a little
bit of their biological clocket and that in the right frame,
(05:46):
and so we're just trying to take advantage of the time.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
But I do think it is helpful.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
It's interesting that you know, our guys are coming in
now for treatment and different things before we get ready
to go this afternoon, and they all look bright eyed,
they all upbeat. Even our staff looks up beat because
everybody's just getting a little bit more sleep, which I
think is helpful.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Now you want to stump Sark, ask him which player
has made the most improvement this season.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I'll start ground floor and work my way up.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Like Kobe Black had his best game on Special Teams
this past week.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And I know that probably doesn't seem.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Like much because you gouty to see him play corner
and different things, but he was one of our Special
Teams players of the week. And so when you can
watch the development of a young player grow into that,
I think has been tremendous. I think Jelanie McDonald has
really grown into playing safety and where he's at now
and it's easy to point to that interception, but he's
he's a great tackler man. He's really good in the
(06:45):
open field. That's been a great improve I think Jermaine Lola. Continue,
here's an older player that came in a little nicked
up with his knee but continues to play better and
better and better. Had a great stop for us there
on fourth down this past weekend.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Jeez, that's a that's a that was a loaded question. Uh.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
But those are some, you know, just throwing some guys
out that I think have really shown the ones that
are just popping into my head, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Off first thought, Yeah, there's a lot. There's also a
lot of guys who were on this roster. The fact
that it's about a fourth of the roster and a
lot of the starting positions manned by guys from the
Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. Sark was asked, what was that
a specific effort when he first got in there to
(07:37):
establish DFW as recruiting hotbed, because you look at it
right now, like, for example, in the offense, Jake Majors
the centers from Prosperous in Collin County north of Dallas.
D J. Campbell, the starting right guard is from Arlington
Bowie Cam Williams. The right tackle was from Duncanville. Jan Davis,
one of the tight ends that rotates him Gunner Hilm
(07:58):
is from Everman, Trey Wisner is from Desota, Quinn Ewers
is from South Lake Carrol. So there's several guys from
the Dallas Fort Worth air alone. Bert Auburn is from
flower Man. That's on the on the offensive side, and
then on the defensive side. They got plenty of guys
(08:21):
from the Metroplex as well. Malik Muhammad is from South O'cliff.
That's in that You're gonna hear Sark talk about this,
this southwest Dallas County corridor that features Duncanville, De Soto,
South Oakcliff. There's other good programs there too, Lancaster, Cedar Hill,
There's other programs that are good there. Uh, then you
(08:41):
got Anthony Hills from Denton. Ryan, you have Warren Roberson
is from Red Oak. You have there's somebody else on
the I was trying to think of a thought on
the defensive front. Well though, Jordan Johnson Rebella is from
Fort Worth, but he played it. I amg Academy, you
know the which there's lots of guys. Alex January's from Duncanville.
(09:02):
Colin Simmons is from Duncanville. So there's lots of guys
from the Dallas forward area. Was there a concerted effort
to make the FW recruiting hot bid for this university.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
When we came on board, we just kind of assessed
the rosters of kind of our rivals, and we assessed
the rosters of some of the better SEC teams and
where were they getting their players from. And then we
assessed the roster here and we really felt like we
were we didn't have enough of the marquee players coming
(09:35):
out of the Dallas region. And oddly enough, at that
time when we came on board, we made a huge
emphasis to go do that. But at that time too,
the South Dallas area in particular really had this big
uptick in play, and it just happened to coincide almost simultaneously,
(09:58):
as those programs really star had to grow and go,
we came in and that was like our focus. And
we've been able to get some really good players out
of that region, not just South Dallas but the Dallas
region in general. And but all that being said, we
can't just rely solely on that, right. We have to
(10:18):
spread our wings and we have to do a great
job in Houston, We have to do well in East Texas.
We have to do well in Central Texas. We have
to do well in our surrounding states where we can
where we have a reach into Louisiana, where we can
start to reach now into more of the southern states
with being in the Southeastern Conference, we have to continue
to reach some into California because that's kind of been
(10:39):
my home and so I know a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Of people there.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
And so as much as Dallas had been a focal
point for us, I think it's important that, Yes, but
we still have to spread our wings and get into
the other areas.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
And one more comment from Stark this hour, and it's
about again it goes back to that unselfish play. Roger
Wallace had asked a question about the I'm for this
guy and for that guy, and the DB's all saying,
you know, Jade for Thorpe. They were even said it
on the post game interview with Hey, Jade for Thorpe,
Jade for Thorpe, for the Thorpe Award. And he was
(11:11):
asking about that all for one and one for all things,
but they're all really promoting that, and he was asked,
what does that mean where you've got several guys promoting
one specific guy for the award.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, No, I think it's really neat. Man. I love
that stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
It's like I see Michael Taff wearing a Jade for
Thorpe T shirt, Macouba talking about ja Day and then
Jah Day's wearing a Quinn Yours T shirt, you know,
and I think that just speaks to the team we have,
the culture, we have, the love these guys have for
one another.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
You look at the six sacks, five different guys getting sacks,
and I look at the celebrations with Colin and Baron
Currell or Trey and Alfred Collins and all these different
guys like they're just playing for one another, and then
they love one another and then they want to promote
one another, and like I said, in the end, the
individual accolades come because these guys are playing really well
as a team.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Right now. Yeah, good stuff too.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
All right, we'll hear more from Start coming up next hour,
and some more NFL stuff up next on Sports Radio
AM thirteen under the Zone and the iHeartRadio app.
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