September 29, 2025 • 27 mins
At his weekly Monday news conference, Longhorns head football coach Steve Sarkisian offers insight into the team's preparation for their SEC opener at Florida among other topics.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And the communication, Like I could hear us practicing today
and that's a great sign that we utilize the buy
the right way, that that we were able to get
off our feet for a little bit. You could tell
the guys watch football this weekend. They were they were
like all of us, watching some great games. You know,
you just look around the the SEC this weekend with Bama, Georgia,
(00:23):
Old miss LSU, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Auburn, AL, Auburn A
and m all those games coming down to the very
end in the fourth quarter. And so that's what we've
been talking about in this conference, like you have to
come every week and you have to come with the
right intent, the right energy, the right sense of urgency.
And that's a weekend, week out thing. And so today
(00:45):
was a really good start for us for that.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
UH.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
And so now we've got to we've got to carry
that through throughout the week to get ourselves ready to
go UH to Florida on Saturday. Obviously, a very difficult
place to play, a place that has been known around
the country has one more difficult places to play.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
UH.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
They've been playing great defensive football all year, UH, and
they've got explosive playmakers on the offensive side of the ball,
and you know, they've just been off the mark a
little bit offensively. But it's not for lack of players,
and it's not for lack of scheme. You know, Billy's
a great coach. He's gonna scheme us up. So we've
got to be prepared to go. We've got to be
great on special teams. They've got an elite kicker, uh,
(01:23):
They've got an elite punt returner in Brown. Uh. And
so this is gonna take all three phases, you know,
playing at a high level, and that starts at the
line of scrimmage with the offensive defensive lines. And then
our speed guys need to play fast and so we
we've got our we got our work cutout for us
that way. But but definitely looking forward to the opportunity
and looking forward to kicking off SCC play. You know,
(01:44):
I was kind of shocked. I was sitting there at
the end of the l s U old miss game
and Old misses three and oh and conference play already
and we haven't played a game. Uh, So we've got
a little catch up to do here. So we got
to get going.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Question starting right there, corner, Steve a do you have
an update on Contravion and being outside of leadership, what
does Contravian's in eventual return to the lineup bring that
you guys have been missing the past three weeks.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I think now that we're an SEC play now we're
into the availability reports that we give out on Wednesdays,
which is a great thing. You know, you guys don't
have to waste a question on injuries and I can
put out a report on Wednesday and later in the week.
But he's progressing really well and we've been pleased about
his progress of where he's at. You know, Trey provides
(02:32):
a lot for us, obviously, a great deal of experience.
You know, he's he's played in this league. You know
last year our first year in and he was a
thousand yard rusher force. You know, he provides a great
deal of confidence. He provides a great deal of toughness.
You know, as much as Trey is not the biggest guy, uh,
he plays with a real sense of physicality in his
(02:53):
in his approach to it. And so anytime you get
that experience, especially going on the road and and you
get it during practice, I think it's helpful for all
the other guys. As well, so very similar to DeAndre
getting back into the lineup. I think we get some
of that in the backfield with Trey in the in
the sense of confidence and belief in not only himself
but the guys around him that are going to play
(03:14):
a high level.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Hey, Steve, what did you learn from watching those n
SCC games this weekend?
Speaker 5 (03:20):
And is there a since that there's no clear cut
favorite because every game seems to come down.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
A couple of things stood out to me. I thought
there was a lot of penalties this weekend, if you
want to know the truth, you know, I felt like
the man, there was a lot of penalties. And so
I don't know if we're calling things a little tighter.
I don't know if teams are a little sloppy. I
know what our penalty situation has been this year. So
I'm you know, I'm we're looking inward right for the
first four weeks, and this weekend gave me a chance
to look outward and see what else was going on
(03:47):
around the country. And I think, you know, I haven't
looked at the totality of penalty numbers around the country,
if they're up or down, But the sure felt like
a lot of penalties this weekend, so you know, US
US continuing to try to drive that number down and
play cleaner football I think is important. I think clock
management was something that that stood out to me this
weekend as well, about the value of retaining your timeouts,
(04:12):
of how important they can be at the end of
halves and at the end of games. Even though the
two minute warning is a is a great asset, really
giving you that fourth time out, surely you love to
have them, and so that that goes back to your preparation,
your in game, you know, substitution patterns, whether it's on offense, defense,
or special teams. And I and I think aggressiveness. You know,
(04:32):
you could you could feel the teams that were playing
aggressive in their play calls at critical moments. So all
those were great. You know. I think I just I've
been saying this, you know, I don't think there's not
a game on anybody schedule in our conference where you're
just like, hey, you know what, nobody really needs to
tune into this one because we know what's going to happen.
(04:53):
I think everybody better buckle up every Saturday in our conference.
And we've got we've got eight straight conference games and
it's gonna take a high level of play week in
and week out to perform at a high level because
there just are no gimmes. There just aren't in these
There's too many good players, there's too many tough environments
(05:13):
you have to play in, and there's too good at coaching.
And so, you know, I don't know about favorites or
not right now. I just know I just watched enough
this weekend to where, well, you better be ready to
play or you're gonna be behind fourteen and then you're
scrambling trying to play catch up and it doesn't matter
who you're playing against.
Speaker 6 (05:31):
Thomas, Sorry, I don't know if you took this bye
to kind of step back a little bit and look
at your team from kind of birds out of you,
anything surprise you, you know, positively and negatively, if you
did have that kind of birds eye of you of
the program.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, you know, I think that, you know. One what
I enjoyed was last week's game that we got to
play more players, and I got a little more information
on some guys, and then we got to tap into
those guys throughout the week of really trying to push
them in a direction that I think it can be
helpful for them. You know, we're we're really good when
(06:07):
we play complimentary football when and that's probably the same
for everybody. But I just know looking at us and
that when we get stops, when we create turnovers, when
we take those turnovers and create explosive plays and score points,
that momentum builds for our team. You know, we're we've
been at our best historically around here when we start fast,
when we score first. I think we're like twenty and
(06:29):
one and our last twenty one games when we've scored first,
And so you know part of that is, you know,
there is momentum in football, and there's nothing like momentum.
But you could see the difference in our ability to
start fast a week ago and the energy starts to
spread throughout the team on offense, defense, and special teams.
And so how do we create that right? And how
(06:51):
do we how do we get to a point to
where that is just the normal for this team? Right?
And we can't rely on those past teams but this team,
And so I do think we've got a pretty good
understanding of specific players of things that they do well.
I think we've got a better understanding of an area
of areas on the team where we can excel in
all three phases, but there's been areas where I think
(07:12):
we need to improve upon if we want to become
the team that we think we can become. And I
give our guys a lot of credit. They went for
it last week and they took the challenge on some
areas where we wanted to improve, and they came back
today with a real sense of confidence of things that
we worked on last week. We came out today and
executed at maybe a little higher level than I was anticipating,
(07:34):
which is a good sign that we stayed engaged, we
stayed intentional in our approach, and so you know, we'll see,
Like like I said, this is now, we got to
do it for the next four days after this to
put ourselves in a really good position to play.
Speaker 7 (07:46):
Steve don't of concern is the correct word, But is
there any concern on your part about how your team
is going to handle with a routine or focus this
next four weeks of just not being here and being
on the road three zero games in the neutral side game.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, I hope there's not concern. You know that you
know for me because I think that we've got a
really good formula for success when we go on the road.
You know, we've played very well on the road, you know,
we we've played well away from dk r AS And
I think that part of that is part of the
process that we do. We we we tend not to Hey,
(08:19):
this week, we'll do this. Next week, Let's change it
and do that next week, Let's do this. We we
try to find a routine and a rhythm to what
we do. I think that that, you know, we've created
a culture around here where connectivity is so important. Then
you've got to have connectivity on the road. You just
don't have. You've got one hundred thousand people, you know,
cheering against you, and and you know, ultimately we've played
(08:41):
pretty good. You know, we haven't played perfect, and I
don't know if anybody plays perfect on the road. But
when you're connected and you play well, you can give
yourselves opportunities to find success along the way, and you
can overcome some of the adversity that you're going to
get faced with. So I'm I'm probably more confident than
I'm concerned, But I hope nobody in our buildings can
and they should feel very confident in our in our
(09:02):
formula to get ourselves ready to play on the road.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Evan Hi, coach.
Speaker 8 (09:07):
Were there any underclassmen over the last week, with the
first real break of the season who impressed you with
their maturity, work ethic any of the above? I don't.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I don't. It's more about I don't think any of
them really, you know, disappointed me. I think they all
seize the opportunity. They all they all want to contribute
in some way, shape or form to our success. I
think they also know, hey, I only get to bring
seventy four guys, you know on this trip. You know
that's a that's an SEC rule. And so you know,
(09:36):
we've been traveling upwards to eighty eight to ninety players
even on home games, to the to the team hotel,
and so the idea that I've got to trim that
number by fourteen to sixteen guys, you know, well somebody,
somebody doesn't get to go. And so it's guys trying
to find, you know, their opportunities to make sure that
they're on that plane. And if they're on the plane,
if you're on the plane, you better be prepared to
(09:57):
play and contribute. And so I give give the coaches
and the players a lot of credit for pushing these
young guys. We've got some tough decisions to make of
who's gonna go and who's not. But I'd much rather
that than when I first got here. I couldn't even
get seventy four guys I wanted to bring, you know,
so it was kind of like, well, let's throw them
a bone, and you know, give this guy because we
(10:18):
got to bring about sixty five. So now it's more
difficult and that's okay. And again, just because a guy
may go this week or not go this week, doesn't
mean that he won't the following week. And that's the
part that we've got to keep pushing these guys to
become the best that they can become.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Coach.
Speaker 9 (10:36):
The bye week, was that a good time for Art
to kind of take a step back and for you
guys to kind of regroup or did you want to
kind of continue that momentum from the last game and
what have you seen from this game that you you know,
you like and what are the areas you would like
to improve on?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, I think that you know, naturally, we wanted to
build on coming out of the Sam Houston game because
I thought that he did some really good things for
us in that game, you know, And you know, his
ability to push the ball down the field, his ability
to play within rhythm and timing and get to secondary reads,
(11:12):
his ability to use his legs to his advantage, and
our ability to utilize his legs, I think are important.
You know. I think we've got to continue to push
the second, third and fourth reads, you know. I mean, again,
we try our best as a coaching staff to get
the first read open, and then you know we're getting
(11:33):
when we can't. We've got to have the ability to
get through our progression. And I think the progress that
he made in that last game is going to be
beneficial for him to where not that he doesn't know
where to go with the ball on a second, third,
and fourth reads. I think he's well more than equipped
and nobody, nobody prepares better than Arch. He doesn't have
to feel rushed, he's not late. And the timing and
(11:54):
the rhythm of his drop and the timing and the
rhythm of where people are in spots on the field,
and trusting that to to stay in to stay in
rhythm for himself, I think is something that he can
take from that game. And continue to build.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Upon Hey Steve obviously to really talented and relatively inexperienced quarterbacks.
With Arch and DJ Lagway this weekend, I'm just curious
for when it comes to building up guys like them,
having worked with so many, what are the key internal
components that you try to put in place to help
(12:28):
them success.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna go on a little soapbox here, David.
Then I'm gonna get back to that answer. You know,
I think one thing that came out of this weekend
as well, and I'm looking around the country at the
high profile players. I don't know if any of them
are living up to what everybody said they were supposed
to be. But we're in this era right now of
(12:51):
everybody's got a phone, so everybody's got Twitter, there's nine
thousand podcasts going on. The coverage over college football is
more and more intense than it's ever been, and so
players are getting put up on these pedestals really quickly
in their careers. And I felt like this weekend I
(13:12):
could feel some guys pressing, you know, not so different
maybe than Arch was pressing early on to where they
feel like they have to live up to whether it's
whatever they're allegedly making through nil or because this is
what the media is saying I'm supposed to be or
I'm not being. College football players are getting critiqued and
criticized more now than they ever have in the past
two and so this is a different era that we're in,
(13:34):
and I think that we've got to do a great
job as coaches of I don't want to say shelter,
but we got to protect our guys. And because they're
not pros yet, all right, and the majority of them
probably will be. Of the guys that I'm talking about,
but we've got to do a really good job of
putting them in the right mental space to where they're
still enjoying playing the game of football with their college
(13:54):
football teammates. And so to me, that's what that's the
point to these guys, you know. And and I think
that they got to play for the love of the game.
Because they do love the game, they need to play
football and not work football. And and I think that
that's something we've been working on with Arch and I'm
sure there's a lot of other coaches around the country
(14:15):
that are going through similar things in that in that realm,
you know, you could talk Ryan Wingo very similar like
these as are our guys are finally started to relax, right.
It took four games in to relax and play a
little bit, but I could feel I could feel guys
pressed this weekend as well watching them play, and you know,
I hope for them that they can get through it.
Our game is better when when the good players are
(14:35):
playing really good in the middle.
Speaker 10 (14:37):
Roger Sark, the trip to Columbus? Can that pay dividends
just for the fact that the environment, the hype and
all that, you know, that isn't going to be any
different Saturday, And how can that help your team and
art specifically.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah, I think it can. I think it can definitely
help us. Again, I didn't think as a team we
were overwhelmed in the environment. You know, we had a
I think we had a couple of faalse starts, and
I think there were Brandon Baker might have had two
of them, and it was his first career start, you know,
playing tackle. So I do think our poison composure is
going to be a critical ingredient to the way we
(15:10):
play Saturday. It's gonna be loud, We're gonna be putting
some adverse situations, it might be raining, you know, so
there'll be some things that that will come up in
the game. But I think staying connected and leaning into
one another and not feel like as an individual play
or I'm isolated that I'm there by myselves. You know,
we we've got our we've got our group going with us,
and everybody's got to have each other back and supporting
(15:32):
each other and picking each other up, you know, through
the adversity as it presents itself.
Speaker 11 (15:39):
Coach, one of the things that Quinn seemed really good
at was if you threw a pick, he just let
it go and and that was easy for him. Maybe
not easy, but you know, Arch kind of found that
emotion against Sam Houston what he needs to play with
when he hits adversities or something that tells you he
can still kind of put it behind him and move forward.
Have you seen something that, Yeah, I think I think
(15:59):
part of it is, you know, Arch has got more
emotion in him than Quinn and they're different humans and
that's okay, there's nothing wrong with that. And so sometimes
you know, when you when you throw an interception or
you make a play that that isn't you know, one that.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
You wish you made. It's okay to show a little
emotion then too, like that, that's not the end of
the world. Be some some way, shape or form. You
got to get it out of you, you know. And
Quinn's was his ability was just to kind of let
it flow through. Arch may need to scream a yell
for a second, that's okay too. Like we've seen. We've
seen great competitors for decades that in their own way
(16:36):
celebrate get bit bad plays out, pick up teammates in
their own way. And that's why I think it's important
for Arch to be Arch and not try to be
something that he's not. And so I hope we're not
answering this question how did Arch respond to the pick Saturday?
But if it does, I just want him to respond
naturally whatever naturally comes to him, let it happen, and
(16:59):
then move forward, and I think that that will serve
him best.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Right Coach, Can you talk about DJ Lagway, Texas kid.
He struggled this year more picks than touchdown passes. Texas
didn't se him last year. Just your thoughts on DJ.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Well, he's a very talented player, you know, obviously we
recruited him really hard. Coming out of high school out
of Willis and had a fantastic high school career. You know,
I don't think the agenda was to play him as
a true freshman, right They had a transfer and who
ended up getting injured and DJ steps in. I think
he goes six or seven and one as a true
(17:34):
freshman starting quarterback. High expectations coming back, and probably hasn't
gone the way you know, he coached Napier everybody would
have liked. But what I do know is the competitor
and the talent is still in there, and so we
better be mindful and better be ready to get the
best version of DJ Lagwey. I know the competitive Lagway,
I know the competitor that he is. I know the
(17:57):
coach that Billy is, and they've had they've been scheming
people up. They just maybe haven't been hitting them here
the first few games. But they're gonna they're gonna attack us,
and they're gonna attack us down the field multiple shifts
and motions and things, and so we've got to do
a great job stopping the run. But what we better
be we better be cautious and aware of them throwing
the ball down the field.
Speaker 6 (18:18):
Steve won yourself scout, and I know you'll do.
Speaker 8 (18:21):
I don't know if you discard much that you've seen
the first four games, and if you held back a
whole lot for.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
It SEC game, you know, I don't know if we
discard you know, I think I think naturally we've seen
a lot of different things through four games, which to
me has been a really good thing, you know, because
it's it's really challenged us to trust our training, whether
it's at the line of scrimmage, whether it's our progressions
(18:47):
at quarterback, whether it's aligning to formations on defense. You know,
we've seen a lot of just a variety of things,
and so that part's been good. I don't know necessarily
that we held back. I think that we have laid
a solid foundation in all three phases to build upon
for SCC play. And you know, it's not it's like
(19:09):
when we go to practice day one a training camp.
You know, we lay a foundation to build on throughout
training camp and we just don't come out and line
up in empty formations and run reverses and things that
we've got to teach the foundation of the offense, defense
or special teams. I think that's kind of part of
how a season goes, especially let's say on the offensive
(19:30):
side of the ball, where we were a younger team
on offense, we had to make sure that we built
a foundation. We had to go through growing pains so
that we could do the things that I knew we
needed to do as the season went on. And so
you know, hopefully we can put a you know, the
game plan that we've devised for this week is one
that is sound but also allows us to create some
(19:54):
explosive plays and move the chains and put the ball
on the end zone. And that would be no different
than on defense or on special teams. Terry, Terry, Terry,
I feel like that was a shot, Terry from from Bianco.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I take it. Thank you. Coach. You've said over and
over the year, throughout the years that you and your
staff always try to put the players in the best
possible situation to excel right to succeed in you know, Saturday,
where all eyes are going to be on Arch and
how he moves the chains and gets down the field.
(20:31):
But what other players have you woven into your game
plan that we better make sure we pay attention to
these players.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
The other ten guys out there with them, you know,
I mean, and I'm saying that not to not to
I'm saying that really because this is the ultimate team sport,
and it takes all eleven every play to execute and
to do the things that we want to do, especially
on the offensive side of the ball. You know, on defense,
(20:58):
a guy can make a mistake, a corner can get
beat on a on a double move, but you get
a great pass rush by your three technique. You're a
defensive end. You sacked the quarterback. Nobody really sees if
the corner got beat, and vice versa. On offense, man,
when a guy runs the wrong route, the quarterback holds
the ball, then he gets sacked. We think about what's
wrong with the quarterback and what's wrong with the offensive line,
(21:20):
or the receivers run a great route and the quarterback
wants to throw it really good. The right guard gets beat,
the quarterback gets sacked, and everyone's like, oh, he was
wide open. But everything has to tie it together. And
I think that's what we all need to understand, that
it takes all eleven every play. It takes It takes execution,
and it takes you know, execution in the details. You know,
(21:42):
we tell the players all the time excellence lies in
the details. And so now that we've laid the foundation,
now we got to be really detailed and why we're
calling what we're calling, what we're trying to attack. Right,
if it's not that look that we're trying to attack,
what are the auxiliary Wise, where can the ball go?
How are we going to block this front? So on
and so forth, And so it takes all eleven to
(22:04):
play that way, to play with the level of consistency
that we want to play with. You know, we don't
want to play one plays great, the next play is bad.
One plays great, the next play bad. I'd like to
play with a real level of consistency and then over
time you'll find those explosive plays. And Arch is no different.
He falls in that same category. His level of consistency
(22:25):
has got to be in an all time high over
the next eight weeks or so. But that's for the
other ten guys around him as well.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, coach, looking at the Florida sac numbers, they don't
jump off the page. But what have you seen on
tape that might pose as a challenger some wrinkles that
you know, Florida might bring this up.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, you know, they're excellent defensive front and Sap is
a heck of a player and had a great year
last year. They've got a really good depth on their
front and they're big, you know, they're they're they are
not the most you know, play on an edge penetrating defense.
They too gap you, and they do that intentionally because
he likes to play. They play with a lot of
split safety looks and they're a veteran secondary and so
(23:04):
they can make things really muddy in the secondary. They
can force a quarterback to hold the ball and then
that's where the pressure can get there. And so you know,
the key to the drill is we got to maintain
the line of scrimmage. We got to run the ball well,
and then if we can get them out of some
of that too high shell look where they're doubling receivers
and doing things. Because you know, ray a ton of
(23:26):
respect for Ron Roberts, their defensive coordinator. He's been doing
a long time at a really high level. And so
they're not built necessarily to always just sack the quarterback.
They're built to really guard your receivers and then make
the pocket feel small on the quarterback. And so you know,
hopefully we can get him out of some of that stuff.
We'll see how that goes, and then try to attack
(23:47):
them as best we can, you know, and and find
some opportunities for some one on ones down the field.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Go time for two last ones the cameras.
Speaker 8 (23:54):
Yeah, coach, I just want to go back to that
college quarterback expectations conversation. I know before the season started,
you want. A couple of other coaches tried to some
of those expectations on national networks, talking about how it
is about the team, just like how you answered Terry's question.
Is it frustrating as a coach to have done that
and still see so many people still putting in much expectations.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I wouldn't say it's frustrating, Like I have a I
have a ton of respect for the media and and
y'all and everybody outside of this room have a job
to do too, And y'all are part of why college
football's popularity is so much of what it is. Without y'all,
it wouldn't be as popular as it is today. And so,
but I think it's educating our players on how to
(24:37):
deal with what everybody has to say about them and
and focus on what they need to do. Behind the
scenes rather than playing based on the opinions of others.
And that's a thing as a young person, you know,
and it's a lot easier when you're professionals and and
they they've been through the fires. And you know, we're
fortunate here at Texas. You know, we have a we
(24:57):
have a you know, NFL market that covers us. We're
the largest city in the US that doesn't have an
NFL team or an NBA team or Major League Baseball team,
but we're covered like one. And so understanding that that
what the coverage is going to feel like, but still
focus on what you need to do and not get
swayed by the opinions of others. I think is a
(25:18):
great lesson learned and we will benefit from that, arch
will we all will that down the road. That's going
to serve as something that I'm glad I went through
that because I've learned from that. Now I can be
even better for it. But it's just a different age,
you know, it's a different time. And as much as
college football has evolved, the coverage of college football has evolved,
(25:39):
the constructive criticism has risen. You know, all those things
have changed different than they were five, ten, fifteen, twenty
years ago. It's different today, and so we have to
evolve with the times and with the changing times, and
we've got to do a better job as coaches. I'll
say that I have to do a better job with
our players of understanding the coverage of our sport. It's
(26:02):
just it's just evolved. But so is the game, and
so as revenue sharing and nil and all the other
things that have changed. The conference realignment, the college football
playoffs been a ton of change, and that's just part
of it. And we've got to continue to do a
great job of helping our players get through.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
That last one on the leftover coach earlier, you said
Arch just it's important for him to be Arch. Is
that something you have to continue to stress him or
is it something he has to figure out on his own.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
No, I think that's that's why they call us coach,
you know, and and that my job is to is
to help him understand that. You know. I saw a
great version of him last week. I saw a better
version of him today. Again, there's nothing wrong with with reminders, right,
We would all like reminders of where we're at, not
(26:47):
only physically but mentally, and so We try to do
those things, but I also don't want him so consumed
with himself, right, I'm trying to get him more consumed
with his teammates and the scheme, H and everybody around him,
and not worry so much about himself. He's fine, and
he's going to play at a high level, and you know,
(27:07):
we've got a lot of faith in him. We put
a lot on him to to do that. But he
also needs to understand he needs these other ten guys
with him every snap to perform the way he wants
to perform.
And the communication, Like I could hear us practicing today
and that's a great sign that we utilize the buy
the right way, that that we were able to get
off our feet for a little bit. You could tell
the guys watch football this weekend. They were they were
like all of us, watching some great games. You know,
you just look around the the SEC this weekend with Bama, Georgia,
(00:23):
Old miss LSU, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Auburn, AL, Auburn A
and m all those games coming down to the very
end in the fourth quarter. And so that's what we've
been talking about in this conference, like you have to
come every week and you have to come with the
right intent, the right energy, the right sense of urgency.
And that's a weekend, week out thing. And so today
(00:45):
was a really good start for us for that.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
UH.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
And so now we've got to we've got to carry
that through throughout the week to get ourselves ready to
go UH to Florida on Saturday. Obviously, a very difficult
place to play, a place that has been known around
the country has one more difficult places to play.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
UH.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
They've been playing great defensive football all year, UH, and
they've got explosive playmakers on the offensive side of the ball,
and you know, they've just been off the mark a
little bit offensively. But it's not for lack of players,
and it's not for lack of scheme. You know, Billy's
a great coach. He's gonna scheme us up. So we've
got to be prepared to go. We've got to be
great on special teams. They've got an elite kicker, uh,
(01:23):
They've got an elite punt returner in Brown. Uh. And
so this is gonna take all three phases, you know,
playing at a high level, and that starts at the
line of scrimmage with the offensive defensive lines. And then
our speed guys need to play fast and so we
we've got our we got our work cutout for us
that way. But but definitely looking forward to the opportunity
and looking forward to kicking off SCC play. You know,
(01:44):
I was kind of shocked. I was sitting there at
the end of the l s U old miss game
and Old misses three and oh and conference play already
and we haven't played a game. Uh, So we've got
a little catch up to do here. So we got
to get going.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Question starting right there, corner, Steve a do you have
an update on Contravion and being outside of leadership, what
does Contravian's in eventual return to the lineup bring that
you guys have been missing the past three weeks.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I think now that we're an SEC play now we're
into the availability reports that we give out on Wednesdays,
which is a great thing. You know, you guys don't
have to waste a question on injuries and I can
put out a report on Wednesday and later in the week.
But he's progressing really well and we've been pleased about
his progress of where he's at. You know, Trey provides
(02:32):
a lot for us, obviously, a great deal of experience.
You know, he's he's played in this league. You know
last year our first year in and he was a
thousand yard rusher force. You know, he provides a great
deal of confidence. He provides a great deal of toughness.
You know, as much as Trey is not the biggest guy, uh,
he plays with a real sense of physicality in his
(02:53):
in his approach to it. And so anytime you get
that experience, especially going on the road and and you
get it during practice, I think it's helpful for all
the other guys. As well, so very similar to DeAndre
getting back into the lineup. I think we get some
of that in the backfield with Trey in the in
the sense of confidence and belief in not only himself
but the guys around him that are going to play
(03:14):
a high level.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Hey, Steve, what did you learn from watching those n
SCC games this weekend?
Speaker 5 (03:20):
And is there a since that there's no clear cut
favorite because every game seems to come down.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
A couple of things stood out to me. I thought
there was a lot of penalties this weekend, if you
want to know the truth, you know, I felt like
the man, there was a lot of penalties. And so
I don't know if we're calling things a little tighter.
I don't know if teams are a little sloppy. I
know what our penalty situation has been this year. So
I'm you know, I'm we're looking inward right for the
first four weeks, and this weekend gave me a chance
to look outward and see what else was going on
(03:47):
around the country. And I think, you know, I haven't
looked at the totality of penalty numbers around the country,
if they're up or down, But the sure felt like
a lot of penalties this weekend, so you know, US
US continuing to try to drive that number down and
play cleaner football I think is important. I think clock
management was something that that stood out to me this
weekend as well, about the value of retaining your timeouts,
(04:12):
of how important they can be at the end of
halves and at the end of games. Even though the
two minute warning is a is a great asset, really
giving you that fourth time out, surely you love to
have them, and so that that goes back to your preparation,
your in game, you know, substitution patterns, whether it's on offense, defense,
or special teams. And I and I think aggressiveness. You know,
(04:32):
you could you could feel the teams that were playing
aggressive in their play calls at critical moments. So all
those were great. You know. I think I just I've
been saying this, you know, I don't think there's not
a game on anybody schedule in our conference where you're
just like, hey, you know what, nobody really needs to
tune into this one because we know what's going to happen.
(04:53):
I think everybody better buckle up every Saturday in our conference.
And we've got we've got eight straight conference games and
it's gonna take a high level of play week in
and week out to perform at a high level because
there just are no gimmes. There just aren't in these
There's too many good players, there's too many tough environments
(05:13):
you have to play in, and there's too good at coaching.
And so, you know, I don't know about favorites or
not right now. I just know I just watched enough
this weekend to where, well, you better be ready to
play or you're gonna be behind fourteen and then you're
scrambling trying to play catch up and it doesn't matter
who you're playing against.
Speaker 6 (05:31):
Thomas, Sorry, I don't know if you took this bye
to kind of step back a little bit and look
at your team from kind of birds out of you,
anything surprise you, you know, positively and negatively, if you
did have that kind of birds eye of you of
the program.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, you know, I think that, you know. One what
I enjoyed was last week's game that we got to
play more players, and I got a little more information
on some guys, and then we got to tap into
those guys throughout the week of really trying to push
them in a direction that I think it can be
helpful for them. You know, we're we're really good when
(06:07):
we play complimentary football when and that's probably the same
for everybody. But I just know looking at us and
that when we get stops, when we create turnovers, when
we take those turnovers and create explosive plays and score points,
that momentum builds for our team. You know, we're we've
been at our best historically around here when we start fast,
when we score first. I think we're like twenty and
(06:29):
one and our last twenty one games when we've scored first,
And so you know part of that is, you know,
there is momentum in football, and there's nothing like momentum.
But you could see the difference in our ability to
start fast a week ago and the energy starts to
spread throughout the team on offense, defense, and special teams.
And so how do we create that right? And how
(06:51):
do we how do we get to a point to
where that is just the normal for this team? Right?
And we can't rely on those past teams but this team,
And so I do think we've got a pretty good
understanding of specific players of things that they do well.
I think we've got a better understanding of an area
of areas on the team where we can excel in
all three phases, but there's been areas where I think
(07:12):
we need to improve upon if we want to become
the team that we think we can become. And I
give our guys a lot of credit. They went for
it last week and they took the challenge on some
areas where we wanted to improve, and they came back
today with a real sense of confidence of things that
we worked on last week. We came out today and
executed at maybe a little higher level than I was anticipating,
(07:34):
which is a good sign that we stayed engaged, we
stayed intentional in our approach, and so you know, we'll see,
Like like I said, this is now, we got to
do it for the next four days after this to
put ourselves in a really good position to play.
Speaker 7 (07:46):
Steve don't of concern is the correct word, But is
there any concern on your part about how your team
is going to handle with a routine or focus this
next four weeks of just not being here and being
on the road three zero games in the neutral side game.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, I hope there's not concern. You know that you
know for me because I think that we've got a
really good formula for success when we go on the road.
You know, we've played very well on the road, you know,
we we've played well away from dk r AS And
I think that part of that is part of the
process that we do. We we we tend not to Hey,
(08:19):
this week, we'll do this. Next week, Let's change it
and do that next week, Let's do this. We we
try to find a routine and a rhythm to what
we do. I think that that, you know, we've created
a culture around here where connectivity is so important. Then
you've got to have connectivity on the road. You just
don't have. You've got one hundred thousand people, you know,
cheering against you, and and you know, ultimately we've played
(08:41):
pretty good. You know, we haven't played perfect, and I
don't know if anybody plays perfect on the road. But
when you're connected and you play well, you can give
yourselves opportunities to find success along the way, and you
can overcome some of the adversity that you're going to
get faced with. So I'm I'm probably more confident than
I'm concerned, But I hope nobody in our buildings can
and they should feel very confident in our in our
(09:02):
formula to get ourselves ready to play on the road.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Evan Hi, coach.
Speaker 8 (09:07):
Were there any underclassmen over the last week, with the
first real break of the season who impressed you with
their maturity, work ethic any of the above? I don't.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I don't. It's more about I don't think any of
them really, you know, disappointed me. I think they all
seize the opportunity. They all they all want to contribute
in some way, shape or form to our success. I
think they also know, hey, I only get to bring
seventy four guys, you know on this trip. You know
that's a that's an SEC rule. And so you know,
(09:36):
we've been traveling upwards to eighty eight to ninety players
even on home games, to the to the team hotel,
and so the idea that I've got to trim that
number by fourteen to sixteen guys, you know, well somebody,
somebody doesn't get to go. And so it's guys trying
to find, you know, their opportunities to make sure that
they're on that plane. And if they're on the plane,
if you're on the plane, you better be prepared to
(09:57):
play and contribute. And so I give give the coaches
and the players a lot of credit for pushing these
young guys. We've got some tough decisions to make of
who's gonna go and who's not. But I'd much rather
that than when I first got here. I couldn't even
get seventy four guys I wanted to bring, you know,
so it was kind of like, well, let's throw them
a bone, and you know, give this guy because we
(10:18):
got to bring about sixty five. So now it's more
difficult and that's okay. And again, just because a guy
may go this week or not go this week, doesn't
mean that he won't the following week. And that's the
part that we've got to keep pushing these guys to
become the best that they can become.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Coach.
Speaker 9 (10:36):
The bye week, was that a good time for Art
to kind of take a step back and for you
guys to kind of regroup or did you want to
kind of continue that momentum from the last game and
what have you seen from this game that you you know,
you like and what are the areas you would like
to improve on?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, I think that you know, naturally, we wanted to
build on coming out of the Sam Houston game because
I thought that he did some really good things for
us in that game, you know, And you know, his
ability to push the ball down the field, his ability
to play within rhythm and timing and get to secondary reads,
(11:12):
his ability to use his legs to his advantage, and
our ability to utilize his legs, I think are important.
You know. I think we've got to continue to push
the second, third and fourth reads, you know. I mean, again,
we try our best as a coaching staff to get
the first read open, and then you know we're getting
(11:33):
when we can't. We've got to have the ability to
get through our progression. And I think the progress that
he made in that last game is going to be
beneficial for him to where not that he doesn't know
where to go with the ball on a second, third,
and fourth reads. I think he's well more than equipped
and nobody, nobody prepares better than Arch. He doesn't have
to feel rushed, he's not late. And the timing and
(11:54):
the rhythm of his drop and the timing and the
rhythm of where people are in spots on the field,
and trusting that to to stay in to stay in
rhythm for himself, I think is something that he can
take from that game. And continue to build.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Upon Hey Steve obviously to really talented and relatively inexperienced quarterbacks.
With Arch and DJ Lagway this weekend, I'm just curious
for when it comes to building up guys like them,
having worked with so many, what are the key internal
components that you try to put in place to help
(12:28):
them success.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna go on a little soapbox here, David.
Then I'm gonna get back to that answer. You know,
I think one thing that came out of this weekend
as well, and I'm looking around the country at the
high profile players. I don't know if any of them
are living up to what everybody said they were supposed
to be. But we're in this era right now of
(12:51):
everybody's got a phone, so everybody's got Twitter, there's nine
thousand podcasts going on. The coverage over college football is
more and more intense than it's ever been, and so
players are getting put up on these pedestals really quickly
in their careers. And I felt like this weekend I
(13:12):
could feel some guys pressing, you know, not so different
maybe than Arch was pressing early on to where they
feel like they have to live up to whether it's
whatever they're allegedly making through nil or because this is
what the media is saying I'm supposed to be or
I'm not being. College football players are getting critiqued and
criticized more now than they ever have in the past
two and so this is a different era that we're in,
(13:34):
and I think that we've got to do a great
job as coaches of I don't want to say shelter,
but we got to protect our guys. And because they're
not pros yet, all right, and the majority of them
probably will be. Of the guys that I'm talking about,
but we've got to do a really good job of
putting them in the right mental space to where they're
still enjoying playing the game of football with their college
(13:54):
football teammates. And so to me, that's what that's the
point to these guys, you know. And and I think
that they got to play for the love of the game.
Because they do love the game, they need to play
football and not work football. And and I think that
that's something we've been working on with Arch and I'm
sure there's a lot of other coaches around the country
(14:15):
that are going through similar things in that in that realm,
you know, you could talk Ryan Wingo very similar like
these as are our guys are finally started to relax, right.
It took four games in to relax and play a
little bit, but I could feel I could feel guys
pressed this weekend as well watching them play, and you know,
I hope for them that they can get through it.
Our game is better when when the good players are
(14:35):
playing really good in the middle.
Speaker 10 (14:37):
Roger Sark, the trip to Columbus? Can that pay dividends
just for the fact that the environment, the hype and
all that, you know, that isn't going to be any
different Saturday, And how can that help your team and
art specifically.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah, I think it can. I think it can definitely
help us. Again, I didn't think as a team we
were overwhelmed in the environment. You know, we had a
I think we had a couple of faalse starts, and
I think there were Brandon Baker might have had two
of them, and it was his first career start, you know,
playing tackle. So I do think our poison composure is
going to be a critical ingredient to the way we
(15:10):
play Saturday. It's gonna be loud, We're gonna be putting
some adverse situations, it might be raining, you know, so
there'll be some things that that will come up in
the game. But I think staying connected and leaning into
one another and not feel like as an individual play
or I'm isolated that I'm there by myselves. You know,
we we've got our we've got our group going with us,
and everybody's got to have each other back and supporting
(15:32):
each other and picking each other up, you know, through
the adversity as it presents itself.
Speaker 11 (15:39):
Coach, one of the things that Quinn seemed really good
at was if you threw a pick, he just let
it go and and that was easy for him. Maybe
not easy, but you know, Arch kind of found that
emotion against Sam Houston what he needs to play with
when he hits adversities or something that tells you he
can still kind of put it behind him and move forward.
Have you seen something that, Yeah, I think I think
(15:59):
part of it is, you know, Arch has got more
emotion in him than Quinn and they're different humans and
that's okay, there's nothing wrong with that. And so sometimes
you know, when you when you throw an interception or
you make a play that that isn't you know, one that.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
You wish you made. It's okay to show a little
emotion then too, like that, that's not the end of
the world. Be some some way, shape or form. You
got to get it out of you, you know. And
Quinn's was his ability was just to kind of let
it flow through. Arch may need to scream a yell
for a second, that's okay too. Like we've seen. We've
seen great competitors for decades that in their own way
(16:36):
celebrate get bit bad plays out, pick up teammates in
their own way. And that's why I think it's important
for Arch to be Arch and not try to be
something that he's not. And so I hope we're not
answering this question how did Arch respond to the pick Saturday?
But if it does, I just want him to respond
naturally whatever naturally comes to him, let it happen, and
(16:59):
then move forward, and I think that that will serve
him best.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Right Coach, Can you talk about DJ Lagway, Texas kid.
He struggled this year more picks than touchdown passes. Texas
didn't se him last year. Just your thoughts on DJ.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Well, he's a very talented player, you know, obviously we
recruited him really hard. Coming out of high school out
of Willis and had a fantastic high school career. You know,
I don't think the agenda was to play him as
a true freshman, right They had a transfer and who
ended up getting injured and DJ steps in. I think
he goes six or seven and one as a true
(17:34):
freshman starting quarterback. High expectations coming back, and probably hasn't
gone the way you know, he coached Napier everybody would
have liked. But what I do know is the competitor
and the talent is still in there, and so we
better be mindful and better be ready to get the
best version of DJ Lagwey. I know the competitive Lagway,
I know the competitor that he is. I know the
(17:57):
coach that Billy is, and they've had they've been scheming
people up. They just maybe haven't been hitting them here
the first few games. But they're gonna they're gonna attack us,
and they're gonna attack us down the field multiple shifts
and motions and things, and so we've got to do
a great job stopping the run. But what we better
be we better be cautious and aware of them throwing
the ball down the field.
Speaker 6 (18:18):
Steve won yourself scout, and I know you'll do.
Speaker 8 (18:21):
I don't know if you discard much that you've seen
the first four games, and if you held back a
whole lot for.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
It SEC game, you know, I don't know if we
discard you know, I think I think naturally we've seen
a lot of different things through four games, which to
me has been a really good thing, you know, because
it's it's really challenged us to trust our training, whether
it's at the line of scrimmage, whether it's our progressions
(18:47):
at quarterback, whether it's aligning to formations on defense. You know,
we've seen a lot of just a variety of things,
and so that part's been good. I don't know necessarily
that we held back. I think that we have laid
a solid foundation in all three phases to build upon
for SCC play. And you know, it's not it's like
(19:09):
when we go to practice day one a training camp.
You know, we lay a foundation to build on throughout
training camp and we just don't come out and line
up in empty formations and run reverses and things that
we've got to teach the foundation of the offense, defense
or special teams. I think that's kind of part of
how a season goes, especially let's say on the offensive
(19:30):
side of the ball, where we were a younger team
on offense, we had to make sure that we built
a foundation. We had to go through growing pains so
that we could do the things that I knew we
needed to do as the season went on. And so
you know, hopefully we can put a you know, the
game plan that we've devised for this week is one
that is sound but also allows us to create some
(19:54):
explosive plays and move the chains and put the ball
on the end zone. And that would be no different
than on defense or on special teams. Terry, Terry, Terry,
I feel like that was a shot, Terry from from Bianco.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I take it. Thank you. Coach. You've said over and
over the year, throughout the years that you and your
staff always try to put the players in the best
possible situation to excel right to succeed in you know, Saturday,
where all eyes are going to be on Arch and
how he moves the chains and gets down the field.
(20:31):
But what other players have you woven into your game
plan that we better make sure we pay attention to
these players.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
The other ten guys out there with them, you know,
I mean, and I'm saying that not to not to
I'm saying that really because this is the ultimate team sport,
and it takes all eleven every play to execute and
to do the things that we want to do, especially
on the offensive side of the ball. You know, on defense,
(20:58):
a guy can make a mistake, a corner can get
beat on a on a double move, but you get
a great pass rush by your three technique. You're a
defensive end. You sacked the quarterback. Nobody really sees if
the corner got beat, and vice versa. On offense, man,
when a guy runs the wrong route, the quarterback holds
the ball, then he gets sacked. We think about what's
wrong with the quarterback and what's wrong with the offensive line,
(21:20):
or the receivers run a great route and the quarterback
wants to throw it really good. The right guard gets beat,
the quarterback gets sacked, and everyone's like, oh, he was
wide open. But everything has to tie it together. And
I think that's what we all need to understand, that
it takes all eleven every play. It takes It takes execution,
and it takes you know, execution in the details. You know,
(21:42):
we tell the players all the time excellence lies in
the details. And so now that we've laid the foundation,
now we got to be really detailed and why we're
calling what we're calling, what we're trying to attack. Right,
if it's not that look that we're trying to attack,
what are the auxiliary Wise, where can the ball go?
How are we going to block this front? So on
and so forth, And so it takes all eleven to
(22:04):
play that way, to play with the level of consistency
that we want to play with. You know, we don't
want to play one plays great, the next play is bad.
One plays great, the next play bad. I'd like to
play with a real level of consistency and then over
time you'll find those explosive plays. And Arch is no different.
He falls in that same category. His level of consistency
(22:25):
has got to be in an all time high over
the next eight weeks or so. But that's for the
other ten guys around him as well.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, coach, looking at the Florida sac numbers, they don't
jump off the page. But what have you seen on
tape that might pose as a challenger some wrinkles that
you know, Florida might bring this up.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, you know, they're excellent defensive front and Sap is
a heck of a player and had a great year
last year. They've got a really good depth on their
front and they're big, you know, they're they're they are
not the most you know, play on an edge penetrating defense.
They too gap you, and they do that intentionally because
he likes to play. They play with a lot of
split safety looks and they're a veteran secondary and so
(23:04):
they can make things really muddy in the secondary. They
can force a quarterback to hold the ball and then
that's where the pressure can get there. And so you know,
the key to the drill is we got to maintain
the line of scrimmage. We got to run the ball well,
and then if we can get them out of some
of that too high shell look where they're doubling receivers
and doing things. Because you know, ray a ton of
(23:26):
respect for Ron Roberts, their defensive coordinator. He's been doing
a long time at a really high level. And so
they're not built necessarily to always just sack the quarterback.
They're built to really guard your receivers and then make
the pocket feel small on the quarterback. And so you know,
hopefully we can get him out of some of that stuff.
We'll see how that goes, and then try to attack
(23:47):
them as best we can, you know, and and find
some opportunities for some one on ones down the field.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Go time for two last ones the cameras.
Speaker 8 (23:54):
Yeah, coach, I just want to go back to that
college quarterback expectations conversation. I know before the season started,
you want. A couple of other coaches tried to some
of those expectations on national networks, talking about how it
is about the team, just like how you answered Terry's question.
Is it frustrating as a coach to have done that
and still see so many people still putting in much expectations.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I wouldn't say it's frustrating, Like I have a I
have a ton of respect for the media and and
y'all and everybody outside of this room have a job
to do too, And y'all are part of why college
football's popularity is so much of what it is. Without y'all,
it wouldn't be as popular as it is today. And so,
but I think it's educating our players on how to
(24:37):
deal with what everybody has to say about them and
and focus on what they need to do. Behind the
scenes rather than playing based on the opinions of others.
And that's a thing as a young person, you know,
and it's a lot easier when you're professionals and and
they they've been through the fires. And you know, we're
fortunate here at Texas. You know, we have a we
(24:57):
have a you know, NFL market that covers us. We're
the largest city in the US that doesn't have an
NFL team or an NBA team or Major League Baseball team,
but we're covered like one. And so understanding that that
what the coverage is going to feel like, but still
focus on what you need to do and not get
swayed by the opinions of others. I think is a
(25:18):
great lesson learned and we will benefit from that, arch
will we all will that down the road. That's going
to serve as something that I'm glad I went through
that because I've learned from that. Now I can be
even better for it. But it's just a different age,
you know, it's a different time. And as much as
college football has evolved, the coverage of college football has evolved,
(25:39):
the constructive criticism has risen. You know, all those things
have changed different than they were five, ten, fifteen, twenty
years ago. It's different today, and so we have to
evolve with the times and with the changing times, and
we've got to do a better job as coaches. I'll
say that I have to do a better job with
our players of understanding the coverage of our sport. It's
(26:02):
just it's just evolved. But so is the game, and
so as revenue sharing and nil and all the other
things that have changed. The conference realignment, the college football
playoffs been a ton of change, and that's just part
of it. And we've got to continue to do a
great job of helping our players get through.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
That last one on the leftover coach earlier, you said
Arch just it's important for him to be Arch. Is
that something you have to continue to stress him or
is it something he has to figure out on his own.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
No, I think that's that's why they call us coach,
you know, and and that my job is to is
to help him understand that. You know. I saw a
great version of him last week. I saw a better
version of him today. Again, there's nothing wrong with with reminders, right,
We would all like reminders of where we're at, not
(26:47):
only physically but mentally, and so We try to do
those things, but I also don't want him so consumed
with himself, right, I'm trying to get him more consumed
with his teammates and the scheme, H and everybody around him,
and not worry so much about himself. He's fine, and
he's going to play at a high level, and you know,
(27:07):
we've got a lot of faith in him. We put
a lot on him to to do that. But he
also needs to understand he needs these other ten guys
with him every snap to perform the way he wants
to perform.
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