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October 23, 2023 • 26 mins
Coach Sark provides an update on QB 1 Quinn Ewers and takes questions from the media at the begning of the BYU gam-week.
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(00:02):
Coming to you live from the fortyAcres. It's the Texas Football Weekly Presser
with head coach Steve Sarkisian. Alrighty. You know, I think the first

(00:23):
thing when I when I go backand watch the tape of the game was
something I've been kind of leaning onsince camp, that is showing up we
got a really versatile football team,and that that the idea that that we
can win games a lot of differentways. And you know that the fact
that we're not one dimensional, thatwhen if that one thing doesn't work,

(00:45):
what do you do next, whetherthat's offense, defense, special teams.
And I thought this game, UHdefinitely showed that our versatility. I thought
she really shined through. Thought thatthis our culture shined through in this game
too, that the the together ofthe team, uh, the ability to
to keep their poise and composures showedup one specific instance, but I think

(01:07):
overall, I think the perseverance,the mental toughness, all those things we
touched on after the game, UHdefinitely showed up. And I think the
things that we emphasized in the byeweek showed up. I thought, obviously
red zone offense was critical, andI thought we we executed well, there
thought our ability to create turnovers,we've been harping on it, and how
how big were those two turnovers theJalen ford uh sack fumble, the interception

(01:30):
by taff and the end zone We'rebig. So to win the turnover margin
two to nothing after not had takencare of it great the week before was
really big. And then our returngame just two massive kick returns by by
Keelan Robinson and really done, reallywell done by that unit was big,
and I thought we were close ona couple of punt returns. So I
think that aspect of the game isstarting to grow and and get better for

(01:53):
us, So that that was reallypositive. I think. You know,
from an injury standpoint, you know, Quinn Uh and Ethan Burke will both
be weak to week UH at thispoint, you know, you never we
never really know exactly how bodies respondto injury, and so we're just gonna
have to monitor these guys on aweekly basis. Uh. Obviously, we're

(02:15):
gonna do everything in our power toget both those guys back sooner rather than
later, so we'll see how thatgoes. And obviously Cataloan's kind of in
that same in that same breath.Okay, So those are the three guys
there. Everybody else is uh hasbeen really good and but but the point
to all that is just like movingforward. In that game, guys had

(02:35):
to step up. You know,Malik had to come in in that game.
I thought he showed great poise andcomposure. I know it became kind
of a running game right there,but you know, to handle that situation
on the road. UH. Iwas really impressed with him. Obviously,
John A coming off the bench therein the second half, he stepped up.
UH, Saveon Red stepped up andhis role Jamon Tap had to step
in when Ethan went down and andJet went down. So that that's the

(03:00):
beauty of this team. That's thebeauty of haveing depth. That's the beauty
of having the ability to the nextguy to step in and fill those shoes
and to play good football. Sothat's a real positive force there. I
think one of the keys for usis that we get some of the issues
fixed coming out of the game.And I think that again our coaches will

(03:21):
will do that. I think that'sa credit to our players. You know,
in the team meeting this morning andtheir position meetings, they were dialed
in. They want to make surethat some of the issues that we had
do get rectified so that we playbetter football. Nobody wants to play better
than they do, and so Ithink that's a credit to them that they'll
do that. And I think oneof the keys for us and moving forward
is keeping the focus on us.And you know, I've said this early

(03:44):
on and I mean this, andI said the same thing to the team.
The opinions of others really don't matter. What we do does, and
I think that that's extremely important aswe go on to this stretch here in
the second half of the season whereevery game is a big twelve championship game.
You know, our ability to stayfocused on us and what we need

(04:05):
to do to play good football tokeep stacking wins is of the utmost importance.
Opinions really don't matter. You know, we we control we can control,
and I think our players understand that, and so I was really proud
of them. I want to thankLonghorn Nation for showing up in Houston.
Was an awesome turnout Saturday. Seeingthe burn Orange in the stands again on

(04:27):
the road was huge. But wecan't be more excited to come back home.
You know, we haven't been athome in about a month now,
and we're playing a really good bYU football team five and two. Obviously
my alma mater, I know alot of those coaches. Well, you
know, Kalanie Sataki and I we'reteammates back in the day, and I
can't believe he's in year eight andhe's doing a heck of a job.
Aaron Roderick, their offensive coordinator,was was a receiver of mine when I

(04:50):
was there. Uh So, theseguys are really good coaches. They've got
really good schemes, They've got aveteran football team, and they play extremely
hard. They're tough nos, hardnos. They play the game with a
real mentality, real effort. Firstteam. I think the ball is going
to be critical Saturday. I thinkthey've created fifteen turnovers on defense, and

(05:10):
I think if you just watched theTech game, you want to talk about
the deciding factor in the game wastheir ability to create five turnovers and what
it meant in that game. Definitelygot a veteran quarterback in Slovas, got
a multitude of tight ends that theylike to use. So you know,
we got to work cut out forus. But looking forward to the opportunity

(05:30):
to get back to dk R andplaying in front of our fans in a
heck of a ball game. Heartof that coach. One of the top
three things that Malik brings to theoffense as a starting quarterback in your mind,
well, he's a definitely Mileak's anatural passer. When you when he
throws the ball, it was avery beautiful, beautiful ball, and I

(05:54):
think there's not a throw that thathe can't make. I think he's got
really good leadership qualities. I thinkthe guys, you know, I like
playing with Malik, and then that'sa positive as a quarterback. You know,
uh inevitably, you know, asa quarterback, you're only as good
as the guys around you, andand those guys, when guys play good
around you, that makes your joba lot easier. And I think that

(06:15):
that's extremely helpful. And I thinkthe third piece is his understanding of what
we're doing. He's got a greatfeel for the game. He's got a
good feel for passing the ball.He can make all the throws, but
I think he understands what we doand why we do and that that's a
that's another added bonus coach at ifQuinn can't go, we have that on

(06:43):
Does anybody get that? Did youget that? That's fine? I see
that happens to you guys too,just like it happens to me. On
game that can happen. I'm tellingyou that's a turnover. And if if
Quinn can't go, is Malik thegonna start this weekend? And how would

(07:04):
you rotate in Arch if at all? Yeah, No, we'll we'll We'll
go through the week and and Archand Uh Malik will both get a ton
of reps. Uh. If thegame was being played today, Malik would
start the game and and again Archwill be ready to go. And like
I said before, I've had aton of confidence in Art, you know,
I think it was a couple ofweeks ago. I mean, he
had a fantastic practice and so I'mreally encouraged by that. You know,

(07:29):
I think Coach Millwie's done a greatjob with with both those guys. And
so we're fortunate, you know,not not every school is as fortunate as
we are to have the quarterback roomthat we have and the connectivity that that
room has. I think a lotcan be said for Quinn and his leadership
in that room. I think alot can be said for for Charles Wright
and his experience and knowledge base ofour scheme and the dialogue that those guys

(07:54):
have in that room. I thinkthey're always trying to lift each other up
and help one another, so uhwe can we can reap the benefits of
that. This week, What aresome of the biggest challenges that a quarterback
faces stepping into this two guys thatdon't have experience in Arch and Malik and
in real game situation, What arethe challenges they face as they would go
into the situation. Well, Imean, I think, like anything,

(08:16):
you know, we prepare as bestwe can. We try to prepare our
players for the multitude of things thatthat that can and or should happen,
and try to put them in thebest position. But naturally, you know,
b Yu is going to do thingsthat that aren't on tape and you
have to adapt at that point.And adapting sometimes it's you know, when

(08:37):
we can get them on the sidelinesand adapt much better. Sometimes you have
to adapt in play post snap,right, the coverage is maybe different than
they've been playing, the pressure isa little different, the matchups are different,
and so that that ability to adaptand not just rely on practice as
much as I love practice and practiceis huge. Adaptability in game too,

(09:00):
some of the newness that comes atyou I think is critical. And then
two, I think one thing thatthat quarterbacks early on in their career sometimes
you know, let the let theeasy things be easy, right, and
and there's a plenty of things thatwe do that are very quarterback friendly,
and allowing those things to be easy, uh, for for a young quarterback

(09:22):
is critical because there's gonna be plentyof tough plays that they're gonna have to
make. And so I think that'sthat's probably two of the biggest challenges,
right, adaptability in in game uh. And then two, allowing the easy
things to be easy, h aretwo big challenges for us as we go
into the game to make sure thoseguys are ready for that. It's right

(09:43):
right right there you go, Steve, You've obviously got a lot of injuries
and concerns and secondary Jday Baron hasplay some cornerback. Is do you consider
putting him at cornerback? And whywould those crossing routes so successful? Yeah?
Yeah, I think to things,you know, the versatility of of
of Jeda is one of his strengths, right, He's got such a high

(10:07):
football IQ and his ability to playmultiple positions for us is fantastic. You
know, when we can play himat star, I think that allows for
his versatility to show up. Wecan play him in man coverage, we
can play him in zone. He'sreally good on the perimeter on a lot
of the perimeter screens. His recognitionof concepts that are coming, just like

(10:30):
the fourth down play to get overthe top when they were trying to pick
him, I thought was big.His blitz ability, so all those things
were allowed allows us to utilize hisstrengths. But he does have more than
capabilities to play at corner and evensafety for that matter. As the week
goes on, we'll assess that what'swhat's in our best interest for this game

(10:50):
of what we need to do.Like I said, I think it was
big for Jalen Gilbo to play asmuch as he did Saturday, especially that
in that entirety of the first half. So we know what we have there
and his experience from last year,and he feels really healthy and that looks
good. But we're gonna have tomonitor Gavin Holmes. We're gonna have to
monitor, you know, Terres Brooksgot a little nicked up. I think
we're more than hopeful that we getRyan Watts back this week, which was

(11:13):
which was big for us, andI think Manny Muhammad's coming. So it's
all predicated on where's our issues andtrying to put the best five out there
that that give us a chance andthen rotate those other guys. The crossing
routes, you know, I thinkin Twofold hurt us. Anytime you call
crossers and you're in man coverage,it's difficult when they're picking the guy that's
that's guarding the man that's catching theball. And to their credit, they

(11:39):
did a heck of a job pickingus. You know, they didn't get
called for it, So you can'tcomplain that that that that's what was happening,
But it's it's pretty obvious that youknow when picks occur, and we
got picked a couple of times andthat it created that created a problem we
had one where was poor communication.We didn't cover it properly and when we
were in zone, and when you'rein zone, that's when you really got

(12:00):
to be able to shut those crossersdown and match those routes, So I
think there was levels to it,but inevitably we're gonna have to play it
better because we're gonna see a tonof crossers this week. That's one of
the staples of what BYU does,So we're gonna have to play it better.
Coach, back to the subject ofa kind of the end game adjustments
that you were talking about. Yousaid a couple of different times that teams
have put something on the field thatyou hadn't seen on film. What's been

(12:24):
a challenge as far as that adjustmentsto concern our players not trusting the things
that you're saying, Do you needto adjust a little bit faster, Like,
give me a little bit more onthat. It's just a new defense,
you know. Every time we goout again, I take it as
a compliment that people want to goto a length of doing something that they
haven't shown through six games and dosomething totally different, and that's okay,

(12:48):
you know, and that like lastweek's game against Houston, that was from
the first snap of the game.It wasn't like they went to it after
we had twenty one points. Thatwas exactly what they did from the first
snap of the game, And weexecuted good football and obviously got out to
a to a twenty one point lead. I think for all of us,
we have to continue to respect thegame and and and stay sharp on our

(13:09):
details, whether that's the scheme,whether that's the execution, whether that's the
situations within the game and playing thosesituations. So through it all, I
think it was a good lesson learned. And there's nothing better than learning lessons
after a win, because I thinkthat's when when you went ugly, you
can you can coach hard and youcan fix issues and then come out and

(13:31):
play better the next week. Coachthe how's Quinn doing just mentally emotionally,
because that's a tough one and thefact that he did so well with his
downtime last year came back lit upou that sort of deal. Does he
kind of have a blueprint of howto deal with this well? I think
he's obviously there's a level of disappointment, you know, and nobody likes to

(13:52):
get injured. And you know,I give him a lot of credit because
he tried to play. You know, that last drive he was he was
not held healthy, he tried toplay through it. Clearly he was limited
and to his credit, he knewI don't think I can do it,
you know. And then you know, and then when our when our trainers
and our medical staff tell me thesame thing, like he tried it,

(14:13):
just he knew what he was goingto be able to give to the team
wasn't going to be good enough.But I do think I agree with you
in that he does have a littlebit of the blueprint, and he knows
what it takes to keep himself mentallysharp, uh, to be dialed into
the game plan, to support theother guys, and how he can they
can lean into him, uh andoffering that support and being a great teammate

(14:37):
for for all, for all ofthe guys, and so uh. In
the end, I know he's gonnawork tirelessly to try to get himself back.
Like I said, these injuries,you know, some guys are back
sooner than others. You just don'tknow. And so we'll see how his
body responds. I think it's helpful, especially this time around. He's in
the best shape of his life.Uh. And naturally, when you're in

(14:58):
good shape, we respond better.We don't stay sick as long, we
don't stay hurt as long. Andhe's in Uh, he's in great shape,
so hopefully we can get him back, Like I said, sooner rather
than later. I'm Steve. Ifyou clarify when Quinn got hurt and did
he make things worse by trying tofight through it, that's your guys job.
I'm here to tell a guy whenhe got hurt, and then that

(15:20):
wouldn't be fair, right. Idon't think he made anything worse, you
know. I think football, youget you get banged up, and a
lot of guys play through a lotof things. And I think that's one
of the beauties of our sport isthat you find out about yourself. You
have to dig deep and how muchcan I overcome? What's my level of
perseverance? And I think he madesome throws in there that he felt like,

(15:43):
okay, I can I can dothis, and then made a throw
that really challenged him and said,I'm not going to be equipped enough to
play the game the way I wantto play throughout the ball game. So
you know, I don't think thathe injured himself anymore than he could have.
But in the end, you know, when he got hurt, you
know, if he stayed in thegame, he wasn't hurt enough to come

(16:06):
out. When he came out,that was that was when it was time
to come out Michael High School toget a scholarship. Guys and tackles as
a top ten team and a hugeclose ball game. Awesome story, What
a cool story for taff And wegot a bunch of cool stories going right
now, but his is a greatone. Just a guy who believed in

(16:29):
himself, you know, had anopportunity to accept scholarships at other schools,
decided to walk on here at theUniversity of Texas, and from day one
never took a back seat. Fromday one when we were in summer workouts,
he wanted to be in the frontof the line. From day one,
when every opportunity he got to stepin and be here as a true
freshman and get on the grass.He found a way to make a play,

(16:52):
he got an interception, he gota tipball, and in turn,
he just continues to work at itand he knows, like anything, Okay,
what are my strengths, what aremy weaknesses. I'm gonna play to
my strengths. And he's extremely smart, he's tough, it's a great teammate.
So he tackled well, got abig time interception. But what doesn't
get what gets lost in a lotof this is how good he played on

(17:14):
special team Saturday. Makes a tremendoustackle on the on the punt return where
you know, Keaton comes down,the returner spins out, and the Keeling's
cut down that he spins out,Keaton misses him, Mo misses him,
and Taff comes from across the fieldand negates a huge return with the heck
of a tackle. So it's notjust defense, he's doing it on special

(17:37):
teams as well. And it's agreat story, you know, and hopefully
it serves as a as motivation fora lot of other guys on our team
of you know, when you putyour mind to something and you focus on
something, you know, you startto gravitate towards it. And definitely in
his career that's happened. Hey,Steve, you're matching wits with your old
teammate, an old defensive coordinator.I know he made a change bring in

(18:00):
jail, But what are some ofthe philosophies you see in a defense?
Yeah, no, I think youknow, Jay, Jay and Kilanie go
back to Utah days and so it'skind of a you know, if you
think about Kyle Whittingham and and thosegreat defenses that they've had at Utah over
the years, and and Kilanie andJay were there for a lot of those

(18:22):
years. It's a very aggressive style, very attacking attack. The line of
scrimmage, defensive line is penetrating.You know, they're they're trying to get
into the backfield. You know.I think they they have a lot of
confidence in their players and in theirscheme. They do a good job on
first down, second down of mixingthings up and on third down how can
they get to the quarterback? Butin the end they're ball conscience and and

(18:47):
you see the turnovers and when theycome and why they come. I think
their players are really aware, uhthe coverages that they're playing. And I
think that goes back to coaching.You know, those guys are good coaches.
They've been doing it a long time. Got a ton a ton of
respect for him. Coach you hadmentioned you and coach of Hockey played the
teammates and you played under famed coachDoctor Edwards and he also produced great coach

(19:11):
teams and quarterbacks. Are there anyprinciples that you learned under his leadership that
you still use today to coach anddevelop your quarterbacks. Well, I think
one thing that Coach Edwards I haveone specific story that I always hold on
to. I remember we were ina game and it was right near the
end of the first half and therewas a time out and there was some

(19:34):
discussion on what played to call,and there was dialogue with coach Chow or
offensive coordinator and Roger French or oline coach of what we were going to
do, and nobody could really agree. And I'll never forget Coach Edwards looking
at me, said Sark, whatdo you want to run? And I
referenced to play that I wanted torun, and he turned around he said,
Okay, we're running the play Ijust referenced. And so I think

(19:57):
one thing that he did a greatjob in my time there was making you
feel like the coach believed in you. You know that that there was a
rapport there as the quarterback, thatI was his guy and that he believed
in what I was able to do. And I think that that's something we
tried to do here, is thatwhen you become the guy at quarterback,

(20:18):
there's a sense of belief in thatguy. And that's why there's that constant
dialogue to try to put them inthe best position that they feel comfortable with
to go execute. I think thesecond thing about coach Edwards that I'll always
keep with me is he always keptthings light. You know, he was
himself. I know who everybody seesthe stern face on the sidelines from back
in the day, but he wasa really lighthearted guy. He was a

(20:41):
lot of fun to be around.The players liked to be around him,
and I think that goes back tohaving really good relationships with your players,
and that was something that he hadwhen I was there as well. Man,
Yes it did, Yes, itdid. Do you think I'd say
it didn't know, Steve, Iknow you wanted to, you know,

(21:03):
get your corners up on the lineand play you know, physical man coverage.
There's been a lot of off coverage. Has that been because of the
injuries or the situations and you knowdifferent games? What can you talk about,
No, I mean it just varies, you know, calls. Sometimes
it's the call, sometimes it's thetechnique. Sometimes the formation causes some some

(21:26):
adjustments and so those are some ofthe things for us schematically as a staff
to sort through that. People can'tforce us into some of the some of
the softer coverage looks because of formationsor motions that we're getting. And so
that's the constant evolution throughout a seasonof making those adjustments UH to put our
players in the best position to tobe successful, you know. And to

(21:48):
their credit last week, you know, I thought one thing they did when
they saw us get trying to getup there and get physical, they went
to some of those crossing routes andwe were getting picked. And so now
you have to try to protect yourselfto not get picked. And I think
one of the and it showed upon that fourth down play where John Day
didn't stay tight to the line becausehe recognized what was probably coming and went

(22:10):
over the top UH to not getpicked. So we could say that was
softer coverage, but then he wasstill able to make the play. So
even though sometimes we're not pressed,we can still play in aggressive style and
I think that that's something that we'retrying to work through. Steve, just
want to pick a back off ofan earlier question. When you were a
Washington you had to start Siler Milesand Nick Montana, both guys making their

(22:32):
first starts later in the year.It was a lot to play for in
the season. What's the approach whenyou know, kind of going with a
young guys making his first start andyou've see any similarities between you know,
I've say a decade agoing and nowyeah, no, I mean I think
in the end is we got totake our time as a coaching staff,
which we started on yesterday. Whatare the things that Malik does well?
What are the things that Arch doeswell. It's not always about the idea

(22:56):
of the play and putting it ona whiteboard, because there's a lot of
that look good, but what ifthey do well, and then how do
we ensure Okay, here's the conceptsthat we think they run really well.
They don't have to run the wholeplaybook. They need to run what they
run really well. And then howdo we devise a plan that incorporates what
they do well with the personnel formation, motion shifts, run game to tie

(23:21):
it all together, and so thatthat's kind of how you do it.
You know, I think it's importantthat they get confidence early is always helpful,
but you never know how a game'sgoing to go. These guys are
elite competitors. I'm not concerned aboutthem, you know, fighting through in
adversity strikes. But I do wantto make sure that I'm giving them the
opportunity to do the things that they'veshown us that they're good at and that

(23:42):
they like. Because you know,Saturday does is going to be a test
enough. It doesn't need to bea final exam as far as you know,
let's test them on and things thatthey might know or might not know.
I want to test them on thestuff that I know they know really
well. I hope they get ahundred percent. This is an open book
test. I hope they hope theyplay great. And my question is actually

(24:07):
along those same lines, do yousit down with Malik and Arch and have
a conversation about what do you liketo do most, what are you most
comfortable with? Is that an ongoingconversation that you've had with all your quarterbacks
for weeks? How does that processgo? No, that that's a that's
a weekly dialogue. So with us, you know, when we when we
put together a game plan, there'sconstant dialogue throughout the week with the quarterbacks

(24:30):
and how we're reading it and howhow we want to do it, and
then we try to we try todevise the reps in practice so that guys
are getting reps of specific plays andthings. And then on Friday night,
every Friday night before every game,myself coach Milwy, we sit with all
the quarterbacks and we walk through thecall sheet and we'll ask them their favorite
plays in this situation that situation,and so we kind of have a running

(24:56):
log of the plays that they markthat they like, right, And so,
you know, seven weeks into theseason, I've got seven straight weeks
of information from the leak of theplays that he feels comfortable with. And
so now as we start to devisea plan, I don't always necessarily have
to wait till Friday to ask himwhat he wants because the majority of the
things that are in this plan Ialready know he feels really comfortable with.

(25:21):
How invasive is sign stealing in collegefootball? And do you account for that
in your own planning? Yeah,Signal steiling is is real. It is
a definite factor in college football.I think some teams rely on it much
more than others, and so youdo have to devise it. That's why

(25:42):
we got boards and signalers and anddifferent colored shirts on the sidelines and every
which way of of how we tryto get the play to our players to
be fair to them. I mean, nobody wants to run a play when
they know what plays coming. It'slike going to bat and trying to throw
your best pitch, and the batterknows what's coming, he's got a better

(26:02):
chance of hitting it. So wetry to we try to hide it as
best we can to uh, togive our players the best chance to be successful.
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