Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Very pleased to have joining us on the hotline.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
They had football coach of the University of Taxas, Steve
Sarkeashan to join us now, Sark, I appreciate the time.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
How are you today?
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I'm great, Craig. I feel like I haven't talked to
you a while.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
But where you be.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You know, the last time we saw each other was
in the tunnel before a basketball game and you had
just you had just come off making your some of
the new additions to the coaching staff, and I said,
how you like your additions? You said, I love them
and you said, more's the point. People are going to
love them. So let me start with that and then
we'll kind of recap your thoughts on the spring. You've
(00:35):
talked a little bit about it and your media availabilities.
How about your thoughts on the new staff members and
how they've integrated themselves well with the team during the spring.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Yeah, yeah, I'll I'll start on defense, probably because we've
had the most that was where the majority of the
turnover was, and obviously a really major kind of makeover
in the secondary right, we lost two really good coaches
and Blake get In and Terry Joseph and UH. So
that the idea that we were able to bring in
to bring you know, Coach Aquina back UH and then
(01:08):
hire two kind of younger coaches who are great coaches,
and Mark Orfe and Kenoto Hudson. I just think that
combination of coaches back there has been awesome. And Coach Aquina,
I've heard about his energy and the and the legend
of Coach Aquina's energy. It's real, man, this guy. This
guy's impressive at practice. Man, he is flying around and
he sets the tone over there. So between he and
(01:30):
Johnny Nansen, now we we are we are a high
flying UH group on defense from an energy standpoint. And
then we brought in Lee Allen Clark to coach our
edge players, and I think that's been a great addition
as well, uh to work with Kenny Baker who we
brought on last year and PK.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
In the front. UH.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So those have been some great additions on the defensive
side of the ball. Offensively, you know, we brought in
UH Chad Scott to coach the running backs, and I've
been super impressed with him. He was a great man,
very knowledgeable at the game. You know, there's a reason
he was offensive coordinator and running back coach at West Virginia.
It's been around some great coaches and I think, you know,
anytime you lose a quality coach and to shar choice
(02:09):
and the rapport that he have with the players, that's
probably the biggest concern. And man, the rapport that that
coach Scott's brought has been great. And then we brought
in some some some analysts, you know. Obviously Neil Brown
on the offensive side of the ball has been an
awesome addition.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Love having him. He's great for me.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Another another set of head coaches eyes you think about
and we had coach Patterson here, we had coach christ here.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Now we got Neil Brown.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
They brought in a quarterback coach from the NFL to
work with our guys on defense and carry Joseph who's
been a great addition as well.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
So we brought in some really good people.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I think the players have responded to them, which is
probably the most important thing.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
But we're pumped, man, this is a good group of
guys that are working well together.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Sart was really kind of curious is to whether there
was any kind of real discern will change in how
you saw the spring practices go with not having at
the end of the road, so to speak, the annual
spring game, and we all know what that was all
about at the end there and largely for the fans.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
But did much change with regard to how you.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
And the staff handled and operated the spring drills for
the guys and what they went through with no spring
game at the.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
End, I did.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I did adjust a few things, Craig, So I think
the first part is this, Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
We signed.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
I signed twenty five high school kids, and it was
a great class we all know as a heck of
a heck of a signing class. Twenty two of those
twenty five guys were on campus in January.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
They're mid year admits.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Then I signed five transfers at the first portal, so
that's twenty seven new faces. And then we just touched
on all the new coaches and the new faces on
our staff. So the biggest thing probably changed that we
made for those that ever watched as practice, we didn't
two spot any of our team stuff this spring. Everything
(04:04):
was on one field and so we were actually on
the field a little bit longer than normal. But it
allowed me to watch and see every player, especially the
new players. Allowed me to watch and help coach the
coaches as they were getting acclimated our style and what
we like to do.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And then you know, to me, it.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Allowed some of our veteran players who have played thirty
games the last two years to back off kind of
their workload a little bit, but yet really still focus
in on the fundamentals and techniques. And so I think
it's been some nice changes and adjustments to what we did.
With two practices to go, we're looking forward to it
that we can maximize these last two to go.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You know, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you
about that other early signing that I've seen quite a
bit of lately. Jonah Williams has been lighting it up
in baseball, and I know Schlass and the staff loved him.
How about the feedback you've gotten from what Joe and
is done on the baseball field.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Well, I think I get the text from Slash at
different times, and the one he set me the other
night was something about this dude's a great competitor, and
I wanted.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
To say something.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I just said, no kidding, send him back, But uh no,
I'm excited for Hey, Slash, what he's doing. Man, what
what a What an incredible job this guy's done, first
season with us running that program, uh, and dealing with
some of the adversity and the injuries they are getting
faced with. But still, you know, you know, competing and
(05:34):
playing at a high level. And what a big series
they have this week, and so pump for that. I
get to throw out the first pitch Friday night to
Craig if you know that?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, I saw that, And and and Linda asked me,
she said, now, he he didn't he used to play baseball.
Said yeah, he was pretty good baseball player. So I'm
sure he'll he won't bounce it in, He'll he'll throw
it right across the plague.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I'm sure that'll be the case on Friday.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Hey, I saw video Sean Miller throwing it though the
other night. He looked pretty good. He looked natural to you.
Did a whole wind up.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
He did a big, slow, overhand curveball, breaking ball. It
dropped right in. It would have been a called strike,
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Really kind of gotten hit over the left field fence.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Though.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
If that they was hanging.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Visiting the SARKI for a couple more minutes.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
All right, The requisite question obviously about the quarterbacks, but
beyond arch, I wanted to get your overview on the
progress of the position as a whole as you saw
it during the course of the spring.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I like this room.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
You know, this is a really competitive quarterback room.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
These guys, all three of them, play their best when
we get into scrimmish settings, and that's a great sign
that the more intense, the more competitive the drill, their
level of play continues to rise. And that's a good
sign when it's a bit of an inexperienced room. Right,
you got one guy who's got a couple starts under
(06:54):
his belt and two other guys who haven't really played.
But it gives me a little bit of a precursor
of what I can expect if they get put on
the field, that their level of play is going to
continue to rise. Now, there's still all everybody's got things
to work on. They're all at different stages right Arches
in year three, Trays in year two. Kj's in his
first spring ever, so they're all working on different things.
(07:15):
But I love the growth. I love where they're headed.
They're all improving. We're fortunate to have the room of behalf.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You know, you talked about some of the position needs
that you needed filling on both sides of the football.
Everybody saw how you really attacked the portal, and you've
always said it's got to be something to fill in
the not just filling a roster spot for the sake
of having a number.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So I would imagine you feel really.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Good about the guys you brought in as to where
they can provide some pretty quick help for you.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah, I think so. You know, our numbers were really down.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
At the receiver position, and obviously we address that hard
in the high school recruiting. You signed four high school receivers,
but we were a very young room and our numbers
were still low. So to go get em at Moseley,
I thought was a huge deal for us at receiver.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
At tight end.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
You know, I wanted another number, but yet I kept
assessing the room. We were a young room again, not
any experience really whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
So to be able to go get.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Jack injuries as an experienced tight end who's a very
versatile player, I thought was big for us on that front.
And then you looked at it on the defensive front,
and what we did there was our numbers was just
so low. You know, we we just didn't have the
numbers on the front that we needed to have, and
we love to rotate those guys so they can play
(08:39):
at a really high level. And I feel like every
guy we just kind of keep hitting home runs on
the on.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
The right guys that that we're getting.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
And so you know, with with Javon and Marod like those,
those are huge additions for us to go along with
the all the other guys we brought in to go
along with the players that are growing up in our program.
So we feel good about out that that unit.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Now, all right, before I let you go, I know that, uh,
there's another edition that you're pretty proud of. And I
haven't had a chance to ask you about the addition
of a Mayas to your family and and uh and
and how excited you are with with that young man's
addition to your family, your immediate family.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yeah, super pumped.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
You know, he's uh, he's doing great. And uh, keep
me young, you know, fifty one now, Craig, But you know,
I got to stay young.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
This is a young man's profession. So I'm staying young
for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, absolutely, final thing.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And I always ask this at the end, when when
you join us after the spring game. So since there's
not a spring game, I'll ask it now about to
give fans an idea of the time table of what
you expect from your guys in the offseason workouts before
you get the fall camp workout.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
So we'll wrap up Saturday with practice, and we got
the fan Day and I heard you just plugging Fan Day.
We're excited to do that and be able to actually
hang with the fans.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Normally longer than you normally would when.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
We just do the autograph signing before the game. Now
we can really hang on the field with them. We're
going to do that next week. Our players, you know,
they got to finish up school, they got to finish
up finals. They got one more week of workouts with
coach Beckton. He's not going to let him, you know,
get out on that. And then they're gonna get a
little bit of time here in the month of May,
and you know a lot of the guys will stick
around some we'll go home and come back, and then
(10:22):
we really crank it up June July. I mean those
two months are critical for us as we get ready
for August. And so in June and July, a lot
of weight training, a lot of running in the heat,
a lot of skill development work, and then we'll get
ourselves ready for August when we hit the grass for
training camp.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Hey, I appreciate you doing this. I'll look forward to
watching that first pitch on Friday night. I'm expecting probably
you know, a chest high fastball coming in or something
like that.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
The key the key to the drill, right, can I
make the catcher's mint pop?
Speaker 2 (10:55):
That's it, And we have a field microphone so it
will pick it up if if it's happening there, we gotta.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Pop, we gotta pop the leather. That's that's the key
to the drill. So we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
All right.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Hey, sorry, thanks for the time. I appreciate we look
forward to seeing you soon.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
All right, thanks, Buddy Hook.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Look them all right. That's log Wort's head coach, Steve
Sarkegan