August 13, 2024 • 7 mins
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian met with local media last night after Tuesday's practice to discuss Saturday's scrimmage, his biggest takeaways, injury updates and answers questions concerning Quinn Ewers' chemistry with the wideouts and more.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back to the craig Way Show and the Voice
of the Longhorns. Craig Way. Follow Craig on social media
at Horn Voice.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Important as well for us to talk from Longhorn football,
and that means hearing from the head coach, Steve Sarkisian Now. Yesterday,
Sark had a media availability after the practice, and again
(00:38):
at the time that the media availability took place, Sark
had not yet been told of any of the extent
of the injury to Christian Clark. That's why there isn't
a specific mention of that sort of thing. But he
did as some other things to talk about, starting off
with his opening thoughts on the prior a few days.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Appreciate y'all being on here on Zoom. I think, first
of all, you know, and I'll talk about the scrimmage
in a minute, but talk a little bit about today.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Obviously we had the day off to review the tape
with the players, had had a good walk through this morning,
and I thought today's practice was as good a practice
as we've had that that I can remember in.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Quite some time.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I thought the energy level, uh, the intensity of practice,
the mental intensity, the physical intensity, the guys competing at.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
A high level.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
It was it was it was a fun practice as
a coach, you know, and both sides did some really
good things.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
There were some plays made, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
But I thought one thing that showed up today that
that definitely showed up Saturday and the scrimmage was the
defense's ability to attack the football. And it has been
a huge emphasis of ours, and it showed up Saturday.
You know, from the very first night we've been talking
about getting after the football.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
It showed up Saturday.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
It showed up again today, which is real positive from
a defensive perspective. You know, our ability to create turnovers.
You know, we got interceptions last year, we didn't get
as many fumbles as we would have liked. That that's
got to become a mainstay of our defense. And so
for the guys to be attacking the ball the way
that they are is really encouraging. I thought Saturday scrimmage
(02:23):
was highly competitive, you know, your natural things that happen
uh in a first scrimmage, like a like a first
preseason NFL game, was a little bit of some of
the sloppiness the pre snap penalties, whether it was false starts,
you know, whether it was you know, defense, jumping off sides.
(02:45):
But those things are are fixable and and we'll get
those fixed, you know. I think when you get into
that setting at times, those types of things can happen.
I think that we we got a pretty good sense
in a feel of watching these receivers play and and naturally,
I think we're starting to get a good sense in
a feel for the defensive front and what that looks like.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
But but I've been proud of our guys. They've they've
they've worked hard.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
We have a bunch of stuff we got to clean up,
you know, and that's that's the beauty of having the
time that we have until the first ball game. But Uh,
what I what I was impressed with is they were
very coachable yesterday and we were demanding.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
We coached them hard. We wanted to get things fixed.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And uh, they responded really well today, like I said,
with a lot of intensity and a lot of energy.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
All right, So there's some opening thoughts. Then in the
Q and A, one of the first things asked of
Sark was about the chemistry that his quarterbacks are developing
with the wide receivers in specific, obviously Quinn yours being
the number one quarterback. How about the chemistry developing between
Quinn and the Whiteouts.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I thought, you know, when you when you think about
the kind of the three new faces, and it's been good,
you know, I mean Iaiah Uh, you know, has been
you know, played really well Saturday. I think that you know,
all three of those guys caught playing a ball Saturday,
between Isaiah and Matt and Silas. You know, I think
(04:13):
we're learning more about Silas. You know, he just hasn't
been here as long. We didn't have him in spring practice,
and so but I do think Quinn's got really good
rapport with those guys. And and naturally, you know, we
try to rotate a fair amount of players with our
ones and our twos. You know, it's it's not and
we have that luxury right now it's not so it's
the ones, and then it's the twos, and then you know,
(04:35):
as we were let's call it a year ago, and
then when a two gets into the ones, maybe there's
not that rapport. We've been rotating the wide outs the
tight ends pretty regularly, almost on a daily basis, and
so I think he's gained a lot of rapport with
really a good six deep at the receiver position, uh
and and really those front line three tight ends, you know,
(04:57):
with with Gunner Amari and and so.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
I think we feel very comfortable with that.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And I think naturally Quinn's understanding schematically of what we're
doing is helpful because he's almost an extension of us
on the field, and he can talk through things with
the players receiver, you know, based on a coverage, how
how he would like it to go, and where a
guy should be in what spot. And that just goes
back to Quinn's leadership, right, and and his his maturation
(05:26):
right and not the player, but the person. And I
think he's a lot more comfortable doing those types of
things and is needed.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
But I think it's definitely paying off.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
You heard Sar mentioned early on about in his opening
comments about the practice that they had yesterday and the
importance of the intensity because it's it's a normal thing.
And I can tell you, having been around this program
(05:59):
for some thirty plus years, that it's quite normal. And
unfortunately coaches have come to expect that coming off of
a scrimmage, when guys are hyped up and ready to
go from a scrimmage perspective, that the first practice after
(06:24):
that quite often isn't up to par. It's the guys
have a little bit of trouble getting back into it.
And so Sarkos asked about the importance of his guys
getting back out there, how important it was for them
to have a high level practice on Monday following this
Saturday scrimmage.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Well, it's huge.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
You know, this is kind of that week right in
training camp where you're kind of in the middle of things.
We're not into game plan mode, but you know, we
you know, like I said, I think the leadership of
our guys has been tremendous and I think that's been
the trickle down effect to the younger players, and as coaches,
we obviously value these practices because for us to be
(07:07):
as good as we want to be, that excellence lies
in the details. And it's one thing to know of
the call. It's another to know the details of the
call and why we're calling it and what we're trying
to accomplish when we're calling it in all three phases, Offense, defense,
and special teams.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
All Right, So there's some thoughts from sark following the
Monday practice. We're going to hear more from sark coming
up in each of the next two hours as well.
But up next we get to inconceivable here for a
Tuesday afternoon when we continue on sports Radio AM thirteen
under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome back to the craig Way Show and the Voice
of the Longhorns. Craig Way. Follow Craig on social media
at Horn Voice.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Important as well for us to talk from Longhorn football,
and that means hearing from the head coach, Steve Sarkisian Now. Yesterday,
Sark had a media availability after the practice, and again
(00:38):
at the time that the media availability took place, Sark
had not yet been told of any of the extent
of the injury to Christian Clark. That's why there isn't
a specific mention of that sort of thing. But he
did as some other things to talk about, starting off
with his opening thoughts on the prior a few days.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Appreciate y'all being on here on Zoom. I think, first
of all, you know, and I'll talk about the scrimmage
in a minute, but talk a little bit about today.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Obviously we had the day off to review the tape
with the players, had had a good walk through this morning,
and I thought today's practice was as good a practice
as we've had that that I can remember in.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Quite some time.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I thought the energy level, uh, the intensity of practice,
the mental intensity, the physical intensity, the guys competing at.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
A high level.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
It was it was it was a fun practice as
a coach, you know, and both sides did some really
good things.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
There were some plays made, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
But I thought one thing that showed up today that
that definitely showed up Saturday and the scrimmage was the
defense's ability to attack the football. And it has been
a huge emphasis of ours, and it showed up Saturday.
You know, from the very first night we've been talking
about getting after the football.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
It showed up Saturday.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
It showed up again today, which is real positive from
a defensive perspective. You know, our ability to create turnovers.
You know, we got interceptions last year, we didn't get
as many fumbles as we would have liked. That that's
got to become a mainstay of our defense. And so
for the guys to be attacking the ball the way
that they are is really encouraging. I thought Saturday scrimmage
(02:23):
was highly competitive, you know, your natural things that happen
uh in a first scrimmage, like a like a first
preseason NFL game, was a little bit of some of
the sloppiness the pre snap penalties, whether it was false starts,
you know, whether it was you know, defense, jumping off sides.
(02:45):
But those things are are fixable and and we'll get
those fixed, you know. I think when you get into
that setting at times, those types of things can happen.
I think that we we got a pretty good sense
in a feel of watching these receivers play and and naturally,
I think we're starting to get a good sense in
a feel for the defensive front and what that looks like.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
But but I've been proud of our guys. They've they've
they've worked hard.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
We have a bunch of stuff we got to clean up,
you know, and that's that's the beauty of having the
time that we have until the first ball game. But Uh,
what I what I was impressed with is they were
very coachable yesterday and we were demanding.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
We coached them hard. We wanted to get things fixed.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And uh, they responded really well today, like I said,
with a lot of intensity and a lot of energy.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
All right, So there's some opening thoughts. Then in the
Q and A, one of the first things asked of
Sark was about the chemistry that his quarterbacks are developing
with the wide receivers in specific, obviously Quinn yours being
the number one quarterback. How about the chemistry developing between
Quinn and the Whiteouts.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I thought, you know, when you when you think about
the kind of the three new faces, and it's been good,
you know, I mean Iaiah Uh, you know, has been
you know, played really well Saturday. I think that you know,
all three of those guys caught playing a ball Saturday,
between Isaiah and Matt and Silas. You know, I think
(04:13):
we're learning more about Silas. You know, he just hasn't
been here as long. We didn't have him in spring practice,
and so but I do think Quinn's got really good
rapport with those guys. And and naturally, you know, we
try to rotate a fair amount of players with our
ones and our twos. You know, it's it's not and
we have that luxury right now it's not so it's
the ones, and then it's the twos, and then you know,
(04:35):
as we were let's call it a year ago, and
then when a two gets into the ones, maybe there's
not that rapport. We've been rotating the wide outs the
tight ends pretty regularly, almost on a daily basis, and
so I think he's gained a lot of rapport with
really a good six deep at the receiver position, uh
and and really those front line three tight ends, you know,
(04:57):
with with Gunner Amari and and so.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
I think we feel very comfortable with that.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And I think naturally Quinn's understanding schematically of what we're
doing is helpful because he's almost an extension of us
on the field, and he can talk through things with
the players receiver, you know, based on a coverage, how
how he would like it to go, and where a
guy should be in what spot. And that just goes
back to Quinn's leadership, right, and and his his maturation
(05:26):
right and not the player, but the person. And I
think he's a lot more comfortable doing those types of
things and is needed.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
But I think it's definitely paying off.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
You heard Sar mentioned early on about in his opening
comments about the practice that they had yesterday and the
importance of the intensity because it's it's a normal thing.
And I can tell you, having been around this program
(05:59):
for some thirty plus years, that it's quite normal. And
unfortunately coaches have come to expect that coming off of
a scrimmage, when guys are hyped up and ready to
go from a scrimmage perspective, that the first practice after
(06:24):
that quite often isn't up to par. It's the guys
have a little bit of trouble getting back into it.
And so Sarkos asked about the importance of his guys
getting back out there, how important it was for them
to have a high level practice on Monday following this
Saturday scrimmage.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Well, it's huge.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
You know, this is kind of that week right in
training camp where you're kind of in the middle of things.
We're not into game plan mode, but you know, we
you know, like I said, I think the leadership of
our guys has been tremendous and I think that's been
the trickle down effect to the younger players, and as coaches,
we obviously value these practices because for us to be
(07:07):
as good as we want to be, that excellence lies
in the details. And it's one thing to know of
the call. It's another to know the details of the
call and why we're calling it and what we're trying
to accomplish when we're calling it in all three phases, Offense, defense,
and special teams.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
All Right, So there's some thoughts from sark following the
Monday practice. We're going to hear more from sark coming
up in each of the next two hours as well.
But up next we get to inconceivable here for a
Tuesday afternoon when we continue on sports Radio AM thirteen
under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.