December 2, 2024 • 12 mins
Hear more from Steve Sarkisian at his Monday press conference as he updates us on the status of Kelvin Banks after leaving Saturday's game against Texas A&M.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
We're back.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's The Craig Ways Show with Hall of Fame broadcaster
and voice of the Texas Longbarns Craig Way.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
On our tech Fie our man CV said, Creg, you
went to Frenchies for fried chicken when you were in Houston.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I guess you can.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
You won't be going to Magic City and Atlanta eat
their famous wings lovon pepper wings. Uh No, I will
tell you this. Atlanta has one of the nicest teakhouses
in America. I've been to it before, called Bones, which
is in the Buckhead area.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Very nice.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I don't think I'll be going there though. You know,
I've got both of my sons with me, so you know,
even though they're both grown, you expect Pops to pick
up the tab if we go somewhere to eat, so
that probably won't be the get. I'll tell you one
place I may go ceb for lunch. In Atlanta, they
have a Zesto's. Now, for those of you who don't
(01:11):
know that don't equate with Zest's what what is? For
those who follow college baseball and the College World Series,
Zesto's is one of the most famous names in Omaha, Nebraska.
They had that Zesto's right beside Rosenblat for decades.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Wonderful.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
It's a burger and ice cream and milkshake joint. It's great.
And that one closed down when the ballpark when the
College World Series moved uptown or downtown, I guess you
might say, into the ballpark, the new ballpark, the Schwab
as they call it now, Charles Swipfield, and uh, they
put up a Zesto's there, but it wasn't quite as
(01:47):
good as newer and they limited menu. But they have
an older school and on the north side of Omaha
in Florence, the little community Florence and went out west. Well,
Zesto's at one time was a national chain. They don't
have many left, but one is in Atlanta and it's
a lot like the old school. And so I may
I may hit as I know, I'm gonna go to
the Varsity at least one time because it's downtown. The
Varsity Sports Grill, you've seen it. It's you know, it's
(02:10):
a double decker thing. The burgers and dogs and stuff
like that. That's a good place to take the take
the boys' and they've both been there. We've been there before.
Is the varsity probably go there again. Let's hear some
more from Longhorn's head coach, Steve Sarkisian from the weekly
news conference which we brought to you live this morning
(02:31):
here on the Zone. Some other things. First of all,
a question about Quinn yours and the ankle, and you know,
how's he feeling, what's his process and progress that he's
gone through.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
He practiced today and it'll be very similar last week. Okay,
said he was doing all right.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Now, how about some of the lessons learned and valuable
lessons gained and knowledge gained from participating in the college
football play off last year. We're not at the playoff yet,
but it is now getting into postseason play. So Sart
was asked about to any valuable lessons that came out
of that.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I think one thing we learned about our team is
that we've got a real sense of resiliency. You know,
we can overcome a lot, and you know, time and
time again, I see teams lose a game and they
can then they get beat again the next week because
they're still kind of feeling sorry for themselves from that
week before. And I think the one thing about this
team their ability to get recentered, refocused on the task
(03:31):
at hand has been very impressive for two years now
and take it one game at a time. And I
know that's a coaching adage that you guys here all
the time do covering this stuff, but it truly that's
what has taken and I think their their ability to
focus on what's been right in front of them, staying
present in the now and not get caught up in
what might be down the road, not getting caught up
(03:53):
in what the pundits are saying on TV and who's
where and what, and just focusing on what we need
to do to improve to try to pa the best
football that we can. And then I think the experience
of last year has helped us this year be able
to kind of recreate that and do it again. And
so the secret sauce for us is literally what's in
(04:15):
front of us and focusing on what's right in front
of us, and that has allowed us to perform pretty well.
And that's gonna be key again this week, and then
after Saturday, we'll figure out what the future holds and
what that looks like. But our our sole focus and
intentions are on Saturday four o'clock Eastern Standard time, Mercedes Benz,
can we play our best football?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Okay, all right, there's that. He was also asked how
important is it in trying to land a buy which
the only way you do that is to win the
game Saturday, win the conference championship, and then you do
get that first round by and start did admit there
there are perhaps some minus is to go with the
plus is of earning a buye.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, it's you know, you're always you look at all
that stuff and you know, for some guys maybe that
serves as motivation, you know, but the motivation really should
be right, what do I do today that I'm gonna
be thankful for Saturday? That I did on Monday and
then Tuesday, and then Wednesday and then Thursday and then Friday.
Everybody wants to win Saturday. What are you doing today
(05:18):
to put yourself in a better position to win on Saturday?
And that's the challenge that I that I that I
pose to the team and to them as a team,
but also individually, Right, what are you going to do
today that you're going to be thankful for Saturday? And
if we can stay in that frame of mind, you know,
the external motivators are nice sometimes, but the internal motivators
(05:38):
are are what we should be focused on that. You know,
I think we're a pretty good football team. I don't
think we played very good against them the first time out,
and I think ultimately, you know, you know, they deserve
to get our best shot. I know we're gonna get
their best shot. They deserve to get our best shot.
And I think the fans and the people watching this
game that are all going to tune in deserve to
(05:59):
get the best version of Texas football. And that's what
our focus is on, all right. Uh, the buye. You know,
it's interesting because that first round game, I think there's
a you know, I don't know, almost just about two
weeks in between if you if you if you get
the buye, you've got about three and a half weeks
or so. I don't know the exact number.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Is.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Hey, I would love to get as healthy as we
can get, but but ideally, you know, nobody's going to
be one hundred percent healthy at this point of the season.
Everybody's got bumps and bruises. It would be nice, but again,
there is the extended layoff even between the championship game
and and the first round.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, it's kind of almost like a like a regular
bowl game, so there'd be about three and a half
weeks off, like if you were preparing for an Orange
Bowl or a Sugar Bowl or whatever for that deal,
all right. He was also asked about his defensive coaching staff,
namely his additions NPK and Terry Joseph, you know, and
(06:58):
his his newer dish about Johnny Nansen about proving some
naysayers wrong who might have had some things to say
about the Texas defense. And how much has the defensive
staff been able to follow through on all of that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
It's all of it, right, you know. It's one thing
to continue to adjust schemes to fit the personnel that
you have. It's another to recruit players to fit the
schemes that you really want to run. And then it's
another to have players be in your system over time
that really have a good grasp and understanding of what
we're trying to do and then the why we're trying
(07:37):
to do it. And there's growing pains, right, There's adjustments
that you have to get better at. There's a style
of play that you have to improve upon, and I
think we grew naturally over time, you know, Year one
we played Arkansas, we didn't have a very good game.
You know. In year two, we played Alabama here and
I thought we played we played a better style and
(07:59):
brand of football to fit what SEC football would be like.
We didn't come out on top. In year three, you know,
we go to Tuscaloos, Alabama and Bryant Denny Stadium and
we play a brand of football that we felt like
was good enough in the Southeastern Conference. And then in
this year, you have to do it over eight weeks
and now nine weeks, and what that toll looks like
(08:19):
physically and mentally to prepare yourself week in and week out.
And we see it all over our conference every Saturday,
that if you're not prepared to play in this conference,
you will get beat. And it doesn't matter what you
think of an opponent or not. There's too many talented
players on every roster, the coaching is too good, the
environments are too tough when you go on the road,
(08:41):
that if you're not prepared to play, you'll get beat.
And we see it. We see it across our conference.
We were fortunate enough, Like I said, that's why I
want to praise our players and our coaching staff for
getting prepared week in and week out to perform and
to execute at a high level, and we've been able
to do that. Like I said, unfortunately, we didn't have
very good game against Georgia, and all the credit in
(09:02):
the world, they came in here ready to play and
beat us that night. Hopefully we can perform better Saturday.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Then he was asked about the evolution of Michael Taff.
Taff was a heck of a high school football player
for Todd Dodge a Westlake High and then when he
came to Texas, he came to Texas as walk on,
earned himself a scholarship, has played very well, his on
the Burlsworth Trophy Award watch list that's given to a
(09:30):
player who is or was a walk on it during
his collegiate career, and of course had his second interception
in the season and fifth of his long corn career
last Saturday night, And Sark was asked also how legitimate
an NFL prospect is Taff.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting about Michael. You know, in
the summertime when he first came, we had to have
our player ramp practices where coaches weren't allowed to be
out like we are now to do work development and
things of that nature. But that first summer when he
was just out of just out of high school, every
player would come back and I'd say, hey, how'd to go?
(10:08):
You know, how was how was seven on seven? How
was team? They always would bring up Michael Taff and oh,
Taff got another interception today? Taff? You know, did this?
Did that? And I'm like, who this? And I knew him,
but I didn't really know him. You know, I knew
him enough, but I didn't really know him. And all
he did from the day he got here was lead.
First of all, he never took a back seat from
(10:29):
a leadership standpoint two. All he did was give whatever
he had. Like I struggle with the term overachieve, we
achieved whatever we do. And and what that guy has
done has squeezed his lemon and to get all the
juice out of that thing that that's been in there.
And then in the offseason he's built himself up to
(10:49):
be a better player, a faster player, a more physical player,
a better understanding of our scheme to where when he
plays there's a great deal of confidence in him. It's
not hey, he's a backup that we're subbing in He
is a critical component of our defense. When he's on
the field, we play better defense from a communications standpoint.
(11:12):
An ability to be on the same accord with the
other dbs, with the linebackers, his playmaking ability, his preparation mentally,
the physicality that he's been playing with and so all
those things has added up to I definitely think he's
an NFL prospect. You know, again, I don't know. I
haven't looked at haven't talked to the scouts and what
they exactly think and where they project him to. But
(11:32):
I think the guy's going to play in the National
Football League. And that's a great story. And the reason
it's a great story is this. You know, this offseason,
there was a lot of talk about eliminating walk ons
in college football and that we were just going to
have eighty five scholarship players and that was all we
would have. What a sad day that would be if
a story like Michael Taff wouldn't come to fruition that
(11:54):
you can get a player as a walk on because
he wants to play at the University of Texas and
maybe turned down scholarships other places, but come here, work
his tail off, earn a scholarship, become a starter, play
like an All Conference, All American type player, and then
how have the opportunity to go fulfill his dream of
playing in the NFL That college football has so many
there's so many great lessons to be had, But that's
(12:16):
just another one of given opportunities. What do people do
with those opportunities? And he's maximized his to the fullest.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
All right, there's some thoughts from Sartmar. I have a
couple more comments from him after this break, because I
want you to hear what he has to say about
physicality and how his team has been able to get physical.
We'll do that when we come back here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.
We're back.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's The Craig Ways Show with Hall of Fame broadcaster
and voice of the Texas Longbarns Craig Way.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
On our tech Fie our man CV said, Creg, you
went to Frenchies for fried chicken when you were in Houston.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I guess you can.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
You won't be going to Magic City and Atlanta eat
their famous wings lovon pepper wings. Uh No, I will
tell you this. Atlanta has one of the nicest teakhouses
in America. I've been to it before, called Bones, which
is in the Buckhead area.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Very nice.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I don't think I'll be going there though. You know,
I've got both of my sons with me, so you know,
even though they're both grown, you expect Pops to pick
up the tab if we go somewhere to eat, so
that probably won't be the get. I'll tell you one
place I may go ceb for lunch. In Atlanta, they
have a Zesto's. Now, for those of you who don't
(01:11):
know that don't equate with Zest's what what is? For
those who follow college baseball and the College World Series,
Zesto's is one of the most famous names in Omaha, Nebraska.
They had that Zesto's right beside Rosenblat for decades.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Wonderful.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
It's a burger and ice cream and milkshake joint. It's great.
And that one closed down when the ballpark when the
College World Series moved uptown or downtown, I guess you
might say, into the ballpark, the new ballpark, the Schwab
as they call it now, Charles Swipfield, and uh, they
put up a Zesto's there, but it wasn't quite as
(01:47):
good as newer and they limited menu. But they have
an older school and on the north side of Omaha
in Florence, the little community Florence and went out west. Well,
Zesto's at one time was a national chain. They don't
have many left, but one is in Atlanta and it's
a lot like the old school. And so I may
I may hit as I know, I'm gonna go to
the Varsity at least one time because it's downtown. The
Varsity Sports Grill, you've seen it. It's you know, it's
(02:10):
a double decker thing. The burgers and dogs and stuff
like that. That's a good place to take the take
the boys' and they've both been there. We've been there before.
Is the varsity probably go there again. Let's hear some
more from Longhorn's head coach, Steve Sarkisian from the weekly
news conference which we brought to you live this morning
(02:31):
here on the Zone. Some other things. First of all,
a question about Quinn yours and the ankle, and you know,
how's he feeling, what's his process and progress that he's
gone through.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
He practiced today and it'll be very similar last week. Okay,
said he was doing all right.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Now, how about some of the lessons learned and valuable
lessons gained and knowledge gained from participating in the college
football play off last year. We're not at the playoff yet,
but it is now getting into postseason play. So Sart
was asked about to any valuable lessons that came out
of that.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I think one thing we learned about our team is
that we've got a real sense of resiliency. You know,
we can overcome a lot, and you know, time and
time again, I see teams lose a game and they
can then they get beat again the next week because
they're still kind of feeling sorry for themselves from that
week before. And I think the one thing about this
team their ability to get recentered, refocused on the task
(03:31):
at hand has been very impressive for two years now
and take it one game at a time. And I
know that's a coaching adage that you guys here all
the time do covering this stuff, but it truly that's
what has taken and I think their their ability to
focus on what's been right in front of them, staying
present in the now and not get caught up in
what might be down the road, not getting caught up
(03:53):
in what the pundits are saying on TV and who's
where and what, and just focusing on what we need
to do to improve to try to pa the best
football that we can. And then I think the experience
of last year has helped us this year be able
to kind of recreate that and do it again. And
so the secret sauce for us is literally what's in
(04:15):
front of us and focusing on what's right in front
of us, and that has allowed us to perform pretty well.
And that's gonna be key again this week, and then
after Saturday, we'll figure out what the future holds and
what that looks like. But our our sole focus and
intentions are on Saturday four o'clock Eastern Standard time, Mercedes Benz,
can we play our best football?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Okay, all right, there's that. He was also asked how
important is it in trying to land a buy which
the only way you do that is to win the
game Saturday, win the conference championship, and then you do
get that first round by and start did admit there
there are perhaps some minus is to go with the
plus is of earning a buye.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, it's you know, you're always you look at all
that stuff and you know, for some guys maybe that
serves as motivation, you know, but the motivation really should
be right, what do I do today that I'm gonna
be thankful for Saturday? That I did on Monday and
then Tuesday, and then Wednesday and then Thursday and then Friday.
Everybody wants to win Saturday. What are you doing today
(05:18):
to put yourself in a better position to win on Saturday?
And that's the challenge that I that I that I
pose to the team and to them as a team,
but also individually, Right, what are you going to do
today that you're going to be thankful for Saturday? And
if we can stay in that frame of mind, you know,
the external motivators are nice sometimes, but the internal motivators
(05:38):
are are what we should be focused on that. You know,
I think we're a pretty good football team. I don't
think we played very good against them the first time out,
and I think ultimately, you know, you know, they deserve
to get our best shot. I know we're gonna get
their best shot. They deserve to get our best shot.
And I think the fans and the people watching this
game that are all going to tune in deserve to
(05:59):
get the best version of Texas football. And that's what
our focus is on, all right. Uh, the buye. You know,
it's interesting because that first round game, I think there's
a you know, I don't know, almost just about two
weeks in between if you if you if you get
the buye, you've got about three and a half weeks
or so. I don't know the exact number.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Is.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Hey, I would love to get as healthy as we
can get, but but ideally, you know, nobody's going to
be one hundred percent healthy at this point of the season.
Everybody's got bumps and bruises. It would be nice, but again,
there is the extended layoff even between the championship game
and and the first round.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, it's kind of almost like a like a regular
bowl game, so there'd be about three and a half
weeks off, like if you were preparing for an Orange
Bowl or a Sugar Bowl or whatever for that deal,
all right. He was also asked about his defensive coaching staff,
namely his additions NPK and Terry Joseph, you know, and
(06:58):
his his newer dish about Johnny Nansen about proving some
naysayers wrong who might have had some things to say
about the Texas defense. And how much has the defensive
staff been able to follow through on all of that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
It's all of it, right, you know. It's one thing
to continue to adjust schemes to fit the personnel that
you have. It's another to recruit players to fit the
schemes that you really want to run. And then it's
another to have players be in your system over time
that really have a good grasp and understanding of what
we're trying to do and then the why we're trying
(07:37):
to do it. And there's growing pains, right, There's adjustments
that you have to get better at. There's a style
of play that you have to improve upon, and I
think we grew naturally over time, you know, Year one
we played Arkansas, we didn't have a very good game.
You know. In year two, we played Alabama here and
I thought we played we played a better style and
(07:59):
brand of football to fit what SEC football would be like.
We didn't come out on top. In year three, you know,
we go to Tuscaloos, Alabama and Bryant Denny Stadium and
we play a brand of football that we felt like
was good enough in the Southeastern Conference. And then in
this year, you have to do it over eight weeks
and now nine weeks, and what that toll looks like
(08:19):
physically and mentally to prepare yourself week in and week out.
And we see it all over our conference every Saturday,
that if you're not prepared to play in this conference,
you will get beat. And it doesn't matter what you
think of an opponent or not. There's too many talented
players on every roster, the coaching is too good, the
environments are too tough when you go on the road,
(08:41):
that if you're not prepared to play, you'll get beat.
And we see it. We see it across our conference.
We were fortunate enough, Like I said, that's why I
want to praise our players and our coaching staff for
getting prepared week in and week out to perform and
to execute at a high level, and we've been able
to do that. Like I said, unfortunately, we didn't have
very good game against Georgia, and all the credit in
(09:02):
the world, they came in here ready to play and
beat us that night. Hopefully we can perform better Saturday.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Then he was asked about the evolution of Michael Taff.
Taff was a heck of a high school football player
for Todd Dodge a Westlake High and then when he
came to Texas, he came to Texas as walk on,
earned himself a scholarship, has played very well, his on
the Burlsworth Trophy Award watch list that's given to a
(09:30):
player who is or was a walk on it during
his collegiate career, and of course had his second interception
in the season and fifth of his long corn career
last Saturday night, And Sark was asked also how legitimate
an NFL prospect is Taff.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting about Michael. You know, in
the summertime when he first came, we had to have
our player ramp practices where coaches weren't allowed to be
out like we are now to do work development and
things of that nature. But that first summer when he
was just out of just out of high school, every
player would come back and I'd say, hey, how'd to go?
(10:08):
You know, how was how was seven on seven? How
was team? They always would bring up Michael Taff and oh,
Taff got another interception today? Taff? You know, did this?
Did that? And I'm like, who this? And I knew him,
but I didn't really know him. You know, I knew
him enough, but I didn't really know him. And all
he did from the day he got here was lead.
First of all, he never took a back seat from
(10:29):
a leadership standpoint two. All he did was give whatever
he had. Like I struggle with the term overachieve, we
achieved whatever we do. And and what that guy has
done has squeezed his lemon and to get all the
juice out of that thing that that's been in there.
And then in the offseason he's built himself up to
(10:49):
be a better player, a faster player, a more physical player,
a better understanding of our scheme to where when he
plays there's a great deal of confidence in him. It's
not hey, he's a backup that we're subbing in He
is a critical component of our defense. When he's on
the field, we play better defense from a communications standpoint.
(11:12):
An ability to be on the same accord with the
other dbs, with the linebackers, his playmaking ability, his preparation mentally,
the physicality that he's been playing with and so all
those things has added up to I definitely think he's
an NFL prospect. You know, again, I don't know. I
haven't looked at haven't talked to the scouts and what
they exactly think and where they project him to. But
(11:32):
I think the guy's going to play in the National
Football League. And that's a great story. And the reason
it's a great story is this. You know, this offseason,
there was a lot of talk about eliminating walk ons
in college football and that we were just going to
have eighty five scholarship players and that was all we
would have. What a sad day that would be if
a story like Michael Taff wouldn't come to fruition that
(11:54):
you can get a player as a walk on because
he wants to play at the University of Texas and
maybe turned down scholarships other places, but come here, work
his tail off, earn a scholarship, become a starter, play
like an All Conference, All American type player, and then
how have the opportunity to go fulfill his dream of
playing in the NFL That college football has so many
there's so many great lessons to be had, But that's
(12:16):
just another one of given opportunities. What do people do
with those opportunities? And he's maximized his to the fullest.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
All right, there's some thoughts from Sartmar. I have a
couple more comments from him after this break, because I
want you to hear what he has to say about
physicality and how his team has been able to get physical.
We'll do that when we come back here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.
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