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Dana Holgorsen Media Conference - Texas Tech
October 07, 2014 04:00 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen met with members of the media earlier today to discuss Saturday’s Big 12 Conference game against Texas Tech.
Opening Statement
In preparation for this week's game against Texas Tech out in Lubbock, Texas, the first thing that comes to mind is that when I think Texas Tech, I've got a history with Texas Tech as everybody knows. I've been out there a bunch. Everything kind of starts offensively when you think about Texas Tech and think about (coach) Kliff (Kingsbury) and what he's already been able to accomplish there. You immediately think offensive football. Based on what they did last year, they're a different team in general, but they're pretty much the same offensively. Things are going to start with their quarterback. Davis Webb is still the Davis Webb that he was last year when he came out here and beat us in the second half. He's got a couple of inexperienced guys at receiver. They're going to continue to be able to get on the same page. I would expect to see improvement with them each and every week moving forward. I do think they're doing a little bit better job of running the ball this year. DeAndre Washington is a good back - as good a back as we will see. He's quick and shifty - has been productive. I would anticipate that they will continue to do things with him. They've got two outstanding inside receivers in Jakeem Grant and Bradley Marquez. Those guys are good players. They've been around there for the last couple years. They're extremely productive. That's his (Webb's) comfort zone at this point in time. He's got big tackles, and an experienced offensive line that is used to pass blocking. They will continue to show improvements on offense, and already they're scoring a bunch of points.
Defensively is probably where I see the biggest difference with them. I studied what they did prior to two weeks ago, when they made the change at defensive coordinator - promoted Mike Smith. They've simplified, and I've seen better effort. I see a defense playing with more energy. They have simplified what they're doing slightly - not doing as much as what they were doing. I think that's going to put them in position to be able to be better on defense. What they are doing with on defense is what we dealt with on offense last year. They've got a lot of new faces. They were very senior-oriented last year. Nine of the guys who played against us last year are not there. They replaced them with some very talented true freshman, and a bunch of junior college guys who are starting to get their feet underneath them. Again, I would anticipate tremendous improvement from them week in and week out defensively.
Special teams, they're great in the return game. It's problematic - punt return and kick return they've got guys who can go. The (Jakeem) Grant kid is really good. The (Cameron) Batson kid who is a true freshman is extremely quick. They do a great job at the point of attack. Everybody says 'well you have to have a great returner in order to be good in the return game.' If you don't block at the point of attack, you're going to have problems. That's one of the bigger problems I see with our punt return team right now is we're not blocking at the point of attack. Last year, we were not on the front line on kickoff returns. This year, we're doing a much better job of that, and you can see the improvement has been there. We have to stop the return stuff, which is a great week for us to challenge our punt team and our kickoff team to get better and be more consistent and get down the field and make plays. And do it at a consistent level regardless of what the score is and regardless of who is in the game.
Overall, I'm looking forward to the challenge of going to Lubbock and of going to play a Big 12 road football game. We're expecting a rowdy environment. Obviously, I've been there a bunch and know what to expect. It's going to be loud, it's going to be full, there will be a bunch of people there with a bunch of energy and we need to go in there, and we need to handle it. With that, I'll take some questions.
On what the problems were in Lubbock in 2012
This is a totally different team than what we experienced two years ago. That's a different coaching staff, so I'm going to comment on our current team and I'm going to comment on their current coaching staff. Road games are hard. We're going to treat each and every road game the same. We've won some Big 12 road football games. We know how to travel. It's not going to be any different than some of the ones that we've won. We need to prepare, worry about ourselves getting better this week, travel the appropriate way, line up, go to the locker room and put our jerseys on and go out there and play ball.
On if there are similarities between Kliff Kingsbury as a quarterback and Clint Trickett as a quarterback and on the friendship between Holgorsen and Kingsbury
I have a soft spot for coach's kids when it comes to quarterbacks. I've said that a bunch in here. Kliff was a coach's kid at quarterback and a student of the game. He was around it his whole life. His dad was a coach. He would come in and want to watch a ton of film and knew how to be a leader in the locker room - knew how to be a leader in the huddle. He was extremely competitive. I see all of those qualities with Clint. The physical qualities are much different. I don't want to go into any of that, but being a coach's kid and understanding the game of football. It's important to him. He's a great leader in the locker room. He's a great leader in the huddle. Being competitive out there, I see a lot of other similarities than just that. Just like I see similarities with (former Houston quarterback) Case Keenum and (former Texas Tech quarterback) Graham Harrell. Other coach's kids, they all possess that same quality.
I always knew Kliff was going to be a great coach, just because of that. The same reason why Clint is going to be a great coach. Those qualities translate into a good coach - Kliff could never let go of the game. When he went to the NFL, he bounced around four or five different places. He could never let it go, because he was so competitive, and he wanted to play. It started to fizzle out for him - I was always in contact with him - so I said 'move to Houston, keep training, if you get an opportunity, great. If you don't, then see if this coaching thing is worth your time. He worked out every day when he was at Houston and never got that opportunity to keep playing. At some point, he just said 'I'm done with it,' then went full throttle into coaching and has obviously been successful ever since.
On how the passing on the outside has opened up the run game
It's a cat and mouse game. If you're able to do both, then it becomes getting a bead on what their plan is. Their plan could change from series to series. It could change within the course of the series. It could change from set to set. Our job is to figure what their plan is. It's all about dropping in coverage and giving you a weak box. Or coming toward the line of scrimmage, and giving you a heavy box. Then you have to be able to figure out how you attack it. If they're going to give us a weak box, we're going to run it a bunch. If they're going to give us a heavy box, we're still going to try to run the ball a little bit. We're just not expecting 10 yards a pop. We just try to figure out what their plan is going to be. You have to have experienced guys like Clint (Trickett), which is one reason why we're having success. Not to the point to where we're truly dominating people. We haven't done that yet. But we're having success, because we identify what they're doing, and we're able to execute based on calling the appropriate plays.
On how Holgorsen's offense has evolved over the years
How much time you got? We're going to wrap things up here in a few minutes. To make a long story short, my background with (Washington State head coach) Mike Leach is throw the ball everywhere. Him throwing it 70 times and having 800,000 yards passing is no surprise to me. When I went to Houston, me and (Texas A&M coach Kevin) Sumlin got together and wanted to run the ball more with more up-tempo. Keep in mind, Kevin was at Oklahoma and had just gotten throttled by West Virginia. That was a lot of up-tempo run game, which is what (former WVU coach) Rich (Rodriguez) did with some movement. So we incorporated some of that. I went to Oklahoma State - and that was with (Joe) Wickline - it was little bit more of a dig your hands in the dirt and come off the ball and strike you. The more I did that, the more I realized it makes throwing the ball a little easier when you've got more people up in the box. We kept our core principles in the pass game with our progressions, and the routes that we run. We just added to it with being able to come off the ball and smack you, or create some movement and tempo to be able to run the ball a little bit as well. Enter (WVU offensive line coach) Ron Crook, who has a little bit more of a heavier set - not talking about his weight - heavier set offensive game plans with tight ends - that Stanford inside zone power. That sort of thing. He was really good at that stuff, and that's why I was very interested in bringing him on board. We've evolved a little bit into that as well. I'd like to think we can do any of what I just said. We could spread it out and throw it. We could go fast and run it, go fast and throw it. Use movement and run it, use movement and throw it. And then dig our knuckles in the ground and come off the ball and whack you if we need to do that as well. It takes a while to get there, but I think we've gotten to the point where we're there.
On if it was hard to change personal believes offensively
It wasn't like I went from one extreme to the other. There are seven years in between there. That was an evolution based on the people around me, based on personnel, based on just kind of changing with the times, I guess.
On Brandon Golson and Shaquille Riddick's performance against Kansas
We were happy with it, because it got more speed on the field. When you're playing spread offenses, you've got to cover more ground. The more speed you have out there, the better it is going to be. Shaq (Riddick) needs more reps. He's going to continue to get more reps. Ed Muldrow needs more reps. He's going to continue to get more reps. Golson, you have to play to his advantage which is being able to come off the edge and get to the quarterback. He never got there, but affected the play a couple times. Shaq Petteway - same thing - it allows his athleticism to be able to get out there and move around and affect the play, not only when you're rushing, but being able to cover in space as well. Kansas was a spread team that ran it. Tech is a spread team that's going to throw it more. You want that kind of personnel on the field when you play those types of teams.
On if Holgorsen considers the versatility of players when he recruits them
Recruiting is a different deal, because you never know how guys are going to progress. You never know how guys are going to develop. When you're recruiting junior college guys and transfers, like Riddick, Golson, Muldrow, we recruited those type of guys because of their twitch to help in the passing game.
On how playing a different style of offense like Texas Tech impacts play call
We will do some different things. Tech's still going to run the ball. Kliff is running it more than he ever has. He's up to about 33 percent, so he's running it more. They've got a quality back in Washington. They've got two more guys that they can put in there to run the ball. I don't know if it's because of what they're facing, what the defenses are doing to them, or health of the quarterback. I don't know why, but they're running it more. We've got to be able to stop the run with the appropriate number of people that we put in the box, and we still have to be able to cover as well. The same thing that we were talking about of what we try to do to defenses, guess what - he's going to try to do it to us as well - maybe with different sets.
On the performance of the special teams against Kansas
We're going to challenge our punt team. We've given up two punts, which we're not happy with. We're not incredibly pleased with the punter at this point either. You can't pinpoint any of the problems that have existed. The five special team’s blunders that have happened, you can't pinpoint one person. If somebody pinpoints one person, they have no idea what they're talking about. We have identified as a whole what needs to change. We've challenged our entire punt team. It's the same punter, the same snapper, same personnel, same coach, same practice schedule, same practice time that led the Big 12 last year. It's the same people - same everything. So what do you do? You challenge them to get better, and we need Nick (O'Toole) to get better, and we need to be able to cover more consistently.
On if the wind a Texas Tech and if it must be prepared for
You have to deal with it. I was talking with Tony (Caridi) about this one earlier. There have only been a couple of situations in my 20 years where wind affected a game. The wind in that stadium on that day (in 2012) did not affect the game. It did not affect the game. Did it get in Geno (Smith)'s head a little bit? Probably a little bit more once he looked out there, and he didn't have Stedman (Bailey) because he went out in the first quarter. He looked over here to JD (Woods), and they were bracketing JD because he was our only threat that we had. There are some other variables. There have only been a couple of games throughout the course of my career where you had to be careful of what you called based on wind. That (the 2012 game) was not one of them. There were a lot of other issues going on in that game other than that. It dang sure didn't affect them, because they threw for about 500 yards and had 49 points. Last year at Kansas, that wind affected how you called it. Two years ago at Texas Tech, it did not. Clint is a fifth-year guy. If it's gusty - it was gusty out here Saturday night - Clint's a fifth-year guy who's played in it before. He's made trips to TCU and Baylor and Kansas and Iowa State and stuff like that. He's experienced it, which does a lot of good. As far as what we do, it's been very rare.
On redshirt senior quarterback Clint Trickett playing in the wind at Texas Tech
I don't think you can talk about it. I just think you have to experience it, and I think Clint is at the point now where he has experienced that atmosphere. After that game, Geno (Smith) was very comfortable at Oklahoma State with the same wind. He was very comfortable at Iowa State with the same wind, so he learned from it and became better. I think Clint is at a point now where he has experienced it. (Quarterback) Paul (Millard) has experienced it. They been there, done that. I don’t think it will affect us one bit. If it affects us, and it changes what we call, it’s going to affect Texas Tech and affect what they call. It's the only way you can look at it.
On Tony Gibson and the defense thus far
He is doing a good job. One of the reasons why I hired him is that he took a three down front and tweaked it a little bit into what we are currently seeing, which I thought was a positive. Our defensive personnel has experienced that and are starting to play a lot better; (Nick) Kwiatkoski (redshirt junior linebacker), (Wes) Tonkery (redshirt senior linebacker), (junior safety) KJ Dillon, (junior safety) Karl Joseph and (redshirt defensive lineman) Kyle Rose. The list goes on and on, and they respond to him. I could see that they responded to him like this a year ago, and this year he has confirmed that they respond to him, and they play hard for him.
On sophomore cornerback Daryl Worley's status
He's been cleared to practice, that happened on Sunday, but as far as competition it is still up in the air. He has been cleared to practice by the university. His legal situation is still up in the air, and that is all we are going to comment at this point. It is still up to a lot of people to decide his game eligibility. At this point in time, he is in the building and he is practicing.
On penalties this season
I have been very happy with our guys when it comes to discipline on the field. I have been very happy with how these guys have been playing. (Nick) Kwiatkoski (redshirt junior linebacker) had a couple of penalties last week, which were learning experiences so to speak. You have to play with proper technique, and you have to play smart when it comes to pulling the trigger or not. I think we do a good job of coaching that, and I think our guys are doing a good job with playing smart. The player has to have the discipline and know when to pull the trigger and when not to pull the trigger.
On freshman quarterback William Crest Jr. status
He is still day to day. He didn't do anything Sunday. I think we will probably go out there today and evaluate it a little bit. It's still in the trainers hands as of right now. They got him on a pitch count so to speak. Where exactly he is going to be at, we will find out when we go out there this afternoon.
On redshirt junior tight end Cody Clay and redshirt freshman tight end Elijah Wellman playing better against Kansas
I thought they both played well. I think Cody played his absolute best game by far against Kansas. He blocked hard, and he was physical. He fit right in. He protected well. Some of their issues were because of No. 85 and No. 19 coming off the edge. You have to protect the edge against those guys, but you have to protect the edge with Cody Clay and Elijah, which puts them at a little bit of a disadvantage athletically. They tried hard. They just got beat a couple of times. They tried hard against Kansas, especially Cody. I can't say enough about Cody Clay. He is a great team leader. He plays with tremendous effort, and had his best game to date last week for sure. You could have easily gave him the player of the week, but (Quinton) Spain (redshirt senior offensive lineman) and (Mark) Glowinski (redshirt senior offensive lineman) were playing at a different level.
On the morning kickoff time
It’s the same time we kicked off against Maryland, and we played well and won that game. We will go on the same schedule. It's a shorter trip, because airplanes go faster than buses so we will actually have less travel time to get to Lubbock, Texas. It will be the same schedule. You would have to call Delta. It goes back to our wind discussion and all that stuff. I would imagine it would be between two hours and 30 minutes, where the bus ride was three hours and 30 minutes. We are looking forward to shorter travel, and the same schedule – waking up and playing a game and then coming home.
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