Transcribed by Bill Seals
On if he has any connections to any of the Stoops clan from growing up in Ohio:
“Just other than the fact that we were brought up about 30 miles from each other. I sent a GA letter right after college to try to get a GA (at Oklahoma), but I didn’t get it. I don’t even know if I got a return out of it. I got a chance to meet him. For me, Coach Stoops being from our area and seeing the program that he’s built over the last 18-19 years at Oklahoma and how he’s done it… those are things that I’ve always had a great amount of respect for.
“When we were at Toledo, we played against his brother when he was the head coach at Arizona. I have gotten to meet them. The respect as a young guy growing up in our area and seeing a guy like Coach Stoops who’s had the respect he’s had, from afar it’s been a great mentorship and respect factor from my end seeing what he’s done.”
On the possibility of one day being at Iowa State for as many years as Stoops has been at OU:
“I don’t even know what I would do. I don’t have any other interests. It drives my family crazy. I would love to do that. This is a hard profession and here’s a guy who has not only sustained success but he’s sustained success at the same place. I was so fortunate to play and coach for a guy that did on maybe a lower level but Coach (Larry) Kehres stayed 30-some years at one place. The profound impact he has made always resonated with me. To see what he’s done in 18 years at one place, it’s really impressive. You always have goals of doing something like that.”
On the complete package that true freshman David Montgomery has provided:
“I think what makes him so different and what has really given him the ability to earn the right to be on the football field is he’s complete. His ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and to block. He’s powerful. He gives us a different edge at times in the football game. It’s nice to have so many options there and so many guys who can do different things. You kind of go through a little bit of the early season of the game speeding up. Now I think he’s caught up to the game. You look at some of our big plays or sustained things that have happened, he’s been an active part of that whether it’s blocking, chipping or catching the ball out of the backfield. He has gotten better as the season goes and that’s exciting to see.”
On the true freshman that have stood out to him that are redshirts this fall:
“I think the two young linemen for us, Josh Mueller and Keenan Forbes. Naturally, linemen sometimes come in a little heavy and disjointed in some ways. These are two guys now in eight weeks that look like offensive linemen and look like they’re supposed to look. Chase Allen…nothing of his own doing other than getting sick and some unfortunate instances. He and Dylan Soehner are both really impressive young men. Also in terms of offensive football, Zeb Noland, even though his injuries, he is back in the football mind. He is growing and coming into his own. Jalen Martin has been impressive.
“Flip over defensively and Tymar Sutton breaks his hand right before the start of fall camp. That was a big blow, because really until about three weeks ago, he wasn’t able to get in live contact. He looks really good. Arnold Azunna. Some of our safeties that came in like Lawrence White and Jatairis Grant have really developed.
“Even though the season is going on, I love practice. The games are really fun, but I love practice. This is something we’ve always done a good job of, is development of our young guys in practice through the season. I measure success in a season equal to winning and losing to how are we developing these young guys in our program. What’s been fun about this freshman class is they love football, it’s really important, and even though they are not getting the credit of playing in the games, they are getting the experience of seeing winning and losing, why and why not, and developing in the weight room. These guys have a pretty good chance to be good football players for us down the line.”
On what it would mean to the program to beat one of the perennial powers in college football:
“For us, it’s about the growth. Where I was maybe a little bit disappointed last week, was that some of the areas I’ve seen us really make great strides in over the last three or four weeks, I saw maybe that plateau. This is a relentless pursuit to get where we’re going. Anything short of allowing plateau can’t be tolerated. We have to continue to do a great job of getting better.
“Yes, it’s a really good opponent, great tradition, look forward to the challenge. You’re excited to be in these environments. Just the continued seeing the growth of this football team, where we want to go, competing at a high level. You love to see somewhere this click where we do all the little things it takes to get to the fourth quarter and now win the football game and have the scoreboard reflect positively. You have to earn it and earn the right to have that feeling. We’re still learning that.”
On what strides he’d like to see the team make the rest of the way:
“In urgency to want to be the team to go win those games. In urgency of process. In urgency of Tuesday practice, Wednesday practice, Thursday practice. C’mon, we’re in every game and have chances to win every single football game. Why we’re not winning is a play here, play here or play here that’s detail-oriented. Catch the pass. Make the tackle. Line up in the right gap or responsibility. Stay in your gap. That doesn’t take any talent to do. It takes great concentration, great practice and great consistency mentally to do those things. There’s got to be a sense of urgency to want to do that and get that corrected.
“When things looked bleak early in the season the first two games, I saw a sense of urgency about our football team. Even after some tough losses, that sense of urgency. Do we still have that sense of urgency, in terms of late in the season. It’s easy for kids to shut it down right now. What are you playing for? Here’s your record. We can’t be defined by what the win and loss column looks like right now.
“We have to define within our walls of ‘are we getting better, what do we need to do to be successful, can we not make the same mistakes twice and can we put ourselves in position to win situational football and get over the hump’? To me, that’s urgency, attention to detail and want-to.
“One of the things I’m proud of is there are more kids than not in our program that want to. We have finally trimmed it to where there’s a lot of kids here that want to do it and are willing souls. I appreciate that. Are we totally there yet within our walls? No. Are we getting a lot closer today than where we have been? I really believe that. We’re not going to let up. I’m not going to let up. I’m the same guy every day. I hope we get that same mentality from our football team by the end of the season.”
On if he has any connections to any of the Stoops clan from growing up in Ohio:
“Just other than the fact that we were brought up about 30 miles from each other. I sent a GA letter right after college to try to get a GA (at Oklahoma), but I didn’t get it. I don’t even know if I got a return out of it. I got a chance to meet him. For me, Coach Stoops being from our area and seeing the program that he’s built over the last 18-19 years at Oklahoma and how he’s done it… those are things that I’ve always had a great amount of respect for.
“When we were at Toledo, we played against his brother when he was the head coach at Arizona. I have gotten to meet them. The respect as a young guy growing up in our area and seeing a guy like Coach Stoops who’s had the respect he’s had, from afar it’s been a great mentorship and respect factor from my end seeing what he’s done.”
On the possibility of one day being at Iowa State for as many years as Stoops has been at OU:
“I don’t even know what I would do. I don’t have any other interests. It drives my family crazy. I would love to do that. This is a hard profession and here’s a guy who has not only sustained success but he’s sustained success at the same place. I was so fortunate to play and coach for a guy that did on maybe a lower level but Coach (Larry) Kehres stayed 30-some years at one place. The profound impact he has made always resonated with me. To see what he’s done in 18 years at one place, it’s really impressive. You always have goals of doing something like that.”
On the complete package that true freshman David Montgomery has provided:
“I think what makes him so different and what has really given him the ability to earn the right to be on the football field is he’s complete. His ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and to block. He’s powerful. He gives us a different edge at times in the football game. It’s nice to have so many options there and so many guys who can do different things. You kind of go through a little bit of the early season of the game speeding up. Now I think he’s caught up to the game. You look at some of our big plays or sustained things that have happened, he’s been an active part of that whether it’s blocking, chipping or catching the ball out of the backfield. He has gotten better as the season goes and that’s exciting to see.”
On the true freshman that have stood out to him that are redshirts this fall:
“I think the two young linemen for us, Josh Mueller and Keenan Forbes. Naturally, linemen sometimes come in a little heavy and disjointed in some ways. These are two guys now in eight weeks that look like offensive linemen and look like they’re supposed to look. Chase Allen…nothing of his own doing other than getting sick and some unfortunate instances. He and Dylan Soehner are both really impressive young men. Also in terms of offensive football, Zeb Noland, even though his injuries, he is back in the football mind. He is growing and coming into his own. Jalen Martin has been impressive.
“Flip over defensively and Tymar Sutton breaks his hand right before the start of fall camp. That was a big blow, because really until about three weeks ago, he wasn’t able to get in live contact. He looks really good. Arnold Azunna. Some of our safeties that came in like Lawrence White and Jatairis Grant have really developed.
“Even though the season is going on, I love practice. The games are really fun, but I love practice. This is something we’ve always done a good job of, is development of our young guys in practice through the season. I measure success in a season equal to winning and losing to how are we developing these young guys in our program. What’s been fun about this freshman class is they love football, it’s really important, and even though they are not getting the credit of playing in the games, they are getting the experience of seeing winning and losing, why and why not, and developing in the weight room. These guys have a pretty good chance to be good football players for us down the line.”
On what it would mean to the program to beat one of the perennial powers in college football:
“For us, it’s about the growth. Where I was maybe a little bit disappointed last week, was that some of the areas I’ve seen us really make great strides in over the last three or four weeks, I saw maybe that plateau. This is a relentless pursuit to get where we’re going. Anything short of allowing plateau can’t be tolerated. We have to continue to do a great job of getting better.
“Yes, it’s a really good opponent, great tradition, look forward to the challenge. You’re excited to be in these environments. Just the continued seeing the growth of this football team, where we want to go, competing at a high level. You love to see somewhere this click where we do all the little things it takes to get to the fourth quarter and now win the football game and have the scoreboard reflect positively. You have to earn it and earn the right to have that feeling. We’re still learning that.”
On what strides he’d like to see the team make the rest of the way:
“In urgency to want to be the team to go win those games. In urgency of process. In urgency of Tuesday practice, Wednesday practice, Thursday practice. C’mon, we’re in every game and have chances to win every single football game. Why we’re not winning is a play here, play here or play here that’s detail-oriented. Catch the pass. Make the tackle. Line up in the right gap or responsibility. Stay in your gap. That doesn’t take any talent to do. It takes great concentration, great practice and great consistency mentally to do those things. There’s got to be a sense of urgency to want to do that and get that corrected.
“When things looked bleak early in the season the first two games, I saw a sense of urgency about our football team. Even after some tough losses, that sense of urgency. Do we still have that sense of urgency, in terms of late in the season. It’s easy for kids to shut it down right now. What are you playing for? Here’s your record. We can’t be defined by what the win and loss column looks like right now.
“We have to define within our walls of ‘are we getting better, what do we need to do to be successful, can we not make the same mistakes twice and can we put ourselves in position to win situational football and get over the hump’? To me, that’s urgency, attention to detail and want-to.
“One of the things I’m proud of is there are more kids than not in our program that want to. We have finally trimmed it to where there’s a lot of kids here that want to do it and are willing souls. I appreciate that. Are we totally there yet within our walls? No. Are we getting a lot closer today than where we have been? I really believe that. We’re not going to let up. I’m not going to let up. I’m the same guy every day. I hope we get that same mentality from our football team by the end of the season.”
