by Bill Seals
On the status of Kamari Cotton-Moya coming out of the Oklahoma State game:
“On Saturday, I really thought those guys that came into play…Evrett Edwards got a lot of those snaps and Braxton Lewis, a young man that’s walked onto our program and really been impressive on special teams and safety position. He is a heady, tough guy that can run and is showing he can play for a us a little bit. Those guys got the bulk of the reps and I think they both played really well within the football game. They probably played their best games to date.
“Kamari’s status going forward is probably day-to-day. He was out there running around a little bit. We’ll see where he is as we progress through Tuesday and Wednesday. We would certainly love to get him back, but it’s great to see guys step up. It’s this time of year you’re going to have guys go down.”
On the status of Trever Ryen coming out of the Oklahoma State game:
“He was out there at practice yesterday still not going full-go. We’ll know Tuesday, Wednesday, and probably by the time we meet on Wednesday I’ll have a lot better idea of where he’s at. We’re really fortunate. It looked bad, but it was not as bad as it looked. He walked out of there on Saturday night and was certainly walking around without a boot or anything.”
On the mindset in the football facility coming off a second consecutive tough loss:
“I’m ticked. I think I kind of made that known. I hope our kids are ticked too. I would be if I was a player. Everybody is a little bit ticked off. That’s permeating through our doors right now I would hope.”
On how much players on the team might dwell on the near misses:
“Kids 18-to-22 years of age have a memory of about two seconds. The reality of those guys thinking about that a week from now, I’d be hard-pressed to think that’s the case. Now do we have to learn from our mistakes and realize we can’t turn the ball over and do some of those things we did to lose the game? Yeah, we have to. Worrying about that is foolish.”
On what improved with the improved rush defense against the Cowboys:
“We tackled, which again is not revolutionary. Our ability to tackle much better was a huge facet to the football game. I thought our linebackers played a lot better. I thought Willie Harvey played maybe one of his better games since at least we’ve been here. I thought Kane Seeley made some great plays in the football game and tackled well. Brian Mills. Our linebackers were able to be involved and tackle. I thought coach did a good job of filtering some of those balls and spilling them to our backers. Again, some of those guys that came in at safety played well for us. The biggest emphasis was tackling better and I think our kids were able to do it. We played a little better on the defensive line. We were able to get some vertical penetration within the football game that a week ago we were not able to do.”
On the approach he takes with the team after the tough setbacks:
“It’s pretty simple. You demand the best of these kids every day. You show them what went wrong. You show them those five, six, seven, eight plays that didn’t allow us to win the game. You understand what the attitude and effort of your program looks like and demand that we continue to get better. We’ve got to perfect our craft and get better at our skill. We’ve got a lot of work to do and are working hard to get there. I’m probably as brutally honest as you get – both positive and negative. You have to be 100 percent honest and that way growth can occur.”
On technically what goes into the team being better tacklers:
“Sometimes it’s even opponent. It’s a little bit of everything. The angle of tackle you make. How you filter to the football. Our ability to get our head across, wrap up and bring them down. There’s a lot of intangibles and variables that really come into tackling better and well. The thing that we see is we can do it and have the ability to do it. Some of the games we have tackled really well and a couple of the games we didn’t tackle as well. We continue to evaluate that.”
On what’s gone into the uptick in offensive performance against two solid Big 12 teams:
“Number one, being able to identify what can our players do. It’s players, formations, plays. Who are our players, how do we get them the ball and what’s the best situation to allow them to be successful. We had so many injuries throughout spring practice and fall camp, that to really see our football team and understand our offensive football team has taken a little bit of time. We have figured that out and have really done a great job of coaching and putting those kids in the best position to be successful.
“The second thing is consistency of play by our eight players. Our eight players are starting to play. I don’t think we have all the way, but we’re a lot better than what we have been. Our guys are starting to execute and play to what they’re capable of playing. That’s certainly gone a long way.
“The quarterback spot is an area where we continue to play better and better. It wasn’t even perfect on Saturday, but you saw them fight through some highs and lows to have some efficiency. At times we hadn’t done that early in the season. I’m really proud of those guys. They are plugging away. I wish we had played a better fourth quarter on the offensive side of the football, but you still saw those guys make some plays.”
On what he thinks of what Trever Ryen has brought to the team this season:
“Some guys say I have favorites. I’ll put it out there right now, if I had one favorite it would probably be Trever. Trever Ryen is the guy that may be the hardest worker in our football program. When you don’t have to lift on Thursday during the week, he’s the guy that’s there. He is constantly up here, whether it’s 6 a.m. or 10 at night trying to make sure he knows what he’s doing and when he’s supposed to do it.
“He was on the kickoff return team last and is on the punt return team. He’s a gunner at times for us on punts. He’s got that kind of mentality where he has a chip on his shoulder and something to prove every day. He’s been a huge piece of our program and culture as we try to build this program the right way. He does all the things when nobody is looking better than anybody else. I’m really proud of Trever and it’s great to coach him.”
On the status of Kamari Cotton-Moya coming out of the Oklahoma State game:
“On Saturday, I really thought those guys that came into play…Evrett Edwards got a lot of those snaps and Braxton Lewis, a young man that’s walked onto our program and really been impressive on special teams and safety position. He is a heady, tough guy that can run and is showing he can play for a us a little bit. Those guys got the bulk of the reps and I think they both played really well within the football game. They probably played their best games to date.
“Kamari’s status going forward is probably day-to-day. He was out there running around a little bit. We’ll see where he is as we progress through Tuesday and Wednesday. We would certainly love to get him back, but it’s great to see guys step up. It’s this time of year you’re going to have guys go down.”
On the status of Trever Ryen coming out of the Oklahoma State game:
“He was out there at practice yesterday still not going full-go. We’ll know Tuesday, Wednesday, and probably by the time we meet on Wednesday I’ll have a lot better idea of where he’s at. We’re really fortunate. It looked bad, but it was not as bad as it looked. He walked out of there on Saturday night and was certainly walking around without a boot or anything.”
On the mindset in the football facility coming off a second consecutive tough loss:
“I’m ticked. I think I kind of made that known. I hope our kids are ticked too. I would be if I was a player. Everybody is a little bit ticked off. That’s permeating through our doors right now I would hope.”
On how much players on the team might dwell on the near misses:
“Kids 18-to-22 years of age have a memory of about two seconds. The reality of those guys thinking about that a week from now, I’d be hard-pressed to think that’s the case. Now do we have to learn from our mistakes and realize we can’t turn the ball over and do some of those things we did to lose the game? Yeah, we have to. Worrying about that is foolish.”
On what improved with the improved rush defense against the Cowboys:
“We tackled, which again is not revolutionary. Our ability to tackle much better was a huge facet to the football game. I thought our linebackers played a lot better. I thought Willie Harvey played maybe one of his better games since at least we’ve been here. I thought Kane Seeley made some great plays in the football game and tackled well. Brian Mills. Our linebackers were able to be involved and tackle. I thought coach did a good job of filtering some of those balls and spilling them to our backers. Again, some of those guys that came in at safety played well for us. The biggest emphasis was tackling better and I think our kids were able to do it. We played a little better on the defensive line. We were able to get some vertical penetration within the football game that a week ago we were not able to do.”
On the approach he takes with the team after the tough setbacks:
“It’s pretty simple. You demand the best of these kids every day. You show them what went wrong. You show them those five, six, seven, eight plays that didn’t allow us to win the game. You understand what the attitude and effort of your program looks like and demand that we continue to get better. We’ve got to perfect our craft and get better at our skill. We’ve got a lot of work to do and are working hard to get there. I’m probably as brutally honest as you get – both positive and negative. You have to be 100 percent honest and that way growth can occur.”
On technically what goes into the team being better tacklers:
“Sometimes it’s even opponent. It’s a little bit of everything. The angle of tackle you make. How you filter to the football. Our ability to get our head across, wrap up and bring them down. There’s a lot of intangibles and variables that really come into tackling better and well. The thing that we see is we can do it and have the ability to do it. Some of the games we have tackled really well and a couple of the games we didn’t tackle as well. We continue to evaluate that.”
On what’s gone into the uptick in offensive performance against two solid Big 12 teams:
“Number one, being able to identify what can our players do. It’s players, formations, plays. Who are our players, how do we get them the ball and what’s the best situation to allow them to be successful. We had so many injuries throughout spring practice and fall camp, that to really see our football team and understand our offensive football team has taken a little bit of time. We have figured that out and have really done a great job of coaching and putting those kids in the best position to be successful.
“The second thing is consistency of play by our eight players. Our eight players are starting to play. I don’t think we have all the way, but we’re a lot better than what we have been. Our guys are starting to execute and play to what they’re capable of playing. That’s certainly gone a long way.
“The quarterback spot is an area where we continue to play better and better. It wasn’t even perfect on Saturday, but you saw them fight through some highs and lows to have some efficiency. At times we hadn’t done that early in the season. I’m really proud of those guys. They are plugging away. I wish we had played a better fourth quarter on the offensive side of the football, but you still saw those guys make some plays.”
On what he thinks of what Trever Ryen has brought to the team this season:
“Some guys say I have favorites. I’ll put it out there right now, if I had one favorite it would probably be Trever. Trever Ryen is the guy that may be the hardest worker in our football program. When you don’t have to lift on Thursday during the week, he’s the guy that’s there. He is constantly up here, whether it’s 6 a.m. or 10 at night trying to make sure he knows what he’s doing and when he’s supposed to do it.
“He was on the kickoff return team last and is on the punt return team. He’s a gunner at times for us on punts. He’s got that kind of mentality where he has a chip on his shoulder and something to prove every day. He’s been a huge piece of our program and culture as we try to build this program the right way. He does all the things when nobody is looking better than anybody else. I’m really proud of Trever and it’s great to coach him.”
