Steve Sarkisian Media Availability #texaslonghorns #texasfootball #stevesarkisian #secfootball #sec

[Applause] was just commenting um we've we've had three really good practices in a row um I I commended the team um I think the intent um the intention to detail the speed in which we practiced with uh and most notably on Tuesday and Wednesday the physicality that we practiced in was really encouraging um going into a first game you know sometimes you're still going through some of the Growing Pains of of how we prepare and things of that nature but uh like I said I think all that goes back to the the veteran leadership that we have and then the commitment from a lot of our new people to uh to just jump right into this is how we go about our business to prepare for a game and uh it definitely showed I I was thoroughly impressed with the way these guys worked here um this week and naturally we know we've got uh really good cleanup day tomorrow but uh proud of the way they they've prepared and put ourselves I think in a really good position to go out and perform Saturday thanks coach uh go ahead and put up your raised hand um functions and we'll go through some questions Danny start us off uh Steve when you look at this Colorado State team what kind of stands out about them offensively and kind of how they run that air raid system well I think one they have an elite receiver and and knowing where where he is is critical first of all um because because you know a lot of their offense kind of starts with him and if if the quarterback's got a favorable matchup you can almost guarantee that's where the ball's going to go um but I think they've added some pieces around him as well you know we know Armani Winfield well we recruited him he was committed to us here a couple years ago so the addition of Armani I think is helpful um you know they they have a runner who you know only played in three games last year rushed for over 300 yards so we think the running game um could could cause some issues there as well um to try to create some one-on-one matchups on the perimeter um and they know their system really well and then because when you know your system well they know the answers to the test when you try to give them a different look and so I think it's important for us to you know be tight in coverage try to affect the quarterback um and then having the ability to mix things up um to try to create a little bit of hesitation Joe Cook go ahead sorry uh I know at media days you kind of talked about how um you brought Kelvin because you knew he wouldn't be wasn't going to be there again next year um so just kind of curious this is a program that hasn't had a firstr draft picked at offensive line in a long time what do you think as he enters his third and maybe his last season could be the ceiling for Kelvin as a left tackle not only you know as a draft prospect but within the program as well um well you know I I think the world of Kelvin Banks and I'm going to talk about the human being before I talk about the player and I think you guys know me well enough I value the people in our organization and that goes back to my very first year talking about beon and Roshan and those guys Kelvin Banks embodies what I would want every Longhorn to embody the humility in which he shows up in the building with every day the work ethic the drive the commitment um not only on the football field uh in the weight room in the classroom in the community um you know he's got a you know wonderful relationship with his parents his family um I just think he represents at the highest level to go along with he's a great football player and he's he's very calm uh on the field some might say he's reserved but I I see it firsthand he's not you know he plays he plays physical he plays violent he's really good in the pass game he's really good in in the Run game he can redirect he's smart um and so what the ceiling is you know I I don't I don't know you know I mean hey I want him to win every award he can win and be an All-American and be a first round pick I mean I I don't know what else you know left tackles can do on that front um but again this is a long season and there's a lot of football to be played and he's got some great challenges he's going to have to go against along the way uh but we're definitely lucky to have him onire go ahead uh hey coach um can you talk a little bit about Ryan niblet uh what you what he's bringing to the running back room and how his transition has been going and uh anything you tell me about jont cook what kind of Camp he's had leading into this season yeah I think Ryan um has been a really versatile player for us um I've been very proud of Ryan you know a lot of times I say this a lot and I'm GNA mention it here with jonte here in a second too so many times you when you're a really good program like I think that we've evolved ourselves into um when you're a four or five star kid and you come into the program there's not this like automatic anointment that you're just going to be the guy you know we have pretty good players on our roster and it's it's competitive and it's tough and you know but we do pr ourselves on developing the players in our program and I think Ryan year last year was a great year of development for him I think he's really changed his body he's playing really fast right now and not only is he being effective for us offensively he's really found a role on special teams and he's an impactful player player for us on special teams as well so um you know I'm I've been proud of him um it's been a journey nobody ever likes coming to a to a school as a freshman and not playing as much as you would really want and hope to play but he kept his head down he kept working and we've carved out a pretty good role for him that I think is one where he's going to be an impactful player for us uh this fall jonte has had a good camp um I would say you know definitely light years ahead of where he was a year ago um he's in much better shape his understanding of the offense um you know I can really jonte can play any position on the field um and I think that that's where he creates a lot of value for himself um he's a sure handed guy that uh understands our offense and has a really good feel for what we're doing so like I said I think he's had a very good camp and and I've applauded him throughout camp for the work that he's done because I think he's made a lot of strides as well Josh you're up yeah Steve we know that multiple defensive guys have been using um uh the helmet radio um Anthony Hill said Monday that he would have the helmet radio on Saturday uh one can you just confirm that that that's accurate and and two what makes him a good fit against this particular opponent to have that responsibility yeah um yeah he'll he'll wear it um and there's you know when he's not on the field other guys are going to have to wear it you know I think that's one of the unique things about the way the helmet works here in college football I'll be honest with you guys I think you guys are making way too big of a deal over this thing I get asked about it in every press conference I get asked about it in everything that I do it's literally getting the call and then telling the D linan and the call everybody else still has to communicate when when you go against a no huddle team we don't get to huddle like you do in the NFL and and the linebacker call everybody up and call out the defense and then disperse when you're going against an air raid team that's spread out and they're going fast and they're going Tempo like we still have to be creative with our signals we still have to do all those things and so I I know everybody wants to make a big deal out of the communication thing and understandably so because it's new I don't know if you're going to see a whole lot of a difference in the game you know I know we watched the games last week I mean it I don't if nobody told you there was helmet communication in the Georgia Tech Florida State game I don't know if anybody would have known like it's just a a little easier way to communicate and I don't think it's like going to be some Earth shattering advantage of one side of the ball or the other from a from a strategic standpoint Bob go ahead hey s just wanted to ask about Derek Williams and how his Camp's gone and some of the strides he's made in this offseason yeah I mean Derek is a really versatile player he's a guy that uh had a nice freshman year for us last year um you know he he creates a lot of position flexibility for us because although he plays safety he really has the coverage skills of a corner uh he's definitely an impactful player for us on special teams he's rangy he can run um he's got a high football IQ so again we we expect him to to have a have a nice season for us Eric you're up Mor Steve just want to ask you you talk want to get multiple guys in the game ideally during this nod conference time what are some of the things that you look for when a guy gets those snaps M some guys who you know are are past the the two deep and what is something that they can do that would say hey this guy gives us confidence we can come back to him and Conference ball well I think one it's a it's a byproduct of practice and game and we you know a lot of players you know are different some guys practice really well they prepare really well they play really well that's the ideal formula for success in our book you have other guys that can prepare really well practice really well and then don't perform well and maybe make some uncharacteristic in game and then you have the other player that maybe isn't practicing great but then you put him on the field and he plays pretty good and so we're always trying to learn our players that way and we have a lot of new players that we don't have all of that information on yet and that's what games are for and then if if it is a player that is practicing great preparing really great but is making some uncharacteristic errors in game well now we're getting into maybe some sport psychology stuff that that's an area where we can help him throughout the week get ready for a ball game so everybody's different um we're looking for all of those things and we're looking for the guys that are comfortable playing in that Arena um for some guys it's it's easy to play football when no one's watching it's a little bit more difficult to play when there's 100,00 people in the stands and and millions watching on television and and when you get caught up in that that a lot of times causes some of those uncharacteristic errors when you just focus on 53 and a third wide 100 yards long right the hashes of the hashes and you play the plays um generally you're you're better served when you can stay in that in that frame of mind and and not get too emotional with it Dennis go ahead hey coach um with with such a good passing team coming in do you sense from the secondary and really just the UT pass defense as a whole that they kind of want to make a statement want to establish themselves as a uh as one of the strengths of this team well I think so but I think part of that is we still got to be a great run defense you know I think one of the misnomers about our pass defense numbers is how many pass attempts we faced last year I think we were top in the country if I'm not mistaken so because you couldn't run it on us you threw it and inevitably you're going to find yards somewhere in the passing game our key to the drill in the secondary is we got to eliminate the explosive play and um you know when you look at our two losses last year that that was the area in the passing game really hurt us we gave up explosive pass plays against Oklahoma and against Washington and so um but again it starts with us if we let people be balanced it's going to be a long day for us defensively so we've got to eliminate something and then we've got to play sound in the back end um in the pass game and and we can't give up those chunk plays in the passing game because it's you know that the numbers tell you when you hit an explosive pass play your percentage of scoring a touchdown on that drive go up exponentially so we've got to minimize those explosive pass PS pass plays first and then sure we'd like to make more plays in the ball and and we got we got a fair amount of interceptions last year but we're always trying to build on that number Sam go ahead hey Sark I know quarterback depth has been so important for you guys the last couple years wanted to ask you about your two guys behind Quinn one how has Arch progressed from where he was at this time last year to where he is now and how do you feel about Trey Owen's development since he's been on campus yeah I would say for Arch uh I'd probably say Lighty years ahead of where he was last year at this time you know uh his understanding of what we're trying to do offensively uh the nuances of the scheme um the uh the timing of certain throws the the protections all those things and I just think his overall Comfort level and confidence is much higher uh than it was a year ago at this time and very comfortable if if Arch goes in the game that he'll go in and operate and operate at a high level I've been I've been impressed with Trey you know again he's he's a true freshman and there's days when I'm sure he's like can I just get coach Sark and Coach Milly off my back uh and there's other days where he does some great stuff but that's a little bit of the life of a first year quarterback in our system but I think the one thing we've learned is that when the when the lights come on he performs you know he's performed really well for us in every scrimmage he performed well in the spring game um and I think we've got a pretty good idea of the things that he does well and so if if his number is called I think we we feel comfortable with calling the stuff that put him in a good position to have some success got time for the last three and queue go ahead Thomas coach you mentioned how big a ro Tory Horton plays for Colorado State's offense uh jday Baron's very versatile guy for you how much would you consider moving him around to match up with Borton um I I don't think I don't think we have to necessarily do that um there could be moments you know specific situations when when that arises but we're comfortable with the guys that we have um back there and I think a lot of them are interchangeable I think that's one of the beauties of a j Baron um because he could play three positions here Saturday you know he could play Corner star and safety and so and then the versatility to to disguise coverages is helpful for us that way too so um again if if if he's just locked on one guy the whole time that that kind of minimizes our ability to disguise some of the things we're trying to do your last quick ones Terry coach uh good afternoon so I would imagine that right now with a couple coule days to go you have tunnel vision I me you are locked into the finest of details kind of curious what are some of the details that you're super focused on that we would never know about because we're not on the field on the team but what's bouncing around in your brain right now uh the multitude of defenses that they could call that are nowhere on tape and then what are we gonna call to adjust to that uh and that's for myself and the and the offensive staff that's not I try not to put all that on the players just want to make sure that uh you know if they they they I they can play anything and to make sure that whatever they come out in and and we are able to identify that in the first series or two uh that we're putting our players in a good position to be successful last one Roger Sark last year uh ad and and Quinn hooked up pretty pretty well early on now you got a handful of new receivers and young receivers how important is that now that you're in games to to kind of figure out that chemistry well again I I think the the beauty of the way we practice and how competitive our practices are we we get put in we put them in a lot of situations to where Rapport and chemistry is going to matter and I think that that has shown up in a lot of our scrimmages in our team settings um and we feel comfortable with that Rapport naturally I'm sure we'll have some Growing Pains there um but but because of the way we work and the time and the effort that those guys put in in the summer on their own and then what we do in training camp um I I feel I feel confident that that Quinn's got good rapport with all these guys um but like I said I'm sure there'll be some Growing Pains that that we'll have to work through