Practice Report: Defensive Line More Physical; Pipkins Makes Impression

Post practice non-transcript of head coach Kliff Kingsbury:

Kliff Kingsbury: . . . been good, we’re getting to the point the reps change figuring out the 1’s, 2’s and 3’s, we have a scrimmage on Saturday which will finalize where guys are going and then we start simulated game stuff . . . about 75% of where rotation is set . . . biggest gain is Ondre Pipkin, down to 305, came in at 335, he’s been physical and a real presence there . . . Noah Jones has stood out, really smart and really understands what we’re doing, playing him on the end and playing him on that three technique . . . Gary Moore had a head injury, should get him back tomorrow . . . Breiden Fehoko had a day off, just maintenance stuff, should be back tomorrow, as well as Theirry Nguemea and Tony Morales should be back at the end of the week . . . the go-to on the offensive side of things is to give the ball to Pat and see what happens, he is the bell cow and what we’re leaning on . . . with defense, the new depth of the defensive line, we weren’t great against the run and hopefully make plays when we need to . . . there is more physicality inside this year, Breiden, Kolin and Pipkins and Broderick Washington, bigger stronger and physical guys and hopefully that continues . . . the linebackers are making a lot of tackles, those young guys, Picone, Brooks, Stringer, have been getting a ton of reps, Luke Stice, D’Vonta Hinton and Malik Jenkins it’s a good group of 6 or 6 guys, hopefully that continues . . . Christian Taylor has looked lost at safety, has had a great camp at linebacker, he’s triggering and played well there . . . Jah’Shawn Johnson, Payton Hendrix, Keenon Ward, Des Smith, there are 5 or 6 guys all vying for posisions . . . Kisean Allen, he’s a tough kid and really fast nad learning, try to get him a role on special teams and then get him a loon at safety . . .

Post practice non-transcripts of IR Cameron Batson, DE Kolin Hill and RB Quinton White:

Cameron Batson: . . . having big outside guys takes the safeties out, one-on-one we are hard to cover . . . replacing Jakeem Grant, I put a lot on my shoulders because I know the type of athlete that I am and want to be, I put a lot of pressure on myself to fulfill those shoes . . . really just the heart, hard work and preparation, mentally and physically last year, I’m ready to fulfill that role . . . as the fastest man on the team, yeah, they try to challenge me, Justin Stockton, all of those guys, Keke Coutee, all those guys try to take it from me . . . Keke Coutee played behind me, he played great, has great hips . . . Giles was at the other side, not sure who was behind him . . . punt return philosophy has changed, this year, expect big things . . . all of the DB’s do a great job, Justis Nelson, Jah’Shawn Johnson, Desmon Smith and Douglas Coleman, really Justis, we give each other a hard time because he’s bigger, but I feel like my quickness and speed . . .

Kolin Hill: . . . me and Zeus (Zach Barnes) have a rotation, just competing for that starting spot. . . . Joe Wallace and Noah Jones have been doing good at practice . . . different attituded, will be tackling better, have more excitement . . . Kaleb (Kolin’s brother) loves being here, he’s getting used to it . . . ready to get out there, it’s been a year since I’ve played, excited to do that . . . keeping both guys fresh, both Coach Patrick and Coach Gibbs stress, never be too tired because we have depth . . . Coach Patrick wants to execute and have good attitude, wants to eliminate mistakes and run to the ball . . . we have a lot of walk-throughs and have a lot of film, shows us what to do at practice to eliminate mistakes . . . Terence Steele, quick step and has good feet, he’s a good dude, didn’t play against him in high school . . .

Quinton White: . . . just a punishment things, freshman didn’t weigh in, Coach Foster did the punishment with us . . . did 300 yards of board pushes . . . had to step up, I’m the oldest, I have 2 kids, so some days, have to get serious . . . I didn’t have to push boards, but I ran next to them . . . have been doing the two-back more this year . . . would much rather hit someone and let Stockton run the ball . . . as to who else would be the best at the gunner position, Caleb Woodward, and Luke Stice are the most hard working and Woodward is something he can be really good at . . . Kisean Allen is the guy on the other side . . . I forgot the little girls names, and she just lit my world up, I worked at the Ronald McDonald’s House for class, they’re just so happy to be alive . . . I graduated on Saturday, human development and studies, want to be a guidance counselor for kids in poverty stricken areas . . . if someone in the running back room, but it is the marity level of our team, if one fails, we all fail . . .

Some post-practice thoughts:

  • Not as many revelations in today’s post-practice interview. the one thing that continues to stand out, which we need to sort of keep an eye on this stuff, is the idea that Kingsbury continues to sell the defensive line as being greatly improved.
  • I think Ondre Pipkins takes the lead for the guy mentioned most often by Kingsbury. I’m pretty sure we don’t go a few days without Kingsbury praising Pipkins buying in from a weight-loss standpoint as well as noting his physical play along the line. I think we’re all thinking, “Please let this translate to the field.”
  • I’m also interested to see how the two safeties turned to linebacker are doing, both Jamile Johnson and Christian Taylor, maybe more important to me is the idea as to how those guys in particular are being used at weakside linebacker.
  • Liked hearing from Batson, I don’t recall hearing him all that much prior to this interview.
  • When you watch Kingsbury’s video, there are guys in the background with their hands on the ground, somewhat like bear crawls, but there is something where the hands of the guy can slide, and you can see a guy in red doing it and that’s coach DeShaun Foster doing the punishment with the players. As White notes, apparently a player didn’t weigh in before practice, am guessing it’s Da’Leon Ward since there aren’t any other freshmen on the team. The entire group did the punishment.
  • Kolin Hill doesn’t have much to say, but when mentioning his brother, Kaleb, his face lit up and said that Kaleb is doing well and getting adjusted.

LAJ’s Don Williams writes about the help that hopefully Breiden Fehoko will have this year and an attempt to keep him fresh for the season and each game. Gibbs said that Fehoko played too much last year:

“He played too much,” Gibbs said. “We didn’t have anybody to spell him, so his production was down because he got beat up. He won’t play near as much simply because you cannot play 80, 85 plays a game against these Big 12 offensive linemen.

Gibbs also said that the true freshmen will play, his reasoning is fine by me:

“Those kids, half of them are going to play. They have to,” he said. “We’ll rotate those guys in there. It’s like I keep saying, ‘They’re going to get their brains beat in, but that’s life.’

“I would rather have a true freshman getting his brains beat in, making mistakes, than a fifth-year senior or fourth-year senior making mistakes that he’s been making for three years and not getting any better.”

RRS’s Will McKay has a notebook from yesterday and it’s detailed as well. The thing I wanted to key on was the depth chart with a few guys out, just to get a sense as to who is playing at different spots. On defense, this was the first team defense:

The first-team defense during the early 11-on-11 session visible during the media’s 20-minute observation period had Kris Williams and Kolin Hill at defensive end, Mychealon Thomas and Ondre Pipkins at defensive tackle, D’Vonta Hinton and Jordyn Brooks at linebacker, Jah’Shawn Johnson and Keenon Ward at safety, Justis Nelson at nickelback and Paul Banks and DJ Polite-Bray at corner.

LAJ’s Don Williams has nis notebook from yesterday and Don thinks the linebackers will play out like this:

Now Hinton, Jenkins and Stice look like the starters with Stice at weak-side linebacker and Jenkins still on the strong side.

“It was a big difference,” Hinton said, “but stuff happens and you’ve just got to continue to pick it up and keep rolling. … I’ve been learning it.

“Luke came in — a great leader; he’s focused. This is his last year, so he’s ready to rock and roll and we’ve been getting it ever since.”

Get to know DE Noah Jones:

It’s a hot one.

Back To Top