Head coach Kliff Kingsbury spoke to the media today after practice and here’s your non-transcript:
.@TTUKingsbury met with the media following today’s practice. Take a look. #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/ZWdqoHvIFU
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) October 11, 2016
Kliff Kingsbury: Practice has been good, been focused, think we got all of the pouting out of the way, big opportunity with a top 20 team coming in for homecoming and players are excited . . . West Virginia will likely play defense very similar to last year, they had a lot of success, mixed up their pressure, make them miss in space and play better than we did than last year . . . T.J. Vasher, not exactly sure on his status, is day-to-day, was hurt last week . . . DaLeon Ward, need to get him caught up in protections, tough, loves the game, and does a good job on special teams . . . Paul Banks did some nice things, could tell he had not played in a while, and played with confidnece, as the season goes on, he’ll play better . . . in regards to not allowing many deep completions, we’ll get tested this week on the vertical passing, they have guys that can run, I think our guys have done a fairly decent job . . . both West Virginia running backs do a good job, they’re really tough and do a great job of finishing runs, really veteran offensive line, last year they had great backs . . . Derrick Willies just did some walk-through stuff, he’s really day-to-day, if he can go and contribute and be safe we’ll play him . . . Kansas State base defense is bracket coverage, where it is a linebacker and a safety on top on that no. 3 wide receiver (which is Jonathan Giles), I thought our other guys made plays, but there was an emphasis on Giles . . . Devin Lauderdale can really run, we haven’t hit Reginald Davis, devin caught one had another one on his hands, if we can push the ball down the hands . . . I think it’s more us getting Lauderdale more reps, because he was out for spring and get back on the same page and starting to see that now . . . Mahomes is doing better than last week, progressing better than last week and this week he’s feeling a lot better . . .
I think the “pouting” comment is interesting, mainly because when I think of pouting, I think of petulant, but that’s probably not universal an maybe it’s the team just feeling sorry for themselves a little bit and that’s probably the likely thought here. Not sure how to interpret that the team is feeling sorry for themselves after the Kansas State game and it’s a game that they feel like they should have won. I think I understand that thought, as the K-State game was maybe one that you let slip away.
It’s also been mentioned a few times that K-State does a really good job of that zone coverage and I think Giles has mentioned this week that he prefers man coverage, as I am sure that they all do, but I think this group needs to be ready for heavy zone coverage for the rest of the way, especially after that slowed down Giles so much.
LAJ’s Don Williams recaps the presser from yesterday as well and also talks to LB Malik Jenkins, who is an art major and wants to eventually work for Pixar or DreamWorks, but if he can’t, he’ll be an art teacher and a coach.
RRS’s Will McKay recaps the presser and also has some quotes from LB Kolin Hill, DB Justis Nelson and LB Malik Jenkins. Here’s a quote from Jenkins about the focus for the linebackers this year:
“Just accountability and doing the right thing every day, just small things. Being able to line up, more communication. Coach Spav talked to us about how it’s going to be a really physical game, so we just have to – practice-wise, we just have to be way more physical than we have been, just because they’re going to be physical, ground and pound it, but they’re also going to throw it. We just have to be ready for everything.”