Head Coach Kyle Whittingham - Press Conference 9.2.24

uh I guess there's been some wagering going on as far as how I start my press conferences so I'm going to try to change it up every week so nobody nobody can win whatever they're wagering so uh this week um it was great to have Cam and brand back on the field last week uh lethal combination uh they've got great chemistry and uh obviously you saw that in the first half so that was a big plus for us thought we played a a fairly clean game there are some things that that we can do better as there is every single week um thought we ran the ball just okay you know we had 185 yard rushing but we like to get that five yards of carry uh statistic and and we were just shy of that uh penalties were not uh excessive maybe one or two too many but not not anything excessive uh did turn the ball over a couple times lost the turnover margin which we rarely do it was to minus one in the turnover margin but uh a lot of good stuff I we played uh played very efficiently for the most part um defense was suffocating and ended up with a shut out I think it's the first shut out in four or five years and uh offens put up a bunch of numbers in the first half it was it was uh chance for us to get in a lot of the the backups in the second half and in fact even in the end of the first half we got some guys in but overall good start to the season uh much bigger challenge this week we understand that uh Baylor's a good football team uh they got good Personnel they're well coached extremely well coached uh had a a v Victory last week much like a lot of the country where where they played a opponent that that was at the FB FCS level but uh we were fortunate to get out of there with a win last year we know that we haven't forgotten that it was it was a uh right down to the wire game and and so uh we got to prepare the right way all week long just like we do every single week and and uh be ready for be ready for a fight because that's what it's going to be and and uh you know big fox I guess is covering it 130 kicks so have a lot of eyes on us and so we want to make sure that we uh we play with the same passion and energy and and efficiency that we did last week except hopefully better so that's where we're at Kyle this question comes from Justin Justin I'm I'm a spokesman today okay he said great win on Saturday how would you grade Isaac Wilson's performance in the game and are you concerned about this position moving forward okay um Isaac Wilson I thought he came in probably put him in a little difficult situation there probably should have had him just hand off I shouldn't say should have uh I think eventually he'll he'll grow from that not eventually but he will you know he's been in that situation now already so if it does come up again he's he's been in a in a hurry up situation at the end of a half but overall uh probably a b uh if you're putting a grade on it made some good throws once he got settled in there in the second half made some good uh runs from the pocket and uh you know he just right out of high school so uh I don't know what uh what everyone was expecting but when we grade the film he was he was pretty efficient and did a nice job you know two balls that he wish he had back but uh it was good to get him the Reps you and he had uh what 30 something reps so that's that's good for him and it will pay off at some point down the line um before the season started you mentioned that you had two tiers of ring backs and and mentioned that djon Stanley was in the second tier but you had a special package of plays for him after his de season debut uh is he kind of elevated himself into that first here well he sure was productive uh Thursday night and was a big play guy for us and it's really like a the first tier with those three guys in an aster plus deon's package of place and so I don't think he quite yet ready for every down type of a back but he certainly will have an expanded package as the season goes on if he continues to have the impact that he did last week but uh he was he was uh you know did everything really well in the game uh Thursday night uh nearly 200 yards of of offense you know receiving and rushing and so he's a weapon for us at least he was uh in that first game and if we can if we can create uh some more big chunk yardish plays with him in the future that's you know that that could be a a niche that he could fill for us this year Kyle uh like you said after the game you know Ken and Johnson's injury didn't look good what's the update on him and what's your plan for that unfortunately that's season ending um yeah season ending and you know if there is a silver lining he will be able to get another year you know we haven't had that discussion yet it just depends on what he what he wants to do and how he wants to handle it but uh from what feedback I have gotten it would be pretty much a slam dunk to to get him another year if he wants to go down that road um and then uh Al leiki went out uh not season ending and so that's that's the extent of what we'll comment on that but that's good to because we Fe we feared there for a while that it maybe was uh extremely serious but uh looks like he's going to be back with us at some point uh what's the plan at cornerback now that that his injury is season ending good question uh Smith Snowden played exceptionally well at the nickel spot on the inside uh slot Corner whatever you want to call it and uh he is very capable of playing on the outside as well so you might you might see that happen uh Scooby Davis came in and gave us some good reps um we get uh cam Cam's back this week at corner and that'll give us another guy that uh had a very good spring and and uh was showing promise and so it's it's right now I don't have we don't have the exact answer and configuration but we'll take a look at the configurations in practice and determine in the next day or two what the what the best one's going to be Kyle how would you grade out your offensive line in that first week knowing that it's obviously the first game take some time for this unit to jail you want another letter grade am might Pinn the letter grades how about B+ B is in boy for for offensive line gave up a few pressures and a sack that that uh we shouldn't have but uh overall when you look at the efficiency from start to finish and again the first line played they played a few Series in the second half so they weren't completely out in the second half but but uh I thought they did some good things uh second line came in and and got some quality reps and did some good things as well and so I would say that uh we know they can be better but uh decent start to the season Kyle this is a little odd but because you're a little odd DJ okay PK's not here so somebody's got to take that right yeah because there were so many big plays did you get all the work in you wanted with the first team offense and do all the things you wanted to do because they were coming off the field because they were scoring touchdowns yeah I would say yes and no I think uh yes in the fact that uh in this day and age of foot well not in this day and age but in football it's much easier to to uh put points on the board if you get chunk yardage somewhere along the way in the drive and and we happen to have a couple play play that were huge huge chunk yardage plays but it's tough to go 14 plays four five yards at a time and so it was positive in that respect uh you know and we only had half a half a game to uh work with the first offense but I I would say yeah I think we I think we got accomplished what we needed to but uh again this will be a much bigger challenge this week and and uh you know I don't think it's going to be a case where our offense is only playing half the game in fact I'm pretty certain of that uh Chris Curry's on staff here now how did that come about and uh how's he been doing we had a uh Gentleman on staff that was going to be with us that had a family issue where it prevented him from being able to be with us this season we didn't find out until about two and a half weeks ago and uh Chris is uh still living here he was helping out at one of the local high schools and scheduled to help them out this season but when that opening came about um Extended the offer to Chris he showed interest and and uh we're excited to have him on board so he's he's a an ad admin assistant Administrative Assistant for us right now Kyle obviously as you've mentioned all fall Camp keeping cam healthy is is a priority and after the game you said you felt like he took a couple too many hits um how do you balance I guess his Competitive Edge and your want to keep him healthy because it it you know after the game he said he takes hits and he calls them Scooby Snacks I mean walk me through how how you balance that as a coach well I will say this after watching the film it wasn't as uh bad as I thought it was not I shouldn't say as bad but but uh he was he was fairly smart most of the time he his competitive uh mentality comes out you know during those situations often times and he wants to get that extra yard but but uh he's a guy that uh when he's in the lineup we're obviously a much better football team and so we don't want to beat it to death and make him you know not he'd ever be afraid of anything but so so uh concerned about it that it affects his play in other areas and so I thought that after watching the film yeah I wish maybe once or twice he could have you know got a little more out of Harm's Way but but he is uh one of the most competitive guys that you'll ever come across and so it's going to be tough to completely say that hey you're you're never going to do that because it's going to happen once in a while one one of the quirks of realignment is having a non-conference game against another big 12 team right how how do you approach that situation it's kind of unique in in the sense that I mean they are a conference foe but it doesn't count on the conference standings yeah it's it's it is a unique situation but uh you know they've been on the schedule for what five years now or four years whatever it was so so who knew that things would shape up as they have but but we've talked about that that it doesn't matter conference game no conference non-conference game every game is critical and so there's no different approach approach that we would take this week if it was a conference game that we wouldn't take otherwise and so doesn't affect our preparation doesn't affect how we play doesn't affect anything and so in that regard it's it's it's kind of a non-factor but it is weird that that would be the case and all fall there was a lot of conversation talking about just the the depth that you have in the passing game where you're able to just get a bunch of different guys the ball do you do you care whether it comes to the tight end or wide receiver how do you kind of balance that or do you balance that in terms of how you kind of spread the ball around I think that's uh a game plan thing week to week some weeks the tight ends will be more uh involved and and more the the the core of the plan some weeks it's wide receivers I think it's matchups and uh the type of defense that we're facing uh their personnel you know are they playing nickel they playing 43 uh so all that stuff goes into play but one thing that's a big positive is we have the luxury of being able to attack different ways and have a lot of weapons for Cam and and and uh coach lwi to uh to utilize since you didn't play Saturday and there's a game Friday also just your take on big 12 teams and what you saw and what impressed you well I just saw the scores and so it seemed like we had a good day and I don't think anybody got uh I guess Houston didn't Faire so well but uh what was the conference like 10 two losses in the conference two losses okay and what 12 wins West yeah so West Virginia L 14 wins yeah so i' would say say a pretty good weekend for the conference although again it's just taking a quick glance at the I didn't look at the box scores or the the team stats or anything like that but just looking at the scores I think it was a pretty respectable week for the Big 12 you talked last week about how the staffs are getting bigger historically your coaching staff would be focused on the next game do you have enough people now that you have a second group of people who are looking ahead starting to prepare for those first couple of conference games absolutely and that's been a big plus for us and I don't know if it's an advantage though cuz pretty much everybody has the same uh opportunity to do that but that the advanced scouting and being able to get a week ahead and stay a week ahead during the season is uh it really is a very valuable tool for our our the 10 full-time coaches because when they come in on Sunday they're you know they've already got essentially uh a scout report in hand ready to work and Bas it off you know what the information that has been gathered uh tells them and so that's a that's a plus but again is it an advantage for us no because everybody is pretty much on the same page there this was the first game with your new safety Tandon back there how would you assess their performance pretty good I think that they uh they did a good job and you know T Johnson uh did some good things missed a tackle or two but uh you know we didn't tackle all that much in Fall camp this year so so we expected uh a few misses I think overall we only had eight misses which is not egregious that's that's pretty good tackling uh Nate Richie who we all know about you know from years past he's he's a proven commod did a good job uh AK Gilman gave us some good reps although he missed a few tackles as well um John oal I think he you got to be excited about him at linebacker he came in and gave us some really good play at linebacker in the end the game he's not a safety but he was a safety so I guess that somewhat relevant uh who else got in the game uh rabbit rabbit got in the game and and he just needs he's got a tremendous upside he just needs more repetition more familiarity with the with the defensive scheme he was not with us in spring or the summer for that matter so so he's a guy that or very little of the summer so he's a guy that we think is going to continue to figure in more prominently as the season progresses KY over this weekend um former staffer of yours somebody you're probably close with Jay Hill had a heart attack um you know walk me through your emotions with that have you had any conversations with him or anything like that well it was uh shocking you know Jay is a guy that's always been in great shape and and keeps himself fit and he's only what 40 how old is 40 to 49 years old which is sobering thought that uh you know that could happen to anybody I guess but but uh Jay's uh you know a close friend of mine we've been we were together for many years here on the staff and and uh we wish him the best and I don't want to you know get too personal or speak speak more than my uh my sh my share about it but he's uh he's a guy that I know bounce back and and I guess you someone said said he was at the game and so that tells you how how competitive he is right there and how how uh how he's uh you know he doesn't want to be away from it any other questions okay good to go thanks guys here we go on your labor day thanks for taking your labor day day to no Labor Day in football there is n