Matt Wells Fall Practice Press Conference | 08.19.24

coach give me your overall view of the whole team right now where they're at I think we got a lot of depth um I think we're old and um pretty veteran on defense really Savvy in the secondary um and I think they've given us a lot of Great Looks um just uh a lot of Veteran guys on on uh on defense I think offensively um we've got weapons whether it's out at receiver the I think the tight end room um is deep um we've got guys that can play on Saturday haven't played much on Saturday but I think they're going to play well and we got some talented running backs um K State's always had a really good old line and uh I don't see uh this year being any different so I I see a a team that's got really good depth I compared to some big 12 teams that I've been around the last five years and and uh man we've got some good areas of uh competitive uh depth and some competitive battles um that I think they're important for each guy to kind of raise his level um and uh and continue to improve because of that depth and I think um hopefully that'll show up in October and November when you have some injuries or sometimes like that that we're going to need that depth uh to show up last week we talked to defensive players they were pretty happy with the amount of turnovers they're causing in practice well I think you talked to them on the right day want to know your opinion on that that is my opinion on that you talked to him on the right day certainly there's been great give and take uh which I think is what you want um from an overall aspect of of the team but I think we've been pretty stingy with the ball and our quarterbacks have done a good job with that in Camp there was there was like two days in a row where we did not uh do a very good job of taking care of the ball and making good decisions and and capitalize which a good defense will and I certainly think that was the day you talked to them okay give me your overview of where Avery Johnson's at right now yeah um continues to improve um he's got a hunger and a desire uh to improve I think just challenging him every day um is uh important to him and his growth um he is electric with the ball in his hands I mean he is Uber talented um out in space um he's thrown the ball well um so I think you know for Avery it's um been important to get a multitude of looks um and we certainly get that from our defense daily from pressure to to drop eight um and all the things that he needs to see um and so I think that's uh challenging him and then certainly there's going to be the season uh challenge that goes from uh game to day uh game to game and uh in week to week from different structures um there's going to be a soreness Factor there's going to be just the grind of the Season that um he's going to get to go through you know as the starter for the first time so but I'm I'm proud of him I'm excited to coach him and uh he'll have a really good year you think he's shown the most growth in this month of Camp yeah I think you know when you talk about physically um he's done a good job with this pocket movement it's been something that's been big for us to move the pocket you don't just stand there and stand still it's not seven on seven that's why I hate that drill um but moving and staying in a position to be able to throw the ball quickly um and getting his feet in the ground his cleats in the grass I think that's been one of the things that we've we've focused on um you know I think just mentally um and I've said it you know already here today but just seeing so many looks um and being able to progress um through a read and and process everything really really fast um I think I've seen Improvement in that Prett competitive backup quarterback battle at the moment where where do you see that between Roberson and can yeah been really good battle with between Jacob and taquan you know those two guys continue to get better I I think they're it's uh it's been healthy it's been great the biggest thing for them is to be the best version of thems it's not a comp competition per se against the other guy it's how can I make make myself better uh today and uh stack great days on top of each other um you know those are two guys that um they have gotten a ton of reps you know coach kimman gives us all these double reps and where we got two Fields going um they have had I don't know over 400 snaps uh in training camp and so I think that's accelerated the growth uh between those guys but that'll be a battle that's ongoing um I don't know when you know that'll get decided and it may be ongoing throughout the season to be honest with you and I'm glad we got them both the guys still having their cram sessions inside your office uh yeah not as much we've moved to the offensive staff room what what what do they do during those meetings when they're just kind of watching tape do you do you have specific things that you like for them to do during the meeting I mean when they're just kind of looking at film well yeah you know we're coming out of training camp so right now it's I mean we've got we probably meet three times a day um or have been in that mode you know hour and a half to two hours each time and so whether it's going through scripts it's going through practice video it's going through um you know now some opponent video um myself I'm in there you know coach Kim's in there and just um the different facets of a meeting meeting um and you know you don't just watch the same thing for two hours so you know I think that's um that's kind of what those meetings consist of we've spoken before camp now you're here you've been around some very fine quarterbacks in the past I'm just curious if you see Avery have that it Factor yeah he's got it I see it every day I mean he uh he's a very natural uh leader he's a very natural uh starting quarterback um it I think that comes easy to him to be honest with you um you know the biggest thing for him is focusing on his um Improvement I think uh there's a lot of facets of leadership uh production is certainly up there really really high you can't lead unless you produce in a lot of ways now you can lead in different ways but when you're the starting quarterback you need to produce um and then it's the verbal leadership you're work work ethic uh along with that production you know and I think that he knows that um but yeah he's absolutely got got that factor this house been really quick what day of practice is this um I don't know what is today Monday oh today's Monday um maybe 17 18 I don't know okay and then how how much further do you go with this training camp before it's over um well I think you know maybe technically it's over because school started today is that what you're asking it's SC yeah sorry yeah so we're in the afternoon practices now yeah thank you yeah they're off today because of the first day of class yeah Matt are there any one or two things you really wanted to bring to this offense and do you think you've left fingerprints on the the new offense in anyway well I think you know first of all you come in and there's been so much successful uh parts of the offense before I ever got here I mean this offense was second in the Big 12 in scoring last year um and it certainly ran the ball at a really high level and so you've got different facets of the offense whether it's the Run game or it's QB Run game and then you get into you know uh parts of the passing game and I think that that's you know where some things maybe have been um tweaked just a little bit but um you know overall a lot of it will be the same and I think you know maybe some of those uh um things will come out once we get into season everybody can see that are there any wide receivers who' have impressed you more than than the others in training camp no I not really I think we've got a good group there you know Keegan and um and cus and Jace you know and then you got J Jack you got Trey Spivey Sterling locketts had a really really good camp uh he continues to impress he's playing fast he's playing really fast but you know all six of those guys tybo's had some good days um you'll see a lot I think we'll play a lot of those guys um and I think that that's healthy I think it keeps them fresher I think it um helps Inspire uh during the week when you're installing things and so you'll see a lot of those guys we're not going to just play two or three all year you'll see a lot see us play a lot also wanted to ask when you uh we saw you practice you wearing the headset I presume you're talking to Avery um before plays and whatnot what what are some things you found yourself being able to re relay to Avery that can be advantageous that you haven't been able to say before yeah you know I think focusing a lot on um just kind of before the play and maybe really quick after the play but not getting in his ear so to speak um to to where it paralyzes him that's not what I want to do and and we um you know we worked it during uh Camp quite a bit I think just D and reminders you know four downs you're in the Red Zone um Clues to the play that that we're calling uh or that's coming up tips and reminders if you will um have you guys pretty much said how your your game day operation is going to be is Connor going to be upstairs are you actually going to be on sideline yeah and he'll be up and uh are you g to how's that going to work as far as have you figured out how to the whole communication as far as getting from and I don't know what your involvement is to getting plays to Avery and so yeah a lot I mean just kind of like I was just mentioning whether it's you know calling them in or we're signaling them in or uh combination of both and uh Joe talked about uh with the defense that one thing that's really helped is that guys have given him a lot of a lot of different looks is that something you feel like this offense has a versatility also to pretty much uh test any kind of Defense they yeah I do and you know referring back to my answer you know maybe five minutes ago I think I think we do a lot um in our offense I think it's it's um um it's multi-dimensional I mean whether it's going from 11 Personnel or you're getting into two backs to three backs to three tight ends to four tight ends I mean we do a lot shift motion trade uh playing fast whatever um but I think if you I think from a general standpoint going back to maybe my very first question that you that you asked about my overview of the team that's something that maybe I didn't mention but if you if you listen to me talk just about the defense and and you talk about the offense what you have is a very very high football IQ program and that starts at the top with Chris kimman um from our assistance uh to these players and their work ethic and how much they invest in football uh we do a ton of stuff on offense and we do a ton of stuff on defense and um you know I think the challenge for us as coaches is to how do we simplify and keep it simple for the players so that young players can play and that they can play fast but yet we're really complicated and we can cover up um you know alignments and cover up you know this and that and so we are multi-dimensional on both sides with all of those factors so it makes a unique combination um in trying to be really sophisticated on both sides but yet keep it simple for our players and that's a challenge and when I say simple for the players I mean to learn and to play fast but yet when you watch us on tape it's like dang they do a lot of stuff and the reality is we really do on both sides of the ball Al a lot of people are curious how uh uh Dylan's going to fit in into the offense there's no curious it's not real Curious it's not real hard either he fits in everywhere okay I was wondering are you has it been easy to integrate him in it's been fun yeah sorry to cut you off it's been fun he's he's not real hard to game playing for I mean it's moving him around and and he can do a lot of stuff with the ball in his hands whether it's in the return game and special teams are um he's a very natural receiver he's got great hands um and U and he's a high football IQ guy too I mean we do a lot of stuff with him and he's picked it up and um really in a short amount of time just getting here this summer but he's uh he'll be a fun one to coach and the game plan for Coach uh Jace Brown obviously has you know last season benefited from having the I guess seven games down the stretch where he was able to impress how is he grown from I guess the end of last season to now and what does he offer the offense well first of all he offers a guy that's really confident in his abilities and he's got a lot of ability he's got a lot of talent and um jaay is a guy that is um a guy that can play multiple spots he can play in the slot he can play outside um he's good with the ball in his hands um to me he's a um you know he's a post catch guy because he's really good post catch um and so he's got speed to go over the top he's got courage to go AC cross the middle and he blocks well so um you I'm sure jaay has gained Confidence from from you know his play as a true freshman last year at the end of the year but uh to me jaay should have gained confidence and should gain confidence from his play throughout training camp because it's been very consistent and at a high level you mentioned the post catch sort of ability is this is he a sort of Guy where you just have to try and find ways to get the ball in his hands so that he can make plays like that yeah we got a lot of guys like that but he's definitely a Ballin hand kind of guy where whether it's touch game or it's perimeter game um or it's down the field game um he's got the ability to kind of do all that but we got a bunch of guys like that all right coach I was just ask you uh we've been talking a lot about uh battles and the depth on the team and competition do you anticipate any of those seeping into week one you know seeing how they play on Saturday or do you think we'll see those wrapped up in the next week or so I don't know I'll let it play out to me that's that's not my that's not my call that's that's a lot of that's players calls whether it's not just the quarterback battle but it's receiver rotations it's tight end rotations it's running back rotations shoot up on the o line you know guys getting to play multiple guys getting to play up on the the o line and and my guess is that it would go through the season and there's nothing wrong with that yeah competition um your performance matters uh being ready to play on that first Saturday against UT Martin um and um and showing what you can do so yeah I think that's very natural um that some of those go through the season and then roles get closer to getting defined um but I think that those there are things that can change as the season goes too based on performance coach climens said you've thrown out a lot of ideas uh since the spring would good ideas well I can maybe ask you that question just Kidd know um didn't know where you were going with that um the idea of going faster with more Tempo obviously a tech that was a big part so would you like to see this offense move quicker have more Tempo than the last couple of years well I think this offense has had elements of that and I think um no one when to push down on the gas and knowing when to let up is the art form and calling ball plays when you're in this kind of an offense um this is not an offense that's going to go pedal all the way down um 80 90% of the the game like really like I've been used to uh whether it was at the last really the last three stops to be honest with you um but I think it's in knowing when to do it and when not to and uh you know I remember this offense playing fast at times uh in Norman two years ago and it it gave us fits um lining up and the reason is it was because it was so different from the huddle up and and then the a normal pace so um you know that's that's something that I think gets dictated by each game um by how the game's going um and also how the defense is defending you and how how they line up so I think we have that element which makes it harder to prepare for us um knowing when it's coming when it's not anything else with that speed and that you know trying to go up Tempo at times how important is it to have I guess more than just four wide receivers who are capable of being on the field and making plays and sort of how important is it to rotate those guys throughout just so you know when you get to week 12 of the Season guys aren't exhausted yeah yeah and to my point earlier that does help as the year goes on um and it's not just receivers it's tied in and running backs too you know we're going to play a lot in all three of those positions we're going to play a lot because number one we have enough players that deserve to play on Saturday and they've earned the right to play on Saturday and when they do you need to give them a chance uh to do that and um a lot of times the guys that start the game um will actually play better down the stretch with less reps if that makes sense and the reason I say that is like as the year goes on and it builds those are maybe some less game reps and some less practice reps and therefore you have a fresher Keegan Johnson in the month of October in early November um and they're not worn out um but the bottom line is you're not playing those guys you're not playing a ton of guys if they don't deserve to play and you don't have those players we have those players I mean like I said we six seven eight receivers um and a handful of tight ends and and running backs as well those guys need to earn more reps but you know we plan on playing a lot so uh especially early in the year um just you know toan week two the heat here you know possibly here at home game one and game three you know all those things are factors but I do believe we're not just playing those guys we're playing them because I think they've earned the right to play um on Saturday okay one final one I'm dating myself but as a guy that has seen all the lockets play I'm fascinated by Sterling and just what you have seen from him that lets you know that he's ready for this I think with the absence of game film and game reps to prove my point um I would say based on 16 17 practices right now in training camp and improved Sterling locket from from Spring ball and the way I see it is he's just he's playing fast so he knows his assignments better he knows his alignments better he knows his techniques and the route running better um and he's confident I see a confident guy playing fast when you're confident and you're prepared you play fast and it doesn't matter uh whatever your top end speed is he's playing closer to his top end speed now than he was in the spring I've seen a big Improvement and so I can't wait to watch him him uh this fall and so when you say what gives me confidence is just watching how fast he plays that doesn't mean it's void uh without a mistake or a drop because we're all human and those things happen but man he's playing fast and so that's why I think he's that's why people are talking about him right now and he's played well and he's earned the right to play