NOTES & QUOTES: Traylor and Norvell

AUSTIN — Some notes and quotes after talking to Texas coaches, Jeff Traylor and Jay Norvell, this week.

COACH JEFF TRAYLOR

On the difference of being at Texas after being a head high school coach:

“Just not being the boss. Being an assistant. Sitting on the side of the table and not at the front of the table. I’ve got to learn some things about coaching college football. I don’t know everything but ball is ball. They move a lot faster and they’re a lot bigger but the ball is the ball.”

On his friends in East Texas:

“They need me to do well. Whenever a high school guy gets in this business, we always root for that guy. Because you always want your shot at this top situation. Coach Strong was nice enough to give me my shot so they want me to do well.”

On getting East Texas kids to UT:

“The hardest thing about recruiting east Texas kids is getting them down here; getting them to Austin. Most east Texas towns are smaller, more rural type of towns and a place like Austin can be intimidating.”

On the tight end position:

“We try to make them an on-line guy, a FB guy and a WR as well. Those defensive guys are smart too so they are looking at you and trying to sub with you. The way the rules are now, when you sub in, they can hold the ball up so you have to slow down. So you are trying to get into as many multiple formations as possible without multiple personnel groupings. So you hope your TE can attach, be a back and be a wide receiver. The kid has to be very athletic, very coachable, very smart and catch and block. So we have go to find a great one.”

On if that tight end is on campus:

“Sure. And even if I didn’t, I’d tell you I did. We’ve got that guy. We just have to get them better. We’ve got three or four guys that are working their tails off. Andrew Beck is a great kid that works his tail off. Blake Whiteley and Alex De La Torre. Those three kids have been fantastic for me so far. We’ll see which one of them plays the best and they’ll line up against Notre Dame and get going.”

COACH JAY NORVELL

On the experienced staff at Texas:

“College football staffs are full of coaches with a lot of different experiences. It can be an advantage to have coaches from different backgrounds. My background has been in a pro style background and I’ve been in a spread background. We have blended those together over the years. We are looking at being no-huddle and some spread principles and even running the quarterback a little bit. All those are things that I’ve had some experience with.”

On the offense that Texas will run:

“Everything starts with the quarterback. We want to do things that our QB’s are comfortable with, that they can execute and that they can play at a high level. Everything starts with that. We’ll adjust from there. Our skill, perimeter and backfield skill, we’ll build around that.”

On what he liked about Charlie Strong:

“His ideas were aligned for what was good for this place and for me.”

On why it was easy to choose Texas:

“I’ve recruited this state and competed in this league for a long time. That was a big part of why I wanted to be here. Because of the respect that I had for Texas, this state, the high school coaches that are No. 1 in the nation in my opinion. To be able to recruit players that have been trained by these high school coaches is a huge advantage. I know this conference, the defenses in the conference, I know the coaches in this conference so I felt like I had a lot to bring to the table in that regard.”

On what the players are doing this time of year:

“They guys are in the weight room and on the track. They are working on football on their own. It is all voluntary. It’s route running with the quarterbacks. It’s getting on the same page with the quarterbacks.”

On the difference between the running game and the passing game:

“The passing game is different than the running game. You can have a great running back and some guys up front and you can make it go. You have to cooperate in the passing game. You have to be on the same page. That only comes from repetitions. They’re throwing and catching a bunch everyday. They running routes and working against DBs. They’re doing all those things in the offseason that will give them a chance in the fall to be good.”

On how much input he has in the Big 12 conference to Coach Watson:

“As much as I can in every area. We all bring certain experiences and strengths. I’ll help all I can in those areas where I feel like I have some influence.”

On the relationship between the offensive staff and the offensive players:

“Players have to trust and believe what we are doing. They have gain our trust too. It’s like if I gave you $10 and told you to put it in the bank for me. If you did, then I trust you. If it didn’t make it to the bank, then I’m probably not going to throw it your way again. That’s kind of what the passing game is like. You have players that have to do their job to gain that trust. It doesn’t always have to be perfect. What we are trying to do is get that competitiveness everyday and have them bring it to the table. If we do that we have a chance to be pretty good.”