Steve Sarkisian's Thursday Zoom: QB notes, the Red River Shootout, and defensive standouts
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was available to the media over Zoom on Thursday, and offered several updates ahead of the Longhorns’ rivalry matchup with Oklahoma.
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Steve Sarkisian: “What an awesome opportunity to play in a fantastic game. This ballgame means so much to so many people. It’s a tremendous atmosphere not only for Texas and Oklahoma, but I think for all of college football. Extremely unique setting, one in which that in our profession, you want to make sure you take advantage of these opportunities and enjoy the experience.”
Steve Sarkisian: “I think that our team has had a really good week of preparation. I like the temperament. I like the mental intensity. I like the focus, yet I like the looseness. I think that our guys have really approached this game with the right demeanor. I think they’re focused on the task at hand and looking forward to them going out and competing on Saturday.”
Steve Sarkisian on Quinn Ewers: “I think Quinn is a very even-keeled guy. He’s not overly emotional. I think that he takes things in stride as they come, but he’s highly competitive. Give him a lot of credit throughout this process of staying engaged. We pushed him and we’ve been pushing him for the last month. On that aspect of it, I think it’s been good for him because he’s made really good progress not only with his health, but I think schematically as well.”
Steve Sarkisian on the quarterback situation: “Both guys have prepared really well. I thought both of them had a really good week of preparation. I think both of them are probably as healthy as they’ve been in about a month. Quinn has had to do it from a rehab perspective off the field. Hudson (Card)’s kind of played through his injury. We feel very confident with both guys going into Saturday.”
Steve Sarkisian on Bert Auburn: “I think we’ve been fortunate. From Bert’s perspective, he’s had to make a couple of really big kicks for us already this year. He makes a big kick against Alabama to take a lead with a minute or so to go in the game. He makes a last-second kick at Tech to send the game into overtime. Those were not easy kicks. Those were big boy kicks. We feel very confident in Bert if we get put in that situation.”
Steve Sarkisian on Keondre Coburn: “I think Keondre has really improved. I think he is becoming a three-down player. There was a couple of sacks in last week’s game where I think the sacks occurred because of the pass rush and the push that he got in the middle. I know he wants to get those sacks, but I think the reality of it is when you can affect the quarterback from the inside out and you can push that pocket and make that pocket small, that can have a real impact on the game. He’s done that, and he’s obviously a tremendous run defender for us. Ultimately, I think it’s been his maturity. You can feel his senior leadership. He’s got a great deal of confidence. He’s a light-hearted guy, but then he’s a very intense guy. I think there is a lot of players on our team that follow his lead and his focus on what he’s trying to do and how to do it. Yet, he enjoys being a college football player, which you have to do.”
Steve Sarkisian on OU’s offensive tempo: “I’d argue they’re the fastest team in the country. Oklahoma, Ole Miss, few other teams go as fast as they go. They’re at another level comparatively to what other people do. I think communication is critical. We’ve got to make sure that we get the call in. We’ve got to make sure that all 11 players on the field get the call, that we align, assign, and execute, then we rinse and repeat.”
Steve Sarkisian on his emphasis this week: “It’s easy to get caught up in the opponent. It’s easy to get caught up in the fanfare, the rivalry, the stadium — which I do. I want our guys to enjoy it, but in the end we need to focus on us and we need to be enamored with what we do.”
Steve Sarkisian on OU’s quarterback situation: “First and foremost, we’re prepared for Dillon (Gabriel).” — “The second part is, the system is not going to change. How they operate, the speed and tempo with which they do, how they get the ball to playmakers on the perimeter, their commitment to running the football, the physicality they play with up front, those things are not going to change regardless of who’s back there. They’re going to run their plays, they’re going to run their stuff within the system more so than with the quarterback.
Steve Sarkisian on Jaylan Ford: ”One thing that I’ve been impressed with with Jaylan is the step up from a maturity standpoint. He’s in year three of college, and it feel’s like he’s in year three. He’s very mature. The more that he has played and the better he has played throughout the season, the more confidence he’s gotten. The stat-line shows so many tackles, and I think Jaylan would be the first one to tell you he can play better. That’s the beauty of it. Nobody on our team has reached the ceiling of how good they can be, so we’re constantly trying to improve. Jaylan is no different. I think he has improved from week to week. I still think there’s room for him to grow, but I think it’s a sense of confidence, maturity, and comfort of just being an every down player for us at that middle linebacker position.”
Steve Sarkisian: ”We want to play with emotion. Football is a game of emotion. Teams need to play with emotion. We just don’t want to play emotional. That’s a fine line, because when you get emotional, that’s when you start doing things out of character.”
