Grobe just finished his call on the Big 12 coaches segment and talked about that in a couple of spots. Full quotes coming in a bit. Will post when they have been transcribed.
This isn't a surprise, of course. But it's now really really out there.
(On the Big 12’s struggles): “I hope it’s too early. A lot of teams started sluggish. We were no different. We hope we get better and better.
(On an assessment of the team): “For our team as a whole, we have great energy and play yard. The bottom line is that we haven’t played four full quarters of football yet. It’s up to us as coaches to keep coaching and getting our kids hitting on all cylinders for four quarters.
“I’ve been really impressed with the energy and the closeness of the football. They are good teammates. There’s a good feeling with the offense and the defense. There’s not a lot of finger pointer. Sometimes the offense and defense are not at their best. But there seems like we have good unity with these guys.’’
(On first 12 big lessons): “I’ve got to rely on my assistant coaches who know the league. This is a bit new for me. For my days in the ACC, I knew what the other head coaches and coordinators were thinking. I have to rely on my guys to get a feel week to week.
(On recruiting): “I think we’ll have good crowd for Oklahoma State. I’ve been impressed with the leadership of [new AD] Mack Rhoads and his vision of where he needs this go to. He’ll get the best people for the next head coach here. We’re trying to lay the foundation and ask the recruits to hang in there. We just want them to know that Baylor is a great place to play. We’re not expecting a lot of early commits. But there are a lot of guys who are interesting.”
(On playing Oklahoma St.): “We get see someone at a level of where we play at. One of the problems you have playing someone where you’re a three or four touchdown favorite is making sure how they are performing and how to evaluate them in games. But I have felt good about the last three weeks.
“As far as game planning, the best thing for me is that I have a pretty good feeling for our talent. We haven’t had any adversity. But we’re going to have to handle adverse situations. The talent level gets ramped. I’m dealing with teams stuff like special teams and cutting down on special teams, which we haven’t done a very good job of. But when it comes to the X’s and O’s, I let [offensive coordinator Kendal Briles and defensive coordinator Phil Bennett] handle that. I like all the things we’re doing.’’
FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRESSER
Hey everybody. Good to get another win, to go on to road and beat a very well coached David Bailiff football team. I thought coach Bailiff did a really nice job, really challenged us early, so my hats off to them. At the same time I’m proud of our coaches and our team for the way we played the last three quarters. I thought we got things going a little bit and really did some really, really good things, but this week with Oklahoma State coming to town the challenge gets ramped up quite a bit so hopefully we an have a good week in practice and improve on our consistency and be a better football team when the cowboys come to town.
Q: injury update and what’s going on with Ish Zamora?
A: From what Mike said right after the game, and I don’t know if I’ve really got an update- may not have a good update until we get out to practice- but he felt like we have a good chance of getting everybody ready to go by Saturday. Ryan Reid seems to be really, really good. He took the brace off and was walking around Friday, so hopefully he bounces back. Pooh Strickland’s shoulder… from what I understand he can now raise his arm above his head so that’s a good thing for him. I think we’re ok with Ryan, we thought ribs, but I don’t think anything is broken. When he broke that play up the receiver fell on him, a little bit like what happened to Ryan Reid the week before , so we think those guys are going to be ok. We’ll see about Ish. See if he has a good week at practice. We haven’t really been able to work him a lot because he wasn’t going to play. He’s practiced with us, but he has actually spent more time on our scout team than he has with our regular offense, so we’ll try to work him back in the mix and see where he fits, but right now I couldn’t tell you how much playing time he’s going to get. He was a starter before all this happened, so where that will go right now I can’t tell you, but we’ll have it figured out hopefully by Saturday.
Q: Do you prefer the running back by committee approach or do you think if one of those guys gets in a rhythm that you might end up giving him 20/25 carries?
A: We’d really like to have those three guys get an equal amount of carries. There’s not one of them we don’t like. Shock, Terrance and JaMycal all have a different style which I think is good for us. I think it gives the defense problems when they see different types of running backs. We could get into a game where somebody’s got the hot hand and we feel like we can’t take him off the field, but I think right now we’ve got great competition from all three of those guys and, if they stay healthy, I’d love to see us come out with pretty much equal carries per kid.
Q: Is there anything you can point to that explains the slow starts?
A: Well I think as much as anything it’s just execution. What we’re having is nine or ten guys doing the right thing and one person breaking down. Whether it’s Seth with a throw that’s a little off target, or a receiver dropping a ball, or a running back not finding the seam in the defense, possibly missing a block up front- those are the kind of things that are holding us back a little bit. Once we get things figured out a little bit then everyone gets better, so we would like to figure things out a little quicker. The slow starts are a little bit of a problem, but I thought we’ve played pretty good overall. So I think going forward with the Big 12 games getting cranked up, we would probably like to start faster no question.
Q: Anything you might try different or during pregame to get off to a quicker start?
A: Well I think what happens to us, especially offensively, is we know teams have a tendency to do things differently at the start of games. We may see more blitzes, we may see more of a different type of coverage- whether it be man, man free or zone coverage- and sometimes you have to hunt peck (?) a little bit to find out what you’re getting and then settle into some certain plays. I think Kendall Briles and our guys offensively have done a really good job after halftime, and the other night really after the first quarter, drawing a little bit of a beat on Rice. But going forward defensively we seemed to start a little quicker and hopefully the offense can do that, but you have to give the people that we play credit. They are going to come in and typically give you some wrinkles to keep you off balance, and I think the key is being able to adjust as the game goes on.
Q: How nice was it to have the downfield passes that you really didn’t have the first two games and was it a matter of those other two teams maybe playing so soft that you really couldn’t hit the deep ball.
A: Well I think that’s the key going forward: to take what the defense gives you. If underneath stuff is there you’ve got to take it, but if you can get a little bit of both- if you can stretch the defense down the field- then that helps you with your underneath stuff. It varies from week to week. And like I said there are going to be some weeks where you get more blitzes, you get more base defense and differences in coverages and what not. So you’ve kind of got to pick and chose what you are able to do, and that will be different, I would think, every week.
Q: OSU has been up and down, last week they started the game off with a huge deep ball, what do you think they do best?
A: Well I think something that they do well, certainly against Pitt, is hit the deep ball. That got everybody’s attention. I don’t think there is anybody that watched that game that wasn’t impressed with how well, not only with how well the receivers got down the field and around the corners and caught the football, but how well the quarterback throws the deep ball. He gets great height on the ball and that makes it really tough on the defensive backs because that drops it in over them. So that was really, really impressive. The thing that scares you is they’ve got more than one receiver, you know they had the one that had the great day, but they have good speed at all the skill positions offensively and a couple of running backs that are very talented. So what they do to you is they’ve got some individuals that can really hurt you, but you can’t double cover those guys because they’ve got good balance all over the field.
Q: (On recruiting) It sound’s like you aren’t planning to come back next year- has that decision been made?
A: I’m honestly at Mack Rhoades disposal. I’ve told Mack that when I came in here, I was here to help for the rest of the season, but I didn’t expect to be here to begin with, so I don’t know what the future holds. What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to recruit Baylor. We’re trying to recruit kids to look at Baylor’s education and what we’ve got to offer in the football program, and at some point going forward Mack will make a decision about what he think’s is best for the football program which is going to be fine with me. But I don’t want to talk too much about the future because I don’t know where that’s going. All I know is we’ve got a great school and a great football program and at some point Mack is going to make up his mind on what he wants to do and I’ll be onboard with that. I think the kids need to take a strong look at Baylor right now, and then once Mack makes a decision on the direction he wants to go in then the kids can make a good decision. There is no better place that I see than Baylor to get an education and play football right now with our facilities and all the things that we offer. I just think Baylor is a great place, so the point is we’re just trying to get the kids to follow Baylor and to give us a chance and once Mack makes up his mind on what he wants to do- which will probably be farther down the road somewhere- then the kids can make a good decision.
Q: Would you be open at all to coach another year?
A: I think you would have to talk to Holly. You know how much I love football, but I think she would be the one to talk to.
Q: How do you feel that the team has been able to handle the distractions and everything that has gone on in the summer?
A: I think the team has done a great job handling distractions and, as you know, they continue. We have distractions every week… at least we have so far. The attitude that we’ve taken as a team is there will be distractions off the field, but the important thing for us is when we are in meetings, when we’re in practice, and when we go out to games that we can play good football. I think our team and especially our coaching staff has done a great job pulling us together and keeping us focused on football knowing that there are going to be some things from the outside that could distract the team, but trying to get the guys focused and being a good team.
Q: Speaking of distractions, Shawn Oakman was at the game and I saw him go into the locker room after the game was that something you knew about? Was that a distraction and what happened in the locker room?
A: I really have no idea. I don’t know who Shawn Oakman is. I wouldn’t be able to recognize him if he walked into the door right now. There were a lot of people around at the end of the game, but I have no issues. I didn’t know he was there or who he is.
Q: Talk about JaMycal- Big 12 newcomer of the week for his game against Rice.
A: It was fun. I really don’t get much in on who plays, that’s Jeff Lebby’s job coaching the running backs, but JaMycal has been a guy from day one that I’ve wanted to see more of. He’s so explosive and I think we’ve got a great situation with Shock Linwood, obviously the all-time leading rusher in the history of Baylor football- that’s special, and he has certain things that he brings to the table, and Terrance Williams is the big guy that runs north/south and gets the good forward lean and can knock people around a little bit, and then JaMycal’s got the quickness and foot speed so it gives us three guys that all have different things that they bring to the table. All of them interest and all of them good running backs, so its fun for me to see JaMycal get a chance because it is always fun to see the young guys get an opportunity. We’re really pleased with Shock and really pleased with Terrance, it’s a great situation for us right now to have three running backs right now that we’re comfortable with.
Q: If this team is to compete for Big 12 title why would that be the case?
A: We’ve done a good job defensively so far. Now the competition’s going to ramp up, but I’ve been really pleased with what Coach Bennett and the defensive staff has been able to do, I like the energy of our defense and I like the depth we have on defense and the competition we’ve got right now. Typically, the teams that have a better defense are the teams that have a better chance to compete for championships, and there will be a lot of good defenses in the league this year, but I think Phil Bennett and his staff has done a good job and I like what our kids are doing. Offensively, Seth will continue to get better. He missed a lot of playing time last year, he missed a lot of spring ball, I think he’ll continue to get better and I like our special teams. The only part of our special teams that I haven’t liked is our punt return team because we’ve had penalties. On all the good returns Tony’s had we’ve had a penalty so we’ve got to cut that out, but I feel like we’re a football team that has the potential- potential basically means you haven’t done it yet – but I think we have the potential to be pretty solid in all three areas and that gives you a chance every time out. The problem is we’re going to play some great teams.
Q: Just to be clear you are unaware of Shawn Oakman coming into the locker room?
A: I’ve heard that Shawn Oakman was at the game, but I don’t know who Shawn Oakman is. If he walked in now I wouldn’t know that that’s Shawn Oakman.
Q: Did yall intentionally not call as many runs for Seth in the preseason schedule? Will we see a more open offense now that conference is starting?
A: Absolutely. I don’t know whether it was because its nonconference or because we’re just worried about Seth, but we certainly want to keep him healthy. As much as we would like to just hand the football off and let him throw the football, one of his real strengths is running. So going forward I think our goal is to kind of take the gloves off and really let him play and give him some opportunities to run with the football. He’s got to be really smart when he does and pick and choose his opportunities, but when he does run we’d like for him to be smart about taking on defenders and I’d like to see him make defenders miss rather than run over them. I think our offense is geared toward having a quarterback that can run and throw and that’s what Seth’s strength is. I think that will actually take some pressure off him to be spot on on every throw when we give him the opportunity to run a little bit.
This isn't a surprise, of course. But it's now really really out there.
(On the Big 12’s struggles): “I hope it’s too early. A lot of teams started sluggish. We were no different. We hope we get better and better.
(On an assessment of the team): “For our team as a whole, we have great energy and play yard. The bottom line is that we haven’t played four full quarters of football yet. It’s up to us as coaches to keep coaching and getting our kids hitting on all cylinders for four quarters.
“I’ve been really impressed with the energy and the closeness of the football. They are good teammates. There’s a good feeling with the offense and the defense. There’s not a lot of finger pointer. Sometimes the offense and defense are not at their best. But there seems like we have good unity with these guys.’’
(On first 12 big lessons): “I’ve got to rely on my assistant coaches who know the league. This is a bit new for me. For my days in the ACC, I knew what the other head coaches and coordinators were thinking. I have to rely on my guys to get a feel week to week.
(On recruiting): “I think we’ll have good crowd for Oklahoma State. I’ve been impressed with the leadership of [new AD] Mack Rhoads and his vision of where he needs this go to. He’ll get the best people for the next head coach here. We’re trying to lay the foundation and ask the recruits to hang in there. We just want them to know that Baylor is a great place to play. We’re not expecting a lot of early commits. But there are a lot of guys who are interesting.”
(On playing Oklahoma St.): “We get see someone at a level of where we play at. One of the problems you have playing someone where you’re a three or four touchdown favorite is making sure how they are performing and how to evaluate them in games. But I have felt good about the last three weeks.
“As far as game planning, the best thing for me is that I have a pretty good feeling for our talent. We haven’t had any adversity. But we’re going to have to handle adverse situations. The talent level gets ramped. I’m dealing with teams stuff like special teams and cutting down on special teams, which we haven’t done a very good job of. But when it comes to the X’s and O’s, I let [offensive coordinator Kendal Briles and defensive coordinator Phil Bennett] handle that. I like all the things we’re doing.’’
FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRESSER
Hey everybody. Good to get another win, to go on to road and beat a very well coached David Bailiff football team. I thought coach Bailiff did a really nice job, really challenged us early, so my hats off to them. At the same time I’m proud of our coaches and our team for the way we played the last three quarters. I thought we got things going a little bit and really did some really, really good things, but this week with Oklahoma State coming to town the challenge gets ramped up quite a bit so hopefully we an have a good week in practice and improve on our consistency and be a better football team when the cowboys come to town.
Q: injury update and what’s going on with Ish Zamora?
A: From what Mike said right after the game, and I don’t know if I’ve really got an update- may not have a good update until we get out to practice- but he felt like we have a good chance of getting everybody ready to go by Saturday. Ryan Reid seems to be really, really good. He took the brace off and was walking around Friday, so hopefully he bounces back. Pooh Strickland’s shoulder… from what I understand he can now raise his arm above his head so that’s a good thing for him. I think we’re ok with Ryan, we thought ribs, but I don’t think anything is broken. When he broke that play up the receiver fell on him, a little bit like what happened to Ryan Reid the week before , so we think those guys are going to be ok. We’ll see about Ish. See if he has a good week at practice. We haven’t really been able to work him a lot because he wasn’t going to play. He’s practiced with us, but he has actually spent more time on our scout team than he has with our regular offense, so we’ll try to work him back in the mix and see where he fits, but right now I couldn’t tell you how much playing time he’s going to get. He was a starter before all this happened, so where that will go right now I can’t tell you, but we’ll have it figured out hopefully by Saturday.
Q: Do you prefer the running back by committee approach or do you think if one of those guys gets in a rhythm that you might end up giving him 20/25 carries?
A: We’d really like to have those three guys get an equal amount of carries. There’s not one of them we don’t like. Shock, Terrance and JaMycal all have a different style which I think is good for us. I think it gives the defense problems when they see different types of running backs. We could get into a game where somebody’s got the hot hand and we feel like we can’t take him off the field, but I think right now we’ve got great competition from all three of those guys and, if they stay healthy, I’d love to see us come out with pretty much equal carries per kid.
Q: Is there anything you can point to that explains the slow starts?
A: Well I think as much as anything it’s just execution. What we’re having is nine or ten guys doing the right thing and one person breaking down. Whether it’s Seth with a throw that’s a little off target, or a receiver dropping a ball, or a running back not finding the seam in the defense, possibly missing a block up front- those are the kind of things that are holding us back a little bit. Once we get things figured out a little bit then everyone gets better, so we would like to figure things out a little quicker. The slow starts are a little bit of a problem, but I thought we’ve played pretty good overall. So I think going forward with the Big 12 games getting cranked up, we would probably like to start faster no question.
Q: Anything you might try different or during pregame to get off to a quicker start?
A: Well I think what happens to us, especially offensively, is we know teams have a tendency to do things differently at the start of games. We may see more blitzes, we may see more of a different type of coverage- whether it be man, man free or zone coverage- and sometimes you have to hunt peck (?) a little bit to find out what you’re getting and then settle into some certain plays. I think Kendall Briles and our guys offensively have done a really good job after halftime, and the other night really after the first quarter, drawing a little bit of a beat on Rice. But going forward defensively we seemed to start a little quicker and hopefully the offense can do that, but you have to give the people that we play credit. They are going to come in and typically give you some wrinkles to keep you off balance, and I think the key is being able to adjust as the game goes on.
Q: How nice was it to have the downfield passes that you really didn’t have the first two games and was it a matter of those other two teams maybe playing so soft that you really couldn’t hit the deep ball.
A: Well I think that’s the key going forward: to take what the defense gives you. If underneath stuff is there you’ve got to take it, but if you can get a little bit of both- if you can stretch the defense down the field- then that helps you with your underneath stuff. It varies from week to week. And like I said there are going to be some weeks where you get more blitzes, you get more base defense and differences in coverages and what not. So you’ve kind of got to pick and chose what you are able to do, and that will be different, I would think, every week.
Q: OSU has been up and down, last week they started the game off with a huge deep ball, what do you think they do best?
A: Well I think something that they do well, certainly against Pitt, is hit the deep ball. That got everybody’s attention. I don’t think there is anybody that watched that game that wasn’t impressed with how well, not only with how well the receivers got down the field and around the corners and caught the football, but how well the quarterback throws the deep ball. He gets great height on the ball and that makes it really tough on the defensive backs because that drops it in over them. So that was really, really impressive. The thing that scares you is they’ve got more than one receiver, you know they had the one that had the great day, but they have good speed at all the skill positions offensively and a couple of running backs that are very talented. So what they do to you is they’ve got some individuals that can really hurt you, but you can’t double cover those guys because they’ve got good balance all over the field.
Q: (On recruiting) It sound’s like you aren’t planning to come back next year- has that decision been made?
A: I’m honestly at Mack Rhoades disposal. I’ve told Mack that when I came in here, I was here to help for the rest of the season, but I didn’t expect to be here to begin with, so I don’t know what the future holds. What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to recruit Baylor. We’re trying to recruit kids to look at Baylor’s education and what we’ve got to offer in the football program, and at some point going forward Mack will make a decision about what he think’s is best for the football program which is going to be fine with me. But I don’t want to talk too much about the future because I don’t know where that’s going. All I know is we’ve got a great school and a great football program and at some point Mack is going to make up his mind on what he wants to do and I’ll be onboard with that. I think the kids need to take a strong look at Baylor right now, and then once Mack makes a decision on the direction he wants to go in then the kids can make a good decision. There is no better place that I see than Baylor to get an education and play football right now with our facilities and all the things that we offer. I just think Baylor is a great place, so the point is we’re just trying to get the kids to follow Baylor and to give us a chance and once Mack makes up his mind on what he wants to do- which will probably be farther down the road somewhere- then the kids can make a good decision.
Q: Would you be open at all to coach another year?
A: I think you would have to talk to Holly. You know how much I love football, but I think she would be the one to talk to.
Q: How do you feel that the team has been able to handle the distractions and everything that has gone on in the summer?
A: I think the team has done a great job handling distractions and, as you know, they continue. We have distractions every week… at least we have so far. The attitude that we’ve taken as a team is there will be distractions off the field, but the important thing for us is when we are in meetings, when we’re in practice, and when we go out to games that we can play good football. I think our team and especially our coaching staff has done a great job pulling us together and keeping us focused on football knowing that there are going to be some things from the outside that could distract the team, but trying to get the guys focused and being a good team.
Q: Speaking of distractions, Shawn Oakman was at the game and I saw him go into the locker room after the game was that something you knew about? Was that a distraction and what happened in the locker room?
A: I really have no idea. I don’t know who Shawn Oakman is. I wouldn’t be able to recognize him if he walked into the door right now. There were a lot of people around at the end of the game, but I have no issues. I didn’t know he was there or who he is.
Q: Talk about JaMycal- Big 12 newcomer of the week for his game against Rice.
A: It was fun. I really don’t get much in on who plays, that’s Jeff Lebby’s job coaching the running backs, but JaMycal has been a guy from day one that I’ve wanted to see more of. He’s so explosive and I think we’ve got a great situation with Shock Linwood, obviously the all-time leading rusher in the history of Baylor football- that’s special, and he has certain things that he brings to the table, and Terrance Williams is the big guy that runs north/south and gets the good forward lean and can knock people around a little bit, and then JaMycal’s got the quickness and foot speed so it gives us three guys that all have different things that they bring to the table. All of them interest and all of them good running backs, so its fun for me to see JaMycal get a chance because it is always fun to see the young guys get an opportunity. We’re really pleased with Shock and really pleased with Terrance, it’s a great situation for us right now to have three running backs right now that we’re comfortable with.
Q: If this team is to compete for Big 12 title why would that be the case?
A: We’ve done a good job defensively so far. Now the competition’s going to ramp up, but I’ve been really pleased with what Coach Bennett and the defensive staff has been able to do, I like the energy of our defense and I like the depth we have on defense and the competition we’ve got right now. Typically, the teams that have a better defense are the teams that have a better chance to compete for championships, and there will be a lot of good defenses in the league this year, but I think Phil Bennett and his staff has done a good job and I like what our kids are doing. Offensively, Seth will continue to get better. He missed a lot of playing time last year, he missed a lot of spring ball, I think he’ll continue to get better and I like our special teams. The only part of our special teams that I haven’t liked is our punt return team because we’ve had penalties. On all the good returns Tony’s had we’ve had a penalty so we’ve got to cut that out, but I feel like we’re a football team that has the potential- potential basically means you haven’t done it yet – but I think we have the potential to be pretty solid in all three areas and that gives you a chance every time out. The problem is we’re going to play some great teams.
Q: Just to be clear you are unaware of Shawn Oakman coming into the locker room?
A: I’ve heard that Shawn Oakman was at the game, but I don’t know who Shawn Oakman is. If he walked in now I wouldn’t know that that’s Shawn Oakman.
Q: Did yall intentionally not call as many runs for Seth in the preseason schedule? Will we see a more open offense now that conference is starting?
A: Absolutely. I don’t know whether it was because its nonconference or because we’re just worried about Seth, but we certainly want to keep him healthy. As much as we would like to just hand the football off and let him throw the football, one of his real strengths is running. So going forward I think our goal is to kind of take the gloves off and really let him play and give him some opportunities to run with the football. He’s got to be really smart when he does and pick and choose his opportunities, but when he does run we’d like for him to be smart about taking on defenders and I’d like to see him make defenders miss rather than run over them. I think our offense is geared toward having a quarterback that can run and throw and that’s what Seth’s strength is. I think that will actually take some pressure off him to be spot on on every throw when we give him the opportunity to run a little bit.
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