By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Baylor center Jacob Gall, linebacker Bryson Jackson and running back Qualan Jones met with the media to discuss Thursday night's game at West Virginia.
Jacob Gall
(The mindset, going back on the road, hostile environment) Obviously, a good team, really good environment there. We know how loud it’s going to be. We practice for that kind of stuff. Thursday night, there’s going to be a little different stimulus that way, too, just schedule-wise. But, I think the guys are refreshed from the smaller bye week. We’re definitely refreshed and ready to go, ready to finish the season.
(What was the message coming out of the Okie State game) Yeah, I don’t think we played bad, and I don’t think anybody would say we played bad. I think the difference between a good team and a bad team is probably five to 10 plays, and that was kind of the difference for us. And when you play a good team like that, you’ve got to be on your stuff for those five to 10 plays that you know are going to be a hard down.
(Is the preparation for Morgantown similar to what you saw at Provo) Yeah, going to Provo was great preparation for this game and for the rest of the season, because we know all the hostile, away environments we’re going to be in. And I think that’s got to be one of the best in the nation with how crazy those fans were and how loud that place was and that being their first game of the season. And I think it’s only going to make us better. It’s going to make us more prepared and more clean with things like that.
(Do differently than what you did at BYU) I think just getting better and just focusing on some of the little details, things like that. Something that can kind of jump out on you in Game 2 that we have jump out at us in Game 6.
(In the self-evaluation, what stood out to you about the offense or OL) Yeah, there’s just little things that we look at and we want to fix and just re-emphasize, just straining on every single play, effort, and then just dialing in on more details that we really don’t have time to get into on a regular weekly basis. So, in the bye week, we’re able to look at more little things like little steps, little giveaways, things like that. So, we really focus on those things a lot.
(Staying in the routine with a Thursday game) The coaches do a really good job of keeping the schedule pretty strict in how we do things. We didn’t change one thing. Like today could be a Tuesday, and it’s got to be exactly the same, really don’t change anything. I’ve been around the block a couple times, so I know. But, I think guys are definitely focused with this schedule kind of being the same. So, I think it helps a lot.
(What do you see in West Virginia) They play hard, they’re a good team. I think we can see over the past couple weeks, there are no bad teams in this league, everybody’s good. I think top to bottom, this is the best league in the country. They’re a really good team, they play well at home. And I think we’ve got to be ready for that.
(On WVU DT Dante Stills) He’s a great player. He’s certainly one of the best in the league, probably one of the best in the country.
(Evaluation of the offensive line) I like where we’re at. I don’t think there’s anything glaring, any huge problems. There are just little details that we can fix. And I think that comes with a little bit of time. We weren’t a perfect team to start last year, and we’re obviously not perfect getting started this year. So, I think it’s just nailing those details down and getting better each week and kind of figuring ourselves out.
(On getting the running backs to fall forward) A lot of that is not just the running backs. That’s the offensive line’s job. If we get a defensive lineman on his heels and we’re pushing them back, it’s a lot harder for them to push our running backs back or tackling them backwards, or any linebacker and things like that. So, I think just doing our part as an offensive line is really going to help those running backs really figure that out, too.
(On Christian Morgan) Yeah, Christian’s a high-energy guy, plays hard. I think just his confidence and everything out on the field and really kind of, I guess, owning his part in the defense. I think he’s just a great energy for the defense.
Bryson Jackson
(Message going into this week, another tough game on the road) For us, I think this is just an opportunity to just get better as a program and as a unit. We want to use this week and these past couple of weeks as a stepping stone for us to take. We definitely needed that from the start, and I think just kind of refining ourselves and getting back to who we really are, are pretty much our main focus for this game coming up.
(You had to sit with the loss, but was this good to take a break and evaluate where you need to improve) Yes, of course. For the things that have showed up early in the season, has given us an opportunity to pretty much get on early. I think facing adversity, it’s a perfect time, especially when it happens early. So, you have time to kind of evaluate and self-reflect and figure out what road and what steps we’re going to take to become the team that we actually want to be and the ones that we set out to be for the season. So, the bye week and the early adversity, those are the big things for our unit and our team, especially with the maturity that we have. We’ve got a lot of young guys and we’ve got a lot of older guys that have been through it. So, we want to get everybody on the same page and we get our focus and our intentionality as far as when it comes to playing in games and the big games.
(Anything on defense that you didn’t notice until you had a chance to sit back and reflect on things this week) As far as defensively, as a unit, we just want to become a fast and violent team. And I think showing that throughout the game, from the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter, those things are hard. So, you’ve got to learn how to play with your brothers. For us as a unit, we’ve got a lot of things like communication that we’ve got to focus on and a lot of different defenses and stuff that we’ve got to focus on. It’s very important that we establish the violence that we’ve been showing in the spring and showing in fall camp, and those are the things that who we really are. So, just sitting back and reevaluating who we are, I think we had an opportunity to go out there and practice this week, and we established our speed and our intentionality as far as defensive play.
(Five Big 12 teams are in the top 25, what’s your thoughts on how competitive the league has been) Oh yeah, I think it’s competitive from the start. We knew that coming into the season. Everybody knows that. But for us, we have to pretty much battle ourselves each game. So, I think that’s kind of our main focus. And we are sticking to that. Who we are as a unit is more important than what’s out in front of us. So, we’ve got to make sure that we have our stuff held together. And we’ve got to make sure that we get better and not beat ourselves in games. So, it’s very competitive. But if we do what we’ve to do as a unit and as a team offensively and defensively, and play complementary football, we’ll be able to beat anybody that we face each week.
(On WV QB JT Daniels) He’s a patient quarterback, so he’s able to see the offense and get the ball to his key players. I think he’s really good at that and sitting in the pocket and making great decisions. So, pretty excited to go up against him and get ready for that battle. I feel like he’s an intelligent player and just as far as his passing, and we’re going to get after him.
(Do y’all take it personally when a team scores over 30 points?)
Oh, yes, we take it personally if somebody even scores a touchdown on us. So, the focus is pretty much, we want to win the running game. We want to win the passing game, and we don't want nobody getting any yards on us. So, for us, if the [opposing] team gets over 80 yards running, that's something that we got to figure out within ourselves because that's something that we want to stop and we don't want anybody to get any positive yards on us as far as the run game and the passing game.
(On Christian Morgan)
He brings energy, he brings edge. He's very intelligent. So he's had a lot of experience. And I think that he's a great leader in that sense. So, as far as our secondary, we need that maturity, we need that experience. So he definitely brings that X factor to it. And he gets better every day. So, from the bye week and to where we're at now, this week going into the game, I think that he's made significant improvements on himself and in areas that he feels like he needs to get better at. So that's gonna be a big thing heading into this game. And we've seen a lot of great plays out of him, so we're hoping to get as much as we can throughout the season.
(Is the jackers and robbers mantra at the point it should be?)
The jackers and robbers is something that we want to make as our identity. So, I think that our main focus in these practices has been to pretty much get the ball out and take the ball away. Now, if you go into a game, if you're getting more turnovers than the team you're playing, then your percentage of winning is a lot more higher. So definitely, it's an important factor on our defense. And I think that going into this game is going to be the game for us to pretty much establish that this is something serious and we're focused and bought in to doing what we got to do to make sure we get the most turnovers throughout the season.
(Has the routine been shaken up a bit or is it a normal week?)
For the past couple of weeks, our focus was that we wanted to change up practice and just get a different scenery. I think in the season for everybody, it kind of gets – the same thing happens each week – the same routine and players sometimes fall into that trap of doing the same thing over and over again. And sometimes you might like energy or edge, as far as practice play and game play. So, we changed up a lot of our practice and moved things around. So, I think the guys were excited [about] handling that, and we handled it with perfect poise. So, for us, this is just going to be a game because we're going to a different environment. And the fact that we were able to prepare for it, just having the bye week in this week right here was very important and I think our team got a lot better.
(Did the Provo and Ames road trips help you prepare for this one?)
Yes, those two road games that we played with Iowa State and BYU, those were games that had tons of energy. So, I think that the way we handle it as far as traveling and having pretty much all the fans and players going against us, those are the things that help prepare us for any fight that we have coming up. But definitely just being able to feed off the energy. I think that's incredible for us as a unit that we were able to take that in and understand it for that. So, going into the next hostile environments that we have, we got to feed off their crowds' energy. And that can be fun, and if you fall into the trap of not feeding off the energy, then it can be a bad loss.
Qualan Jones
(Where do you fit in with the running backs?)
The place I fit in, in the running back room, is really – they look at me as like a protection back. So, I've been getting in on protections and stuff like that. And then, they try to mix it up to where we play teams, they see me come in, and they don’t want to be like, ‘Oh, he’s gonna pass or whatever.’ So, they try to stick a couple of runs in there. And so, basically like a protection back.
(How important is it to have multiple backs that can get it done?)
It’s very important because at tough times we’re going to have to look at it like, to be like a fourth-and-two, we trust him [Richard Reese], you know he’s going to be decisive, you know he’s going to get the first down. We got other backs, put in position to where like me, on your third down, need a big pass play or whatever, come in for protection, they throw me in. I get the protection down. And then we got the other backs to where like, they put us in good position to run the ball and stuff like that. Keep the chains moving.
(How are your bodies holding up?)
My body’s a little sore, but we stay in the training room. We get extra recovery. So, our bodies are pretty good.
(Falling forward, how do you feel about that attitude?)
Being in the running back room, we talk about always falling forward. We want to fall forward to stay ahead of the chains and we don't want to have loss of yards to where it puts us in a position to where we get confused on what we got to do or whatever. And just falling forward is what we need to do as running backs.
(On Taye McWilliams injuries)
It’s been very tough. Been with him, whatever like that. And you know, he's doing concussion stuff. Just been praying for him and can't wait to get him back in the [running back] room.
(What did you learn about playing on the road between Provo and Ames?)
The atmosphere was kind of crazy when we played there and whatever. And our coach has been telling us we have to bring energy. So, that's the big key thing that we [are] looking for to play in a hostile environment is just to bring energy and have everybody on the sideline encouraging the defense in tough times, encouraging the offense.
(What did you learn about yourself, what areas can the offense get better at?
Feel like we need to get better with the penalties and stuff like that. We don't want to have penalties to set us back. We talked about bringing energy. We need to bring energy, start fast, and play green.
(What do you see from WVU’s defense?)
I feel like they’re a competitive team. I feel like the up-four, the D-line, they’re very physical, so it's gonna be a competitive game all four quarters.
Publisher
Baylor center Jacob Gall, linebacker Bryson Jackson and running back Qualan Jones met with the media to discuss Thursday night's game at West Virginia.
Jacob Gall
(The mindset, going back on the road, hostile environment) Obviously, a good team, really good environment there. We know how loud it’s going to be. We practice for that kind of stuff. Thursday night, there’s going to be a little different stimulus that way, too, just schedule-wise. But, I think the guys are refreshed from the smaller bye week. We’re definitely refreshed and ready to go, ready to finish the season.
(What was the message coming out of the Okie State game) Yeah, I don’t think we played bad, and I don’t think anybody would say we played bad. I think the difference between a good team and a bad team is probably five to 10 plays, and that was kind of the difference for us. And when you play a good team like that, you’ve got to be on your stuff for those five to 10 plays that you know are going to be a hard down.
(Is the preparation for Morgantown similar to what you saw at Provo) Yeah, going to Provo was great preparation for this game and for the rest of the season, because we know all the hostile, away environments we’re going to be in. And I think that’s got to be one of the best in the nation with how crazy those fans were and how loud that place was and that being their first game of the season. And I think it’s only going to make us better. It’s going to make us more prepared and more clean with things like that.
(Do differently than what you did at BYU) I think just getting better and just focusing on some of the little details, things like that. Something that can kind of jump out on you in Game 2 that we have jump out at us in Game 6.
(In the self-evaluation, what stood out to you about the offense or OL) Yeah, there’s just little things that we look at and we want to fix and just re-emphasize, just straining on every single play, effort, and then just dialing in on more details that we really don’t have time to get into on a regular weekly basis. So, in the bye week, we’re able to look at more little things like little steps, little giveaways, things like that. So, we really focus on those things a lot.
(Staying in the routine with a Thursday game) The coaches do a really good job of keeping the schedule pretty strict in how we do things. We didn’t change one thing. Like today could be a Tuesday, and it’s got to be exactly the same, really don’t change anything. I’ve been around the block a couple times, so I know. But, I think guys are definitely focused with this schedule kind of being the same. So, I think it helps a lot.
(What do you see in West Virginia) They play hard, they’re a good team. I think we can see over the past couple weeks, there are no bad teams in this league, everybody’s good. I think top to bottom, this is the best league in the country. They’re a really good team, they play well at home. And I think we’ve got to be ready for that.
(On WVU DT Dante Stills) He’s a great player. He’s certainly one of the best in the league, probably one of the best in the country.
(Evaluation of the offensive line) I like where we’re at. I don’t think there’s anything glaring, any huge problems. There are just little details that we can fix. And I think that comes with a little bit of time. We weren’t a perfect team to start last year, and we’re obviously not perfect getting started this year. So, I think it’s just nailing those details down and getting better each week and kind of figuring ourselves out.
(On getting the running backs to fall forward) A lot of that is not just the running backs. That’s the offensive line’s job. If we get a defensive lineman on his heels and we’re pushing them back, it’s a lot harder for them to push our running backs back or tackling them backwards, or any linebacker and things like that. So, I think just doing our part as an offensive line is really going to help those running backs really figure that out, too.
(On Christian Morgan) Yeah, Christian’s a high-energy guy, plays hard. I think just his confidence and everything out on the field and really kind of, I guess, owning his part in the defense. I think he’s just a great energy for the defense.
Bryson Jackson
(Message going into this week, another tough game on the road) For us, I think this is just an opportunity to just get better as a program and as a unit. We want to use this week and these past couple of weeks as a stepping stone for us to take. We definitely needed that from the start, and I think just kind of refining ourselves and getting back to who we really are, are pretty much our main focus for this game coming up.
(You had to sit with the loss, but was this good to take a break and evaluate where you need to improve) Yes, of course. For the things that have showed up early in the season, has given us an opportunity to pretty much get on early. I think facing adversity, it’s a perfect time, especially when it happens early. So, you have time to kind of evaluate and self-reflect and figure out what road and what steps we’re going to take to become the team that we actually want to be and the ones that we set out to be for the season. So, the bye week and the early adversity, those are the big things for our unit and our team, especially with the maturity that we have. We’ve got a lot of young guys and we’ve got a lot of older guys that have been through it. So, we want to get everybody on the same page and we get our focus and our intentionality as far as when it comes to playing in games and the big games.
(Anything on defense that you didn’t notice until you had a chance to sit back and reflect on things this week) As far as defensively, as a unit, we just want to become a fast and violent team. And I think showing that throughout the game, from the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter, those things are hard. So, you’ve got to learn how to play with your brothers. For us as a unit, we’ve got a lot of things like communication that we’ve got to focus on and a lot of different defenses and stuff that we’ve got to focus on. It’s very important that we establish the violence that we’ve been showing in the spring and showing in fall camp, and those are the things that who we really are. So, just sitting back and reevaluating who we are, I think we had an opportunity to go out there and practice this week, and we established our speed and our intentionality as far as defensive play.
(Five Big 12 teams are in the top 25, what’s your thoughts on how competitive the league has been) Oh yeah, I think it’s competitive from the start. We knew that coming into the season. Everybody knows that. But for us, we have to pretty much battle ourselves each game. So, I think that’s kind of our main focus. And we are sticking to that. Who we are as a unit is more important than what’s out in front of us. So, we’ve got to make sure that we have our stuff held together. And we’ve got to make sure that we get better and not beat ourselves in games. So, it’s very competitive. But if we do what we’ve to do as a unit and as a team offensively and defensively, and play complementary football, we’ll be able to beat anybody that we face each week.
(On WV QB JT Daniels) He’s a patient quarterback, so he’s able to see the offense and get the ball to his key players. I think he’s really good at that and sitting in the pocket and making great decisions. So, pretty excited to go up against him and get ready for that battle. I feel like he’s an intelligent player and just as far as his passing, and we’re going to get after him.
(Do y’all take it personally when a team scores over 30 points?)
Oh, yes, we take it personally if somebody even scores a touchdown on us. So, the focus is pretty much, we want to win the running game. We want to win the passing game, and we don't want nobody getting any yards on us. So, for us, if the [opposing] team gets over 80 yards running, that's something that we got to figure out within ourselves because that's something that we want to stop and we don't want anybody to get any positive yards on us as far as the run game and the passing game.
(On Christian Morgan)
He brings energy, he brings edge. He's very intelligent. So he's had a lot of experience. And I think that he's a great leader in that sense. So, as far as our secondary, we need that maturity, we need that experience. So he definitely brings that X factor to it. And he gets better every day. So, from the bye week and to where we're at now, this week going into the game, I think that he's made significant improvements on himself and in areas that he feels like he needs to get better at. So that's gonna be a big thing heading into this game. And we've seen a lot of great plays out of him, so we're hoping to get as much as we can throughout the season.
(Is the jackers and robbers mantra at the point it should be?)
The jackers and robbers is something that we want to make as our identity. So, I think that our main focus in these practices has been to pretty much get the ball out and take the ball away. Now, if you go into a game, if you're getting more turnovers than the team you're playing, then your percentage of winning is a lot more higher. So definitely, it's an important factor on our defense. And I think that going into this game is going to be the game for us to pretty much establish that this is something serious and we're focused and bought in to doing what we got to do to make sure we get the most turnovers throughout the season.
(Has the routine been shaken up a bit or is it a normal week?)
For the past couple of weeks, our focus was that we wanted to change up practice and just get a different scenery. I think in the season for everybody, it kind of gets – the same thing happens each week – the same routine and players sometimes fall into that trap of doing the same thing over and over again. And sometimes you might like energy or edge, as far as practice play and game play. So, we changed up a lot of our practice and moved things around. So, I think the guys were excited [about] handling that, and we handled it with perfect poise. So, for us, this is just going to be a game because we're going to a different environment. And the fact that we were able to prepare for it, just having the bye week in this week right here was very important and I think our team got a lot better.
(Did the Provo and Ames road trips help you prepare for this one?)
Yes, those two road games that we played with Iowa State and BYU, those were games that had tons of energy. So, I think that the way we handle it as far as traveling and having pretty much all the fans and players going against us, those are the things that help prepare us for any fight that we have coming up. But definitely just being able to feed off the energy. I think that's incredible for us as a unit that we were able to take that in and understand it for that. So, going into the next hostile environments that we have, we got to feed off their crowds' energy. And that can be fun, and if you fall into the trap of not feeding off the energy, then it can be a bad loss.
Qualan Jones
(Where do you fit in with the running backs?)
The place I fit in, in the running back room, is really – they look at me as like a protection back. So, I've been getting in on protections and stuff like that. And then, they try to mix it up to where we play teams, they see me come in, and they don’t want to be like, ‘Oh, he’s gonna pass or whatever.’ So, they try to stick a couple of runs in there. And so, basically like a protection back.
(How important is it to have multiple backs that can get it done?)
It’s very important because at tough times we’re going to have to look at it like, to be like a fourth-and-two, we trust him [Richard Reese], you know he’s going to be decisive, you know he’s going to get the first down. We got other backs, put in position to where like me, on your third down, need a big pass play or whatever, come in for protection, they throw me in. I get the protection down. And then we got the other backs to where like, they put us in good position to run the ball and stuff like that. Keep the chains moving.
(How are your bodies holding up?)
My body’s a little sore, but we stay in the training room. We get extra recovery. So, our bodies are pretty good.
(Falling forward, how do you feel about that attitude?)
Being in the running back room, we talk about always falling forward. We want to fall forward to stay ahead of the chains and we don't want to have loss of yards to where it puts us in a position to where we get confused on what we got to do or whatever. And just falling forward is what we need to do as running backs.
(On Taye McWilliams injuries)
It’s been very tough. Been with him, whatever like that. And you know, he's doing concussion stuff. Just been praying for him and can't wait to get him back in the [running back] room.
(What did you learn about playing on the road between Provo and Ames?)
The atmosphere was kind of crazy when we played there and whatever. And our coach has been telling us we have to bring energy. So, that's the big key thing that we [are] looking for to play in a hostile environment is just to bring energy and have everybody on the sideline encouraging the defense in tough times, encouraging the offense.
(What did you learn about yourself, what areas can the offense get better at?
Feel like we need to get better with the penalties and stuff like that. We don't want to have penalties to set us back. We talked about bringing energy. We need to bring energy, start fast, and play green.
(What do you see from WVU’s defense?)
I feel like they’re a competitive team. I feel like the up-four, the D-line, they’re very physical, so it's gonna be a competitive game all four quarters.
