Art Briles said DB Xavien Howard has a bone bruise NOT an Achilles injury from what he suffered in this past Friday's Friday Night Lights. But he is expected to miss rest of spring. It's not considered a serious injury.
Briles also said that DB Ryan Reid (hernia) will continue to be limited and DE Shawn Oakman (wrist) is done for the rest of the spring but should be full strength by the fall workouts when they begin in August.
Transcript from the presser with the Media:
(Friday scrimmage) I liked the way it worked out. It was programmed as a spring game but to us it was just a scrimmage under the lights as a recruiting ploy and to help get our people out. From that standpoint it was very good.
We got five more days in pads where we can work on things that we saw. If the spring game was the end you would have to wait until August to improve. Now we've got some pretty good live stuff that we can work on. Personnel-wise we feel we're in good shape where most of our guys are. But we're still going to be making some changes between now and the last five days.
(Xavien Howard) He's good. That was really the highlight of the scrimmage, him not hurting his Achilles. It ended up being just a bone bruise right by the Achilles. He's fine. If we're in game week, I would say he'd be ready to go Saturday. But we'll hold him until fall camp just to make sure everything's good.
(Young cornerbacks playing with veterans injured) Great benefit in that they're getting quality reps against good people. That part of it is a big benefit without any question. But they're doing a good job. I've seen Tion (Wright) both improve over the last two or three practices. Of course Freaky T has been going out there the whole spring and he's gotten much better. You can't have enough corners. That's an island position, so those guys have to be ready every time they step on the field.
(Ryan Reid back) I don't know how free he is going to be going through practice. I would not anticipate him going full speed through everything. But if he does get that opportunity, that's something that would get his body back to working with his mind. You can sit around and stand around. Once you get out there and start doing it, memorization comes back with the muscle. That would be the most important thing.
(What do you want to see from Seth Russell?) Just playing free, cutting loose and having an edge, being him. He doesn't need to try to be anybody else. We don't want him to be anybody else. If there are any consequences good or bad we'll talk about it later. Play the play that's on the field right now and make it the best it can be.
(Shawn Oakman) He will be held until August. Mental reps, he's had a bunch. He's been right in the middle of everything. I might have to hire him. He's coached as hard as anybody this spring. It's been really encouraging to see him be a great leader and grow up as a person.
(On players in secondary not tackling LaQuan McGowan to prevent injuries): I don't figure we have to tell them. We really didn't anticipate that the other night. He needed a little live action. We're dealing with the future is the way I look at it. He's a 2035 athlete that we're dealing with in 2015.
I don't think there's a problem with the ball coming out of his hand. That's not an issue. Not with a guy who has hands big enough to carry a helmet with his index finger.
(Front four DL coming back) They're going to be good because they're experienced, hungry and have a lot of wins under their belt. They understand what it takes to play at a national level. That's the part I'm excited about with the whole football team. We're certainly not where we're going to be or need to be, but we understand how we need to get there, and that's a huge difference.
(Receivers) We lost three five-year guys. That's a lot of snaps, experience and production. We're figuring out how these other guys fit in and what they can do in our system. That's the main thing we're seeing, how to utilize their skills to help us win games.
As for the schedule, Baylor will NOT have practice on Friday (March 27) but will finish on March 31 and April 2. That change came down late Tuesday afternoon. I have to assume that was made in lieu of the March 5 scrimmage. A depth chart should be coming soon after that.
And unlike most sites that talk about position by position before spring, I'm doing it differently. I'm going to go post spring on the positions once the depth chart is released and analyze why things unfolded the way they did.
This post was edited on 3/24 8:45 PM by K Lonnquist
Briles also said that DB Ryan Reid (hernia) will continue to be limited and DE Shawn Oakman (wrist) is done for the rest of the spring but should be full strength by the fall workouts when they begin in August.
Transcript from the presser with the Media:
(Friday scrimmage) I liked the way it worked out. It was programmed as a spring game but to us it was just a scrimmage under the lights as a recruiting ploy and to help get our people out. From that standpoint it was very good.
We got five more days in pads where we can work on things that we saw. If the spring game was the end you would have to wait until August to improve. Now we've got some pretty good live stuff that we can work on. Personnel-wise we feel we're in good shape where most of our guys are. But we're still going to be making some changes between now and the last five days.
(Xavien Howard) He's good. That was really the highlight of the scrimmage, him not hurting his Achilles. It ended up being just a bone bruise right by the Achilles. He's fine. If we're in game week, I would say he'd be ready to go Saturday. But we'll hold him until fall camp just to make sure everything's good.
(Young cornerbacks playing with veterans injured) Great benefit in that they're getting quality reps against good people. That part of it is a big benefit without any question. But they're doing a good job. I've seen Tion (Wright) both improve over the last two or three practices. Of course Freaky T has been going out there the whole spring and he's gotten much better. You can't have enough corners. That's an island position, so those guys have to be ready every time they step on the field.
(Ryan Reid back) I don't know how free he is going to be going through practice. I would not anticipate him going full speed through everything. But if he does get that opportunity, that's something that would get his body back to working with his mind. You can sit around and stand around. Once you get out there and start doing it, memorization comes back with the muscle. That would be the most important thing.
(What do you want to see from Seth Russell?) Just playing free, cutting loose and having an edge, being him. He doesn't need to try to be anybody else. We don't want him to be anybody else. If there are any consequences good or bad we'll talk about it later. Play the play that's on the field right now and make it the best it can be.
(Shawn Oakman) He will be held until August. Mental reps, he's had a bunch. He's been right in the middle of everything. I might have to hire him. He's coached as hard as anybody this spring. It's been really encouraging to see him be a great leader and grow up as a person.
(On players in secondary not tackling LaQuan McGowan to prevent injuries): I don't figure we have to tell them. We really didn't anticipate that the other night. He needed a little live action. We're dealing with the future is the way I look at it. He's a 2035 athlete that we're dealing with in 2015.
I don't think there's a problem with the ball coming out of his hand. That's not an issue. Not with a guy who has hands big enough to carry a helmet with his index finger.
(Front four DL coming back) They're going to be good because they're experienced, hungry and have a lot of wins under their belt. They understand what it takes to play at a national level. That's the part I'm excited about with the whole football team. We're certainly not where we're going to be or need to be, but we understand how we need to get there, and that's a huge difference.
(Receivers) We lost three five-year guys. That's a lot of snaps, experience and production. We're figuring out how these other guys fit in and what they can do in our system. That's the main thing we're seeing, how to utilize their skills to help us win games.
As for the schedule, Baylor will NOT have practice on Friday (March 27) but will finish on March 31 and April 2. That change came down late Tuesday afternoon. I have to assume that was made in lieu of the March 5 scrimmage. A depth chart should be coming soon after that.
And unlike most sites that talk about position by position before spring, I'm doing it differently. I'm going to go post spring on the positions once the depth chart is released and analyze why things unfolded the way they did.
This post was edited on 3/24 8:45 PM by K Lonnquist
