Listen: Matt Rhule Liberty Presser and Transcript

Opening statement

“Well, first of all, thank you to everyone for being here, everyone who may be watching at home. I appreciate you guys getting up early and coming in and adjusting to our schedule. We’re grateful for that. Just a couple things. Obviously, as we’re watching the devastation on the news, everything that’s happening in Houston, and southern and southeast Texas, our hearts go out to all the people in the affected areas: families, friends, anyone. We’re excited to play Saturday night, but we’re also playing with heavy hearts as we see so many of our players on our team with their families affected. Kids on our team have water in their houses and their families have had to move. My own family, coaches on our staff’s families and friends, kids that we’re recruiting, their coaches, it hits close to home as I know it does with so many of you guys. Our university, our team, our athletic department has tried to step up in any way that we can. As we go out Friday night, we’re happy to have a chance to host Sam Houston and Richmond here on Friday night at McLane at 6 pm with free admission. I know our team will be there for just a little bit, and I’m hoping that our community comes out and supports those teams, both Sam Houston and Richmond, I have a former player on the Richmond team, and makes that a positive day for them.

Number two, for our game on Saturday night, we’re going to offer complementary admission, parking, and a meal to any families affected by the storm. All the details on how to request will be on www.BaylorBears.com later today and on our social media. We know that a football game is not going to make what’s happened better, but if, for three or four hours, families that are in flux and having to react to these events, they can have three or four hours of fun and take their minds off of what’s happening to their homes, that would be a great thing. So, I think it’s great that our athletic department has stepped up like that. We know it won’t fix the damage, but we’re hoping it can give a brief respite for those folks.

And then finally, our campus community is going to collect hard goods for those in need and affected by the flooding at both the Traditions Rally on Friday night and at the game on Saturday. I think we’re going to try to get those to some of the shelters, even in this area, and in Dallas and Belton, as people leave Houston and come up. Those shelters are in need of canned goods, so we’re going to continue to do that. And those details will be coming out all day. I think those moves, having Sam Houston and Richmond be here, offering free admission, and then offering canned goods from our community, are tremendous opportunities for all of us to help in some small way with what’s happening in Houston.

In regards to our team, we’ve had two incidents over the summer that I won’t go into details on, but they’re not related, where guys will be suspended as a result of things that have happened during the summertime. Mo Porter will sit out the first half of the Liberty game, and Taion Sells will not participate in our first three games. As a head coach, it’s my job to set high standards and to hold people accountable, and I know you guys probably have questions, but I won’t get into it out of respect for them. Both guys have handled their suspensions like men. When they come back, they’ll be back, but they will not be able to participate for us as we go through those times.

Alright, well, I’ve talked to you guys a lot, and it’s fun to finally talk to you guys about game week, and I know you guys are interested in the quarterback situation. I’m going to go watch the practice tape with our offense and defense and we’ll release something later today. I know we’re excited about our quarterbacks, so we’ll see who the offensive staff thinks it is, and then they can hear who I think it is as we move forward. We’re excited for the first game, to watch our kids go play and have a chance to play in front of our fans. Obviously, with Liberty coming in here, a team that’s in flux, moving from 1-AA to 1-A, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Turner Gill. I had many chances to go against him when he was the head coach of Buffalo and I was the offensive coordinator at Temple. Joe Dailey, his offensive coordinator, and Robert Wimberly, all are guys that I have a ton of respect for. I know they know the Big 12 better than I know the Big 12, and I know they’ll come out here ready to play and we’ll have to play our best as we move forward. So we’re excited about our team, we think they’ve made a lot of progress, but we’re still a work in progress. 

We released the depth chart to you, and we’re going to try to play a lot of guys, so it’ll be interesting to see how guys handle the situation of playing in the games, and that’s really the next step for our team. They’ve shown what they can do, so now how are they going to handle it in front of a crowd and in front of a good team. They’ve got some good players, (Juwan) Wells, their defensive end, and Dia’Vante Brown; they’ve got some experience on defense. They have an experienced offensive line, and their quarterback, (Stephen) Calvert, a kid we recruited at Temple, is “Buckshot”, a young kid, and a competitor. So they’ve got a ton of players that we have to contend with. Our receivers are going to have to come out and have to compete against Chris Turner, who is just a physical cover corner. So, we have some matchup issues we’re going to have to contend with, and we have to see some of our inexperienced guys have their first chance to go out there and be the man, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they do that as they begin this process. So, with that, I’ll see what questions you guys have. I’ll never give that long of an opening statement again.”

On addressing Houston hurricane with players affected…

“Well, I just think right from the very beginning, even as Harvey was beginning landfall, all our coaches began to reach out to all of our players on our team. We began to reach out to all of our kids that we’re recruiting, just to see if there was anything we could do in any small way. A bunch of guys on our team have been affected, and really all we can do for them is just to be there for them. Some of them are having a hard time getting in contact with people in their family, so when they can’t get in contact with them, they need to be in contact with us until they hear from their families. While it’s been devastating, it hasn’t been tragic for the guys on our team, so we’re just going to continue to be there for them and stay in constant contact about it.”

On three true freshmen starting on depth chart…

“Well, yeah, (Jairon) McVea, you know, is a kid that’s not on scholarship. He’s a kid that walked on. He’s got a lot of physical talent, and obviously, with Henry Black and Rajah Preciado being out all camp, although Henry Black is back now, but he’s been out all camp. Taion Sells, with him being suspended, has provided a tremendous opportunity for McVea. And Coach Snow’s been saying it since the spring, and if you look back, I’ve been saying it a long time: this guy’s a really good football player. He’s a kid that, when we tested him in the summer, he ran a 4.38. So he can run, he’s got skills, and this is his opportunity. And we’ll play a lot of those guys back there. We’ll play (Chance) Waz, Chris Miller, McVea, and Henry Black, but there’s a lot of credit for him for working really hard and taking advantage of his opportunity.

“Three true freshmen are Harrison Hand, and you know Grayland Arnold went down on Saturday. He tripped and fell, really, and broke his arm, kinda in a non-contact period. And so he’s out. But Harrison was probably starting at the other corner position, so we’re going to go with Jameson and Harrison, and Harrison’s been tough and been competitive, and he’s got a lot to learn. He’s a big, physical corner but he’s got a lot to learn. So it might be a little bit too early for him but we’re moving forward.

“I keep thinking of (Jalen) Pitre like he’s been here for four years. I think Eric Ogor had a tremendous start to camp, and he’s been banged up a little bit lately, and Pitre has played, so they’ll both probably play even amounts. But Pitre, for the one recruit that was here when we got here, has proven to be a competitive, tough, instinctive player, and we’re excited to see what he can do.

“And Ryan Miller has taken advantage of that opportunity. Ish Wilson has been limited with a cast on his hand, but that’s off now. So we have (Sam) Tecklenburg, Miller, and Ish (Wilson), all three guys we think can play. So we’ll probably move as the games goes on and play a couple different guys. And Ryan, you know coming from Southlake Carroll, is really well coached, and he’s a tough kid, so we think he’s ready to go. Anytime you play freshmen, you know there’s going to be growing pains. John Lovett’s not starting, but his teammates voted him a single digit. And for a freshmen to get a single digit, that’s hard for me to even say, but he’s a really tough, competitive kid, and he’ll play a ton as well.”

On his evaluation of offenses leading to suspensions…

“We try to make sure that any discipline we levy out matches the offense. This is one thing I believe as a coach, even when you have two offenses that almost appear the same to the outside, we always know a little bit more. And I know I don’t always know everything, but the athletic department and I try to take everything into account when we make a decision, and I always reserve the right to change those things if I get more information. If I suspend a guy for a game and find out more, then I might unsuspend him or I might add two games. I think the thing with these guys is that they were forthright about what happened, and we make these suspensions, and we move on. Sometimes you get to the game week, and you see that some of these things happened a while ago, and you think it seems unfortunate, but at the end of the day, if there are no repercussions and there is no follow-through, then there is no justice.”

On what Pitre means to this program…

“I think the reasons why he decided to stay here, his character, his integrity, his loyalty, the family that he comes from. I mean I really met him when we met for breakfast at the Olive Branch on his official visit when I sat down and said “hey, how are you doing, I’m Matt Rhule,” so it wasn’t like I even did a home visit with him and went to his house, because I got here so late. But I think those characteristics are why he’s a good player. He’s talented, but a lot of kids are talented. It’s that special something, that it-factor, to me, that makes you want to keep a guy and makes you want to play with a guy. Sometimes you’ll see me tweet out “OOU”, that guy’s “One Of Us”. I want to go win with that guy. That’s what Jalen is, and we’ve got a lot of those guys here. I’m going to show the team, I’ve got a guy that played for me at Temple that is playing for the Texans, and he actually came here and trained all offseason. He’s just one of us. And Jalen reminds me of him. He’s going to do whatever it takes for us to win. And if you’ve got a bunch of guys where it’s not about them but about the team, you’ve got a chance to have a great team.”

On if team is ahead of the curve learning new defense…

“Yeah they’re definitely ahead. That’s why I brought the whole defensive staff, because it’s our second time going through installing everything that Phil (Snow) does. I give a lot of credit to our guys. There’s still some areas where we’re struggling with them with. We have time demands, and we follow the rules, but we give them a game book and tell them to go study it when we’re not here, to do extra on your own and be elite on your own. I think some guys are getting it better than others, but I think our guys have really come a long way defensively. You’ll hear us say that you stop the run with toughness, and I think we’re a tough group. We’re not elitely tough, but we’re getting tougher. You stop the pass with talent, and we’ll see. We have a bunch of scholarship DB’s out, and we’re anxious to see who the pass rushing guys are. I’ll be interested to see how we are versus the passing game. Can we rush the passer and can we cover? I feel good that we’re going to be somewhat tough against the run, but I think it’ll be an evolutionary process. In terms of mentally, they’ve worked really hard to get to where they are. We’re significantly more ahead here than we were in the last couple years at the last place.”

On QB competition changing after the season starts…

“Oh yeah absolutely. I’ll play the best player every week. Sometimes I’ll talk to kids, I’ll talk to parents, ant this isn’t at quarterback. These three kids are competitive. But sometimes I’ll hear people say, ‘if you just name me the starter, then you can really see how well I’ll play.’ Sometimes parents say, ‘once he’s the guy, you’re going to see how well he plays.’ I went to the NFL and you play on Sunday, then Monday you come in and warm up. Tuesday’s your day off, and they bring in 30 guys to replace you. They try to replace you on Tuesdays for someone cheaper. I learned then that’s hogwash. Competition is competition and you better play. Our coaches know, you don’t do a good job, you’re going to get replaced. If I don’t do a good job, I’m going to get replace, and that’s what we feed off of. That’s why we’re competitive people. So, there’s not going to be a short leash ever on a quarterback. We’re going to let them play through things, but there are certain standards in terms of how hard you work in terms of how much we do. If over time it seems like, ‘hey this guy is not the guy’ then we’ll move on to the next guy. That allows for growth. All these guys are going to get better and better and better as the year goes on.”

On game-planning for an opposing team without knowing who’s starting…

“I think it depends on the situation, like when you’re not sure who the quarterback is. I think it depends on the different types of quarterbacks. If I have one guy who’s a pocket guy and one guy who’s a runner, then we would definitely game-plan those guys differently. People that play two quarterbacks against us, Coach Snow and them, it wears them out because we kind of have a running quarterback plan and a drop-back quarterback plan. If they’re sort of the same guys or the team doesn’t feature guys differently, then it doesn’t really matter. That’s why, as I’ve said, I’m trying to make the right decision at the right time. I know it’s not always the timing anyone else wants, but I’m trying to do it the right way. If it was gamesmanship, I wouldn’t announce it until the first drive. I just really feel like the first time through, like I’ll give you today. We’re practicing at 6:45 in the morning which means the kids are in the building starting to get taped at 5:45. So I’d hate to name a starting quarterback yesterday, and then have that guy show up late today. I want to see you go through the Tuesday practice. I want to see what you’re like out there before the sun comes up. I want to see all that before we get into this, but I think now is a good time to announce it today and go from there. It does affect you on the other end when you’re saying ‘are we facing a pocket guy? Are we facing a drop-back guy? Am I going to have to put in some things where we mirror the quarterback? Am I going to have to rush three and keep him in the pocket? Can I turn my guys loose?’ Those are the factors that would affect us.”

On Blake Lynch’s spot on the depth chart…

“He’s helping us out kind of all over the place. We’ve been playing him at receiver. We’ve been playing him at tailback. He was a high school quarterback. I tried him there, but he can’t throw anymore, so I gave him up on that. We’ve played Blake at outside linebacker, at defensive end, had him rush the passer. We’re still trying to find elite pass rushers. With Grayland going down, we’ve tried him a couple reps at corner. He’s a guy that we’re trying to put all over the field, and so as a result of that he’s probably not necessarily in the two-deep at any one spot. I think he’s a guy that you’ll see play on both sides of the ball, depending on how the game goes. He’s just a really competitive kid. He had offseason groin surgery, which the process of coming back from that, you see it in baseball, you see it in basketball, that sports hernia surgery, you have to kind of limit their reps early on. I think his role will continue to get bigger and bigger and bigger as the year goes on, and he continues to get healthier and healthier and healthier.”

On coaching a position (secondary) that has experience so much injury…

”I don’t know that I have. Maybe. It was unique in that so many of them were before we started training camp. For us it was like in the secondary, we knew Raj (Rajah Preciado) was out, we knew Tre’Von Lewis was out, we knew Timarcus Davis was out. Now Timarcus Davis is back with us now. He’s cleared and he is practicing. I’m just very cognizant of and conscientious about guys coming off ACL’s. I know they say they’re cleared, but I like to give them a little more time. I’m trying to hold him back. All of these things were sort of summer injuries and repetitive use injuries, so we kind of had some time to prepare for it. Losing (Taion) Sells and now losing Grayland (Arnold), obviously those aren’t things that you want, but Grayland’s competitive and he’s a single digit. As a tough a guy as I’ve been around, so I’m assuming he’ll get back as soon as he can get back.”

On making it to game week after a long camp…

“Oh absolutely. The best thing about the first game is having a chance to watch your players go play somebody and play somebody else, instead of always competing against each other, always hitting each other, to kind of have a chance to go out and work together. That’s, to me, what good teams do. The offense fumbles the ball, the defense goes out and gets a stop. The defense gives up a big play, the offense responds. You have bad position, you block a punt. Offense, defense, and special teams all working in concert together towards a common goal and all providing energy towards a common goal. That’s what I’m excited to see. This is my first time being a head coach in our own university owned stadium. The crowd and the energy that’ll come from the crowd, that’s all exciting and energizing I know to the team and also to me as well.”

On history with Coach Turner Gill…

“My recollection of going against Coach Gill when he was at Buffalo were, number one, his defenses were really aggressive. One year we came out and played them and Coach DeLeone was the offensive coordinator. They blitzed us first play to the last play, and beat us pretty good. The years after that when I was the offensive coordinator, they were tough, physical, hard-nosed, in-your-face defenses. They’d get after you. They’d talk to you. Offensively, they always had really efficient quarterbacks. He had Drew Willy he went on to be an NFL player. He had James Starks that play for the Packers. They’d run the ball and get downhill on you. They were pro-style, base kind of offenses coming off his NFL experience. But I think the biggest things were that they were tough teams that didn’t beat themselves and went out and competed. I always like to watch teams against like-minded teams. You watch them against Virginia Tech last year, and they had the lead in the second quarter. You watch them against SMU, they had a chance to beat them down the stretch. Really if you think about one thing about Liberty that stands out to me, it’s that they were 12th in the country last year in takeaways. Their defense gets turnovers. Their defense picks off balls and causes fumbles. To me, that comes from the defensive coordinator, Coach Wimberly and the head coach, Coach Gill. They’re not a team that’s going to come here and back down. They’re going to come out here and challenge you. They’re going to play press-man, and get in your face. That’s my kind of team. I don’t like teams that don’t do that. I like teams that get up there and challenge you. He certainly does that.”

On takeaways from quarterback competition…

“They’re just three such unique players, but also really good players. They all bring different things to the table. It’s one thing when they’re all sort of carbon copies of each other. Then you say, ‘well, he’s the best at this.’ But when you have Zach (Smith), who has the ability to throw the ball 70 yards downfield and he’ll stand in there and take a hit, and Anu (Solomon), who has the ability to move, and Charlie (Brewer), who just kind of has this unique ability to get out of plays and create plays, you’re looking at three different quarterbacks. That’s what make is so much harder. Does that make sense? You’ve got a young offensive line. Who’s going to get us in the right play? Who’s going to escape? Who’s going to step up in the pocket? Those are the things that are unique, and I also think they’re just such competitive guys that they’ve put the work in. None of them are just relinquishing the job or saying ‘oh I got the job.’ That bodes well for the future because this is a competition right now, but Zach and Charlie for the next three years or four years. This period of having a fight for the job makes you way better way quicker. When you know you’re the starting quarterback, you start trying to perfect things, as opposed to coming in every day hungry, saying, ‘what do I need to do today?’ That’s what I’ve seen from all those guys.”

On Feuerbacher at tight end and Wainwright’s adjustment to football…

“(Jordan) Feuerbacher is a guy who has played a lot of football. He’s experienced. He’s tough. He wants to be a coach. He’s physical. He has great hands. He’s nifty. I think the big thing with (Ish) Wainwright is yes he’s adapted really well. Everything is still sort of the first time for everything, but he’s getting better and better and better. I think the biggest thing with Ish is he’s physical. He’ll throw his face in there. He’ll hit you, and he’ll block. When you have that seven-foot wingspan, and you’ll block, you don’t have to say to yourself, ‘I thought he’d be like a situational guy. We could play him here. We could play him there.’ You can pretty much play him all the time. I think that makes him valuable.”

On Sells suspension, single-digit, and if he would take it away…

“I don’t take them away. I’ve dismissed a player from the team before, and just no one wore that number for the rest of the year. I say that to our team when we vote. I say, ‘hey just to make sure you know this, once we bestow this, we don’t take it away. If you voted incorrectly, you voted incorrectly.’ I think while I was disappointed with Taion not being out there with us, I’m proud of the way he’s responded. I’m proud of who he is. People do the wrong thing sometimes. There’s some things you can’t come back from, there’s other things you can. To me, when you make a mistake it’s how you respond. He’s out there running the scout team. He’s out there running down on scout kick off. He’s apologized to his teammates, and so we move forward and we move on. You hope that it’s a lesson for other guys. You hope that it’s a lesson for Taion, who’s a graduate of Baylor already. He comes every morning, Wednesday at 7:30 to our fatherhood group. He made a mistake, but we move on from that. The single digits, to me, are too important to give them and start pulling them. If you picked the wrong guy, you picked the wrong guy. We have to live with a bad football team then. If you picked the right guys, then we have a good football team.

On K.J. Smith playing defensive tackle and defensive end…

“Yeah, he’s been repping at both. I just think we play K.J. (Smith) at end a lot early on, and when you put K.J. inside, he becomes a difference maker to me. His lateral quickness, most of his sacks came inside. We’re going to utilize him in a couple different areas, but he’ll probably start the game at the three technique. We think he can be a vertical, pass rushing, up the field, three technique, and that kind of fits his strengths.