Matt Rhule Weekly Presser & Transcript: Kansas

Opening Statement

“Well, I appreciate everyone being here. Obviously, coming off of last Saturday, I’m disappointed in our performance. I was proud of our defense a lot of times. They held Texas scoreless in the first quarter and held them to a field goal in third quarter. I think a lot of kids on our defense were feeling disappointed with our fight in the fourth quarter, which has not really been questioned before. It was some of the older guys, Taylor [Young] and those guys. They felt like we need to do a better job with that. We had a lot of positives in the game defensively. As we move forward, though, there are some things we still need to build on.

Offensively, we never could get started and we had a hard time blocking the blitzes late in the game. Our quarterbacks took a lot of hits. It just wasn’t good enough. We’ll rebound this week and play whoever is healthy. I know some of the guys asked in the call, as we enter this week: [Trestan] Ebner would be questionable for the game, Pooh Stricklin is out for the game, and probably out for the rest of the season, [John] Lovett would be questionable for the game, Tony Nicholson, right now, I don’t know. We were too beat up to practice yesterday, so we didn’t practice yesterday, just to give them an extra day to recoup. So, we’ll see if Tony can do anything, but right now I’d say Tony is questionable for the game as well. On the defensive side, Clay Johnston is out, probably for the rest of the year. We’re going to hold him. Obviously, that’s a big blow to our defense, so we’ll see if he can do anything else.

Zach Smith would be questionable for this game. Charlie [Brewer] is probably going to start the game, but we’ll see if Zach can get healthy enough as we move forward, but we don’t want to rush him and his shoulder. He’s been blessed with too great of an arm to put him in harm’s way, so Charlie will start the game, and Preston Heard and Zach will back up. Some guys were asking about Anu [Solomon], but the doctors still haven’t cleared him, and he’s missed too much school. So, he’s medically withdrawn from school so he doesn’t get all F’s in graduate school. He’s having a hard time keeping up academically, so he’s not in school anymore. So that’s Anu, the other quarterback that had the concussion. We’d have to have Zach ready and Preston ready as well. So, we’re going to go out and play and compete with the guys we have.

We’re facing a team that played really well at home. Coach Beaty is a good coach and a good man, and they’ve got as good of a defensive line as we’ve faced, so we’re going to have our work cut out for us to go play. We’ll have to move some guys around and make sure we put guys in the best position to let them be successful, and we’ll try to do a good job for Charlie in terms of playing to his strengths. He got a little beat up in the game and had a hard time running, so I think some of his running packages might be limited. We have confidence in him and we know he can go out and move the team, so we’ll try to build off that. With that, I’ll see what questions you guys have.”

On Zach Smith and Clay Johnston’s injuries…

“[Zach Smith] has an AC sprain, so he sprained his throwing shoulder, and Clay [Johnston]’s is his foot. It’s a sprained ligament inside his foot, so we just want to prevent it from turning into a Lisfranc fracture. He and Pooh [Stricklin] have the same thing. They both have a sprained mid-foot. And Preston Heard will be the backup if Zach can’t go.”

On Chris Platt’s recovery…

“He had surgery, and it was a good surgery, so he’s now begun that rehab process. His was an isolated ACL, so it didn’t tear any of the cartilage, so you’d like to think he’ll come back as good as ever.”

On not having practice Monday…

“Like I said, we were pretty beat up, and I didn’t have the team meeting in the morning because I was in the hospital with my daughter. I felt like, after that game, I should be the one talking to them. I wouldn’t read too much into that. I felt like our guys were prepared. Luckily, I was in there all day Sunday, so I got a chance to talk to a lot of guys. A lot of guys probably played their best game on Saturday. One of the things for us, as you go through this, is that you have to keep finding guys you can win with. You see James Lynch, and he didn’t play the first half of the year, but he’s got 2.5 sacks and five TFL. He’s out in that game and he’s playing really well. BrayvionRoy, Tyrone Hunt, Ira Lewis. Ira played a really good football game. BJ Thompson. Some of the guys on the D-line played their best football game. Grayland Arnold played a really good football game. Jameson Houston. Taylor Young was playing his best football. There were a bunch of guys that played their best game.

Unfortunately, offensively, nothing really materialized. We didn’t think Blake Lynch was going to play because he was sick, and he ended up making that big play on offense. I thought when I showed up yesterday that they were prepared and ready to go. There’s no questioning the resiliency of that group. This is hard for them. I was talking to Zach [Smith] last night, and told him that if I hadn’t been through this once, it’d be really hard for me. It’s hard for me anyway, but they haven’t been through it before. I think their character, toughness and resilience is showing up, because they hear everything. They hear this, that, and the third, so at the end of the day, they can either listen to the people saying “it’s not your fault,” or they can say, “I’m going to go control how I play.” And when you say that you’re going to control how you play, you take power over your career. That’s what I thought James Lynch did last game, and that’s what I thought [Trestan] Ebner did the week before. We need to keep trying to find the bright spots. It’s the dark time, but we have to push them forward. We sat there, as a team, and we just put on the game. No coaches talked, and we told them to tell us. The defensive kids were saying, “we should have done this” and, “I should be here.” Their level of understanding and accountability that they were taking for their play was at a very high level. Guys like Blake Blackmar and [Sam[ Tecklenbergwere saying, “I got confused here and should’ve gone here.” That’s a maturity that’s really hard to find. Guys are developing that. There’s a bunch of guys hurt this week, so it is what it is. Mentally, though, the guys that are out there playing are going to compete. They’re going to prepare all week and go play.”

On if he’d like to see the players get rewarded for coming out and playing every week…

“I definitely want them to win. I want them to win for them. I want them to be rewarded for all the effort and progress and everything that they’ve done. But you also have to understand what it takes to win. I know we want it to be easy, and when you’re way more talented than a team, you can do some fun things and win the game. But when you’re here or slightly below the other team, you have to play really well. You can’t have a pick-six and then a fumble and then a penalty and then two penalties and then a missed assignment. You just can’t do that. You can’t be down 7-0 and get a punt return at the 20 and then hit a guy in the back five seconds later. You can do that when you’re way better than the other team, but you can’t do that when you’re even. It’s just trying to get our guys to understand that, in order to win, we can’t beat ourselves. I use the word “process,” and people say it and kids say it. I listen to Matt Campbell talk to his team after beating the number four team and the number three team, and all he did was talk about the process and how they went from 3-9 to a top-15 program because the kids are tough and they believe and they do what’s right. So that’s what our kids are doing. They’re trying it and working through it. They get in the games sometimes and freak out a little bit, but if we can just keep pushing forward, eventually they’ll win, and it’ll be a true victory. They will have earned that victory. They’ve done it right off the field and they’ve done it right on the field. That’s what I want for them.”

On the experience Charlie Brewer has gained in the last couple of weeks…

“It’s going to help him. Even with his quarter against Oklahoma State and his quarter against West Virginia. He played off and on last week. He made some mistakes but he did some good things. On the first drive, he forgets to send the guy in motion and he throws a screen out there and there are not enough blockers. Now we get to come back and figure out what he was doing. He got banged up and had to continue to play banged up. I think, when you’re a quarterback, everyone around you is going to say that you were rotated out and couldn’t get in a rhythm, but if you’re the guy at quarterback, you should just want the ball. It shouldn’t matter what you do with anybody else. I think what you’re seeing with Charlie [Brewer] and Zach [Smith] is that they’re young quarterbacks, and if they could just get in their head and become the most mentally tough quarterbacks in the conference, they have the talent to play at a really high level.

I was looking at some guys in our conference yesterday, and Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, TCU, West Virginia and Texas Tech, I believe, all have senior quarterbacks. You’re looking at teams like Texas and us, and everyone we play has a senior quarterback. These guys are freshmen and sophomores, so if they can become the most mentally tough player that they can be right now, and if they can go out their and battle against blitzes that we don’t pick up, they’re going to be really good players.

That’s what’s going on with Charlie and that’s what’s going on with Zach, and it’s the same thing with [Denzel] Mims. One week, Mims is a dominant player, and the next week he plays down here. People are trying to take him away. As I said to him, when people come out and game plan to take you away, you have to be Dez Bryant. You have to say, “Give me the ball anyway.” You have to jump up and catch it. You have to run right through. You can’t jog the route because you don’t think you’re getting it. Mims is slowly turning himself into a dominant player. Part of it is going out in a game like this and not playing the way you wanted and coming back this week and playing the way you wanted. That’s the benefit of this experience. It’s not fun for those quarterbacks and it’s not fun for some of those other guys, but it is what it is. You have to fight through it. You can’t listen to all the excuses that are around you and you have to stay locked into the mindset of, “I am in control of how I play.” That’s such an important thing. I’m in control of how I play. Because someday you’re going to be the quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons and they’re going to bring in a first-round draft pick. You’re going to be Case Keenum and they’re going to draft Jared Goff. And what are you going to do? Complain about it? Or are you going to go out and be a starter? And then Case Keenum goes to the Vikings, and he wins, and right after he wins, everyone is asking when Sam Bradford is coming back. The really good quarterbacks are so mentally tough, and I think Zach is mentally tough, and I think Charlie is mentally tough. They’re going through this time where we’re not winning, but they’re taking hits and competing. As we get better around them, they’ll improve. That’s why I like going out to work every day. I like going out to work and coaching those guys. I like going out to work and coaching a bunch of tough, resilient kids on this team.”

On if he’s teaching Charlie Brewer to avoid hits when he runs…

“Well, I think, for both quarterbacks, when they recognize they’re short of the sticks, they try to lower their shoulder and get to the sticks. Once they’re past the sticks, you’d like to see them slide, especially now with Zach [Smith] banged up. We have to be smart about what we do with sliding in general. You’d like to see Charlie [Brewer] get down, but at the end of the day, that’s what makes him a special player. You never want to take a player that has something special about him and not let him do that thing. Charlie is just a competitor. He’s going to fight for the first down, and he’s going to fight for the end zone. That usually leads to other people fighting around you.”

On importance of the blocked field goal and sustaining that momentum…

“Well, you need to sustain momentum. That was such a big moment in the game. What I liked about it was that we went out and threw the pick-six and they had all the momentum. And then we went down and shot ourselves in the foot, and then they went down and we stopped them. And then we fumbled to give them the ball, and they had all the momentum in the world, but we got the stop. We held them to the field goal and blocked the field goal. That was a huge turn of events for us. You look at the last couple of games in the first quarter, and we’ve been pretty good defensively. I was really pleased with the mindset of those guys to go out there and do that. The defense was under duress most of the game in terms of field position. I went for it one time late in the game because I knew it was our last chance to get something going. We had the punt dropped and we had all those things. I thought they went out there and they’re starting to understand that they can just hold them to a field goal. You’re not going to lose to a team that just kicks a bunch of field goals. Their mentality on defense is slowly changing, and that’s a good thing. They’re saying to defend the goal line, and we weren’t able to do it all the time, but we were able to do it enough. That just shows the maturity and the toughness. That’s Greg Roberts’ second block of the year, so he’s finding a way to contribute, not just in defense but also in that role.”

On loss of Clay Johnston…

“Lenoy [Jones, Jr.] played most of that game, so he’ll have to continue to play. Taylor Young has been playing really good football, and Jalen Pitre will start playing more. Jourdan Williams will have to play more. Clay [Johnston] has had those injuries, but he’s been a really good player. He brings us something in terms of athleticism, and defensively, that’s hard. So, to have him gone is a blow, but it’s an opportunity for other guys to step up and go play. We’ll hope that they go do it at a high level. Clay will come back better than ever, and the other guys will have more experience as a result of it.”

On Grayland Arnold’s play of late…

“Well, Grayland [Arnold] had that game against Oklahoma State that didn’t go as he wanted, but, in the last two weeks, you’ve seen a guy play at a high level. In this last game, he had the pick in the end zone, but he also made a ton of tackles and ran to the ball and tried to rip the ball out. Grayland is a tough, competitive player. When you look at him, you see a future captain. He’s one of those guys that has an edge to him. He competes. I like the fact that he had a game he didn’t like, and it made him better and tougher. He didn’t get broken from it, but he got more mentally tough because of it. He went out there and enjoyed playing on Saturday. He was out there and enjoying the game. He was enjoying flying around and hitting people, and that’s contagious. That carries over, then, to Harrison [Hand] and Jameson [Houston] and some of those other guys. I think he’s a voice on our football team. Grayland is a guy that people listen to and respect, and he’ll continue to become one of the better corners in the league.”

On if Blake Lynch will move back to offense with Pooh Stricklin’s injury…

“I would’ve liked to. Harrison [Hand] got banged up in the game, so he’s questionable for the game. It’s just going to come down to where we have more guys. If we have more guys on offense, we’ll play Blake [Lynch] on defense, and if we have more guys on defense, we’ll play Blake on offense. I think seeing if Tony [Nicholson] and [Trestan] Ebner and [John] Lovett can help on offense, then we can play Blake on defense, but if not, we’ll have to bring Blake over.”

On Marques Jones stepping up…

“Yeah, Marques [Jones] got out there. The thing about Marques is that he’s a 4.3 kid, so he can really run, and he’s a 4.0 student, so he’s really bright. He caught the big play on fourth down and got a scramble where he came back. He certainly didn’t look out of place. He played really hard. We just have to continue to train him and bring him along. It’s really hard to find that kind of speed. When we lost [Chris] Platt, we lost a lot of that speed, and Marques gives us some of that. We’ll continue to bring Marques along, and we utilized him a lot in the four-wide packages last week, and we might have to start using him in the three-wide stuff as well.”

On Kansas…

“I think it’s as good of a defensive line as you’re going to see. They’re sound and they play really hard. Offensively, they’re really hard to match up with. I think they use 10 or 12 personnel groupings. They go with everything from two tight ends to three tight ends to five wides, so they’re really creative. And, I think the biggest thing is going to be challenging matchups on the defensive line. [Dorrance] Armstrong is the reigning Big 12 Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, and he can be a force on the edge. Their inside guys are athletic. The matchup of our offensive line versus their defensive line is going to be a challenge. Our offensive line needs to come out and play against these guys, because they’re really athletic, and they’ve done a great job of recruiting their defensive line.”

On Kansas’ quarterback…

“Well, you know, he’s athletic. We don’t know who will play. He’s athletic and he gets out on the perimeter. I think the big thing is that Coach Meacham does a great job of having things built in each week that you haven’t seen before. They can take advantage of what you do. We’re a quarter team, and we know teams are going to take a ton of shots against it. Their quarterbacks are accurate. I like the way they play. They play with energy and fearlessness. I like their running backs. They came out against West Virginia and were pounding the ball early. They’ve got guys that can create matchup problems for you. They have a good, athletic offensive line.

I don’t know how they feel, but we haven’t put it all together in one game, and they’ve had some games where they put up a bunch of points, and they’ve had some guys where they’ve played really well on defense. It’s all about putting it all together, maybe for them, but definitely for us. It’ll be a good game, and we’ll see who can put it all together at once, so that’s really our challenge this week.”