WATCH: Baylor OC Jeff Nixon Sugar Bowl Press Conference
Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon discusses the Sugar Bowl matchup against Georgia.
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: Thank you. It's an honor to be here on behalf of Coach [Matt] Rhule and the rest of our Baylor coaching staff. I mean, we're just so honored to be here, to be able to play in the Sugar Bowl. We're very blessed to have players who have worked extremely hard this year to get to this point. And obviously we're excited to play a great SEC team in the Georgia Bulldogs, and we're hoping to put on a good show on Wednesday, of course. Q. Hey Coach, right now where is Charlie [Brewer] at healthwise, and how do you kind of plan on managing that situation heading into the game? OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: Charlie's [Brewer] all ready to go. I mean, he's had a great five or six days back to practice. He's a tremendous leader for us. You know, has been for the last three years and he's excited to play in the football game. He's sharp, like I said, ready to go, and we're expecting a big game out of him as a leader of our offense.
Q. Coach, two good defenses going up against each other. You kind of do it in different ways. What is it about Georgia's defense that makes them so difficult?
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: They're very aggressive and they have a talented defense. They play with a lot of players. They have a group of probably 20 to 24 players who play each and every game, which is not typical of most opponents. So they play a lot of people and they just do a great job against the run. I think they've only given up one rushing touchdown all year, and they do a great job covering receivers. So we have a big challenge on our hands, but I think we have a really good game plan to be able to hopefully come in and attack them, run the football and throwing the ball downfield to our big play wide receivers. But they're a great defense, they're explosive, they're good up front, and like I said, they've won a lot of oneonone matchups in the secondary against quality receivers of the SEC.
Q. Coach, they're going to be without one of their best defensive backs, J.R. Reed is out. Do they have enough guys to cover for his absence?
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: I think without a doubt. Like I said, you look on film, he's probably the only one that stayed on the field, you know, all three downs for their defense, but everyone else, they pretty much they substitute a lot. So they've had a rotation of two to three safeties on the field. I don't think it's really going to hurt them all that much, although obviously he's a great player, all American player. But like I said, they have enough talent I think where they're going to still be able to put some pressure on us and make us have to perform in the passing game.
Q. I'm curious with all these reports about Matt Rhule being an interesting candidate for NFL teams, how does it impact you as an assistant coach? Obviously when a head coach might go somewhere impacts the assistant coaches and their lives so much too. OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: This week we really are just kind of focused on our process. Our guys have done a great job, our coaching staff. You know, Coach [Matt] Rhule setting the tempo. We're really just focused on this week, this week's game. That's how it's been all year. No matter who we've played, we've kind of just focused on that particular week, getting better each and every day, winning the day and just focusing on our process leading up until the until the football game. So we're excited. Like I said, we've had great preparation. Our guys are locked in on playing the best game that we can on Wednesday against Georgia.
Q. Jeff, Coach [Matt] Rhule has used this and so has Phil Snow. You have to have a complementary offense to what they want to do on defense. How does that work, and does that ever keep you from wanting to put your foot on the gas and like going full throttle?
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: I think that's one of the great things we've done all year. We've played complementary football. I think our offense has complemented our defense well and our special teams. You know, we go into each week with a specific game plan on how we're going to win the football game. Not necessarily how we're going to get, you know, 500, 600 yards of offense. So some particular games we need to run the ball a little bit more and keep their offense off the field. Some particular games, you know, we feel we need to open it up and have to score more points. So each and every week is different. It really doesn't affect myself as a play caller or our offensive staff. We have a really specific game plan of what we want to do, and we're just going to try to go out and execute it.
Q. Guys like Sam Tecklenburg whose careers are ending on the offensive line, what kind of message have they been giving some of the younger guys to try and continue the development you guys have been working on all season for this game?
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: It's great. That's one of the best things about being in a bowl game and playing in January. We've had a lot of extra practices where we've gotten a chance to get all of our younger guys extra reps and, you know, to prepare for the future. Those guys are our future, and we've done a lot of scrimmages with our younger guys. After we've gotten our work done for the bowl game. So they've gotten a chance to get some extra reps and learn our offensive and defensive schemes a little bit more and to get ready for next year.
We've talked about next year for those guys. Sam Tecklenburg and Denzel Mims and all of our seniors, they've developed a great relationship with all the younger guys and really have set an example of, you know, where we want to keep Baylor in the top 20, you know, top 10 in the country. The young guys realize all the work they have to put in in the future to be able for Baylor to stay at that level.
Q. Coach, I'm sure for Charlie [Brewer] it was incredibly difficult to not be able to finish the Big 12 title game. How did you guys see him kind of react at the end of that and how has he sort of responded in the weeks since then?
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: Charlie's [Brewer] as tough as they come. He wanted to be out there on the football field. He's a leader of our offense, leader of our team. You know, really wanted to actually get back in the game. We're fortunate enough, you know, Coach [Glenn] Thomas has done a great job, along with the rest of our coaches, of developing our young quarterbacks so we felt we were we had two guys who could come in and we could still perform on offense and win the football game. But Charlie [Brewer] definitely wanted to be out there. Like I said, he's the leader of our team. He's done a great job of bouncing back. He had about a week off, you know, to try to get ready to practice and prepare for the game. And like I say, he's had an excellent week of preparation and I'm expecting him to go right where he left off when he was playing in the championship game.
Q. Coach, compared to a couple of years ago you guys have remained relatively healthy. How big a deal has that been in terms of you're getting to the 14th game and you're still very healthy.
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: Yeah, it's been unbelievable. Our strength coach staff, all of our nutritionists, all of our sport science people who work with our players, they've done an excellent job of keeping us on track and keeping us healthy and making sure we're practicing the proper amount, you know, so we can have success at the end of the year. I think it's very important if you're going to play in a game like this that, you know, you're healthy and guys are ready to go. And like I said, our support staff with our strength staff and sport and science people have done a great job of keeping our guys healthy and keeping our coaching staff on track and, you know, to make sure again that we're going to go into this game pretty healthy and fresh.
Q. Coach, heading into this game, this stage of the Sugar Bowl, what does Baylor have to gain from this game and what's the level of motivation like around the team heading in?
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: We're extremely motivated. Not only because this is, you know, the next game on our schedule but to play a quality top five opponent like Georgia, we're extremely motivated. And like I said, want to go out and perform well in all three phases of the football game. So I think it's a huge game for Baylor Nation. You know, we know what's at stake. You know, if we're fortunate enough to go out and be Sugar Bowl champions, that would cap off a great year. Especially for our senior football players who over the last three years have worked extremely hard to get to this level and, you know, we would love to see them go out on top, winning a game like the Sugar Bowl here against a great opponent in Georgia.
Q. There's no doubt this is Charlie Brewer's team but when Jacob Zeno did what he did against Oklahoma, Coach [Matt] Rhule said he had no idea what he was going to do. Did you have an idea he could do that?
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR NIXON: I had all the confidence in the world in Jacob. He was a kid that was very highly recruited, has an NFL type arm. You know, obviously lacks experience, but like I said, Coach [Glenn] Thomas has done a great job in developing our quarterbacks and it's been good that we've been able to get him some extra reps in practice. Like I said, with the extra practice time we had, you know, getting ready for the championship game. So although it was a little bit of a surprise, I know how talented Jacob is and how prepared he is, and it was nice to see him go out and perform the way he did and almost lead us to victory there. Thank you. Appreciate it.