Here are the highlights of Texas defensive coordinator Chris Ash’s media availability via Zoom on Wednesday:
--- Ash said he never anticipated the performance from his defense against Texas Tech based on how hard the players worked during training camp and the way they tackled during scrimmages.
--- Ash said they did not do a lot of live tackling prior to the season, but does not want to use that as an excuse.
--- Ash on the balance of increasing tackling drills while trying to keep players healthy: “I thought we had plenty of opportunities for live tackling in scrimmages in training camp. We tackled exceptionally well in the first game. I didn't see any indicators along the way that made me think that a performance like that was going to show up. Looking back on it, did I miss something? No, I don't think so. I could go back and watch all of our scrimmages and see us tackling on a pretty high level. I thought the confidence level of our players was pretty good. But, in the last few weeks after we stopped the live contact in practice, we did drill work, but again it's not the same. It's kind of like riding a bike. Once you figure it out, you can get going, but once you do it in traffic and a lot of people around, it's just different. Tackling is no different, but we'll get it fixed. I promise you that.”
--- Ash said the cornerbacks needs to improve as tacklers, but he intends to add more drills and plays in the playbook to help his guys.
--- In addition, Ash said, “We were in one-on-one situations, and we were there. We contested just about every throw that was thrown, but we got to make them. They made him and we didn’t. That really was the difference in potentially having an outstanding day and the type of day that we had. When you watch the film and look at the points, you say, wow. But, with 54 seconds to go in the third quarter, we’d only given up 21 points, as a defense. There were 28 on the board, but seven were from the muffed punt. At that point, when you look at the total number of yards and points, it wasn't too bad of a day at that point. At the end of the third quarter there, to the midpoint to the fourth, the wheels kind of fell off, but there were some stretches during the game when we played outstanding football.”
--- Ash did not expect his defensive line to get a hand on Texas Tech quarterback Alan Bowman because of his quick release. Instead, the defensive goal was to close the throwing windows and get a hand up.
--- Ash was impressed with the attitude from his players on the sideline against Texas Tech. Ash said if they were in a similar position when he arrived in January, Texas does put pull off the win.
--- Ash on TCU quarterback Max Duggan: “The quarterback is a good thrower as well as a good runner. I look at him and I think he's the closest thing to a Sam Ehlinger in this league, that can do both as a dual-threat guy. He's going to be a tremendous challenge for us. When he came in that game, that changed the game for them. Even though they lost it, he brought that team back.”
--- When asked about if the expectations of his defensive line change because TCU’s offensive line recently struggled, Ash said, “Our expectations for the defensive line are the same every week. It's to go out and dominate. If we want to win a championship, and when we want to be a playoff caliber football team, I can tell you right now when you look at the common characteristics of those teams, it’s the d-line, and it's the play of their d-line. You have to have a championship level d-line to win at a high level, and win a conference, and win big games. That's our expectation with our d-line.”
--- In addition, Ash said, “Our d-line did an outstanding job in controlling the line of scrimmage in the run game, really, in the first two games. That expectation is not going to change. We'll get to the quarterback, I promise you. When and how often? I don't know the answer to that yet, but the expectation is we do dominate the offensive line or the line of scrimmage in a run game, and we can attack the quarterback in every game.”
--- Ash on rotating the back seven: "In a perfect world, you'd have a solid two-deep of guys that you felt could go out and play winning football. When you play, especially early in the season with the weather, hot days, and teams that go tempo like that, you're going to need to rotate guys. But, you don't want to just put a player out on the field that is going to hurt you if they're not ready just to say you're rotating. We look at every position. We want to rotate as many guys early as we can to keep guys fresh not only within a game, but throughout the season. It's got to be with somebody that we trust and has earned the right to get out there so we're not hurting the football team, and that's sometimes that's tough to do."
--- Ash said he never anticipated the performance from his defense against Texas Tech based on how hard the players worked during training camp and the way they tackled during scrimmages.
--- Ash said they did not do a lot of live tackling prior to the season, but does not want to use that as an excuse.
--- Ash on the balance of increasing tackling drills while trying to keep players healthy: “I thought we had plenty of opportunities for live tackling in scrimmages in training camp. We tackled exceptionally well in the first game. I didn't see any indicators along the way that made me think that a performance like that was going to show up. Looking back on it, did I miss something? No, I don't think so. I could go back and watch all of our scrimmages and see us tackling on a pretty high level. I thought the confidence level of our players was pretty good. But, in the last few weeks after we stopped the live contact in practice, we did drill work, but again it's not the same. It's kind of like riding a bike. Once you figure it out, you can get going, but once you do it in traffic and a lot of people around, it's just different. Tackling is no different, but we'll get it fixed. I promise you that.”
--- Ash said the cornerbacks needs to improve as tacklers, but he intends to add more drills and plays in the playbook to help his guys.
--- In addition, Ash said, “We were in one-on-one situations, and we were there. We contested just about every throw that was thrown, but we got to make them. They made him and we didn’t. That really was the difference in potentially having an outstanding day and the type of day that we had. When you watch the film and look at the points, you say, wow. But, with 54 seconds to go in the third quarter, we’d only given up 21 points, as a defense. There were 28 on the board, but seven were from the muffed punt. At that point, when you look at the total number of yards and points, it wasn't too bad of a day at that point. At the end of the third quarter there, to the midpoint to the fourth, the wheels kind of fell off, but there were some stretches during the game when we played outstanding football.”
--- Ash did not expect his defensive line to get a hand on Texas Tech quarterback Alan Bowman because of his quick release. Instead, the defensive goal was to close the throwing windows and get a hand up.
--- Ash was impressed with the attitude from his players on the sideline against Texas Tech. Ash said if they were in a similar position when he arrived in January, Texas does put pull off the win.
--- Ash on TCU quarterback Max Duggan: “The quarterback is a good thrower as well as a good runner. I look at him and I think he's the closest thing to a Sam Ehlinger in this league, that can do both as a dual-threat guy. He's going to be a tremendous challenge for us. When he came in that game, that changed the game for them. Even though they lost it, he brought that team back.”
--- When asked about if the expectations of his defensive line change because TCU’s offensive line recently struggled, Ash said, “Our expectations for the defensive line are the same every week. It's to go out and dominate. If we want to win a championship, and when we want to be a playoff caliber football team, I can tell you right now when you look at the common characteristics of those teams, it’s the d-line, and it's the play of their d-line. You have to have a championship level d-line to win at a high level, and win a conference, and win big games. That's our expectation with our d-line.”
--- In addition, Ash said, “Our d-line did an outstanding job in controlling the line of scrimmage in the run game, really, in the first two games. That expectation is not going to change. We'll get to the quarterback, I promise you. When and how often? I don't know the answer to that yet, but the expectation is we do dominate the offensive line or the line of scrimmage in a run game, and we can attack the quarterback in every game.”
--- Ash on rotating the back seven: "In a perfect world, you'd have a solid two-deep of guys that you felt could go out and play winning football. When you play, especially early in the season with the weather, hot days, and teams that go tempo like that, you're going to need to rotate guys. But, you don't want to just put a player out on the field that is going to hurt you if they're not ready just to say you're rotating. We look at every position. We want to rotate as many guys early as we can to keep guys fresh not only within a game, but throughout the season. It's got to be with somebody that we trust and has earned the right to get out there so we're not hurting the football team, and that's sometimes that's tough to do."
