Texas special teams coordinator Craig Naivar addressed the media after preseason practice on Friday. Naivar admitted his loves to drink Dr. Pepper, but denied coach Tom Herman’s belief his high energy stems from Red Bull.
Here are the highlights:
- Naivar was asked about five blocked kicks last season and said, “When things like that happen, you want to study and understand the why. Why was that? Was that a lack of focus? Was that a lack of fundamentals? Was it lack of personnel? What was missing. We studied a lot over the spring to try to remedy that, try to make some additions, and evaluate what we’re doing.” Naivar also said they spent time talking to NFL and college coaches to find out what is new and how to improve.
- Naivar added, “Hope is not a strategy where I’m hoping for better results. We’re working for better results.”
- Naivar said grad transfer long snapper Kaleb Smith has been a huge addition to his unit. He expects big things from Smith this season.
- He praised the mental toughness of kicker Joshua Rowland. Naivar said they have asked him to produce big-time kicks during various practice situations, and has been pleased with the results. During practice, Naivar said they wear down Rowland and have him kick to get used to stressful situations: “One thing we pride ourselves is training for chaos. We’ve put him in some chaotic situations, so, we’ll see where that leaves us going forward. Again, hope’s not a strategy. We’re working towards that.”
- Naivar said punter Michael Dickson attacks the weight room and has improved his physique under strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight.
- Dorian Leonard, Lorenzo Joe, Kirk Johnson, Kyle Porter and Andrew Beck have stood out on special teams, according to Naivar.
- Here is Naivar on safety Brandon Jones: “Brandon Jones can cover a lot of ground. If that guy played center field, he’d make a whole lot of money. He can cover ground. We made a big point of emphasis on getting him stronger. I think he feels better about what he can do physically because of that strength.” Naivar said Jones needs to become acclimated with being “the guy” and not just a guy that comes in.”
- Naivar’s best quote on Chris Brown: “If there’s grass under your feet, you might be stroked.” Brown is a player who will run and strike. He is pushing for playing time this season.
- Oh yeah, Naivar said this about his safeties: “At the end of the day, if they run and hit, we’ll find a home for them. We are not the guys with pretty armbands and pretty sleeves and dancing. Our number one goal is to run through your face.”
- DeShon Elliott is a safety who can cover ground, like Jones. He believes Elliott is able to "run through contact" as opposed to "running to contact" because of his increased strength. In addition, Naivar said Elliott has become a leader, along with P.J. Locke.
“He [Elliott] has done a really good job of taking ownership,” Naivar said. “That’s one thing we have really stressed. We’re owners at the University of Texas. We’re not renters. When you own something, you really, really care about it. When you rent, it doesn’t matter as much. Ownership and what you’re doing. What you put on tape is on tape until the planet blows up. It’s there forever. Every rep you take every day, you’re signing that. My name is on it. DeShon Elliott. P.J Locke. I’m a co-signer with them. I’m the parent that helps them buy the first house. I’m co-signing with the first car. If you’re a buying guy, you own. You don’t rent. When you rent, it doesn’t hurt when you lose. When you own, it hurts. When you own a car and you wreck it, you’re like, 'You got to be …'. When you’re renting it, you’re like, we’re good.”
- Naivar believes it is important to have starters on special teams because the biggest chunks of field position that swing back and forth occur on that unit: “If you make a mistake on offense, you get a sack, it’s second-and-16. You make a mistake in punt coverage, that’s six [points]. Understand there are gigantic swings in the game that can happen, and we’ve got to have our best players out there. That’s not for the superintendent’s son to run down on a kickoff. That’s not how that works.”
- Naivar was asked about how to coach not giving up points and said, “You eventually have to stop people in the red zone. We spent a lot of time in the red zone in practice. That’s where points matter. A lot of chunk plays you may give up. If a guy makes a great catch over a DB as a receiver, that’s going to happen, but eliminating the cheap plays, the cheap yardage plays that create. Then making sure the competition levels of our practices are extremely high. This is a corny analogy, but if I’m going to sprint to a spot and kind of go through the motions on making that final play, when it comes down to doing it in the game, I’m not going to be ready for it. Our practices are extremely competitive with winners and losers on a lot of days that are rewarded or punished for losing. That puts a high value on what you do in practice, which obviously carries over to game day.”
- Naivar believes he will eventually find returners who can affect field position. However, he said none of those guys are electric right now. He believes they will get there.
Here are the highlights:
- Naivar was asked about five blocked kicks last season and said, “When things like that happen, you want to study and understand the why. Why was that? Was that a lack of focus? Was that a lack of fundamentals? Was it lack of personnel? What was missing. We studied a lot over the spring to try to remedy that, try to make some additions, and evaluate what we’re doing.” Naivar also said they spent time talking to NFL and college coaches to find out what is new and how to improve.
- Naivar added, “Hope is not a strategy where I’m hoping for better results. We’re working for better results.”
- Naivar said grad transfer long snapper Kaleb Smith has been a huge addition to his unit. He expects big things from Smith this season.
- He praised the mental toughness of kicker Joshua Rowland. Naivar said they have asked him to produce big-time kicks during various practice situations, and has been pleased with the results. During practice, Naivar said they wear down Rowland and have him kick to get used to stressful situations: “One thing we pride ourselves is training for chaos. We’ve put him in some chaotic situations, so, we’ll see where that leaves us going forward. Again, hope’s not a strategy. We’re working towards that.”
- Naivar said punter Michael Dickson attacks the weight room and has improved his physique under strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight.
- Dorian Leonard, Lorenzo Joe, Kirk Johnson, Kyle Porter and Andrew Beck have stood out on special teams, according to Naivar.
- Here is Naivar on safety Brandon Jones: “Brandon Jones can cover a lot of ground. If that guy played center field, he’d make a whole lot of money. He can cover ground. We made a big point of emphasis on getting him stronger. I think he feels better about what he can do physically because of that strength.” Naivar said Jones needs to become acclimated with being “the guy” and not just a guy that comes in.”
- Naivar’s best quote on Chris Brown: “If there’s grass under your feet, you might be stroked.” Brown is a player who will run and strike. He is pushing for playing time this season.
- Oh yeah, Naivar said this about his safeties: “At the end of the day, if they run and hit, we’ll find a home for them. We are not the guys with pretty armbands and pretty sleeves and dancing. Our number one goal is to run through your face.”
- DeShon Elliott is a safety who can cover ground, like Jones. He believes Elliott is able to "run through contact" as opposed to "running to contact" because of his increased strength. In addition, Naivar said Elliott has become a leader, along with P.J. Locke.
“He [Elliott] has done a really good job of taking ownership,” Naivar said. “That’s one thing we have really stressed. We’re owners at the University of Texas. We’re not renters. When you own something, you really, really care about it. When you rent, it doesn’t matter as much. Ownership and what you’re doing. What you put on tape is on tape until the planet blows up. It’s there forever. Every rep you take every day, you’re signing that. My name is on it. DeShon Elliott. P.J Locke. I’m a co-signer with them. I’m the parent that helps them buy the first house. I’m co-signing with the first car. If you’re a buying guy, you own. You don’t rent. When you rent, it doesn’t hurt when you lose. When you own, it hurts. When you own a car and you wreck it, you’re like, 'You got to be …'. When you’re renting it, you’re like, we’re good.”
- Naivar believes it is important to have starters on special teams because the biggest chunks of field position that swing back and forth occur on that unit: “If you make a mistake on offense, you get a sack, it’s second-and-16. You make a mistake in punt coverage, that’s six [points]. Understand there are gigantic swings in the game that can happen, and we’ve got to have our best players out there. That’s not for the superintendent’s son to run down on a kickoff. That’s not how that works.”
- Naivar was asked about how to coach not giving up points and said, “You eventually have to stop people in the red zone. We spent a lot of time in the red zone in practice. That’s where points matter. A lot of chunk plays you may give up. If a guy makes a great catch over a DB as a receiver, that’s going to happen, but eliminating the cheap plays, the cheap yardage plays that create. Then making sure the competition levels of our practices are extremely high. This is a corny analogy, but if I’m going to sprint to a spot and kind of go through the motions on making that final play, when it comes down to doing it in the game, I’m not going to be ready for it. Our practices are extremely competitive with winners and losers on a lot of days that are rewarded or punished for losing. That puts a high value on what you do in practice, which obviously carries over to game day.”
- Naivar believes he will eventually find returners who can affect field position. However, he said none of those guys are electric right now. He believes they will get there.
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