Texas football coach Tom Herman held his final press conference before the season opener against Maryland. Herman appeared to be very encouraged after Thursday’s practice.
Here are the highlights of his availability:
- Herman said his players are chomping at the bit to play on Saturday. Even though it was hot on Thursday, Herman said his guys embrace the heat.
- Here is what the team's schedule looks like this week: “Before Friday at 3 p.m., our starters and key backups will come in in the morning and get massages and treatment. Then they’ll go to class. Those will be scheduled around their classes, obviously. We’ll come in the afternoon. We’ll meet. The special teams will meet, then offense and defense will meet. We’ll go outside in what we call Family Fridays where we’ll relax a little bit, play some games. The o-line plays dodge ball. The DBs play a little game of whiffle ball against each other. The QBs play a little football against the running backs. We’ll horse around a little bit, compete, get the juices flowing. Then we’ll have a walk-through, and then we will have a substitution review for special teams. We’ll go back in and shower up, head over to the hotel, eat dinner, and have a reflection for the guys that want to pray a little bit Then we’ll chill out, watch games, watch movies. We’ll have a movie available, play dominoes, play cards, all that stuff. Then Saturday morning will be here before we know it.”
- Herman on Shane Buechele’s week of practice: “He’s dialed in mentally, physically. Again, the physical stuff is not an issue. I’ve said it before, he’s the most accurate guy I’ve coached. Throwing the football is not an issue. He’s been running it when he needs to run it. He’s been doing a really good job of protecting himself when we’re throwing the football, getting us out of bad runs into good runs, and going through all his game plan checks. It’s been good.”
- Herman was asked if Sam Ehlinger would play if a mop-up opportunity presented itself. He made it clear Ehlinger will not redshirt this season: “It’s hard to say, because you’re going to want an answer. I think the answer is yes. I think after evaluating it, and talking about, ‘Well, can we redshirt him?’ At some point the odds say you’re going to need your backup quarterback. Even if it is mop-up duty, it’s going to be in front of a huge crowd. We got to get to mop-up duty. Winning is really, really hard. Really hard. It’ll be a success if we win by one, or if we win by 15. Should that scenario occur, I would imagine that Shane [Herman meant to say Sam] will jog in there and get some reps."
- Texas’ will run a no-huddle offense on Saturday, but with a moderate tempo, according to Herman.
- Herman said linebacker Breckyn Hager plays the game reckless, which is great for a defensive player. Hager as one speed, and that is “full."
- Defensive back Chris Brown, offensive line Garrett Thomas, tight end Andrew Beck, offensive lineman Elijah Rodriguez and Terrell Cuney will not play on Saturday due to their injuries.
- Herman on the mentally he wants his players to have on Saturday: “Don’t worry about mistakes. Don’t try to be perfect. That’s the thing I’ve really been preaching to them the last 24 hours, and I will for the rest of the way. These guys want to do so good, and they want to impress everybody, and show everybody the new and improved Texas football, but you’ve got to be relaxed to do that. You’ve got to be free to do that. You can’t be tensed up and worrying about making mistakes. You’ve got to play 100 miles an hour and trust that your training is going to put you in the right position to make that play, as long as you’re going 100 miles per hour. I think just a team that takes the field and plays as hard as humanly possible every single play because they know the other 10 guys are, A, doing it for them, and B, are counting on them to do it.”
- Herman was asked about the 10,000 tickets remaining earlier this week and said, “If you win, they’ll show up. My job is to make sure we win. It’s our administration’s job to sell tickets.”
Here are the highlights of his availability:
- Herman said his players are chomping at the bit to play on Saturday. Even though it was hot on Thursday, Herman said his guys embrace the heat.
- Here is what the team's schedule looks like this week: “Before Friday at 3 p.m., our starters and key backups will come in in the morning and get massages and treatment. Then they’ll go to class. Those will be scheduled around their classes, obviously. We’ll come in the afternoon. We’ll meet. The special teams will meet, then offense and defense will meet. We’ll go outside in what we call Family Fridays where we’ll relax a little bit, play some games. The o-line plays dodge ball. The DBs play a little game of whiffle ball against each other. The QBs play a little football against the running backs. We’ll horse around a little bit, compete, get the juices flowing. Then we’ll have a walk-through, and then we will have a substitution review for special teams. We’ll go back in and shower up, head over to the hotel, eat dinner, and have a reflection for the guys that want to pray a little bit Then we’ll chill out, watch games, watch movies. We’ll have a movie available, play dominoes, play cards, all that stuff. Then Saturday morning will be here before we know it.”
- Herman on Shane Buechele’s week of practice: “He’s dialed in mentally, physically. Again, the physical stuff is not an issue. I’ve said it before, he’s the most accurate guy I’ve coached. Throwing the football is not an issue. He’s been running it when he needs to run it. He’s been doing a really good job of protecting himself when we’re throwing the football, getting us out of bad runs into good runs, and going through all his game plan checks. It’s been good.”
- Herman was asked if Sam Ehlinger would play if a mop-up opportunity presented itself. He made it clear Ehlinger will not redshirt this season: “It’s hard to say, because you’re going to want an answer. I think the answer is yes. I think after evaluating it, and talking about, ‘Well, can we redshirt him?’ At some point the odds say you’re going to need your backup quarterback. Even if it is mop-up duty, it’s going to be in front of a huge crowd. We got to get to mop-up duty. Winning is really, really hard. Really hard. It’ll be a success if we win by one, or if we win by 15. Should that scenario occur, I would imagine that Shane [Herman meant to say Sam] will jog in there and get some reps."
- Texas’ will run a no-huddle offense on Saturday, but with a moderate tempo, according to Herman.
- Herman said linebacker Breckyn Hager plays the game reckless, which is great for a defensive player. Hager as one speed, and that is “full."
- Defensive back Chris Brown, offensive line Garrett Thomas, tight end Andrew Beck, offensive lineman Elijah Rodriguez and Terrell Cuney will not play on Saturday due to their injuries.
- Herman on the mentally he wants his players to have on Saturday: “Don’t worry about mistakes. Don’t try to be perfect. That’s the thing I’ve really been preaching to them the last 24 hours, and I will for the rest of the way. These guys want to do so good, and they want to impress everybody, and show everybody the new and improved Texas football, but you’ve got to be relaxed to do that. You’ve got to be free to do that. You can’t be tensed up and worrying about making mistakes. You’ve got to play 100 miles an hour and trust that your training is going to put you in the right position to make that play, as long as you’re going 100 miles per hour. I think just a team that takes the field and plays as hard as humanly possible every single play because they know the other 10 guys are, A, doing it for them, and B, are counting on them to do it.”
- Herman was asked about the 10,000 tickets remaining earlier this week and said, “If you win, they’ll show up. My job is to make sure we win. It’s our administration’s job to sell tickets.”
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