10-21-08...Press Conference Quotes

The full transcript is available from KUathletics.com...and here are some highlights...

Head Coach Mark Mangino

On the gameplan to stop the Texas Tech offense:

“I think that you have to put things on the field that our players do best and execute those. We need to be good in coverages, but we also need to do a good job of putting pressure on the quarterback. We cannot allow him to sit back there because he will find somebody open. We have to be good at coverage, but we also need to find ways to have him get rid of the football sooner.”

On Dezmon Briscoe’s performance against Oklahoma:

“It was a heck of a performance. I like the way he went up in a crowd and caught the ball and I liked the way he ran his routes precisely. He understood the coverages. Todd (Reesing) did a good job of getting him the ball to him. He has shown that he is capable of being one of the top receivers in this league and we look forward to seeing him continue to develop.”

Junior Safety Justin Thornton

On defenses in college football trying to catch up to the spread offense:

“I think that defenses are doing a good job.  I think the best way to try and stop the spread offense is by getting pressure on the quarterback.  Whether that is by just rushing your front-four or if you are bringing pressure with your linebackers and extra guys on the blitz, it is the number one thing to stop the spread.  If the quarterback has all day he is going to find somebody because you can’t cover for that long.  The best way of stopping a spread offense is by getting a good pass rush on them.”

Junior Safety Darrell Stuckey

On the difficulty of defending a spread offense:

“When you face a spread offense it leaves less of a margin for error. If you go up against a team that runs a power offense where they want to run the ball all the time you can have errors and still make a tackle or still get in the gap. You can’t make errors and all of a sudden try to cover someone who wasn’t covered already. It’s one of those things were it poses matchups that you have to open your eyes for and be able to mentally go through and prepare for before you get into the game.”

On how quarterback pressure affects the spread offense:

“Any time you face a spread offense, it causes you to spread your defense out and be in coverage more. It makes you blitz fewer guys, because you have to give up something.  You have to give up something and I think sometimes you sacrifice a pass rush for coverage and hopefully it will be a coverage sack. I think regardless of what happens you have to be hand-in-hand on defense; you have to have faith in each other. If I am in coverage, I have to rely on my defensive line to get to the quarterback and I think that they have to rely on us in coverage to allow them to get to the quarterback.”

Junior Running Back Jake Sharp

On playing against good offenses every single week:

“I think it’s the Big 12, that’s why I came here to play.  I came here to play for a team that’s going to compete and win a lot of games. We are doing that here and it’s great to go down to Oklahoma, know that I’m going to be able to play Texas Tech, Texas, and K-State.  It’s the best as far as college athletics are concerned and I’m happy to be a part of it.”

Sophomore Wide Receiver Dezmon Briscoe

On his aggressiveness on offense:

“The way our offense works, we don’t have just one play maker, we have a lot of play makers, as far as Jon Wilson, Kerry Meier and the other receivers.  So whoever is hot, Todd goes to and I believe he felt I was hot so he kept going to me.”

My Thoughts...Well everyone I am back...my business trip to San Diego that interrupted my blogging and viewing of Kansas athletics is over and I look forward to getting back in the swing of things...It's been good to see some new faces on the site of late and can't wait to hear from you all as we dissect this weekends huge game. 

As far as my thoughts on the press conference, I posted answers to a few questions pertaining to stopping the spread offense because it appears that as we have discussed here and is now becoming common knowledge pressure on the quarterback is critical at stopping the spread.  I think everyone knows it and playing in the Big 12 it is going to become essential that we develop the ability to get pressure with the front four.  Or at the very least become very effective at hiding and bringing the blitz. 

I will have the team vs. team analysis up this evening and follow up with our regular weekly comparisons.  I'm also working on the next recruit interview so as soon as I nail down who I'll be doing it with we can get everyone's feedback on some questions.