Some notes from the media's conversation with KP today...
How have you felt J’Koby Williams has done in the return game?
“Been great. The biggest thing you always worry about is he hasn’t had enough reps at it, and I think that first game, he brought one out that he shouldn’t have brought it. Really two, one on the sideline, one deep in the end zone. He made a lot of really good decisions and controlling the wet ball, he was close to breaking two of those. Got us, anytime you get to the 30 yard line, that’s a plus. J’Koby is just like what everyone in here has seen, I keep saying he’s going to be a really good player. He's just gotta keep developing, get in the weight room and put some weight on, because he comes to practice everyday like he’s playing the game.”
How did you feel like everybody else handled the wet conditions?
“That’s what you worry about in situations like that because the grass was obviously, that field has had a tradition of being real cut-friendly for quick people. I thought that was one thing that showed up, and like I said, people talk about handling a wet ball, you don’t do anything different. There’s not like a secret potion that you go, I’m gonna grip the ball tighter, I’m gonna throw it harder. You don’t do that. Same ball security that you did when you were little. That’s what you really focus on. I don’t think it affected us at all.”
How nice was it to clean up the special teams errors that you guys had against TCU?
“It was good. Really, TCU we played it pretty good, Baylor I wish, that thing needs to be out of my memory. If I could go to a psychologist and erase that from my mind, I would today. We were really good. Games like that you’ve gotta be solid because Iowa State, they’re not gonna beat themselves on teams. We’re aggressive. I thought we had a chance in the return game, especially, where I thought we had a chance. There’s one punt I wish we would have taken because I think we had a shot if we would have caught it and gone. I’m still scratching, we got to do better than that on punt returns. We’ve gone through some guys. Jordan Brown is the guy right now, but we still gotta make plays in that when we get a chance. So, little frustrated about that. Gino (Garcia), obviously, the streak he’s on is unbelievable. And then just snaps in general, Jackson Knotts has been great again, just our operation. Reese kicking off, just things we’ve been covering. That guy (for Iowa State) is a good punt returner and he got out of one but was only a 10-yard gain, so don’t gotta worry about that.”
Whenever Tahj gets to that number and becomes the all-time leading rusher, it’ll be great, but how important is it for you guys to try to do it here?
“It’ll be big. I think just for what Tahj has meant to Lubbock, Texas. I’m not gonna start crying or nothing, but I can’t wait to, if I ever get to coach another kid like that. There’s nothing that he does not do. He’s humble. He puts everybody else before him. He works, I don’t know if you guys saw, but he had two blocks last week that were unbelievable. And one of them, he wasn’t even supposed to be there. He just saw the guy coming and was protecting Behren. We completed both of those passes because of what Tahj Brooks did. And then it’s Byron Hanspard, the guys Tahj has passed, it’s unbelievable. To get a chance at that record and what he’s meant to Lubbock, Texas and Texas Tech and our players, it’s gonna be special.”
More detail on the game-winning touchdown play call for Tahj and the decision between Perry and Kittley:
“I keep going back to Kittley, he’s always searching, he’s always finding ways to get our guys the ball. Just that play in general, he knew that it’s kind of a different version of the play versus TCU where we fumbled, we had the ball in Tahj’s hands because it’s almost the same play. But more of an outside zone play. (Kittley) added that just saying if we get down there, Tahj is not gonna be denied. Running it from the five yard line is not something we had planned. Usually that’s a play that is kinda down, but o-line did what they did and Conyers, the block he had. Tahj Brooks one-on-one with anybody, good luck. That was a great call. I know I wouldn’t have called it. Kudos to Kittley, he’s got down there and we’ve scored in the red zone… I honestly thought we were gonna throw it. Five yards, we’re gonna take our shots but once again, that’s why I’m not the offensive coordinator. It was a great call. We got the matchup we wanted and got the edge we wanted and everything was perfect. That far out, that probably shocked them too thinking we weren’t gonna run that play from out there.”
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