I was able to catch up with Pete Robertson, Coach Chiaverini, and Jah’Shawn Johnson after practice today.
Pete Robertson
-First up is Pete who gave his overall thoughts on the team’s performance last Saturday in the 30-20 win over the Jayhawks.
“At the end of the day we got the win and that was the most important thing. There were a lot of mistakes made in the game that shouldn’t have happened and we all know we can’t make those mistakes going against Oklahoma. They are a great team and they can capitalize on any mistake we make. We had a few mistakes last week but at the end of the day, we won and we are on to next week now.”
-The Monday practice is usually a light day, but the team ran about 30 minutes later than usual. I asked Pete what the team did at practice today and why it went longer than usual.
“We were just touching up on a few things. We made some mistakes that we shouldn’t have made this past weekend and we were touching up on those. We went over some more plays and calls for the game this weekend and we just took a lot of reps trying to get both that mental rep and physical reps.”
-As a whole, the DL group put up 6 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles on Saturday with Robertson recording both a sack and a forced fumble.
-DL coach Mike Smith has stated in the past that he doesn’t look at the stat sheet when grading his units’ performance. QB hits and pressures and how many times his unit controlled their gaps are very important to him. Based off their performance on Saturday, Smith was pleased with their effort.
“Coach Smith was pretty happy at the end of the day because the defensive line for the most part did our job because we played physical and we played fast and that’s what he wants. He really enjoyed that out of us. We were all having fun playing hard and playing together as a team.”
-The last time Texas Tech picked up a win in Norman was in 2011 where they were able to knock off previously unbeaten Oklahoma. Robertson was not on the sideline for that game but is hoping to emulate the attitude of that 2011 team going into their battle this year.
“I was actually watching it on TV because I didn’t get to travel down there with those guys. I remember the older guys that were here before me just going down to ready to play and going down there with enthusiasm ready to beat those guys, and I had a feeling we were going to beat those guys and it was amazing watching it on TV.”
-Robertson shared what the team’s gameplan will be heading into Oklahoma.
“The gameplan is going to be our normal thing. We are just going to go out there and try to control the thing form the jump. We are going to try and keep the game in our favor because if we keep the game in our favor, we are going to be alright.”
-The Oklahoma offense definitely poses some problems for the Tech defense. Their passing game is one of the top attacks in the country and they also return some very tough runners in the backfield. Samaje Perine ran all over the Tech defense last year and Robertson and Co. have not forgotten.
“We are going to have to tackle. We have to tackle. Last year we didn’t do really well tackling. With a back like that, if you don’t tackle he will make some plays. He is a powerful running back. I have to tip my hat to him because if you don’t wrap up, then he is going to make some long runs.”
Darrin Chiaverini
-Chiaverini’s special teams unit created one of the few highlights from the 30-20 win on Saturday when they converted a very crazy and unconventional two-point conversion play.
“We had been working on that for over a year. It’s something that I like to do because it keeps the defense off balance and makes them have to defend the two-point play. It is something we rep every day in practice because it is something that I like to do and something that we wanted to run and it was good to see it executed.”
-Coach Chev said that ‘We’ll see’ if there will be anymore looks/plays out of that formation going forward.
-The special teams unit has had their fair share of trick plays this year. I asked Coach Chiaverini is the trick plays are something that are a part of the script heading into a game or depend on the flow of how each game is going. Expect to see plenty more trick plays in these next five games.
“We have a handful of trick plays that we run through consistently every day. Then it is something each game where you get into a situation and you want to run it. What I like about it is because it makes defenses have to work harder and spend more time on it and they have to spend time out of their day thinking how they are going to defend this. It is something that I like doing and Coach Kingsbury likes doing and it fits with what we are doing offensively too.”
-As a special teams coordinator, I asked Coach Chev his thoughts on the absolutely horrendous special teams ‘fake punt’ run by the Colts on Sunday.
“It was tough to watch. There was obviously some miscommunication. The thing about trick plays is that you have to have the faith to run it. Sometimes it is not going to work, but you have to have the faith to run it. That Colts guy was not supposed to snap it; it was tough to watch.”
-Chiaverini has had his run through of issues for his outside receivers throughout this season. He has lost starters due to injury and has had plenty of inconsistency across the board from certain players. Chiaverini has been very impressed with the way some of his receivers have stepped up, though. Tech has called on a lot of true freshmen and newcomers to step up and many have answered the call.
“That’s what I expect from them. Obviously them being in our program we expect them to play at a high level. It is exciting when guys like Ja’Deion High, Tony Brown, Jonathan Giles, Zach Austin, and KeKe Coutee and the rest of those young guys get a chance. It is their job to push the veteran guys and make them better. I’ve been pleased with the effort, we didn’t play as well as we wanted last week obviously, and that is a point of emphasis with our group this week going forward. We have to play fast and play physical and at the end of the day you have to make plays. I am proud of them, but I want to see them working harder to get better.”
-Going into the OU game, what are some things that Chiaverini wants to see from his outside receivers?
“We have a lot of core values that we try to go by. We want to play fast and play physical, we want to play confident and play relentless. It is kind of our motto in our room. We keep track of how many knockdowns they get in the game. We keep track of how many good effort plays. Those go a long way in our room and the guys who are doing that consistently play more. It is something that we pride ourselves on.”
-The Tech offense got one of their weapons back at receiver against Kansas. Devin Lauderdale, who missed the game against Iowa State, was back in action on the outside on Saturday. Lauderdale underperformed in his first game back catching 5 passes for 50 yards and committed a very costly fumble. Long term, though, it is nice to have a weapon of Lauderdale’s caliber back on the field.
“He is an explosive player that we have to get back in the mix and play at a high level. I didn’t think he played his best game and he knows that. I think he was a little rusty coming off of his week of. He is somebody that we need to make big plays and somebody that we need to lead that outside group. My expectations for him are very high and he knows that. He knows that I am very demanding of him. Yeah it is great to have him back, but I want him to take his game to a higher level.”
Jah’Shawn Johnson
-Redshirt freshman safety Jah’Shawn Johnson had a game-sealing pick six on Saturday, his second game clinching turnover of the season. He walked me through what he saw on the field during that play.
“It was just third down, trying to get off the field and get our offense back the ball so that they could seal the game or milk the clock out so that we could win. It just so happened that I made a play and my teammates made some great blocks for me on my way to the endzone,” he said.
“It was a great re-route from our corner. It slowed the receiver down and knocked the timing of the route off. I just read the quarterbacks eyes and made a good break on the ball which gave me the chance to seal the game.”
-Johnson and the rest of the defense have really started to see defensive coordinator David Gibbs’ turnover philosophy really start to take hold. The team forced another three turnovers on Saturday.
“We stress it every day in practice. We are always punching the ball, stripping the ball, a lot of different ball drills trying to create a turnover and it carries over into the game,” he said.
“Everyone was excited about the interception. The DBs try to create the most turnovers out of all the groups so everyone was celebrating about that.”
-The offense struggled to produce points on Saturday and it was up to the defense to bail them out. It was one of the first times all season where the defense was able to make plays when the offense couldn’t and it was a nice flip of the script according to Johnson.
“It felt good to get some stops. We just have to score points. It was an off day for our offense and we know they will get better and will put points on the board. As long as the defense is stopping offense, we will be alright.”
Pete Robertson
-First up is Pete who gave his overall thoughts on the team’s performance last Saturday in the 30-20 win over the Jayhawks.
“At the end of the day we got the win and that was the most important thing. There were a lot of mistakes made in the game that shouldn’t have happened and we all know we can’t make those mistakes going against Oklahoma. They are a great team and they can capitalize on any mistake we make. We had a few mistakes last week but at the end of the day, we won and we are on to next week now.”
-The Monday practice is usually a light day, but the team ran about 30 minutes later than usual. I asked Pete what the team did at practice today and why it went longer than usual.
“We were just touching up on a few things. We made some mistakes that we shouldn’t have made this past weekend and we were touching up on those. We went over some more plays and calls for the game this weekend and we just took a lot of reps trying to get both that mental rep and physical reps.”
-As a whole, the DL group put up 6 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles on Saturday with Robertson recording both a sack and a forced fumble.
-DL coach Mike Smith has stated in the past that he doesn’t look at the stat sheet when grading his units’ performance. QB hits and pressures and how many times his unit controlled their gaps are very important to him. Based off their performance on Saturday, Smith was pleased with their effort.
“Coach Smith was pretty happy at the end of the day because the defensive line for the most part did our job because we played physical and we played fast and that’s what he wants. He really enjoyed that out of us. We were all having fun playing hard and playing together as a team.”
-The last time Texas Tech picked up a win in Norman was in 2011 where they were able to knock off previously unbeaten Oklahoma. Robertson was not on the sideline for that game but is hoping to emulate the attitude of that 2011 team going into their battle this year.
“I was actually watching it on TV because I didn’t get to travel down there with those guys. I remember the older guys that were here before me just going down to ready to play and going down there with enthusiasm ready to beat those guys, and I had a feeling we were going to beat those guys and it was amazing watching it on TV.”
-Robertson shared what the team’s gameplan will be heading into Oklahoma.
“The gameplan is going to be our normal thing. We are just going to go out there and try to control the thing form the jump. We are going to try and keep the game in our favor because if we keep the game in our favor, we are going to be alright.”
-The Oklahoma offense definitely poses some problems for the Tech defense. Their passing game is one of the top attacks in the country and they also return some very tough runners in the backfield. Samaje Perine ran all over the Tech defense last year and Robertson and Co. have not forgotten.
“We are going to have to tackle. We have to tackle. Last year we didn’t do really well tackling. With a back like that, if you don’t tackle he will make some plays. He is a powerful running back. I have to tip my hat to him because if you don’t wrap up, then he is going to make some long runs.”
Darrin Chiaverini
-Chiaverini’s special teams unit created one of the few highlights from the 30-20 win on Saturday when they converted a very crazy and unconventional two-point conversion play.
“We had been working on that for over a year. It’s something that I like to do because it keeps the defense off balance and makes them have to defend the two-point play. It is something we rep every day in practice because it is something that I like to do and something that we wanted to run and it was good to see it executed.”
-Coach Chev said that ‘We’ll see’ if there will be anymore looks/plays out of that formation going forward.
-The special teams unit has had their fair share of trick plays this year. I asked Coach Chiaverini is the trick plays are something that are a part of the script heading into a game or depend on the flow of how each game is going. Expect to see plenty more trick plays in these next five games.
“We have a handful of trick plays that we run through consistently every day. Then it is something each game where you get into a situation and you want to run it. What I like about it is because it makes defenses have to work harder and spend more time on it and they have to spend time out of their day thinking how they are going to defend this. It is something that I like doing and Coach Kingsbury likes doing and it fits with what we are doing offensively too.”
-As a special teams coordinator, I asked Coach Chev his thoughts on the absolutely horrendous special teams ‘fake punt’ run by the Colts on Sunday.
“It was tough to watch. There was obviously some miscommunication. The thing about trick plays is that you have to have the faith to run it. Sometimes it is not going to work, but you have to have the faith to run it. That Colts guy was not supposed to snap it; it was tough to watch.”
-Chiaverini has had his run through of issues for his outside receivers throughout this season. He has lost starters due to injury and has had plenty of inconsistency across the board from certain players. Chiaverini has been very impressed with the way some of his receivers have stepped up, though. Tech has called on a lot of true freshmen and newcomers to step up and many have answered the call.
“That’s what I expect from them. Obviously them being in our program we expect them to play at a high level. It is exciting when guys like Ja’Deion High, Tony Brown, Jonathan Giles, Zach Austin, and KeKe Coutee and the rest of those young guys get a chance. It is their job to push the veteran guys and make them better. I’ve been pleased with the effort, we didn’t play as well as we wanted last week obviously, and that is a point of emphasis with our group this week going forward. We have to play fast and play physical and at the end of the day you have to make plays. I am proud of them, but I want to see them working harder to get better.”
-Going into the OU game, what are some things that Chiaverini wants to see from his outside receivers?
“We have a lot of core values that we try to go by. We want to play fast and play physical, we want to play confident and play relentless. It is kind of our motto in our room. We keep track of how many knockdowns they get in the game. We keep track of how many good effort plays. Those go a long way in our room and the guys who are doing that consistently play more. It is something that we pride ourselves on.”
-The Tech offense got one of their weapons back at receiver against Kansas. Devin Lauderdale, who missed the game against Iowa State, was back in action on the outside on Saturday. Lauderdale underperformed in his first game back catching 5 passes for 50 yards and committed a very costly fumble. Long term, though, it is nice to have a weapon of Lauderdale’s caliber back on the field.
“He is an explosive player that we have to get back in the mix and play at a high level. I didn’t think he played his best game and he knows that. I think he was a little rusty coming off of his week of. He is somebody that we need to make big plays and somebody that we need to lead that outside group. My expectations for him are very high and he knows that. He knows that I am very demanding of him. Yeah it is great to have him back, but I want him to take his game to a higher level.”
Jah’Shawn Johnson
-Redshirt freshman safety Jah’Shawn Johnson had a game-sealing pick six on Saturday, his second game clinching turnover of the season. He walked me through what he saw on the field during that play.
“It was just third down, trying to get off the field and get our offense back the ball so that they could seal the game or milk the clock out so that we could win. It just so happened that I made a play and my teammates made some great blocks for me on my way to the endzone,” he said.
“It was a great re-route from our corner. It slowed the receiver down and knocked the timing of the route off. I just read the quarterbacks eyes and made a good break on the ball which gave me the chance to seal the game.”
-Johnson and the rest of the defense have really started to see defensive coordinator David Gibbs’ turnover philosophy really start to take hold. The team forced another three turnovers on Saturday.
“We stress it every day in practice. We are always punching the ball, stripping the ball, a lot of different ball drills trying to create a turnover and it carries over into the game,” he said.
“Everyone was excited about the interception. The DBs try to create the most turnovers out of all the groups so everyone was celebrating about that.”
-The offense struggled to produce points on Saturday and it was up to the defense to bail them out. It was one of the first times all season where the defense was able to make plays when the offense couldn’t and it was a nice flip of the script according to Johnson.
“It felt good to get some stops. We just have to score points. It was an off day for our offense and we know they will get better and will put points on the board. As long as the defense is stopping offense, we will be alright.”
