I got a chance to sit down with running backs coach Mike Jinks late last week for a one-on-one interview about his unit and spring football, so here's the Q&A from our discussion. Just a quick note: When Jinks is talking about Q, he's talking about Quinton White.
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Where do you feel like things are at with your guys in your room? With you and your players, it's really sort of just "oiling the machine" at this point, now.
Jinks: "Right, and that's kind of a good way to put it. I think, operations-wise, I think they have a grasp of what we're trying to do schematically. That's not just in the run game, but also in our passing game, in pass protections, and I feel very confident that, to a man, those four, those top four guys, could go in and really start on any given day. Just looking at the spring and evaluating it and recaping it, I think DeAndre has - he's improved. I think he's on a mission. I don't like getting caught up too much into it, but I like these kids having a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. I feel like he feels that he's really underrated, not getting his just due, and he's practicing like it. Stockton and Felton have both put on about 10 to 12 pounds each. You can really tell that with Justin. I think right now - looking at it after we ended the season - it wasn't the right thing to play that kid and not redshirt him. What I will say on that note is that, watching him this spring - and Felton's had a good spring, don't get me wrong. He's done some great things, and the kids have a great amount of respect for him for what he did this spring and the way he performed playing scout team - but Justin, he's had that experience, and there's a difference. You can see that difference. He's running so much stronger. With Q, he's my Swiss Army knife. Q can do it all. If Q had to be the starting running back for any game where he needed to play, I wouldn't worry about it at all. But, right now he'll still be that third down guy, and we're really looking to use him some like we used Rodney last year. I know he's not 240 pounds, but Q can still squat 600 pounds, and he's a very intelligent player."
And he's probably a better pass catcher than Rodney.
Jinks: "There's no doubt. When you look at him like that, it creates some mismatch problems for the defense, so we're excited about it."
Do you think the biggest advantage of having all those guys in your backfield is just that when you get down in the red zone, you can do so much more than you've been able to do in the past?
"No doubt, no doubt. When you look at some of our stuff down there, maybe when we would have two big guys and maybe Dre would be back here, those three guys would be back there when you talk about Quinton, Stockton, and DeAndre being in the game together. They're all equally as explosive, and we'll be able to do a lot of things with formations, motion, and things of that nature."
At times last fall, you all would get into some 20 personnel sets, but you really kind of stuck with 10 sets with either Dre, Stockton, or White, just one of them. Do you think you'll go more towards running two back sets?
"In a perfect world, you'd like for Stockton and Q to be able to grasp some of the slot and outside receiver stuff, to be able to do some of those things. Those are some of the things that we've talked about, some of the things that we've toyed with, and I wouldn't be surprised if you saw 20 sets and then see them go right back into 10 sets with those guys playing in the slots or even I know a kid like Justin, you can put him on the edge with those quick screens and such."
With Justin, how much have you moved him around this spring, because I know you started to play with the idea at the end of the fall and had him running through some receiver drills. How much have you kind of done that?
"We've played with it some. It may be inside receiver or outside receiver. Really outside receiver is a lot easier to learn and pick up the hots and all things of that nature, and he has a great skill set, great receiving skill set. But, we're going to get our best athletes on the field."
How do you, and you get asked this all the time, but when you have four backs that you feel as good about as you do - and Dre is obviously going to get the bulk of the carries - but how do you decide how to split up the rest?
"Last year man, it was really about the game flow. If Dre was hot, Dre was playing. When we felt like either he was wearing down or the defense was wearing down, we'd sprinkle Stockton in there, and boom, he'd hit a big play for us. Coming through the week, they'd never know. I'd say, 'Hey, here's what you did well, here's what you didn't do well, so here's a new week, and whoever is the best is going to play.' They really bought into it and fed off each other, and that was just how it went and worked out."
When making those decisions on who to use, is it more of a decision to game plan it for you, or is it more of riding the hot hand?
"As we got going - and each one of those guys has a different kind of skillset - so there were quite a few different game plan things. There were touches for 37 and 8, probably three to four scripted game plays for each one of them. Now, I think you can see that increase. What that means for Dre's touches, I don't know, but Q is going to get his, because he's going to take over some of the Rodney fullback role, and that will take care of itself. But, he's (Stockton) is a special football player, and we've got to get him involved."
And I know you like the weight he's put on, but what's really the biggest difference for him?
"Confidence. Confidence. I mean, he looks like he looked in high school when I coached him playing against high school kids. That explosive - if you watched our spring game, you see it. He's not second guessing himself, he's play with such confidence, and at such a different speed. It's phenomenal to watch him."
I know there aren't a lot of numbers with the offensive line this spring, but where are things with that group up front do you think?
"I'm going to put that pressure on Coach Hays and call it like it is. Coach Kingsbury and I met yesterday with a day left, but things are getting tight, and just reflecting on the spring and where we thought we were, and in my humble opinion, they may be the best part, the strongest - and the backs, we keep saying all these things about the backs and this that and the other - but we've got a good offensive line. One of the best offensive lines in the Big 12."
Not just with your guys, but with the offense as a whole, just what did you really want this group to accomplish, and where do you kind of think they are in relation to that?
"Through the spring game that we had in Midland, and through the last 12, 13, whatever the number of practices are, we've really done a good job of limiting turnovers. But, not only limiting turnovers, but we've had officials out here and tried to have officials out here as many times as we possibly can, and our pre and post snap penalties, I think we've greatly improved on that. Then, I think if we can do those two things, then we'll be a lot of fun to watch."
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Where do you feel like things are at with your guys in your room? With you and your players, it's really sort of just "oiling the machine" at this point, now.
Jinks: "Right, and that's kind of a good way to put it. I think, operations-wise, I think they have a grasp of what we're trying to do schematically. That's not just in the run game, but also in our passing game, in pass protections, and I feel very confident that, to a man, those four, those top four guys, could go in and really start on any given day. Just looking at the spring and evaluating it and recaping it, I think DeAndre has - he's improved. I think he's on a mission. I don't like getting caught up too much into it, but I like these kids having a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. I feel like he feels that he's really underrated, not getting his just due, and he's practicing like it. Stockton and Felton have both put on about 10 to 12 pounds each. You can really tell that with Justin. I think right now - looking at it after we ended the season - it wasn't the right thing to play that kid and not redshirt him. What I will say on that note is that, watching him this spring - and Felton's had a good spring, don't get me wrong. He's done some great things, and the kids have a great amount of respect for him for what he did this spring and the way he performed playing scout team - but Justin, he's had that experience, and there's a difference. You can see that difference. He's running so much stronger. With Q, he's my Swiss Army knife. Q can do it all. If Q had to be the starting running back for any game where he needed to play, I wouldn't worry about it at all. But, right now he'll still be that third down guy, and we're really looking to use him some like we used Rodney last year. I know he's not 240 pounds, but Q can still squat 600 pounds, and he's a very intelligent player."
And he's probably a better pass catcher than Rodney.
Jinks: "There's no doubt. When you look at him like that, it creates some mismatch problems for the defense, so we're excited about it."
Do you think the biggest advantage of having all those guys in your backfield is just that when you get down in the red zone, you can do so much more than you've been able to do in the past?
"No doubt, no doubt. When you look at some of our stuff down there, maybe when we would have two big guys and maybe Dre would be back here, those three guys would be back there when you talk about Quinton, Stockton, and DeAndre being in the game together. They're all equally as explosive, and we'll be able to do a lot of things with formations, motion, and things of that nature."
At times last fall, you all would get into some 20 personnel sets, but you really kind of stuck with 10 sets with either Dre, Stockton, or White, just one of them. Do you think you'll go more towards running two back sets?
"In a perfect world, you'd like for Stockton and Q to be able to grasp some of the slot and outside receiver stuff, to be able to do some of those things. Those are some of the things that we've talked about, some of the things that we've toyed with, and I wouldn't be surprised if you saw 20 sets and then see them go right back into 10 sets with those guys playing in the slots or even I know a kid like Justin, you can put him on the edge with those quick screens and such."
With Justin, how much have you moved him around this spring, because I know you started to play with the idea at the end of the fall and had him running through some receiver drills. How much have you kind of done that?
"We've played with it some. It may be inside receiver or outside receiver. Really outside receiver is a lot easier to learn and pick up the hots and all things of that nature, and he has a great skill set, great receiving skill set. But, we're going to get our best athletes on the field."
How do you, and you get asked this all the time, but when you have four backs that you feel as good about as you do - and Dre is obviously going to get the bulk of the carries - but how do you decide how to split up the rest?
"Last year man, it was really about the game flow. If Dre was hot, Dre was playing. When we felt like either he was wearing down or the defense was wearing down, we'd sprinkle Stockton in there, and boom, he'd hit a big play for us. Coming through the week, they'd never know. I'd say, 'Hey, here's what you did well, here's what you didn't do well, so here's a new week, and whoever is the best is going to play.' They really bought into it and fed off each other, and that was just how it went and worked out."
When making those decisions on who to use, is it more of a decision to game plan it for you, or is it more of riding the hot hand?
"As we got going - and each one of those guys has a different kind of skillset - so there were quite a few different game plan things. There were touches for 37 and 8, probably three to four scripted game plays for each one of them. Now, I think you can see that increase. What that means for Dre's touches, I don't know, but Q is going to get his, because he's going to take over some of the Rodney fullback role, and that will take care of itself. But, he's (Stockton) is a special football player, and we've got to get him involved."
And I know you like the weight he's put on, but what's really the biggest difference for him?
"Confidence. Confidence. I mean, he looks like he looked in high school when I coached him playing against high school kids. That explosive - if you watched our spring game, you see it. He's not second guessing himself, he's play with such confidence, and at such a different speed. It's phenomenal to watch him."
I know there aren't a lot of numbers with the offensive line this spring, but where are things with that group up front do you think?
"I'm going to put that pressure on Coach Hays and call it like it is. Coach Kingsbury and I met yesterday with a day left, but things are getting tight, and just reflecting on the spring and where we thought we were, and in my humble opinion, they may be the best part, the strongest - and the backs, we keep saying all these things about the backs and this that and the other - but we've got a good offensive line. One of the best offensive lines in the Big 12."
Not just with your guys, but with the offense as a whole, just what did you really want this group to accomplish, and where do you kind of think they are in relation to that?
"Through the spring game that we had in Midland, and through the last 12, 13, whatever the number of practices are, we've really done a good job of limiting turnovers. But, not only limiting turnovers, but we've had officials out here and tried to have officials out here as many times as we possibly can, and our pre and post snap penalties, I think we've greatly improved on that. Then, I think if we can do those two things, then we'll be a lot of fun to watch."
