Kansas Jayhawks College Football Pregame Quote, 10/14/2019

Had a nice open week. We did some recruiting, did some self-scout, and coordinator was pretty comfortable with the logistics of how we call things, so felt like we got a lot accomplished.

On what has impressed him about Brent Dearmon:

He’s just got a really fresh approach. He’s been fun for our players to work with, and he’s played quarterback, and he kind of seems to fit in that quarterback room for us.

On Brent Dearmon’s relationship with the team:

Yeah, he has a ‚Äì I think he’s got a great relationship with the team, or certainly starting a great relationship with the team. I think there’s opportunities to throw and catch, and I think any time there’s opportunities to throw and catch, the receivers kind of like to hear that from the guy that’s calling the plays.

On the change at offensive coordinator:

I just thought that ‚Äì I thought the initial hire was the best hire, okay, and I felt like that there needed to be change, and I think Les did a strong job. I think he worked hard. We just needed a change. And change philosophically as I saw it. Again, I think Les is a quality man, did a great job for us, and it’s time for us to look at Dearmon.

On how he found out about Brent Dearmon:

Yeah, well, his name kind of floated around Auburn, and I have some friends in football, and they said that he would be an ideal coordinator. What I was trying to do was put myself in a position where I could, if need be, go to the next man. Lessons have been taught, and you can kind of see some of the other schools, Alabama made a nice change, Kiffin to kind of exit, and Lane is a tremendous coach, but it was a good change for Alabama.

On if the changes will be noticeable on Saturday:

Yeah, I think the ‚Äì I think there’s some similarities and some dissimilarities. I don’t know if they’ll find it unusually different. Yeah, I don’t think that they’ll ‚Äì I think it’ll look hopefully more successful.

On scouting during the bye week:

Well, the good news is that they’re a pretty talented team, and we’ll ‚Äì yeah, I think they’re the kind of team that will continue to play and play and play. I like the three-down up front, and I like the linebacking corps. I think a team gets better.

On the weekend recruiting:

It was really – one, it was fun. It was nice to see high school football, and we were in the state of Kansas and the Kansas footprint, and it was good. I think the people that – there was a very comfortable – they knew and recognized the brand.

On Columbus Day:

(Chuckling.) Well, I can tell you again that it’s a favorite day of Italians because Columbus certainly was Italian, Magellan was Italian. There’s a lot of Italians that enjoy Columbus Day, and again, to paraphrase a quote from a wise old coach, this is not St. Paddy’s Day, this is an entirely different day altogether. St. Paddy’s Day is generally more festive, though, and is celebrated with green, which green is just the only color that we don’t have. That’s as good as I can do on short notice.

On improvements for Carter Stanley:

We just want him to play like he played at Boston College. And he is. He’s getting better and better. That’s the style of leadership that we want. Yeah, I think he’ll prove to have a back end as strong as some of the front end games that he played well in.

On what Sam Ehlingher brings:

Well, Sam is a big, strong, full-grown quarterback. He handles the short-yardage plays. He’s a great wildcat at times. And yet his passing stats, he’s thrown for 1,600 yards, seven touchdowns and an interception, and five rushing touchdowns. He’s a focal point for the Texas offense and very good. Very good player.

On who Ehlingher reminds him of:

Well, Tebow a little bit. You know, Tebow was maybe a little bit more – maybe a little faster, maybe a better runner, but not much.

On how Texas has developed under head coach Tom Herman:

I think him turning to Sam made a difference, and I think that the ‚Äì I think he’s got running backs and big strong offensive linemen and now a talented quarterback that’s in place and making plays. I think the offense is growing.

On what steps the freshman can take in the second half of the season:

Yeah, yeah. And there’s a necessity at times. The good news is we put them in a position to improve as they have gone on, and hopefully now that we’re in the back ‚Äì certainly the half, the back half of this season, those guys will be counted on to make big plays.

On the practices during the bye week, compared to normal practices:

We certainly turned to Texas pretty routinely, but we were making sure that we were putting in those things that would be comfortable for the season. But there’s some similarities between some of the fronts that we’ve played and Texas, and we’ve prepared pretty extensively for Texas and this week.