Texas Longhorns College Football Pregame Quote, 01/08/2025

Q. Everybody’s looking for those diamonds in the rough. How much more difficult is it to find those guys as opposed to the guys that everybody knows about?

COACH FLOOD: I think we hopefully know more about them than most, because we’re in the state of Texas. We’ve got a pretty good network of high school coaches that are excited to have us on their campus.

I know if we’re recruiting the right players, most of our guys are going to be four and five star players. I’m not devaluing that system. But we don’t really look at it. That part is not really the most important. I know it’s going to be a result of recruiting the right players.

But ultimately, a guy like Trevor [Goosby] has all the traits to be a really, really high level player as an offensive tackle in college football, and hopefully beyond that.

So to me, if he’s got those traits, now does he have the right personality? Okay, he’s absolutely got the right personality. Now, can he hopefully get big enough? That was like the last piece of the puzzle for me. It was like, he did. Now he’s probably 25, 30 pounds bigger than when we got him. He’s done a good job building his body even after coming to us.

Q. Now that you’ve had time to think about it, what did you think of Quinn [Ewers] with the fourth and 13, to see overall how he performed? 

COACH FLOOD: It’s a function of a lot of years of hard work. A lot of practice. A lot of reps. To be able to calm the noise. Because we were on their side of the field for that play as well.

So, to be able to calm the noise, get everybody set, get the ball snapped, make the throw with the accuracy he made the throw, I think people see those as this a great play in his career. And it will go down as a great play in his career, no doubt.

But that play is a function of practice. So, really, really neat for him to have that experience. Great for us.

Q. Coach, now with the expanded playoffs, and you have multiple games just to get here to the Semifinal, is this something where you have an advantage, as far as a developmental curve, as a line coach. Now you have two extra games and two extra weeks. Is that kind of a side benefit of this format, that now you have more time to work with the guys, and more time for them to develop?

COACH FLOOD: I actually like it, because I think learning a game plan is a skill. For some of our younger players, they’re still having to learn a game plan. So, I think that’s really valuable going forward. I think these reps for these younger players are going to really, really pay big dividends for them in the postseason as we get into next year.

Q. How important is Toree Becton, as far as development of those players, because it seems like that’s a key cog in the things that you guys are trying to accomplish.

COACH FLOOD: Torre and his staff are super important for the development of a team. Your strength coaches really have more access to your players over the course of the year than you do as a football coach, in terms of the training and development.

The reason it works is because of the communication. The communication between him and the head coach, the communication between him and us and assistant coaches in terms of what we need at each position for each player.

It is not a one size fits all program. They do an excellent job of training the players individually for the specific needs that they have.

Q. Coach, I talked to Tre (Quintrevion Wisner) a little while ago, and he said he takes a lot of pride in his maturity. How do you think on the field, off the field?

COACH FLOOD: Again, we’re really excited about what he’s been able to provide for us this year. I think him being ready I said it a minute ago, and I apologize if you weren’t here to hear it he didn’t start the year as the primary running back or primary ball carrier. But he became that. And he was ready for that.

You can’t do that without a really, really strong sense of maturity to go out there and practice every day, knowing you may not be the first option in that position, at a position where, generally, only two guys play.

So, I’m really proud of him for that. And as a team, we needed him. He’s been super productive. He is one of those guys that is he just provides energy for everybody else in the room. He made some plays last year on special teams that absolutely electrified our side on special teams, and now he’s doing it for us on offense.

Q. He (Quintrevion Wisner) credited his mom a lot with his maturity. Have you met her? What do you know about his family?

COACH FLOOD: I met her during the recruiting process. I love the fact that he shouted out his mom.

Q. When it comes to the run game, you guys were like gangbusters against Clemson, not so much against Penn State. What did you see? Is there a simple difference? Is it details? What was the difference?

COACH FLOOD: These are fair questions, but it’s never one thing. It really isn’t.

We needed to play better last week in the run game, and we didn’t. None of us were happy about it. We’ve had other games we played well, and that’s great.

But as I told the players, when you play well and you run the ball for 280 yards in the first round, you don’t get any yards in the second round.

If you don’t run the balls in the second round there really is no carry over. It’s a completely different game. Completely different matchups. Completely different schemes.

So even though there are some things we would like to have done better last week, some may or may not be the same things we’re going to have to do really well this week, playing against Coach [Jim] Knowles’ defense.

So, I’ve got a lot of confidence in our guys. I think they’re practiced really well. We’re excited about the challenge. These defenses are a tremendous challenge.