UTEP Miners College Football Pregame Quote, 09/16/2019

During the open week, a lot of things needed to be accomplished. There was a lot of work to do coming off the Texas Tech ball game. We felt like for the first couple days of our practice last week that we needed to fix some things that needed to be repaired after the Tech ball game. We spent the early part of the week trying to get ourselves better fundamentally and making sure we fix some of the things we didn’t do well in that ball game. And then the last couple practices of last week, we put an emphasis on starting to look at what Nevada does and started to prepare for them, while working fundamentally on what we need to improve on. We used Thursday afternoon, Friday, Saturday and a little bit of Sunday in recruiting, which it is always great on open weeks to get out and get some recruiting done. We sent coaches all around the state and also sent all of our coaches through El Paso, so we got to see some ball games and get to the high schools in El Paso. All in all, it was a good open week. There are pros and cons to having an open week this early in the season. The pro is obviously it gives you more time to prepare for Nevada. The con is you would like to have it later as the season goes on when your guys need to rest a little bit more. Academically and organizationally, I thought it would have been good to have this open date a little later just because guys are starting to get into good habits and good work study habits with their school work, so I didn’t want to break up the consistency we were having there with that. Open weeks are always interesting.

On improvements following the Texas Tech game:

We left the Tech game saying we obviously need to have more success with what we did offensively. I’ve talked quite a bit about that already. Defensively, I felt like our football team made improvements and made some strides. I was happy with the play of our defensive unit. I know we are a better offensive football team than what we showed against Tech. I firmly believe that, so that was the big challenge for us as we move forward for the Nevada game.

On facing Nevada this week:

This Nevada team is going to be a big test for us. It is a huge test. They are obviously a team that went 8-5 last year and has beaten a Big Ten opponent already this year. They are just a well-coached, good football team that plays physical football on both sides of the ball. They have a couple good receivers on their offensive unit, two good running backs who are both physical guys who run extremely hard. They have a seasoned offensive line with four guys who have started coming back. Their quarterback is a very athletic quarterback who has a good, strong arm and is a good player. It is going to be important for us to do a good job defending him, so it will be another huge challenge for us just like the Tech game was. They are going to create issues for us for sure with what they do with their offense.

Defensively, their linebacker (7) is a really talented player. He does a great job. Their nose guard (96) is a very, very active player. The defensive end (99) is an outstanding player as well. They have some talent there. They have two good corners and some physical safeties. They have had some really good performances this year. They played very well defensively against a very good Purdue offense and they also played well defensively last week against Weber State. It was a well-fought ball game, but their defense played extremely well in that game.

In the kicking game, they are very diverse with what they do. They create some issues for you with their special teams, and I feel like they do a nice job with that segment. They have had some success with their punt team this year. In the Purdue game, they caused two fumbles in the fourth quarter with their punt team. The next week, Oregon also fumbled a punt return against them, so they have had some success creating turnovers in their special teams. We have to make sure we protect the football and win that battle with what we’re doing with them.

On having the opportunity to host Nevada:

This is a Mountain West opponent coming in to our stadium, which is really exciting for our fans. Obviously, we had a great turnout at our first game and we are excited to play at home again. This will be a big test, a big challenge and opportunity for us to get back and play well and put all the pieces of our football program together offensively, defensively and on special teams. Once again, we are really excited to have Nevada, a Mountain West opponent, come in to our stadium and we are looking forward to the ball game.

On the plan moving forward for Brandon Jones and Kai Locksley:

We plan on playing both of those kids. Brandon is going to start this game. They both have a lot of reps banked. They both have a lot of experience that they bring to the table. They both are different in preparation as you prepare for them. We need both of them to continue to improve as they get more experience. Both of them played just last year, so they don’t have a ton of experience, but what I want to see out of those guys is them continuing to elevate their games. But everyone can expect to see both of those guys play because they are both too good of players to have them both sitting on the bench. The rotation for the quarterbacks is going to be the call that I feel during the game. So much of what you do as a football coach is feel and it is just going to be about the feel of the game right now. We have to get our quarterbacks to be active in our offense, so both of these guys have to be a bigger part of what we are doing in our offensive system right now. As I look through the matchups against Nevada, I see where both of them can do things to help us win football games, so I don’t think there is any particular thing Nevada might do that will make us lean toward one of them more than the other. We are still going to put them both in there and let them both play and see who is being the most productive out of the two. That is what our football team needs. Every decision we make at that quarterback spot is going to help us be the most productive offense we can be. As I watch the guys play, I am going to be evaluating decision-making, performance, big-play potential and how they are running the offensive system. It could change throughout the ball game. If one of them is hot, obviously we will stay with them.