Weis Previews Match-up at No. 11 Oklahoma State

Kansas head coach Charlie Weis addressed the media and answered questions during his weekly media session at the Anderson Family Football Complex Tuesday afternoon. Weis previewed the weekend match-up with No. 11 Oklahoma State and talked about the team’s progress in a number of areas before turning the mic over to linebackers coach Clint Bowen. A transcript of selected comments is below, with full video of the press conference available to Jayhawk Digital Passport subscribers here.

Kansas Head Coach Charlie Weis
Opening Statement…
“On Oklahoma State, they are 7-1, ranked as high as 11th in the country. Mike Gundy has been there now nine years. He hired a guy by the name of Mike Yurcich to take over his offense this year from Shippensburg. What I’ve kind of liked about Mike is that they’re one of the few teams in the country that run and pass the ball almost exactly the same percentage. It’s just about 50-50 on the year, run-pass. They are averaging 440 yards a game, 180 or so rushing and another 260 plus passing, averaging 40 points a game.

“They play a good portion of the game with four wide receivers. They play different personnel groups than that, for example they don’t even play with a tight end. When they put a tight end in there, it’s actually a defensive lineman they put in there to go over and play tight end. They are another up-tempo team so we have to be ready to deal with our weekly challenge of tempo. As of the last couple of week Chelf has taken over for Walsh, but you very easily could see either one of them in the game. Roland is a big physical running back, 6-foot-2, 210. He’s a big man, very physical runner. You’ll see Childs and Smith in there as well. At wide receiver, I’ll talk about it as if they are going to do the four wide out there. If they do, it’ll be Stewart, Tracy Moore plays in the slot, and Charlie Moore and Seales play outside. So, when they are laying their four wide combination they have two Moore’s so I’ve got to make sure I’ve got them down. They do have a couple of fullbacks and they list their senior as the starter, but I’ve seen more of Seaton, the sophomore, who’s 6-foot-2, 250. I’ve seen more of him in there as of late.

“Their offensive line, one thing is they have two mammoth guards. Webb is their left guard at 6-foot-3, 326. Graham is their right guard at 6-foot-7, 315. Garrett and Koenig are the tackles and Jenkins is inside.

“On defense, Glenn Spencer has been there for six years. He coordinates the defense, they are 45th in the country in yards per game, but they are even better in points per game. They are 28th in points per game allowed averaging just a little over 21. This team, as much as any team that we’ve played this year, their strength is down the middle. They have two studs in the defensive line in Castleman and Barnett. The middle linebacker Lavey is very, very good. Their safeties, both Gary and Lowe make a whole bunch of tackles. They are really, really strong up the middle, which is really a good way to play defense when you can say that your interior defensive linemen, your linebacker and your safeties are all tough and they are good at every single one of those positions. Johnson and Bean are their ends. Johnson, you’ve got to worry about the most. He puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback. Simmons and Lewis play the outside linebackers. Simmons will always be to the field.

“Gilbert and Tyler Patmon are handling the corners. Patmon will be in there if Peterson isn’t back. Right now, I’m assuming that Peterson isn’t back and that Patmon will start at corner. Smith handles their punting. Ben Grogan, who we got involved in last summer in recruiting, is their place kicker. Stewart will handle their punt returning. They’ll put both Gilbert and Roland back there on kick returns so they aren’t afraid to put starters back there as their kick returners to try to get some production in those games.”

On if Oklahoma State has the blue print to be successful in the Big 12…
“I’m not a four wide spread you out on every play guy. I like to use multiple personnel groups and multiple formations. A balance is exactly what you’re looking for. Not that I’m opposed to putting four spread out receivers out there, or five spread out and empty. But I prefer to get in and out multiple personnel groups and formations and play just a different style of game.”

On offensive lineman Riley Spencer…
“He’s had both knees done, he walks around like me. But, what he is is a big man that is very physical. He’s a big, physical guy. He has some limitations because of all the surgeries that he’s had, but big and physical and tough, he’s all of those things. You have to understand the limitations of your players and know what you’re getting. Well, I know what we’re getting even in the plays that he played in last week, a bigger body and more physical presence.”

On if the offensive line penalties are forced because of players being overmatched and trying too hard…
“Well, sometimes that might be true, but sometimes they are careless. We’ve had a number of flags that have happened behind the play when the play is already passed you. There’s a runner running up the right edge and there’s a holding call inside. It really has absolutely nothing to do with the play. Now, it’s still a holding call so you can’t complain about the fact that it’s a holding call. Sometimes it’s careless by not really knowing where the balls going to be on a specific play.”

On Tony Pierson…
“On Sunday, after he went through Saturday and went through warm ups, we knew that he was going to dress and go through warm ups and not play. He hadn’t practiced all week long. But, I have a different policy than most, if you don’t practice then you don’t play. It doesn’t make a difference who you are, you have to practice if you want to play. There’s very few people in the history of football that can go through a full week and not practice and you put them in the game and they play any good, especially coming off of a concussion. I’m hoping he’s full go this week.”

On what his point of emphasis was to the wide receivers when he started working with them…
“There were two things in particular. I though their attention for detail was particularly lacking to start off with. Anytime the head coach comes to position drills, there’s obviously a great sense of urgency because I have a tendency when I’m not feeling very well to be kind of ruthless. So, any little mistake is magnified when I have that type of mentality. That’s number one. Number two, I think that technically, they’ve made a more concerted effort to do what Coach Ianello has been telling them, but now when you have that extra hammer of the head coach right there, emphasizing how you come out of a break at a stem. One thing is, when you teach a kid how to run a route, despite my size, I can teach kids how to run a route. I know that would befuddle most people. When you do it, you have to teach them weight distribution and weight balance and how different body types have to get their weight in a different sense to come in and out of breaks. I think that that attention to details has paid minor dividends over the last few weeks.”

On Rodriguez Coleman…
“He’s been that person that I’ve talked about since training camp where he was a guy that we were kind of counting on. Here’s a perfect example, let me correlate Coleman to your last question. Coleman is tall. When you’re tall, coming in and out of breaks, it’s important that you keep your weight down because the taller you are the more inclined you are to start rising up when you’re ready to come out of a break. When you’re a defensive back, once you start to notice a wide receiver rising up, you come out of your back pedal and you start to drive on your route.  Therefore, there is no separation. During the last few weeks, he’s done a great job of stemming the guys he’s going against which has helped him not only run by him, but run intermediate routes as well. His best route of the day was the ball he dropped. He came and he planted his foot in the ground and he almost broke the guy’s leg when he came back for the comeback. He’s wide open. Unfortunately, he dropped the ball, but that’s what it’s supposed to look like. Now, when you have a guy that goes by you, you don’t know if he’s running a comeback or he’s running right by you. That’s a perfect example. If he can do that, he has a chance.”

On offensive lineman Damon Martin…
“Damon is a physical, physical presence. One of the strongest guys we have. His issue never has been whether or not he can play or not. His issue has always been one of consistency. Actually, if he wasn’t playing more consistent, then he wouldn’t be listed as first.”

On the stages of development for guards…
“For example, this week, I’m going to split my time with the receivers and the offensive line. Because now we’re starting to make some progress here, while we’re still behind here. So I’ll go over and throw my two cents in over there. One thing we’re going to work today on is combination blocks. A combination block- you got a three technique right here. Three technique with a guy on the outside shoulder of the guard, you got a tackle next to you and a linebacker on the next level. Where’s the ball being run? Is it being run outside or is it being run inside? How are you two guys going to block those two guys? And those types of things are about linemen working together.

“There’s other times though, where you just have him. He’s on your outside and we’re running outside to your side and you have him. So now instead of taking a step towards him, you have to take a lateral step because on that lateral step, what you’re trying to do is get to the guy’s outside shoulder- he already has you leveraged. That first step for an offensive lineman, is by far the most critical step an offensive lineman makes. As I watch tape over and over again, I see the first step not being the right one. So we’ll be working on the first step.”

On a breakdown between the first step…
“It isn’t a question of the position coach teaching the technique. I think the guys listen to them, they’re good teachers, the guys listen to them. But I think that there are guys get back to focus, and careless and those things, everyone’s red flag is up when I’m standing right there. Because if I’m standing right there you think Grunhard yells at them- now I don’t yell very much anymore- but when I do it, it’s not very pleasant. But all I do is take points that those guys are already coaching- and I only try to teach one thing in a period. Too many coaches are trying to get eight different things done, I try to get one. For example, if I’m working on first step, and if I can improve their first step, they’ll have a better chance to be successful this week.”

On the team’s stamina in the third quarter…
“Stamina has not been the issue. With the exception of Baylor, there’s been a big play in the third quarter of every game that has turned the tide. Texas Tech, now remember now, besides the fake punt- which I’ll take full blame and responsibility for, I’ll pass it down when I leave, but I’ll take it here- say that’s a dumb call and coach is an idiot, OK, but it’s still 20-10 at halftime, and the first play of the third quarter, is a deflected interception that gets run down to the four yard-line. In this game, it’s 14-6, it gets late in the third quarter, so this isn’t a question if the guys are playing hard, or whether or not they have no juice left, there’s been a critical thing that has happened in the third quarter.

“And it isn’t like they come right out of the box, well they made a half time adjustment- well when a ball goes off a guys hands into another guys hands, that’s not an adjustment. That’s a deflected pass that you just caught and ran down to the four yard-line. Or when you have two guys collapsing on one to go make a tackle on a swing pass and they run into each other, and the guy takes it to the house, that wasn’t an adjustment by the offensive coordinator. That’s a mis-tackle, okay. There are things that happen in a game, what we have not done a very good job at collectively, is overcoming those bad things that have happened somewhere in the third quarter. That’s what we haven’t done a good job of and that’s what we’ve got to do better at. That’s one of the points of emphasis, when we meet as a team at 2:55 today.”

On how to emphasis overcoming the bad things in the third quarter…
“You start off by stressing all the good things. Because when the fans or when everyone else wants to harp on the negative, what you have to do is show me, look here’s what you’ve done. This is you guys, this isn’t somebody else making these plays, and it’s you. You show them a whole bunch of good plays and say now that’s you. Now what’s the difference between you and them? They make more of them than you do. That’s the difference. So we’re going to make more good plays.”

On devastating big momentum plays against them…
“Ever since the Texas Tech game that got away from us, I tried in the Texas Tech game, to open up our offense more and try to get more production and it backfired. Then to put us at a disadvantage situation the whole game, where we’re playing in crappy field position the rest of the game. And we’re not at the stage for us to do that. There have been teams that have been down three touchdowns and they don’t blink an eye and next thing you know the game is tied. That’s not the game that we’re trying to play right now.

Obviously we’re trying to play a lower scoring game, and when you’re playing a top 10-15 team every week, which it just seems like we’ve been on this string one after another, this isn’t like we went into Texas feeling overwhelmed by the situation, that was not the case. It really came down to a strip-sack fumble in the third quarter. Quarterback’s got pressure coming from his left, and he’s dodging and while he’s dodging that one he gets hit in the face from the right. And you can sit there and tell the quarterback not to fumble the ball- well, no kidding! We all know you want to have ball possession. He’s dodging one guy and getting crushed by the other. Sometimes it’s easier said than done. It’s unfortunate the end result ended up with instead of us getting sacked, the end result ends up being a strip-sack fumble touchdown and the game is now a two touchdown game instead of a one touchdown game. And you’re already getting late in the third quarter, now the complexion of the game changes because you don’t have that quick-strike capacity that you aforementioned.”

On if it’s hard to keep the players in check after playing difficult teams…
“I might be delusional, but I’ve been very, very  impressed by the lack of evidence of that being the case. And I’m not taking any credit for it, I’m giving it to the players on that. And I break the season up into different sections, so today starts the last third of the season.

“Here’s what I told them on Sunday: this team will be remembered by what happens in the next four games. It will not be remembered by where you are right now. We’re 2-6 right now. This team will be remembered by what happens in the next four games. If we end up 2-10, it’s not going to be very good, is it? 3-9? A little bit better. 4-8? Okay that shows signs. 5-7? OK, things are getting better. 6-6? They start building a statue. But that really is the perspective. Realistically, if I said to you right now, okay let’s throw it out, we got four games left, let’s say the last third of the season we go 3-1. If we ended up 5-7, what would you think? This 2-6 is not what they’re going to be remembered by.

“They’re not going to be remembered by where they are right now. They’re going to be remembered by what happens down the stretch here. Because I don’t have the answers to that. That’s their legacy, their legacy isn’t where they are 2/3 of their way into the season. I think that is clearly the way our team is looking at it. They’re clearly looking to go to Oklahoma State to get the first of that 4-leg streak going. No matter what, that’s what we’re dealing with. They’re going to be remembered by these last four games.”

On Montell Cozart’s progression…
“He didn’t play as much in game three as he did in game two- played in the 20’s. Obviously when he carries the ball, he looks pretty special. In that game there was actually some more opportunities to carry the ball that I wish he would have liked to see what would have happened. We had some passes called in that game that never got off right there, obviously I need to get him more involved with throwing the football. He can throw it, I don’t want him just to be a one-dimensional like we’re bringing him in the there just to play plus one football. I expect Montell to continue to take steps every week.”

On if Jake Heaps is improving because of Cozart pushing him…
“I told him last night, I don’t think that’s the answer. Sometimes, despite what players think, sometimes watching from the sideline, you learn stuff from watching on the sideline. You can see things happen when you’re actually playing the play- you don’t see if from the same perspective. And I was talking to the two of them last night, and I said to Jake, you actually played two of your better games the last two games. You’re accuracy has gotten better, your commands gotten better, despite the fact you want to play every play. It could be a direct correlation that during these games you had an opportunity to stand on the sideline and see things happen that you don’t get to see when you’re playing.”

On if Heaps throws it too hard sometimes…
“Sometimes when you throw too hard you’re getting hit in the mouth at the time. The one time the ball was getting thrown a little hard, he’s getting drilled while he’s throwing it, sometimes you’re throwing it to just get rid of it. I think actually from practice I’ve watched, he actually has a pretty good touch. If he throws the ball too hard, yeah, if you go back and look at a couple of the reasons why that happens, there’s usually a pretty good reason.”

On Ron Doherty rising up the depth chart…
“Last week, I hate to use it as foresight, but last week after being a little bit uncomfortable, the consistency we’ve had in the last few games at that position, I don’t ever do this but I practiced last Wednesday in different groups for field goals, because I wanted to make sure I had another guy ready to go just in case. And if we were to miss the first one, if it’s a short one, I’ve had enough. He had been prepared, this wasn’t like he had no clue this could possibly happen, when I practiced it in practice, there’s a chance that it could happen. So he wasn’t shocked when I came over to him after the first one and told him, ‘you’re up.’ I’m happy for him, he’s obviously well-liked by his teammates, so that’s good to see. I would prefer not hitting the upright on the second one, I said don’t bring this problem to me. I was happy for him.”