2020 UTSA Football
Media Roundtable
Oct. 5, 2020
Head Coach Jeff Traylor
On positive takeaways from the UAB game …
"They have been the one of the best teams in our league. They bring a very physical style of football, physical style of offense, physical style of defense, kicking game, and we just kept hitting them. We brought our own physicality, our own triangle of toughness. We talk about being physical on defense. We talk about running the football. We talk about being great in special teams. That is the formula for being great, having championship football. We brought all three of our triangles to the game, and it gave us a chance to win the game."
On Lorenzo Dantzler's performance against UAB …
"He really showed up. We give out our triangle of toughness awards each week, and Lorenzo was one of the winners this week. His energy, his effort; he is mature, and he has really bought into the culture. I am really pleased for him. He has overcome a lot of adversity. He has played our Will linebacker, he has played four technique and five technique. He just continues to do whatever we ask him to do and leads for us. I couldn't be more thrilled with his performance on Saturday."
On Lorenzo Dantzler's position change …
"We thought these first four games were going to be fall camp for us. We looked at it as fall camp with spring and the first four games of fall camp. Then we were going to play our last eight, and we were going to have our lineup set and hopefully have our offensive line set, just know our people. We feel like after four games now that we just finished fall camp, and we know our roster a little bit better now. That is all it is, us trying to get to know our players and them trying to get to know us."
On overcoming adversity …
"Position changes, a lot of the guys are going through it with the new coaching staff, us figuring it out. I tell them all the time, I'm an imperfect coach coaching imperfect players. Therefore, there will be imperfection. How we handle imperfection will determine how our success will be this year."
On difference in expectations for positions …
"It's not so much a position change, we have had a few of those too, but it's more of what they're skill set is the best, what they do better, or not as good. That is what good coaching is. Good coaching is where we magnify their positives, and we try to hide whatever they might be a little weak at. We are learning that a little bit every day."
On Lucas Dean's performance …
"How good of a ballplayer is he? He's special. I have said that since day one, that is where I am blessed. Hunter Duplessis and Lucas Dean are very god people, and they are talented and come to work every day. They are extremely bought into the culture. They love the discipline. They love the off the field accountability. They are just two very bought in players. Coach (Tommy) Perry has done a fantastic job bringing those two guys along. He's a weapon, and we know that. It's one of my favorite plays in the game when Lucas gets to go punt. I know you're not supposed to say that as a head coach, but that sucker is really good."
On favorable field position against UAB …
"It has been that way pretty much the whole year. That has probably been the only weakness of our defense when we let up. (Lucas Dean) just has an unbelievable feel. Lucas has just had so many balls off his foot. He can put proper English on it. Obviously, some of that is good fortune, but a lot of that is just him having a great touch on the ball."
On importance of field position at BYU …
"It always will be. Every team can show up occasionally and play great. I bring up my triangle of toughness. You have got to be physical on defense. You have to be able to run the football as a team, and you have to be great at special teams. It sustains, it lasts. When I was a young coach, I was a little whippersnapper of a play caller, and I just wanted to score 60 every night I was coaching. I didn't even really think about that other stuff, but as I have gotten older and wiser, it's just not sustainable. Those pillars have to be what you are about. We have to recruit to it, teach it, preach it and coach it. We have to live by it."
On changes to the offensive line to allow Sincere McCormick to excel …
"We track our players every day in practice because that is one of our biggest pillars, can we get better today? Can we just go win today? Practice makes permanent, and perfect practice makes perfect. For the first time Sincere outworked everybody on the team this week. He got tired of you guys talking about number four. He went to work. We feel like we are getting our offensive line a little more solidified. We have moved those guys around quite a bit, and that is on me as a head coach. I take responsibility for that. We have got to get where we leave those five out there a little more together and quit moving kids around. We have been trying to figure that out, and we feel like we are closer. We feel like we are there."
On strength at the front of the defense …
"We lost our leader. He wasn't even out there - Jaylon Haynes. That was a tremendous loss, so Coach (Rod) Wright really challenged our defensive line to step up. Boy did they. Kevin Nelson always plays hard for us. Christian Clayton, Walker Baty, one of our freshmen, got out there and played. I have already talked about Lorenzo Dantzler and his play. I am sure I am overlooking, but we rotated nine guys. (Brandon) Matterson had an unbelievable game as well. I was really proud of him, as well. He gave unbelievable effort, and I am sure I am forgetting other guys, but Coach (Rod) Wright did a good job of challenging them. Obviously, Coach (Tyrone) Nix gave them a great plan. Trevor Harmanson just continues to get better leading. We have 12 on the field at one point on a PAT (extra point) field goal block, and Trevor counted them he knew we were at 12, and he ran off the field to make sure we were at 11. There are just some things that y'all might not see that he is really stepping up and becoming a great leader. Our defensive line really showed up and played hard, and I am really proud of them."
On right tackle performance…
"Makai (Hart) was one of the top-rated offensive linemen in the country as a junior college prospect coming out of Trinity Valley. We had planned on him penciled in as a day-one starter. He had a significant injury in fall camp, and he is just now getting healthy. I am very proud of Josh Oatis. He's a senior and he has really played hard out there. He has really bought into the culture. He shows up every day, knows his playbook. Those two guys did a more than adequate job at right tackle for us last week."
On Makai Hart playing right tackle …
"We had him projected as a day-one starter at right tackle. He just got injured, and Josh (Oatis) stepped up and did a heck of a job. We are getting some nice depth up there. We have played about eight different linemen quite a bit this year, and we are going to meet all eight of them. With COVID, injuries, just offensive line play, we are going to need that. The guy that really played an incredible game, if you go back and watch it, was (Ahofitu) Maka. He played an incredible ball game. He was our triangle of toughness award winner on offense with Sincere (McCormick), so we were incredible proud of Maka and where he got this week. Our whole line got better. We talk about a team run a lot with our receivers, tight ends, quarterbacks carrying out fakes, it's going to set up great play action pass at some point in the season. At moments, we have seen that. Unfortunately, in our quarterback position, we just haven't had the continuity to have a guy out there to keep getting better with our receivers. I'm not making excuses. I am just stating the obvious for our quarterbacks and our receivers right now."
On not having Rashad Wisdom on the field …
"His leadership is undeniable. I think you can feel it through the screen. It is amazing how many of my friends don't even know Rashad that are avid football fans who love to watch us just always text me about how his leadership just jumps through the screen. I have said it a million times. If you knew (parents) Miss Diana and Richard, you would understand why the kid is that way. He has unbelievable respect by his teammates. It is a huge loss for us, but Coach (Jess) Loepp does a great job with our safeties, and we know we will step up. We know we have got Kelechi (Nwachuku) who is playing fantastic as well caused a turnover Saturday, Antonio Parks, we feel good about those kids. They work their tails off every day. They will show up. Coach Loepp and Coach (Tyrone) Nix had those guys ready."
On evaluation of Antonio Parks this season …
"He is a high character kid who is really bought into the program. He is really bought into the culture. I told my team and my coaches, you don't ever really know about a team when you go on the road, and then you really don't know about a team until you lose. We learned a lot about our team and our coaching staff because adversity brings out the best or the worst in all of us. To be a champion, you have to be able to handle some adversity. I was very pleased with how our kids handled it. They don't like losing, and I don't either. That is really not what we are about here. We are about getting better every single day, trusting the process, and winning the day. We believe we have enough athletes and coaching ability that if we will just do our best every single day, we are going to end up getting a whole lot more on the left, wins column, than the right, loss column."
On what stands out most about BYU …
"Start with that quarterback, he is a dude now. He can really spin it. He is the best quarterback we have played. He is an NFL quarterback. He will get drafted. I would say he is a third-round guy or better. They have two NFL linemen, the center and the right guard. If you look at all of them, they are all redshirt seniors. They are grown men. They are mature and strong, physically imposing. Two really good receivers, 5 (Dax Milne) and 18 (Gunner Romney) is the other one. Defensively, their defensive line, all redshirt seniors, all over 300 pounds, 6-4, 6-5. They play a lot of coverage and only rush three and wreak havoc with only three guys in the run game and sacking the quarterback. Whenever you can rush three and stop the run and stop the pass, it could be a long day for offenses, We have our work cut out for us. I believe they are the 15th-ranked team in the country. I believe we are a 34-point dog, and it is opportunity or adversity. It is kind of like our season, and we are going to look at this as an opportunity. We are going to go up there and find a way to scrap and see if we can hang in there with them and pull off a shocker."
On playing against the caliber of players BYU has …
"Sometimes, if you have 130 pounds on the bench press, and you are pushing it, you can probably knock off about 12 or 15 of those. You put two 225 on there, you may not get about six of those. You put 300 on there, and (Ryan) Filo might move it, but I can't. My upper is not the same, that just might mean the object we are going against might be a little bigger and stronger. Sometimes you have to be careful about when you watch a game if you think kids aren't trying. They might be giving perfect effort. They might just be going against a player that is better. That is what coaching is. We have to find a way to give our kids a chance this Saturday, whatever that is. Whether it's not blocking them and reading them, or double teaming them, whatever that might be. We have to spend every second giving our kids a chance to be successful Saturday."
On potential of using nonconference games to lessen Sincere McCormick's workload …
"It is just impossible to coach that way. What are you telling your team, what is that message? You say to your team, 'okay, this week we are going to spread the ball around and let everybody have their touches and keep you guys healthy.' Well then why go play the game? There is nothing in our culture pillar like that. We are going up there to do our very best and win the game. Football is an extremely violent sport. Am I going to be crazy and give it to (Sincere McCormick) 40 times? That is not smart either. We are going to stick with our plan and do what we try to do and see what that does. It's a fair question to ask, but it is an impossible one to try to pull off."
