2021 UTSA Football
Media Roundtable
Oct. 4, 2021
Head Coach Jeff Traylor
On the biggest takeaways from the UNLV game …
"We always start with defense in our order of the Triangle (of Toughness). The three turnovers they caused were fantastic. We had some miscommunication early and gave up a big touchdown. That was frustrating. The kids battled back. Offensively, Frank's (Harris) performance was the best I have seen him play since I have coached him. Zakhari (Franklin) not playing and J.T. (De'Corian Clark) stepping up to make the unbelievable catches that he made. (Joshua) Cepheus is always steady, as is Sincere (McCormick). We weren't as good up front as we have been in the past. We did not impose our will like we are usually doing. A lot of that had to do with UNLV. They were determined to not let Sincere get loose. They did a really good job up there. Special teams wise, I thought the return by Dadrian Taylor was as big of play as there was in the ball game. That got the momentum back on our side. Obviously, the two missed kicks by Hunter (Duplessis) were very uncharacteristic of him. We had a team vote last night to kick him off the team (laughs), but 150 people voted to keep him and zero voted for him to be kicked off. He still has his job. We are ready to roll with old Hunter."
On how it feels to be 5-0 on the season …
"I look at it one week at a time. We are stacking one great day on top of another. It just so happens that we are 5-0. Every one of the games has come down to the last play except for Lamar. It has been aging on all of us. It is kind of in our M.O. since we have been here. We battle every team. It comes down to the very end. It makes for great fan entertainment and short coaching lives."
On the strong defensive performance against UNLV and a preview of Western Kentucky …
"We have really good players that play really hard and believe in the culture. That is where we start. I will say that we are playing against the best offense and the best quarterback we have gone against this week. It just so happens he is from Texas. The best receiver is from Texas and the right tackle too. They have done a great job recruiting our state. We have to do a better job of keeping those kids in our state and playing for UTSA, not the Hilltoppers. They do a fantastic job. They are really good on offense. On defense, they have the preseason player of the year, (DeAngelo Malone). They are a really good football team. If we had played Army, Indiana and Michigan State, I am not so sure what our record would be right now."
On the biggest challenges Western Kentucky poses …
"This will be the best quarterback that we play against. Bailey (Zappe) is really good. He is from Victoria and can really throw it. He played for HBU last year. He has a quick release and is very accurate. They throw it really well. They are the best offense we have gone against. They will give our defense all they can handle on Saturday. They have great receivers. One of them is from Waxahachie, right here in Texas. They have got three really good receivers and (Bailey Zappe) gets it to all of them. They hurry up and spread you out. They are a 10 personnel team. They can execute at a high level. They are crisp and sharp. They are very well coached. The analogy I would give, it is a lot like back in the day what Louisiana Tech and Texas Tech did years ago. They are still doing it very well at a high level. They will give us some trouble."
On the potential of winning against Western Kentucky and having the best start to a season in program history …
"We are going to try to have the best academic day we can have today. That is how you get to 6-0. If we just talk about it, it is not going to happen. We have to be great today. It just so happens that the culture pillar of the week is 'Win the Day,' which is what we break on every day anyway. We get the double 'Win the Day.' When I walk into the team meeting, I am going to say, 'Win the Day," and my team is going to say, 'Win the Day' back to me. It is always funny when we do this. It only happens every eight weeks. On the eighth week when it happens, we all chuckle. That is where we are going to stay, right in that lane. If it happens, it happens. I am going to keep trying to Win the Day.'
