Brown Says Preseason Going Well [Mack Brown Press Conference]

Texas head football coach Mack Brown met with the media at the Moncrief Athletics Complex on the UT campus Thursday afternoon. He covered a wide range of topics in 40-plus minute press conference including the progress of the team during pre-season practices, the past three seasons, and some of the key players for the 2013 squad.

(Also See: Twelve Impact Offensive Players To Watch In The Big 12: Texas Quarterback David Ash)

Here are some for the highlights:

"We've had really good intensity in practice.  We stayed relatively injury-free.  We thought the scrimmage was a good [one] the other night.  Got a lot of good work, most of it ones against ones.  Because we do have a few injuries, a lot of the guys that were in backup roles are working with first teams and having a chance to show what they can do.  We thought that was good.  The scrimmage was long and hard."

"It gave us a lot of information leading to tomorrow's two-a-days as well.  It's been about 105 degrees.  I think they've had a really good summer.  They've come back in good shape and are looking forward to the next two and a half weeks to prepare for the opener."

On the relationship between co-offensive coordinators Major Applewhite and Darrell Wyatt:
"Oh, it's great.  They're getting along great.  I wouldn't have put the two together unless I'd seen that.  Darrell is really bright.  Major has gotten a lot of publicity because I said I think Major is a superstar in this business.

Darrell has been a coordinator at Arizona, NFL coach. Darrell Wyatt is talented, a very good football coach. He's helped us a lot in the passing game. "

On whether he thought he would be at Texas for 16 years:
"No.  I looked at the history of Texas coaches [smiling]. No, I really didn't.  I've been pleased with our years and what we've done, excited about a lot more for that reason.  I think I am a Texan now.  When we moved here, like Coach [Darrell] Royal, we were out-of-staters.  Coach Royal said he came from Oklahoma and became a Texan.  We grew up in North Carolina, came from Tennessee, but we moved here now and we are Texans."

On the getting through the ups and downs of the last few years:
"The people of Texas, our fans, are really, really important to me.  I committed to some young coaches, new coaches three years ago.  I told them we were going to make this thing work.  So it's been a fun challenge for me to get us back to where we're competitive.

I've really enjoyed this.  You'd rather win all the games, but you'd rather win it because you earned the right to get there.  We've been working hard day and night to do it, from the recruiting hires, the analyst hires, to our coaches fighting so hard in recruiting.

We had our first 2016 commitment the other day.  That's new for us.  We're so far ahead with 2015 recruits.  Our guys are fighting hard with 2014 recruits."

On whether you are in a better place from that standpoint:
"Yes, I do.  I feel I'm in a good place going forward.  I like our staff.  I like the kids.  They've been fun to coach again.  [The] 2010 season wasn't fun in anyway.  Then you had coaches you had to teach, learn from.  With all the new guys coming in, the new strength program, we had an upheaval about everything."

On the relationship between Major Applewhite and David Ash:
"I think it's really good.  I felt like Bryan Harsin did a tremendous job for us.  The one thing Bryan couldn't do is talk to the quarterbacks about being the quarterback at Texas, the pressure and attention and all of that.  Major can do that.  I do think that helps.  That gives him an advantage."
On Johnathan Gray reaching his goal of 1,500 yards:
"We're hoping to have a lot more plays than we had last year, number one.  We only had 68 plays a game.  We would like to get that up in the 80s.  If you do, you'll have more touches.  That's one of the things we really want to do with this offense.  We want to continue to run the ball, so they're going to touch it."

On Gray's progression and his potential:
"I think Johnathan has an unlimited ceiling out there.  He has a guy that has a chance to be really good.  He's so tough, mature,  and works really hard every day.  I'm excited about watching him go forward."

Notes:

- coach Brown said that Jaxon Shipley and Mike Davis have practiced with the team, but have not done full speed contact drills yet. Quandre Diggs has participated in drills and Josh Turner is slightly behind that group, but they expect him to be ready for the first game.

- coach Brown expects Johnathan Gray to run the "Wild" formation because of his experience with it, but Jalen Overstreet takes snaps in that formation as well.

 

The full transcript of the conference can be read HERE.