Hawkins? Tuesday Press Conference Quotes - University of Colorado Athletics

BOULDER ? University of Colorado head football coach Dan Hawkins held his weekly press conference Tuesday at the Dal Ward Athletic Center. He recapped last Saturday’s game against Kansas, as well as this week’s upcoming contest against the Kansas State Wildcats. The following are quotes from the session:

Head Coach Dan Hawkins

ON PLAY OF KANSAS STATE ? “I think the tape we had on them first was Baylor. That was right when they first brought their quarterback [Josh freeman] in, but you could really see them getting better and getting more familiar and comfortable with what they are doing. The are making progress, you can see that.”

ON TEAM MAKING PROGRESS- “I think we have been a little different because we battle and scrap in every game and really Texas Tech, that’s really the only break through that you have. Offensively, we have clearly stepped back the week after that. That’s probably a case where a guy would say that we’re not progressing where we score thirty points a couple of weeks and then go back down.”

ON TEAM EFFORT- “I think the effort has been good, I’ve never really questioned the effort. I don’t think that’s a problem. You would like to think that there might be a little bit more confidence offensively. You know you go to Oklahoma, which is a very good football team and that obviously has something to do with it. That may have knocked us back into a little bit of a mode where it’s ?Let’s hope it turns out OK’ rather than being a certain kind of group that’s saying ?Let’s get back to scoring thirty points.’”

ON QB BERNARD JACKSON’S CONFIDENCE- “I think he did a little bit (lose confidence after Texas Tech game). I think he probably expected that he would play a little bit better than that and have a little bigger impact off the Texas Tech game. For him to struggle against Oklahoma, I’m sure that was something he wasn’t expecting, so I’m sure that did have a little effect on him. This whole year has been such a huge learning curve for him and by and large for the most part it has been an upstream battle for him. He’s had some stretches where some things have gone well for him against Texas Tech and moments of the Georgia game as well. I think he just has his nose on the grime stone and he’s just plugging away.

ON JACKSON’S REACTION TO PLAYING QB JAMES COX IN SPURTS?“I think he was fine; he was totally good with that whole thing. I think he understood why we did it, and need to do it. He wasn’t opposed to it at all, and he understood that whole component, so there was never any ambivalence on his part about it. Like I said, I think it has kind of been the nature of the whole season, and he has kind of been up against it all season.”

ON BEING MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE BLITZ?“It’s not so much just the blitz, one of the things you get into is the several varieties of ways you can run your offense. You can check plays, package plays, audible, you know ascertain where it is you are going to go with the football. Obviously with Bernard being so new to the position, that is something where Cox is much more in-depth in seeing those things and being able to go ?Ok, lets get out of this play and get into that play. This is what is happening, let’s go there with the football’ because he has a little more confidence, a little more experience. It’s not so much ?hey can he [Bernard Jackson] handle the blitz?’ it is all those components involved with that situation. Those are the things, because of his newness, they give him problems, they do because he hasn’t had as many snaps back there. I think obviously, you get to Oklahoma and they say ?Ok, lets see what you’ve got.’ They kind of bring it every down, and Kansas, I don’t know if they brought the blitz more but they brought it more in earlier downs. Kind of mimicking what Oklahoma’s strategy was. I’ve said this before, our mentality has been “you blitz, we score.” That has been one of our mottos. So if people are allowed to play 11 guys on the line of scrimmage they are about to pressure you without a big fear of getting hurt down field. Then the risk factor is much less of an effect, so that is probably a pretty sound strategy.”

ON PUNT RETURN DUTIES?“Chase [McBride], yeah we will leave him back there. He didn’t get a lot of opportunities, but I thought he was very comfortable catching the one ball and there was a ball that hit the ground but he clearly had no chance to catch. He did a good job managing that, and managing the red zone, he did what he could do where he was at. It’s a question, really, of trying to work your roster as best as possible and you want to get the best guys on the field, number one. The other thing is that Steph [Stephone Robinson] has some ability and he can be a good return guy. I think it is interesting because even when we put Chase back there, that stoked a little fire in him [Robinson] which is a good thing. That is an integral part of your team and whether it is punt return or anywhere else, where you have enough competition where guys have to play well and perform in order to play. I think a combination of things, letting Steph view it from another perspective and giving Chase an opportunity given the fact that we really haven’t had a lot of production there.”

ON PATRICK DEVENNY PLAYING QB?“That will be interesting to see, I mean he has been playing scout team, so he has been throwing the football. You know he scrimmaged out there Sunday night and actually did some decent things. I think in terms of grasping the offense and throwing the football and those types of things, he’ll be fine, he’s obviously spent the vast majority of his career as a quarterback so the semantics of calling plays, getting the snap and that kind of stuff aren’t going to be a big deal to him. He is in that okay range, I still think Bernard has the best arm on the team but I think he is definitely fine there; he has decent arm strength and can make the throws he needs to make. You know, we’ll see, things work out funny. I don’t know if [him playing] is exactly our plan, but you never know. A guy might come in and go 25-for-30 and 300 yards and you go ?Why isn’t that guy playing quarterback?”

ON WHETHER HE WILL PLAY YOUNGER PLAYERS MORE ?“No, I don’t do that. You know, next season will take care of itself. There is something to be said for teaching a group of people to finish. There are some principals and values you clearly stick to those things, and I’m not throwing any senior out just because I want to get a junior, sophomore or freshman some reps or playing time. We are going to try and go as hard and fast as we can Tuesday and as good as we can against Kansas State. Then we will try to be good for Iowa State, so it’s more of that than ?Oh he isn’t going to be on our team next year lets not worry about him.’ I just think there are some lessons there that he needs to learn and our team needs to learn. Next year will take care of itself, those guys will have plenty of time in spring ball and fall camp to get in and get going.”