2020 UTSA Football
Media Roundtable
Nov. 23, 2020
Head Coach Jeff Traylor
On his takeaways from the Southern Miss game …
"Getting their quarterback back made them a lot better. That is what is so hard about this season. You never know who you are going to play against. Schematics change because the coaches have different players, so they might not give you the same thing they did the week before. Defensively, we thought they were going to be very scrappy, a very good defense. They were hard for us to break tackles. We didn't break very many tackles. They had 14 big plays, and we had four. It is hard to win a football game that way. Our kids did what they have done all year. We just outlasted and out-scrapped them. It is a hard place to play. It is a real environment. They fed off of their fans and their band. There is a proud tradition there. You can tell they have been winning football games there for a long time. It was as good of a win as we have had this season."
On the offense not throwing the ball as much against Southern Miss …
"We missed some early and we got to run the ball very good. It was 23-10 and we had lost some of our safeties and were struggling with some of our packages on defense. We knew we didn't match up well with (Tim Jones) and (Jason Brownlee). I tried to end the game on fourth and one. They stopped us, which that is on me. We missed about four or five tackles. The momentum was totally turned, and we were in a dog fight. If you are not there in the moment, you don't really realize what our kids did to win the game those last 10 minutes. That was impressive."
On how he is approaching the last scheduled game of the season and senior day …
"We are at 23 seniors that we will be honoring Saturday. We are trying to communicate with them to make sure that we honor them in a way they want done after what they have done for this university. I will always be grateful forever. They didn't choose me. I chose them. I have said that numerous times since the day I first addressed them. They have given me everything I could have ever asked for. They have been a blast to coach. That is the hardest on them. Most coaches come in and are ready to get rid of the seniors to start with the young guys to build for the future. I have never been that guy. Those are somebody's children. They deserve the best senior year they can possibly have. Myself and my staff have done everything in our power to work to get those 23 seniors the most memorable year we possibly could. I feel confidently that they feel that way as well."
On if he has determined which seniors will be returning for the extra year of eligibility …
"You talk about a first-year coach having to deal with some stuff. That has been awkward to say the least. We are starting to have those conversations. We will figure it out as we go. We are treating all 23 as if it is their last game, and then we will revisit the guys that are considering coming back."
On if the extra eligibility affects his recruiting process …
"It will be an interesting dynamic. It is something we need to start moving towards."
On if he sees a rescheduled game in the future after the last scheduled game …
"We had COVID-19 testing at seven this morning. It was all of us. Let's just get through the day. I don't know. I have not been told. I am preparing for North Texas. You would think my common sense would tell me if we were going to have a game, somebody would have already told me so my analysts and graduate assistants could get moving on that opponent. As far as we know, right now, Dr. Campos has been in communication every day with me on this situation, at this moment North Texas is our last game of the year. This is 2020 though, so who knows?"
On how important the series against North Texas is …
"They are all important. It is the next game on the schedule. We don't look at them any differently. They have a great program. They have great facilities. There are a lot of great things about that program. It is the next team up for us and that is the way we look at it. We are going to be the best we can be today and try to win the next one on the schedule."
On having a successful first coaching season …
"There is no doubt that success breeds more success. Before you can ever be a winner, you have to look like a winner and act like a winner. Our kids have been doing a lot of things off the field that I am very proud of and have helped us in a lot of ball games. We are 6-4. We could easily be 1-9, and we could just as easily be 9-1. We are very humble in knowing that 6-4 is probably right where we should be. We have won a lot of close ball games. We have come down to the last play in five of our six wins. We know we are nowhere near where we need to be, but we are a lot closer today than we were yesterday."
On Frank Harris …
"Frank is a great human being. He loves this school. He loves this place. He has a strong belief in himself, and he is a joy to coach every day."
On keeping the attitude positive near the end of the season …
"Our kids have a real bounce in their step. They are very proud to go on the road. In spite of what their record was, Southern Miss was a great team, and getting their quarterback back made a difference. It is Thanksgiving week. If you are blessed enough to play a game that matters on Thanksgiving, that is a lot a fun. That is just the way we are looking at it. That is the way I want them to always be. I am 52 years old. I am older, more mature. I wouldn't say I am wiser than they are, but I have been around the block a little more than they have. They are kids, and I can tell that they can tell the end is near. Twenty-three seniors, Thanksgiving, a November to remember. The beginning of the year is easy. The end of the year is easy when you are playing for something, but that middle stretch is so hard to get through. We got through that tough stretch, so our kids are in a great place mentally. That usually goes well physically."
On how to direct the focus of the team on North Texas …
"I think that is where we are most prepared right now. We live for the moment. We live for the day. Our job is to win today. Let's go have the best Sunday we possibly could. I told them today that they needed to be the best students they could be today. I want them to watch as much video as they possibly could. I want them to have as much rehab as they could. Any dialogue they are having where they are spending a lot of time on things they can't control is wasting time. For us, we can't spend much time going there in our minds."
On how he would like to see it work out for UTSA …
"When you start the season picked dead last and nobody on the preseason all-conference team, you don't spend a lot of time reading the championship tiebreaker rules. You just don't really think you are going to be in it. Now that we are right there in it, it is going to be fun to speculate. If we don't beat North Texas on Saturday it is not going to matter. We have got to go get that done. Then that would be appropriate time for Jeff Traylor to dive into the rules and start reading stuff. If we don't win Saturday it won't matter."
On what it means to him still being in the race for the West Division …
"I am just so happy for my kids. I am thrilled for them. They have been through a lot — a new coach, no spring, no summer, all Zoom meetings, a 2020 election that has been one of the craziest things ever, social injustice, four quarterbacks injured throughout the year, nine different starting offensive lineups. We can go on and on about what our kids have been through. I am just so thrilled for them. Opportunity or adversity, that is how we started the year out. We have made it a year of opportunity. Huge shoutout to Dr. Taylor Eighmy and Dr. Lisa Campos for having the courage to play ball. Dan Bellamy and Nik (Turner) for all of the protocols we have gone through for COVID-19 testing. What our university has done, President Eighmy is very strong when he says we are the front porch to the university. He had the faith and the confidence, Dr. Campos as well, to hire us to come in here and do this. I am just glad that we are still representing our university this last in the year. It is a pretty awesome experience."
On if he knew a winning season would be a possibility when he took the job …
"I knew I was going to play LSU, and I wasn't really excited about that. That was all I really knew, and we didn't even know that. Not getting the spring and summer shook my confidence a little bit. My kids never lost their confidence. It is amazing what kids can do when they believe in something. They have a strong belief in our culture. It might not have always been the most beautiful game, but our effort has always been beautiful. There is no one that could ever watch us play say that we take a play off. We never take plays off. Whenever you have that you always have a chance."
On if there will be a solidified offensive line lineup …
"We do. We still have (Brandon) Rolfe out. We feel really good about his play this year. When we get him back that will give us another really good player as well. (Ahofitu) Maka didn't get to practice a whole lot, so the communication up there was a little tough. Him and Kevin Davis have played beside each other quite a bit, so they helped each other out. Terrell Haynes played a fantastic game. We are so thrilled with that young man right now how he has come on. Our tight end blocked really well. That was the most dominant our special teams have been since the Middle Tennessee game. Lucas (Dean), what a game. The play of Xavier Spencer on the 1-yard line. Sheldon Sticks Jones on a punt return on the winning four-minute drive. Kelechi (Nwachuku) covering punts. It was just so much going on out there. Our defense and the interception by Rashad (Wisdom). We win a lot of our games by one play. Think of how many of those one plays I just mentioned. I am just thrilled to be their coach."
On Trevor Harmanson's play against Southern Miss …
"What about the fake kick he covered? So many plays he made. He was different to me than I have seen him the entire year. I am so proud of that young man. I don't even talk about his off the field stuff because it isn't an issue anymore. He is here every day, he is on time, and he works hard. I know better than to brag on kids like that because it is the kiss of death. I am so proud of him. He played really well, and I am so proud of him. Tariq (Woolen) showed back up on Saturday as well. He was physical and really made some great plays down the field. How about Trumane Bell? He made a great sack. The knockdown pass there at the end. So many kids that we have not really talked about for a while that just showed up for me again. I mean it when I say I am so proud to be their coach. They sell out for me every single game, and I love coaching them."
On how Trevor Harmanson's game was improved …
"I don't know. I wish I could tell you, but he has just gotten a little bit better each week. He just looked different this Saturday. I don't know if it was because he knew my son was at the game, so he knew the Saints were really scouting a lot of players and that motivated him. If so, I am going to get Jordan in there more often. He played."
On how they plan to cover fake field goal plays …
"Each call is different. We anticipated that. We felt that with their record, they were going to play like they had nothing to lose. We all want to call that stuff, but we know we will be crucified if it doesn't work. We all want to call it because you feel like a genius when it works. If they kicked that field goal, we might still be in overtime. Antonio Parks had his job, and Trevor (Harmanson) did his job. It is like Bill Belichick (says), do your job."
On how he can improve the tackling at this point in the season …
"We discussed it at length in our staff meeting yesterday. Some of it was poor angles to the ball. Some of it was over physicality by trying to be that guy who has that shot. Some of it was that we just didn't strain. It was all three things, but one of the reasons we had missed tackles was because we tried so hard. You are never going to see us not having guys on the ball chasing. When you are straining as hard as my guys are, you are going to have some bad angles. When you have a really good running back, you are straining, you are on the road, the humidity is bad, the band is loud, and the momentum is against you, I know those are excuses but for some reason we don't look that way in the Alamodome. That is our place, our band is going to be rocking, our crowd is going to be there, and it is our field. We can't wait to come back home."
On how to correct missed tackles and bad angles in practice …
"We are going to work and do the same drills. We might tweak some stuff where it is the same type of drill, but it makes them a little fresher. We have got some ideas in mind, but most of it is a mindset. Our guys have to focus on that. In coaching, if you focus on an emphasis on things, it will show next week. I bet we tackle better on Saturday. It was our highest missed tackles of the year."
On emphasizing the Triangle of Toughness against Southern Miss …
"Just the last three possessions is all you need. You have a knocked down pass by Trumane Bell. We sacked the quarterback. They punt it, and we have a great return. We go into a four-minute offense. All three phases right there. The Triangle of Toughness travels. Just in that one series you can preach it. There are tons of examples of that. I know we didn't win at UAB, but when we lose your quarterback on the first snap of the game, the Triangle traveled on that day. We were physical on defense. We ran the football. We covered kicks like crazy. At BYU, one of the best teams in the country, the Triangle traveled that day. It travels. Team football is how you win. You have to be great on defense, run the ball when everybody knows you are going to run it, and be good on special teams. Passing, no doubt. There is nothing I like better than watching Zakhari Franklin and Joshua Cephus run right past somebody for an easy touchdown, but that is not going to sustain a whole season. Physicality on defense, team run and being great on teams will go in anybody's suitcase and get on anybody's plane."
