2021 UTSA Football
Media Roundtable
Sept. 13, 2021
Head Coach Jeff Traylor
On the takeaways he saw from the Lamar game after watching film …
"Our effort on defense, we could not find a loaf. We are trying to go back and rerate it again, because we could not find somebody not playing hard. Offensively, we were not as sharp early. We had a couple mental mistakes that led to some field goals. That was a little disappointing, but we got going. Special teams wise, we are really happy that we got Sticks (Sheldon Jones) in the end zone. That was a really big play. Hunter Duplessis, his consistency is really amazing. We are all just expecting it to go through every time he goes out there. Very scary when he went down. Things could change really quick. Hunter is a special player and person."
On his analysis of the young roster who played against Lamar …
"Asyrus Simon was the Triangle of Toughness winner of this week. Brandon Brown is another one of the young kids that we got. Those two, defensively. Offensively, Ronnie (Garza) at left tackle. Demetris Allen played center. He is a Triangle of Toughness award winner. Dan Dishman played quite a bit at tight end and played really well. Eddie Lee (Marburger) went out there and played really well. Quite a few young kids went out there and took advantage of their opportunity. Of course, Jamal Ligon is very young and already plays all the time. Those are the young kids that stood out to us."
On how the quarterbacks performed against Lamar …
"Frank (Harris) played incredibly well. Josh (Adkins) came in. I asked the team, 'Was anyone surprised the Josh Adkins came into the game and played as well as he did?' Not one person raised their hand. Eddie Lee (Marburger) came in, and we put him in a terrible play call. The first play call of his career they bring field pressure, and we are running right into them. He did a great job getting rid of the ball and getting it going so that we didn't lose any yards on the play. He had a nice completion on the scramble. He hit Cade (Stoever) right in the stride. He had a nice throw to Justin Rodriguez for third down. Then he looked like a freshman with an eight-second play fake and throws it out the back of the end zone when we were in the red zone. We have things to clean up with Eddie Lee, but he has not gotten a lot of work. He went out there with almost no reps, but he played that well."
On his analysis of Middle Tennessee …
"Their head coach has been there for a long time. (Rick) Stockstill does a great job. Those kids really believe in him, and they play hard for him. He is a no nonsense kind of guy, a tough guy. Defensively, the defensive coordinator has been there for a while. He is a very good coordinator. Wherever he has been, his kids play hard. They are very fundamentally sound. They are a four-down team. Cover four is their base secondary. They fit very well. He does a really good job coaching. They are going to do their best to stop the run. They are very committed to it. They are a lot like we are. Offensively, new offensive coordinator, who has done a fantastic job with the run-pass option this year. Their quarterback is a really good player. He is a leftie who can really throw it. They are a mature team. Lot of starters back on both sides of the ball, so we will have our hands full. This will be the best opponent that we have played so far this year."
