Texas Tech University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
September 23, 2006 | Football
Sept. 23, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach
On what the team will take away from this game...
"I think, from top to bottom, we played with a pretty good effort, and as a result we had a level of consistency in our play. I think some good things came out of this week. We are a team that has been playing in spurts. We have to see if we've got the ability to do it two weeks in a row. To this point we really haven't. So we are going to see if we can play well two weeks in a row instead of just for a short period of time."
On Jarrett Hicks' play...
"I thought he looked good, but he hasn't been going without practice. I lost track of all of the turns on his (situation) a long time ago. He was allowed to practice, but wasn't eligible to play games. He has been practicing, so it's not like this is the first time he's seen a football. I thought he looked good."
On distribution to the receivers...
"It had to have been better than last week. You can't get much worse. It was pretty good. We got a lot of people involved. We had three quarterbacks in, but as far as pinpointing early on, I'd be a little curious."
On the offense's confidence after the loss at TCU...
"I didn't think last week was a byproduct of a lack of confidence. If it was, they can use this to boost their confidence or whatever it is they think they need. I think they needed a boost of effort, a refocusing. In college football you play somewhere between 12 and 14 teams in Division I. That is the least amount of games that they play at any level. We were up for this game, but we need to get a team that is going to get up for all 12 games. I don't think our problem is confidence. I think our problem is our rich tradition and reputation of excellence that has preceded us."
On using Hicks tonight...
"The objective was not to use Jarrett necessarily. I had a couple of guys work hard all week and do some good things in practice. The priority was to play those guys. I wanted to get him a few catches and I am glad that he got some. We played him like we had hoped, maybe even a little more than we thought we were going to."
Senior, Receiver, Jarrett Hicks
On getting back on the field
"I was glad to be out there again and be around the guys one more time. It was a great release to get back out there. Hopefully we can keep it up for next week ... I felt like I was a freshman again on that first play. It's always good to get out there and get that first hit out of the way. It was definitely a great feeling and a good experience ...Sitting at home the last three weeks, listening to the games on the radio, watching it on TV, it was kind of hard. I was just glad to be out there with the guys and be a part of that environment."
On getting back to game speed
"You can't really duplicate game reps in practice in the Big 12. You just try to be as ready as possible; it was a good start to it."
On the NCAA appeal process
"It was a frustrating process. I was confident and that's why I continued to practice as hard as I did. I'm just glad to be a part of the team again and in this fashion."
On getting back in the regular rotation
"Coach Leach has made it clear that everybody has to earn their job in practice everyday. Hopefully, I can do that. I have a lot of drive and a lot of hunger now after being out three weeks. We'll see how this week goes in practice."
On his first touchdown catch of the season
"It was surreal. I really wasn't expecting it. I guess anytime in this offense, any play, your number could be dialed. (Harrell) got the ball to me in a tight window and it was just a good feeling to go out there and get a touchdown again and help my team out."
On the team's last trip to A&M
"It was a bad taste in our mouths losing in overtime. That'll probably be our drive and motivating factor this week in practice. Hopefully we can go out there and perform the way we know we can, so we're just looking forward to it."
Sophomore, Quarterback, Graham Harrell
On comparing this week to the TCU game
"I think it's the mentality we had more than anything we're not lacking confidence. We went in last week with the wrong mindset, with the wrong mentality. This week we worked hard in practice, we came out this week and played hard."
On having Jarrett Hicks back on the field
"It was really nice having him back, he's a great receiver."
Senior, Defensive back, Antonio Huffman
On the defenses stellar play leading into conference
"This is only a starting point for this defense. We keep striving to be the best defense we can be and we keep working hard."
Senior, Receiver, Joel Filani
"It is what it is. Coach Leach does things to get us motivated. It worked out, we got a lot more guys in to get a lot more reps."
On Hicks
"It was huge having his experience and his talent back. It really keeps the left side of our offense balanced."
SELU Head Coach Designate Tony Hatmaker
General comments about the game
"I'm proud of the way they played hard. Texas Tech is an outstanding football team, and they are going to continue to have a good season. I think we're going to have a good season. This is the third division one team that we've played; this was by far the largest margin of victory. You have to give a lot of credit to Texas Tech. It would have been good if they had been coming off of a win against TCU - that would have been in our favor. And obviously (Hicks) becoming eligible added some incentive to the day. But our guys played hard.
There are a lot of good things that we got from both sides of the football. And any time you're in the big lights against the division one schools you want to stay healthy. This gives us an opportunity for exposure in some areas we want to emphasize and get better at. And more than anything, I'm proud of the way our guys battled. Our guys were overmatched in some areas, and you have to give Coach Leach and his guys credit. We'll go back to work on Monday and I'm just glad we don't have any Texas Techs in our conference. We feel good about where we're at right now; we just need to get better."
Did the fact that they were coming of a loss to TCU do you think with the things that were going on around here this week that you were running into a bit of a mud fall?
"Obviously any time a head coach gets to the point, like Coach Leach was, of blasting his team; any time you get to a point of exasperation where you feel like you've got to blast the team through the media - and I'm sure it's the same way on the practice field - that's going to reveal to a team exactly where it's at. We know this is a top notch, high caliber program; that's going to do nothing but entice them to step their game up a notch regardless of who they have on the field against them. We didn't emphasize that this week. We know that we've got to take care of what we need to take care of - things that we've got to get better at. There were some areas where we did some positive things, but they're just a really good football team. All three teams we've played have been very good and I think we can say good things about all of them that will prepare us for the future of playing in the Southeast Conference."
