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00:00 All right, Greg, go ahead.
00:01 - All right, Ben.
00:01 So defensively, you feeling comfortable?
00:05 Is the defense starting to find its stride now?
00:08 - Absolutely.
00:09 Yeah, I think, I mean, today in fact,
00:10 we played really fast all week.
00:12 I mean, we practice, we really pride ourselves
00:14 on practicing really hard on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
00:18 'cause those are our most physical days.
00:19 And you can really tell throughout the week
00:22 if we're going to perform well
00:23 if we practice really hard and physical those days.
00:24 And this week we did.
00:25 - Do you think it's differently now
00:28 than you did a couple of games ago?
00:29 Now that you got all these reps.
00:31 - Yeah, I would say it's definitely slowing down for me.
00:34 Yeah.
00:34 - Did you expect to play this much
00:37 or have this much of an impact this early?
00:40 - I would say coming out of high school, it's hard
00:45 'cause you don't know how fast the game's gonna be.
00:47 You don't really know exactly what college football
00:49 is gonna be like until you get there.
00:52 But coming in early in the spring
00:54 and just getting used to the game,
00:56 I think I expected to play right
00:58 before the season started, yeah.
00:59 - What's like the easier things for you to get
01:03 accustomed to and play in
01:05 or the aggressive parts of the game,
01:06 tackling, run filling, things like that?
01:09 Is on the other side then of the harder things,
01:12 pass coverage, things like that a little bit,
01:15 things that might be a little bit more complex
01:16 than they were in high school?
01:18 - Oh yeah, definitely.
01:18 I mean, the pass coverage part
01:21 was my biggest adjustment coming into college.
01:24 But I think I'm really getting the hang of things now.
01:26 - So like as the middle linebacker,
01:29 when they throw all these quick outs,
01:30 it's all game one.
01:32 - Yeah, I mean, well, in certain coverages,
01:33 we have those guys, but you gotta come down
01:38 and break on them.
01:38 And tackling a college football player in open field
01:42 is one of the hardest things you can do.
01:44 But go match your practice,
01:45 go make fundamentals every time that happens
01:47 and make an open field tackle.
01:49 - I guess you can't, you probably want to,
01:51 but you can't cheat on them at all.
01:53 'Cause that's when they'll run it up to get.
01:54 - Whenever you're under, there's an over.
01:55 So bite on it, and you're going to throw a bigger one.
01:59 - What was the defense better overall today
02:02 than you had been in the last few weeks?
02:04 - You said why?
02:06 - Yeah, why?
02:06 - The mindset going into the game.
02:09 We preached just fighting for your brothers
02:12 all week this week.
02:13 There was something different in there,
02:15 in the locker room before that game.
02:17 It's our job to replicate that and bring it to every game.
02:22 But we were fired up to play this game.
02:25 (ball bouncing)
02:27 - Pass rushing from the off ball spot.
02:29 Is there a secret to that?
02:31 I mean, it takes a lot of time when you're five yards deep
02:34 to get to the quarterback.
02:35 Like what's the key to get it good?
02:37 - Yeah, I would say on certain blitzes,
02:38 trying to time it up, knowing the snap count.
02:41 Some early in the game, it's kind of a little bit hard to do.
02:44 But once you get a feel for the cadence,
02:47 you can try to get, time it up, get in line
02:49 without jumping off sides, obviously.
02:50 But yeah, it's definitely harder to blitz from depth.
02:54 - In the last two weeks, you guys haven't trailed.
02:57 What does an early lead, getting out to a good start
03:01 as you've done in this last two,
03:02 what does that mean to the defense?
03:03 - Yeah, I mean, it means a lot.
03:06 If we can come out strong and just hold teams,
03:09 I mean, zero in the first half, sounds great.
03:11 I mean, if we can do that every game,
03:13 come out fired up like that,
03:14 we're going to have a lot of success.
03:16 - Do you guys, when it gets into the third there,
03:20 do you guys start talking about pitching the shutout?
03:22 - That's always, I mean, it's in the back of everyone's head.
03:26 Like, there's still zero points on the scoreboard,
03:29 but we're happy for a win, so.
03:33 - Is it more one of those things,
03:34 like if a pitcher's throwing a no-hitter,
03:36 where you know, but you don't bring it up?
03:38 - Yeah, kind of, yeah.
03:39 Kind of, same thing.
03:41 - Walk us through the sack and the emotions of it,
03:46 what you saw, all of that.
03:47 - Yeah, well, drive back and coverage,
03:50 I see the quarterback rolling out,
03:53 so I, you know, check my surroundings,
03:55 see if there's anybody I need to grab onto,
03:56 and there was nobody around.
03:58 Running back sat in and blocked,
03:59 so I actually didn't like my angle
04:01 I took on the quarterback at all.
04:02 I had to stop my feet and try to, you know,
04:04 make an awkward tackle on him, but I made the play,
04:06 so that was good.
04:07 I also have my defensive line, you know,
04:09 breaking them out of the pocket,
04:10 so I didn't have the chance to make that play.
04:12 They did a really good job tonight.
04:14 - Leo talked about the, kind of,
04:15 late in the week to fully change the game prep
04:18 with Slovis not starting,
04:20 and a different QB without much film.
04:23 Did that change anything for you guys?
04:25 Any different mentality?
04:26 Did you have any conversation about,
04:28 we got to change this up at all?
04:30 - I mean, there were a couple things,
04:31 like the, just quarterback run game, really,
04:33 but, I mean, they're the same team,
04:35 we're prepared the same way,
04:36 and really, I think we could play anybody,
04:39 we could have played anybody today,
04:42 and practiced, you know, the same way we did this week
04:44 against any opponent, and we would have got the job done.
04:47 - Players talk about bowl eligibility,
04:50 now that you guys are bowl eligible,
04:51 was that a conversation during the week at all?
04:54 - It wasn't a huge point during the week,
04:59 because that's not our final goal, you know,
05:02 we're still in the running for a Big 12 championship game,
05:05 so I think that's our real goal here.
05:06 - Okay, thank you very much.