Tracking the Longhorns: Assistant coaches media session – TexasSports.com
Video: Get to know Brick Haley
The three newest Texas assistant football coaches met with the media Monday afternoon.
After spending time as an offensive coordinator at three schools, Jay Norvell joined the staff in January as wide receivers coach. He spent the last six seasons at Oklahoma where he coached three of the top four players on the Sooner’s all-time receptions list – Ryan Broyles (349), Kenny Stills (204) and Juaquin Iglesias (202).
Brick Haley came on board as defensive line coach in February following a successful stint at LSU. He was the defensive line coach with the Tigers from 2009 to 2014, a period in which 10 of his players were selected in the NFL Draft, including a pair of first-round picks in DT Michael Brockers (No. 12 overall in 2012) and DE Barkevious Mingo (No. 6 overall in 2013).
Jeff Traylor also joined the staff in February after a tremendously successful high school coaching career. He was head coach at Gilmer [Texas] High School for the previous 15 seasons (2000-14), amassing three state championships (2004, ’09 ’14) and a 175-26 overall record (.871). He also led Gilmer to state runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2012, and captured 12 district titles.
Defensive line coach Brick Haley
On why he came to Texas: I know Coach Strong and what he stands for and I saw all of those things in the making. Once I got here, it was the exact same thing and that’s what you want to be a part of. You want to be part of a place that has strong discipline, strong academics, and work hard. All of those things are what he stands for and what I was looking for. Knowing some of the guys on the coaching staff and knowing Coach Strong, it wasn’t really a recruiting pitch. It was just a matter of talking football and making sure that I was what he wanted. It’s The University of Texas. It’s the capital of football. The opportunity to come to Texas was a lifelong dream.
On his coaching philosophy: My philosophy is we get off the field on third down. It’s not just about sacks and that’s what I try to preach to my guys. It’s about sacks, pressure, tipped balls, and creating bad throws. All of those things get us off the field on third down. It’s not just about one element. It’s about the guys as a group understanding what gets us off the field on third down.
On whether the defensive line can be the strength of the defense this season: I do think so. I think we have a good group of young men and a great mixture. It’s about the closeness and coming together and understanding each other and playing together. All of those things go together and once we get to that and get the camaraderie we want, I do think this front can be a strength for this football team.
On keeping the tradition of strong defensive line play going: It’s to continue to develop these guys and work hard to make them the best players they can be and go out and recruit the best, bring them to Austin and develop them and keep the tradition rolling. It starts in recruiting. I want a character guy. I want a guy with a high motor that’s going to play hard all the time. If he is going to work hard, I can teach him what to do. We want speed, I can’t teach speed. A fast team can cover up some mistakes.
Wide receivers coach Jay Norvell
On how the offense is coming together: I think when we made this transition we wanted to make some changes offensively [from what it was last season]. College football staffs are full of coaches with a lot of different experience, and it can be an advantage to have coaches from different backgrounds. So, my background has been in a pro-style background and a spread style background, and we have actually melded those together over the years. I’m just trying to bring all of the things I have experienced and maybe add some of those thoughts here where we’re going now. We are looking at going no-huddle, looking at adding some spread principles and running the quarterback a little bit, and all of those things are something I have had experience with. I think it’s a great combination of coaches who have varied experiences and we’re going to do what’s best for our players.
On the players fitting in with the system: I think it all starts with the quarterback. We want to do things that our quarterbacks are comfortable with, things they can execute and things they can play at a high level with. Everything starts with that, and we’ll adjust from there. Obviously, our perimeter skill and backfield skill will really build on that and add to what they do well.
It all starts with respecting the football. Players have to earn the ability to touch the football by how they practice in the offseason and how they prepare. If they do that, then we’ll build schemes for them and if they don’t, we won’t. It is a privilege to get the ball in your hand in the fall. We want to make sure we are building an offense around guys who are investing and preparing that way.
On if the receivers understand what it takes to be playmakers: They’re learning. What really comes down to being a playmaker is confidence. We have a lot of athletic players, and now we have to be confident players. Confidence comes from knowing what to do and knowing you have put in the time to do it right. Not only does it have to be that way individually, but collectively as a unit. That’s what we’re going through the process of. We started it in the spring, and now we have to master all the techniques and put the pieces together as a unit. We have to put the work in to do it.
Tight ends/special teams coach Jeff Traylor
On transitioning from high school coaching to college: [The hardest thing is] not being the boss. Now I’m sitting in the chair at the side of the table and not the front of the table. I work with some great guys; they’ve been great. Obviously, I have to learn some things about coaching college football, but ball is ball. When you look out there, it’s still football. [The players] move a lot faster, are a lot bigger and are extremely well coached, but the ball is the ball. The recruiting and a compliance to make sure I know all the rules is what I’ve had to spend most of my time on to be honest.
On his relationship with other East Texas coaches: They’re excited for me. They need me to do well. Whenever a high school coach gets in this business we always root for that guy, because you always want your shot at this type of situation. Coach Strong was nice enough to give me my shot, so [the East Texas coaches] want me to do well. We have to get some kids in here [from East Texas] as well though.
The hardest thing about recruiting East Texas kids is just getting them down here. Most East Texas towns are rural type towns, and the city of Austin can be quite intimidating to be honest with you. I think I can help alleviate some of that concern and maybe some of my buddies will help get some of those kids down here.
On the tight end philosophy with Texas: What we’re trying to do with our [tight end] is make him an on-the-line guy, a fullback guy and also a wide receiver as well. The reason we’re trying to do that is because those defensive guys are smart too, so they’re over there watching and when you sub in your packages they are going to sub in their packages. And, the way the rules are now [the referee] can hold the ball up so you have to slow down, so you’re trying to get in as many multiple formations as possible without subbing the personnel groupings.
On the current tight ends on the roster: You hope your receiver can be a guy who can play [all three spots] so you can be in a spread set, to a tight end set to a fullback set. That means the kid has to be very athletic, very coachable, very smart, and can catch and block … we’ve got that guy, we just have to get him better. We’ve got three or four guys that are working their tails off. We have some work to do, there’s no doubt about it. But, [sophomore tight end] Andrew Beck is a great kid who works his tail off, [sophomore tight end] Blake Whiteley and [senior fullback] Alex De La Torre have been fantastic for me so far, and we’ll see which one of them plays the best and they’ll line up against Notre Dame and get going.
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