Sept. 28, 2000
Each week, GoBaylorBears.com features a different guest in "Ask the Bears." This week's guest was head football coach Kevin Steele.
In my opinion the most difficult thing for you to overcome here at Baylor is the laziness and the apathy of Baylor fans (the "I'll support you if you win" mentality). If there were 50,000 fans in the stadium, I have no doubt that recruiting and winning would take care of itself much faster than otherwise. I do believe that you have the program headed that way despite all these obstacles, but I was curious: "What do you see as the biggest hurdle to overcome here at Baylor to be a championship caliber team?"Finally, a sincere thanks for taking on the Baylor job. I am behind you 100%. Sic Em Bears!
David Gibson, Waco, Texas
David, first let me thank you for your support and your championship attitude and winning mentality. I think you have a good understanding about some key points in the Baylor football program. In my opinion, I think that sports fans in America in general support winners, and the mentality is that if it gets tough, then I don't want to be a part of it. That's understandable, so all we can do is keep building the program, and they will come.
As far as the obstacles, I think the biggest obstacle is really almost dissipated in that the attitude, internally it has, externally, it's still yet to dissipate to the point where we need it to. But attitude is the single biggest key, you have to first think, act, and work like a champion before you'll ever reach a championship caliber. I do think, too, that there's been a major commitment from the President, the Board of Regents, and the Baylor people to really take a serious look at our facilities and do a comparative analysis to the Big 12, so there are major steps being taken that way. We have to continue to recruit and entice talent to Baylor University.
Coach, first thank you for taking your time to answer our questions.I have two questions: I've noticed that our offensive line has a tendency to break down when we pass the ball on several occasions. Have you thought about maybe a quicker pass to a wide receiver like Reggie Newhouse? Maybe have the QB take a two step drop and pass the ball? I think it would give us a chance to see a strong and talented Reggie Newhouse, have a great chance to make great things happen. I have watched Baylor football for a long time and I remember Grant Teaff would do that. He even did that at times with Cody Carlson and we had a lot of success with it.I was wondering what you plan on doing with Elijah Burkins? He's an exciting player and I enjoy watching him. He has the speed to burn teams on the outside. Have you thought about a reverse to Elijah Burkins? Coach, I am pulling for you and keep your head up!
Jason Stewart, Waco, Texas
Jason, thank you for your support. Yes, we think about a lot of things. I think the first thing you have to understand about offensive protection in terms of passes is that the tight ends are involved in that, the running backs are involved in that, and the quarterbacks are actually involved in that sometimes when they bring more than you have blockers for. I think if you watch Monday Night Football on any Monday night, you'll see quarterbacks getting hit. Mark Brunell, I noticed the other day, somebody said that he'd been hit 16 times in the Indianapolis Colts game, and when you look at the breakdown sometimes, it's not always the offensive line. The quarterback didn't read the hike, or the running back missed a block, so it's not always the offensive line. A lot of quarterbacks get hit across the country, both in college football and the NFL, and it's not always the offensive line. Sometimes it's a great job by the defense scheming, because they do come from multitudes of different ways.
As far as the three-step drop, we do have three-step drop. We tend to get a lot of press coverage right now, which constitutes going to fade, not to hitches or the short ones, because if you throw a hitch or a slant into press coverage, it can be catastrophic. But we do have that in, and use it from time to time.
As far as Elijah Burkins, he is an exciting player, and we do utilize him in a lot of different ways. We've got to play the players that we think we can be successful with, and try to get Elijah in to where we think he fits.
(1) We've been unable to put pressure on any of the qb's we've faced this year. Why is that? and what are we doing about it?
(2) Is there a chance that Tyshaun Whitson could receive a medical redshirt?
(3) Are there currently any plans to spruce up the inside of Floyd Casey Stadium (i.e. landscaping, jumbo tron, etc.)? If so, how can I join the effort? If not, what can I do to start the effort?
Daniel Mullins, Dallas, Texas
Daniel, first, thanks for your question and for your support. We're doing a couple of different things to put pressure on the quarterback. You have to first go and recruit excellent pass rushers, which we're doing. You have to improve the pass rushers which you have, which we're doing. And then the other thing you can do is create a rush by blitz, but if you blitz all the time, you can pay for that also. So there are three ways: we can recruit them, make the ones we've got better, or blitz all the time. The recruiting angle takes time, making them better takes time, and the creating, I've got books and books and books of blitzes, but you can't run them all, and you have to be careful because you can pay dearly for it.
The chances of Tyshaun Whitson redshirting is something we've thought about. That would be totally out of our hands. We've requested it, and that's all we can do. It's in the NCAA's hands.
As far as the current plans for sprucing up Floyd Casey Stadium, I have put in a request for that, it's being looked into by the administration, and I think there are things to come on that.
I'm concerned about the defense. We've been hardpressed to shut anybody down defensively. Coach, do you envision a continued bend but don't break defense? Or do you want to move to a more aggressive, blitzing, press coverage? Could we ever run a defense like Joe Lee Dunn runs at Miss State (and has run at South Carolina, Memphis, Ole Miss)? Why don't we blitz more given that we don't have a stout defensive line?
Jay Eubank, Raleigh, N.C.
As far as the blitz, I don't know that there's any coach in America -- maybe Joe Lee Dunn -- but I love to blitz. You've got a young secondary in terms of our extra DBs, not core DBs, but the extra ones you've got to put out there to do that, to cover a three-, four-, five-wide-receiver set.
Do we envision continuing the bend, don't break defense? No, that's not our style, that's not what we want to happen. We'd like to be more blitzing. It's a process, we'll get there.
Two questions: 1) What's your assessment of the progress of Daniel Andino? I think he's a very good kicker who's mostly been sitting on the bench since he's been there at Baylor through a couple of coaching changes. I know he's been in consideration for a scholarship as a recruited walk-on for a couple of years now. 2) What's the status of his scholarship? Andino's a fine young man, and I believe given the chance (and the financial support he deserves), he will prove to be a tremendous asset not only to the football program, but to Baylor University as a whole.Thanks in advance.
Wes Phillips, Austin, Texas
Wes, you're exactly right, Daniel Andino is an outstanding young man. He has handled our short field goals and kicking on extra points. Adam Stiles is kicking off. Daniel is doing a fine job, he's an outstanding young man. We're always working to get our non-scholarship players scholarships when deserving. As far as talking about specific players and the status of scholarships, that's a personal issue as far as dealing with each young man individually, so I don't talk externally about that. There's also a problem in that we only have a certain number of scholarships. If I could put them all on, I would, but we're limited by numbers and by the number of signees and how many you can sign in any given year. But you are right -- Daniel is a fine young man, we're glad to have him. He is a very good kicker, and his status of scholarship is always being considered. He is a valuable part of our team.
1. Coach,Regarding Tyshaun Whitson's injury, since he is reportedly out for the season and used his redshirt year in '98, will we pursue a medical redshirt for him? Is his situation somewhat linked to Cicero's, meaning would an NCAA Eligibility Committee be reluctant to award medical redshirts to two players from the same team in the same year? I hope this is not the case... 2. Given the shaky state of our kicking game, is recruiting a punter and kicker a priority for you next year? 3. Facility improvements for Floyd Casey (expanded weightroom, locker rooms, offices, etc.) have been mentioned as of late. Is there a timetable for completion of some of these upgrades?Is there a reason that Burkins and Ricks get so few carries? Burkins, in particular, looked impressive against North Texas but has largely disappeared since then.Also, Jonathon Golden appeard to be our most effective back against USF, but after he would carry the ball, he would usually be pulled with Bush or Ricks subbing in. Should he be allowed to stay in for a few series to establish a rhythm or do you intend to continue the pattern of rotating the backs after nearly every play?
James E. Wright, Dallas, Texas
James, thanks for your comments. On Tyshaun Whitson, we will request a medical redshirt, just as we did on Cicero, then it's in the NCAA's hands, and there's nothing we can do about it. As far as "the shaky state of our kicking game," I think that's a little strong. We've improved vastly in kickoff coverage, punt coverage, our operation times on punts in terms of having a rush that almost blocks a kick. We can improve our yardage. We selected the punter we have based on his hang time and his operation time. I think he has the leg to be better. Daniel Andino is six-for-six on extra points, that's ahead of where we were last year, so we're making improvement there. We've kicked a 46-yard field goal, which is markedly ahead of where we were last year. Our kickoffs have been a little bit inconsistent, but I think sometimes we evaluate things a little too strongly as far as personally looking at a kicker or a punter. It has a lot to do with the coverage teams, it has a lot to do with the snap, the hold. We've improved, and we've still got a way to go.
As far as the facility, there is a timetable that's been placed on that. We're in the process of getting an architect and looking at those improvements.
There's always a reason for everything we do, and there's a reason that Burkins and Ricks have gotten few carries. One is that Jonathan Golden, a true freshman, has done very well. Both Burkins and Ricks are fine young men, and they're good football players. They've given different opportunities. As far as the rotation of our backs, we look at all kinds of different things. If you have a young freshman, you have to teach him all the pass protections as well as all the runs, so we don't put too much on them early. We would like to put more and more on Jonathan, and I think that's forthcoming. It's possible with Burkins and Ricks and Bush and Golden -- there's only so many snaps in a game, and some of them have strengths in certain areas and some of them have strengths in other areas. We're trying to adjust things to the flow of the game. As far as staying in and establishing a rhythm, we run our plays in with a young quarterback, so either a receiver or back has to take them in, so sometimes that's created the rotation, as opposed to with Cicero, we signaled the plays in. But a substitution is based on evaluation, and evaluation is based on production in practice and games, and we're continually looking at that and changing it. I appreciate your comments.
1- What are the chances of Jon Golden starting over Bush? Or will Golden get more touches as the season progresses? 2- Why do our corners play 10 yards off the ball? Can we do a little bump-and-run coverage? Or at least more man defense?
Brandon Thomas, Fort Worth, Texas
I think that can best be answered by saying that Jonathan has progressed very nicely, and he will get much touches if he produces as the season goes on.
As far as our corner playing 10 yards off the ball, we mix that up. We played a good deal of press coverage with Gary [Baxter] and Daniel [Wilturner]. We've got some younger guys who are comfortable in press and some that aren't. We're playing man to man defense about sixty-four percent of the time right now. In this last game we played it eighty-one percent of the time. In fact, we're probably playing a little too much man.
