UTSA Head Coach Larry Coker Weekly Transcript (Monday, Aug. 31, 2015), provided by UTSA SID
On team’s readiness …
“It’s been a good camp for us. It’s time to play. We’re ready to play and we need to be ready to play and the guys are anxious about it. I like where we are and our attitude is outstanding. Now, let’s just see how we play.”
On naming Blake Bogenschutz the starting quarterback …
“It was really fairly easy because he’s done a good job for us, but I like the way the other guys have come along. Russell’s really done a nice job, has really gotten better. I’m sure both of them will play. Blake is really a smart football player and a good football player, he executes well and the players believe in him.”
On Russell Bellomy seeing playing time …
“I think he’ll see some time, yes. I expect him to, but you know how this thing goes. Last year we played with a number three quarterback who came in and did a nice job. I would expect him to play. We found out last year that you better have somebody. I have this bad wing (left wrist), so it’s not going to be me for sure.”
On Tyrell Clay earning a scholarship …
“He’s earned a scholarship. He’ll be on the trip to Arizona. He will play at Arizona. I think he’s really a good football player. I like what I see from him. The only thing about it is I think we have three good running backs. I like all three of those guys. It’s four if you’re talking about the whole group, but I like the three really well. I think you’ll like him, you’ll see him get better and better. That’s the thing I want to say about this team. We’re at a starting point, now. Let’s move on from that starting point and see how good we can be.”
On the comparison from last year’s team at the beginning of the season …
“Well, I just feel good about our preparation. I feel like our team is a better team and we’re anxious to play. I think we’ll be ready to play, but I just like our attitude. I think that’s a big difference, our attitude. I think we’re hungry. We lost a little bit of that last year. I don’t think we were as hungry as we needed to be, but we’re hungry this year.”
On Blake Bogenschutz ‘rebooting’ the program …
“I don’t know of he gets that sense, but I think he’s excited about his opportunity. Last year he was playing well against Oklahoma State, got hurt (vs. FIU) and actually missed the year. He got a hardship out of that. I think he’s a year older, a year out of high school, and I’ll tell you physically he’s a lot different now. You can tell that he’s been in the weight room and doing a good job there. He’s very smart, a very hard worker, and the guy is a winner. The guy won a lot of football games as a high school quarterback.”
On Blake’s leadership qualities and potentially becoming the face of the program …
“I think he will be. I don’t know if he is yet or not, but I think he will be. You have to earn that and I think he has in what we’ve seen so far, but now you have real games coming up. I tell you another thing we have with Blake, is he’s got a tough start with Arizona, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Colorado State. He has a chance to develop in a hurry and we need him to develop in a hurry. These guys really have to rally around him because we can’t beat any of those teams with just offense, or defense, or special teams. All three have to play well to have a chance to win, and I think we can if we play well.”
On his advice to the team regarding the tough early schedule …
“The thing about it is that you have to adjust to the schedule and you have to know for us a team that you have to get better. I know when I was at Tulsa we played a lot of these type of teams. We played Kansas State, we played Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. I beat Florida in Gainesville and that’s one thing, hopefully, that I learned. John Cooper at Tulsa was one of the most competitive coaches I’ve ever met. We would go to Florida and play in their homecoming and they were unbelievable, but he didn’t care. We competed and we competed. Guys like that, that’s the thing we got to have in this team, let’s go compete and get better. Whatever happens, happens.”
On team’s readiness …
“It’s been a good camp for us. It’s time to play. We’re ready to play and we need to be ready to play and the guys are anxious about it. I like where we are and our attitude is outstanding. Now, let’s just see how we play.”
On naming Blake Bogenschutz the starting quarterback …
“It was really fairly easy because he’s done a good job for us, but I like the way the other guys have come along. Russell’s really done a nice job, has really gotten better. I’m sure both of them will play. Blake is really a smart football player and a good football player, he executes well and the players believe in him.”
On Russell Bellomy seeing playing time …
“I think he’ll see some time, yes. I expect him to, but you know how this thing goes. Last year we played with a number three quarterback who came in and did a nice job. I would expect him to play. We found out last year that you better have somebody. I have this bad wing (left wrist), so it’s not going to be me for sure.”
On Tyrell Clay earning a scholarship …
“He’s earned a scholarship. He’ll be on the trip to Arizona. He will play at Arizona. I think he’s really a good football player. I like what I see from him. The only thing about it is I think we have three good running backs. I like all three of those guys. It’s four if you’re talking about the whole group, but I like the three really well. I think you’ll like him, you’ll see him get better and better. That’s the thing I want to say about this team. We’re at a starting point, now. Let’s move on from that starting point and see how good we can be.”
On the comparison from last year’s team at the beginning of the season …
“Well, I just feel good about our preparation. I feel like our team is a better team and we’re anxious to play. I think we’ll be ready to play, but I just like our attitude. I think that’s a big difference, our attitude. I think we’re hungry. We lost a little bit of that last year. I don’t think we were as hungry as we needed to be, but we’re hungry this year.”
On Blake Bogenschutz ‘rebooting’ the program …
“I don’t know of he gets that sense, but I think he’s excited about his opportunity. Last year he was playing well against Oklahoma State, got hurt (vs. FIU) and actually missed the year. He got a hardship out of that. I think he’s a year older, a year out of high school, and I’ll tell you physically he’s a lot different now. You can tell that he’s been in the weight room and doing a good job there. He’s very smart, a very hard worker, and the guy is a winner. The guy won a lot of football games as a high school quarterback.”
On Blake’s leadership qualities and potentially becoming the face of the program …
“I think he will be. I don’t know if he is yet or not, but I think he will be. You have to earn that and I think he has in what we’ve seen so far, but now you have real games coming up. I tell you another thing we have with Blake, is he’s got a tough start with Arizona, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Colorado State. He has a chance to develop in a hurry and we need him to develop in a hurry. These guys really have to rally around him because we can’t beat any of those teams with just offense, or defense, or special teams. All three have to play well to have a chance to win, and I think we can if we play well.”
On his advice to the team regarding the tough early schedule …
“The thing about it is that you have to adjust to the schedule and you have to know for us a team that you have to get better. I know when I was at Tulsa we played a lot of these type of teams. We played Kansas State, we played Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. I beat Florida in Gainesville and that’s one thing, hopefully, that I learned. John Cooper at Tulsa was one of the most competitive coaches I’ve ever met. We would go to Florida and play in their homecoming and they were unbelievable, but he didn’t care. We competed and we competed. Guys like that, that’s the thing we got to have in this team, let’s go compete and get better. Whatever happens, happens.”
