Spring Game Quotes/Stats
The offense beat the defense 104-102 on a touchdown on the final drive of the annual Maroon and Gold. Head coach Everett Withers met with the media after the game and discussed his analysis of how his roster faired.
On the status of his thoughts of his performance: “I thought we did good today. We had two turnovers, which wasn’t good.”
“It won’t be a team until we get 25-28 guys from high school this summer, some of them are here today. I can’t wait until they get here. Then we’ll get an opportunity to compete for the job. We don’t have a starting quarterback so we’ll find out when we’ve got one in August. We play on (Sept.) 2, you’ll know on the first who our starting quarterback is.”
Damian Williams' performance: "He played fine. He’s progressing in the offense. It’s going to take this summer for him to really know the nuances of what we want to do and get it done. Mechanics are still all over the place with his feet. He still missed some throws that he shouldn’t. He’s got a long way to go.”
“In his heart, he’s a competitor. He’s got competitive spirit. Something we haven’t had since I’ve been here at that position.”
“From a quarterback, we expect an awful lot. It’s probably not fair what we expect of the quarterback but it is what it is.”
Comparing last year's team to this year: “I didn’t like those guys last year. I didn’t like them, just so you know.”
“Love (this team). Are we more talented? No, we’re not. But I like being around them. I like being around our guys. They are good people. Generally, I feel they have a better care for each other than a year ago. I want to be around them, I want my son to be around them. I want our coaches’ families to be around that. I want (defensive coordinator) Randall McCray to bring his son and his daughter over here and be around the team. Last year, I didn’t bring my kids over here because I didn’t want them to be infested with what was going on.”
“No disrespect to last year’s group, they didn’t know us, they didn’t know the expectations. We came in here swinging at them last year. We came here absolutely swinging at everybody in the athletic department because our standards were high. We just left a team that won a national championship at James Madison. We built that and we’ve built the expectations for that. The same expectations are here and they won’t change. We’re going to work until we get here.”
“I felt like our guys competed better this spring. Tougher and more physical this spring… I feel better about where we’re headed this summer. I always say this but this summer is the most important time for our football team. That’s when you build a team.”
(Withers singled out Robert Brown, Mason Hays, Frankie Griffin, Quinn Tiggs and Nik Daniels for playing well. Didn’t play Loyd or London to let Clifton Lewis and Daniels play at inside linebacker.)
“I like our four linebackers, I really do. I’m excited about them. I think Frankie Griffin is getting better. We’ve got some guys on that side of the ball that are playing better.”
“I like Robert (Brown). He’s going to be a good player for us. I like the fact that he goes north to south with the ball. He’s done a good job this spring, takes care of the football. The only way you play running back here is if you protect the quarterback and you’ve got to know protections.”
On the offensive line: “We’ve got to get better in shape in our two (unit) offensive line. Even in our one offensive line, I want to go a lot faster. We want to have a number of different tempos but we’re not close to where we need to be... My issue is, I don’t know if we have any guards that can play right now. Right now, I would tell you that I don’t know if we have a starting guard out today.”
Reward for the offense winning: “We’ve had about four days we call winner-loser days and the offense won. What they get is a dinner at my house with me as the DJ this summer. Swim trunks, the whole deal. The defense has to clean up the stadium after a baseball game. It pays to win.”
The tenth NCAA tenth assistant rule: “I love it. Now it gives you a chance to fill all the spots and, special teams wise, you can have a special teams coordinator who can divvy it up. It’s been way too long where you have just nine coaches in football. It’s kind of archaic to think that just nine coaches can do it. That’s why Nick Saban, Tom Herman and Urban Meyer have 15 analysts because of they’re only allowed to have nine coaches. Cut back some of that analyst stuff, that’s what I’d be in favor for.”
Earlier signing period: “I’m for it. It moves up official visits so all that stuff moves up so it gets like basketball. You’re recruiting all year, you’ve got guys on campus. It’s going to add more work but I’d rather have a December signing day to get some of the big guys out of the way. I think that’s what it’s meant for, to get some of the guys that know they are going to Texas or A&M or some of those places out of the way so we can go ahead and know who we are recruiting.”
Stats taken by the TXST media relations department:
2017 MAROON-GOLD SPRING GAME
APRIL 15, 2017
GAME STATISTICS
Passing: Damian Williams – 14-22, 172 yards, 4 TD; Joseph Gonzalez – 5-8, 38 yards, INT; Michael Ross – 3-8, 44 yards, TD
Rushing: Anthony D. Taylor – 20 carries, 72 yards, 2 TD; Robert Brown, Jr. – 17 rushes, 47 yards; Samuel Longbotham – 11 carries, 20 yards; Damian Williams – 4 carries, 22 yards; Michael Ross – 12 carries, -6 yards; Joseph Gonzalez – 2 carries, -7 yards
Receiving: Tyler Watts – 2 catches, 4 yards; Mason Hays – 4 catches, 82 yards, 2 TD; Thurman Morbley – 5 catches, 45 yards; LeDarrius Harris – 2 catches, 6 yards; Hutch White – 1 catch, 17 yards; Kelton Powell – 3 catches, 53 yards; Chris French – 1 catch, 1 yard, TD; #36 – 1 catch, 19 yards
Defense : Hal Vinson – 8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 PBU; Gavin Graham - 7 tackles; Dean Taylor - 6 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL; #39 - 4 tackles, 1 TFL; Nikolas Daniels - 4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL; Quinn Diggs - 4 tackles, 1 INT; Greg Peace II - 3 tackles, 1 PBU; John Lilly - 3 tackles, 2 TFL; Andrew Aneke – 2 tackles, 1 PBU; Dial Rosemond – 1 tackle, 1 PBU; Kumonde Hines - 1 tackle; Frankie Griffin - 4 tackles, 1 TFL; A.J. Krawczyk - 1 tackle; Zavier Ezenagu – 2 tackles; Markeveon Coleman – 2 tackles; Clifton Lewis - 4 tackles; Ishmael Davis - 2 tackles, 2 sacks; Jeff Banks – 2 tackles; JaMorris Martin - 3 tackles, 1 TFL; Jordan Eastling – 1 tackle, 1 PBU; Jashon Waddy - 3 tackles, 1 TFL; Grant Sandercox – 2 tackles; Malik Alley – 1 tackle
Special Teams: Marcus Ripley – 2 PAT, 4 FG; James Sherman – 3 PAT, 3 FG
(Discuss in the War Room right here)