Tom Herman

On being happy with the team, progress compared to where he thought they'd be: I don't know that I thought they'd be. I'm happy with how hard we're practicing and how well we're staying on our feet, taking care of each other. We got a little tired during the practice today, I could tell that the wall is probably going to hit and tomorrow is going to be a big test for us. Tomorrow and Saturday, two really big tests for us because we're going to put the pads on, we're going to be physical, and it's going to be practice five. They've done a lot of running, banging a little bit in these last couple of practices. But we need to be able to push through some of that fatigue and soreness, and all that.



On the excitement of practicing in full pads: That only lasts so long. At some point, the body's going to come back and take over and tell you, "Hey, I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm hurting." You've got to then turn your mind on and be able to combat that.



On the tight end position: I don't know that it's solidified our worries, I think we feel better about where we're at in terms of depth in that room. I think it's important on offense to get your best eleven guys on the field and figure out a way to make sure you're doing that without straying too far from core beliefs of what you want to be on offense. We want to play with a tight end, but we're not going to be so bull-headed, if the tight end is not one of our best players, we're not going to put him out there just because we want to play with a tight end. So it's helped, Kendall (Moore) and the young guys have a ways to go as far as acclimating to our system. But it's a lot better than where it was in the spring.



On Cade Brewer : The first thing is ball skills. The guy has size, he's got really good ball skills. I think it was the Westlake-Lake Travis game where we went out there to evaluate him. He was running down the seam, caught a ball behind the defender's back and I turned to our recruiting guys and said, "Yeah, we should probably offer that kid." So, ball skills, really, really conscientious kid. A guy that, he doesn't like to not do well, which is a great trait. But he's also got to be patient and understand that he's a freshman and development takes time.



On Colin Johnson: I've never had a guy with his height and ball skills and ability to contort his body and have that much body control. So we've got to see how physical he can be, that depends. We challenged him prior to camp, "Hey, you check a lot of boxes. Height, ball skills, speed, want-to, all that stuff. It's can you be physical?" So far, he's shown that he's made a lot of improvement there.



On the new locker room, the effect upon recruiting: I think the locker rooms effect recruiting because the kids that we're recruiting, some of the best schools in the nation are as well. A scholarship is a scholarship is a scholarship is a scholarship anywhere you go, so how can you differentiate yourself in terms of why your place might be better. For that young man, obviously the education you get is one, our program, our development of kids is another. But you also want to provide them and show them that they're going to have the very best tools in the country that help them achieve their goals of development. The lockers, as cool looking as they are, they're still very functional too. Stainless steel and anti-microbial, we've got fans coming out, exhausts that dry their pads off. So there's a lot of things in those lockers that are beneficial beyond how they look.



On Charles Omenihu , his role and development: In my opinion, we have three starting defensive ends in Malcolm (Roach), Chris Nelson , and him. Only two can be on the field at the same time. Whether he jogs in on the first snap or the fourth snap, if he continues to play as well as he's playing, his reps are going to be equal to those of the other defensive ends because of what I've said before. You've got to rotate defensive linemen, especially in the Big 12, up-tempo offenses and spread teams, you have to be able to rotate guys in. So again, whether that's with the first snap or the fourth, it's irrelevant to us. He just needs to stay the course. He's gotten a lot stronger, he's playing between the tackles better these last couple of practices, so happy with his development.



On what he wants to see out of the next two days: I think tomorrow, the biggest thing is we've got to stay physical for an entire practice. Your adrenaline is going to be going, early in practice there's probably going to be a lot of hooping and hollering. Tackle drills, our circle drill, goal line, short yardage, a lot of things that can get you excited and motivate you to play physical. But can you do it when you've been out there for two hours on the fifth day of a long week, so that signals success for me. Then on Saturday, it's just some clean execution. We'll have then our sixth day and five days of install and fine-tuning some things. Are you going to be perfect and be in game operation, execution? No. But we need to tighten some things up, see less busts on defense and less assignment errors on offense, things like that. But if we do that and come out of that scrimmage feeling like, "Hey, we're progressing." I think that would be a good thing.



On fan experience upgrades to Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium: The fan experience, we've been involved in the details of the video board and the ribbon board and the sound system and all that. Other than saying, "That's a good idea," nothing really too detailed there. The fan experience one is important to me, it's player experience too for us and recruit experience, that's the big one for me. I love giving fans a great time at our games and hopefully the product on the field is going to be a majority of that entertainment. But for me, the biggest thing in terms of being involved with that is our players, what songs are we playing on third down and when we run down on kickoff, what we are showing on the video board. And then the recruits, I want to make sure that the recruits have a great time at our games.



Andrew Beck

On position depth at tight end: We have a couple of undergrads, we have Kendall (Moore) coming over, transferring in, which has been good for the room because he pushes everybody, coming in as an older guy gives him an edge a little bit. I don't think the depth's been as much of an issue now, because as we've put pads on yesterday and today, there is competition in the room now so depth isn't as much of an issue as now it's about who's going to step up and who's going to play.



On the role of the tight end in the Texas offensive scheme: I think this position will do a little bit of everything, whatever the coaches tell us to do, obviously, but we've been all over, from split out to in the backfield and everywhere in between.



On comparisons with previous offensive schemes: It's hard to compare just because this offense is unlike anything I've seen since I've been here. It's complex, but in a good way; it's complex when you're looking at it on film and trying to break it down for defenses, but the way they teach it and the way it is for players, it's really not that hard to understand. That's a credit to the coaches, they do a really good job explaining everything to us.



On the new locker rooms and how it will help with recruiting: (They) are unbelievable … I think (with) recruiting it's going to be a huge help, especially now that they can go in there and look around. Me and Naashon Hughes were talking yesterday and if we get a haircut and shave we can come back for four more years and nobody would ever know. It was a huge help, and then just for players; we walked in this morning, you walk into that locker room and camp practice doesn't seem so bad; you're more excited, you have a little bounce to your step.



On the development of Shane Buechele : He's (developed) a lot, both physically and mentally. He's bigger, stronger, faster, just like the rest of us; and that's working with Coach (Yancy) McKnight, everybody's bigger, stronger, faster; and then mentally, working with his offensive coordinator, Coach (Tim) Beck, just sitting down and all the technology they have to use to be able to watch film and understand the game more has really helped him out. It's helped all of our quarterbacks out, and really all of our players out; these coaches teach us how to watch film and how to learn the game and I think that's helped not only both the quarterbacks, but everybody.



Malcolm Roach

On how linebackers and defensive backs are helping the defensive line: The linebackers have helped us out a lot, the (defensive backs) have helped us out a lot as a (defensive) line, communicating to us, and we're just trying to get better every day as a defense, as a whole. We have some great leaders down there helping us out on the d-line. They've done a very good job with us and we're just trying to get better every day as a defense.



On how the team is handling the first few days of camp: Anytime you go through a college football camp, it's pretty hard on the body, mentally and it's hard everywhere physically. So you know it's common to hit a wall but you have to fight through it as a team, and that's where your strength and conditioning program comes in a lot, mentally, to push yourself through it and I feel like, as a team, we've been preparing well and we'll push through it.



On the test of the team's mental toughness during camp: Every day is a test, coming out in this heat, so we've been tested mentally since (the coaching staff) first got here on the first day and every day we worked out this summer; so it's nothing new to us.



On the new locker room and the impact on the team: I love the lockers … I really just like the fact that it's more convenient. We're around different positions now, so I get to mingle with some of the wide receivers and we come together closer as a team. You're really just around people who you wouldn't usually be around. Usually I'm around the d-line, but now my locker has linebackers by it, offensive linemen by it; what a combination that is, offensive linemen and d-linemen, so that's really good; helping us come together closer as a team.



On how the defensive unit has helped each other improve: Off the field, when we're in the dorms and at each other's apartments, just hanging out with each other as a defense as a whole, that really gets you together. That really brings you together and I feel like that's helped us out a lot, because it's like you almost learn what their thinking as a person, not just as a football player … just gaining trust from one another has really helped us.