Editor's note: Texas Tech football coach Kliff Kingsbury doesn't let freshmen do media interviews. Now that Davis Webb is a sophomore, the A-J sat down with the quarterback for a one-on-one conversation.

A-J: A lot has been made of your weight gain since last season. What did you weigh when you stepped on the scale yesterday or today?

Webb: 216.

A-J: So you are going up and up and up, huh?

Webb: Two pounds a week.

A-J: About 220 is where you want to be?

Webb: Probably up. Probably more than that.

A-J: How many calories are you eating?

Webb: Six to seven thousand.

A-J: You're trying to eat every three hours or something like that?

Webb: Oh, no. Every hour. I have two dinners - at six and after that, whatever time I become hungry again. I have breakfast and lunch and I have snacks throughout the whole day. Dayna (Tech sports dietitian Dayna McCutchin) give us snacks throughout the day, a bag of snacks.

A-J: Isn't that hard to do?

Webb: Oh, that's hard.

A-J: Even when you have a big appetite, to eat that often?

Webb: Oh, definitely. It's hard to push yourself, but if you want to be the best quarterback to ever play at Texas Tech, you've dreamed about being the Texas Tech quarterback since you were a sophomore in high school, it's not as hard as you think it would be if it's a dream of yours.

I think that's one thing holding me back is my weight, and I'm trying to do everything I can to maximize my weight.

A-J: This has been mentioned a couple of times. When was it that you got sick and lost all that weight?

Webb: It was about two or three weeks before SMU (the Aug. 30 season opener). Probably two weeks.

A-J: What was it that you had?

Webb: That's a good question. A stomach virus. Throwing up everything.

A-J: For several days?

Webb: I lost 40 pounds in three days. About 45 pounds, actually.

A-J: So you went from - ?

Webb: 212 to 168. Somewhere in there, give or take. Because I was 212 one day. By the next day, I was like 206. I was like, "OK, that's a lot of weight, but, you know, it's fall camp." The next day I was 178. The next day I was 168.

And then I got told I wasn't going to be the starting quarterback for week one, so that probably made it worse, too. (Smiles) Got stressed.

But it was all worth it, the adversity I had.

A-J: Is that as sick as you've ever been?

Webb: Oh, yeah. By far. I've never been that sick. That was ... that was ... that was rough.

A-J: Were you still coming out here practicing?

Webb: I didn't miss one practice. Not one meeting. Nothing. Just stay away from everybody so no one will get sick, but I made sure (to attend). I got told to go home a couple of times from practice, because I couldn't make it. Just, I was bending over. But I didn't miss a rep, miss a practice, didn't miss anything.

A-J: Were you still wearing the same clothes?

Webb: I looked like I was a sophomore in high school. It was bad.

A-J: You had it for what length of time?

Webb: My sickness? Probably three weeks before SMU, and then it carried over. All the way through SMU, I was still sick. I had four IVs the day of SMU. Full bags of IVs so I could at least have water weight in me if I had to go in and play.

A-J: Four IVs - ?

Webb: That day. Two the day before SMU. Then it carried over to Stephen F. Austin (Sept. 7, week two). Same thing, IVs. Then TCU (Sept. 12, week three), I had one that week. I was still, what (weighing) 195 or something like that - 185. I gained a lot more weight then. I worked my way up to 195 probably the Kansas game (on Oct. 5).

A-J: So the TCU game, when you come in and throw the fourth-quarter touchdown pass -

Webb: Yeah, I was still sick. I was still feeling bad. I was feeling bad all the way up to the Kansas game. I just didn't tell anyone, because I didn't want anyone worrying or anything.

My mom was pretty mad I didn't tell her. I didn't tell my mom I lost 40 pounds (grins), because I knew she would come up here in a hurry. I told her the Sunday of SMU. I was like, 'I got really sick. I'm feeling bad right now.'

'How much weight?' 'I'm about 168 right now.' She was mad. She was upset. But I didn't want to tell anyone. I didn't want to freak anybody out, because I thought it was just a stomach virus.

A-J: So in hindsight, do you think that had something to do with your not being able to win the job initially?

Webb: Yeah, probably. That was probably why I didn't tell her. I was too upset to talk to anybody really, except my teammates, my roommates (tight end Jace Amaro and running back Kenny Williams).

Coming Wednesday: Webb discusses the week-to-week uncertainty of last year's Texas Tech quarterback situation - and his relationship then and now with former teammates Baker Mayfield and Michael Brewer.

don.williams@lubbockonline.com

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