Updates from Rhett Lashlee
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2022 9:18 pmSMU head coach Rhett Lashlee met the media, addressing a number of topics in advance of Saturday's game at Tulsa. Some of what he said (some paraphrased, some quoted directly:
• QB Tanner Mordecai "is better." He and WR Jordan Kerley are "day to day. They are progressing, and it's probably going to come up to Friday, Saturday, as a game-time decision. But they are getting better."
• (On the possibility of QB Preston Stone making his start): I think the difference is, normally in a week when you're repping as the "2" (backup), you may get 20 percent of the reps. The other guy gets the full set, and you get about 20 (percent) of what he normally gets. So it's just flipped. In one case, if (Stone) needs to play, he'll be ready with more reps than he was, say, even last week, when he had to go in last week and play on limited reps. That's the way it is here ... and the next level. That's the biggest thing. He's getting more reps this week, Kevin Jennings is getting those "2" reps now, in the event that he's needed as well. So like I said: if Tanner is ready to go, great — Preston will be prepared, and if not, then Preston has gotten the bulk of the reps.
We'll take everything into consideration. The bottom line is if your starting quarterback's ready to go, you're going to start him. If he's not, he won't. We're going to do what's best for his health and safety more than anything. But he's progressing well, and I think we'll have a better idea, probably, Friday.
Once you're symptom-free, there's like a four-day protocol you've got to get up to, leading up to the game, and we're in that right now.
• (On RB Camar Wheaton): I think (Wheaton's performance against Cincinnati) was great. I think you saw the potential explosion that he has, that we've been missing, kind of, in our run game. He had the big run, right before (the) half of about 20 yards, he had another one that was good. So we've intentionally taken him a lot slower than maybe any of us would have wanted, but you're starting to see it pay off, because he played really well, and he probably deserves more opportunities.
I think he deserves a lot of credit for how he's working: he's practicing really hard. Therefore, he's prepared and ready to play. The things he's doing off the field, with school and all those things. Everything's trending up for him. In a year in a running back room, where someone different's hurt every week, it's kind of been a revolving door, which has made it tough, but he's hung in there, he's progressed, and he's getting his opportunity now.
(On Wheaton balancing the desire to get the ball more without disrupting the team) That's the kind of guys you want. Look, I've never known a really good running back to not want 20+ carries, and honestly, that's really what we'd like to get towards. So like I said, if we can get consistency at that position, with the health of those guys, I think you'll start to see us grow towards that trend.
• (On whether the need to win at least three of the next five makes Saturday's game at Tulsa a pivotal game) Every game's pivotal. It's not a dumb question — it's a fair question, and when you start looking at it that way, yeah ... that's the truth. I read something that said our opponents through the first seven games have a .630 winning percentage, and if you take (Lamar) out of it, it's about 70 percent. We've played good people. We've been competitive. We haven't gotten the results we've wanted. We've just got to keep doing what we're doing. We've got a good team — we're not far off. We've got a lot of injuries. We've got a lot of guys ... it's Week 7, Week 8. We're not the only team in the country that's dealing with that. So we've got to have some guys step up, that maybe haven't as much this year. It's a pivotal game because it's the next one, just because we need a win. We've played too good ... football to not have more wins.
• (On Tulsa defense) Honestly, three of the sacks (by Cincinnati) were on the quarterback. For as good as Cincy is, if you go back and look at it, we didn't give up as much pressure ... I think they had three legitimate sacks ... (and) they're pretty good at that. The other two or three should have been throw-aways, and we didn't have a lot of negative plays in the run game. Our running backs averaged about 5 yards per carry, (but) sacks really killed that.
I still feel really good about our protection. Tulsa is in Year 6, 7 — whatever it is — in that scheme ... and right now, I think they're No. 1 in the country against the pass. They've had our number lately — we've struggled to beat Tulsa the last three or four years. So it presents a big challenge.
• (On QB Kevin Jennings) I just love his demeanor. You can tell ... look, there's good players at his high school every year, but you can tell why they won the state championship: it's his leadership, his demeanor, who he is — very much like Preston and Tanner: the moments aren't too big for him — that's what you want in a quarterback. From the moment he got here, we felt like he threw the ball as well as we thought he was going to. He's as athletic, if not more, than what we thought. But I just say his ability to absorb the playbook, learn what we're doing ... he's going to know what to do if he has to play — it's just a matter, then, of doing it. That's something that comes with experience. But he'll be ready.
• (On Tulsa offense) Experienced quarterback (Davis Brin), playing really well ... I think it's been him and Tanner, tops in the league most of the year, throwing. Same thing with (Keylon) Stokes, their receiver, and then they've alway had big backs, and they run it downhill — that's something that they do really well. So to me, it's exactly what I remember Tulsa being. It's a downhill run game, they can really throw the football, they've got a wideout that's really good, a quarterback that's experienced ... and then again, on defense, they make you earn it with the "Robber" defense they play, and they're really, really big — that's what (head coach) Phillip (Montgomery) has tried to do. They have recruited to it — they're really big. Their d-line is big, their linebackers are big, their corners are big, their safeties are big, their running backs are big ... they're just big and pretty physical.
• QB Tanner Mordecai "is better." He and WR Jordan Kerley are "day to day. They are progressing, and it's probably going to come up to Friday, Saturday, as a game-time decision. But they are getting better."
• (On the possibility of QB Preston Stone making his start): I think the difference is, normally in a week when you're repping as the "2" (backup), you may get 20 percent of the reps. The other guy gets the full set, and you get about 20 (percent) of what he normally gets. So it's just flipped. In one case, if (Stone) needs to play, he'll be ready with more reps than he was, say, even last week, when he had to go in last week and play on limited reps. That's the way it is here ... and the next level. That's the biggest thing. He's getting more reps this week, Kevin Jennings is getting those "2" reps now, in the event that he's needed as well. So like I said: if Tanner is ready to go, great — Preston will be prepared, and if not, then Preston has gotten the bulk of the reps.
We'll take everything into consideration. The bottom line is if your starting quarterback's ready to go, you're going to start him. If he's not, he won't. We're going to do what's best for his health and safety more than anything. But he's progressing well, and I think we'll have a better idea, probably, Friday.
Once you're symptom-free, there's like a four-day protocol you've got to get up to, leading up to the game, and we're in that right now.
• (On RB Camar Wheaton): I think (Wheaton's performance against Cincinnati) was great. I think you saw the potential explosion that he has, that we've been missing, kind of, in our run game. He had the big run, right before (the) half of about 20 yards, he had another one that was good. So we've intentionally taken him a lot slower than maybe any of us would have wanted, but you're starting to see it pay off, because he played really well, and he probably deserves more opportunities.
I think he deserves a lot of credit for how he's working: he's practicing really hard. Therefore, he's prepared and ready to play. The things he's doing off the field, with school and all those things. Everything's trending up for him. In a year in a running back room, where someone different's hurt every week, it's kind of been a revolving door, which has made it tough, but he's hung in there, he's progressed, and he's getting his opportunity now.
(On Wheaton balancing the desire to get the ball more without disrupting the team) That's the kind of guys you want. Look, I've never known a really good running back to not want 20+ carries, and honestly, that's really what we'd like to get towards. So like I said, if we can get consistency at that position, with the health of those guys, I think you'll start to see us grow towards that trend.
• (On whether the need to win at least three of the next five makes Saturday's game at Tulsa a pivotal game) Every game's pivotal. It's not a dumb question — it's a fair question, and when you start looking at it that way, yeah ... that's the truth. I read something that said our opponents through the first seven games have a .630 winning percentage, and if you take (Lamar) out of it, it's about 70 percent. We've played good people. We've been competitive. We haven't gotten the results we've wanted. We've just got to keep doing what we're doing. We've got a good team — we're not far off. We've got a lot of injuries. We've got a lot of guys ... it's Week 7, Week 8. We're not the only team in the country that's dealing with that. So we've got to have some guys step up, that maybe haven't as much this year. It's a pivotal game because it's the next one, just because we need a win. We've played too good ... football to not have more wins.
• (On Tulsa defense) Honestly, three of the sacks (by Cincinnati) were on the quarterback. For as good as Cincy is, if you go back and look at it, we didn't give up as much pressure ... I think they had three legitimate sacks ... (and) they're pretty good at that. The other two or three should have been throw-aways, and we didn't have a lot of negative plays in the run game. Our running backs averaged about 5 yards per carry, (but) sacks really killed that.
I still feel really good about our protection. Tulsa is in Year 6, 7 — whatever it is — in that scheme ... and right now, I think they're No. 1 in the country against the pass. They've had our number lately — we've struggled to beat Tulsa the last three or four years. So it presents a big challenge.
• (On QB Kevin Jennings) I just love his demeanor. You can tell ... look, there's good players at his high school every year, but you can tell why they won the state championship: it's his leadership, his demeanor, who he is — very much like Preston and Tanner: the moments aren't too big for him — that's what you want in a quarterback. From the moment he got here, we felt like he threw the ball as well as we thought he was going to. He's as athletic, if not more, than what we thought. But I just say his ability to absorb the playbook, learn what we're doing ... he's going to know what to do if he has to play — it's just a matter, then, of doing it. That's something that comes with experience. But he'll be ready.
• (On Tulsa offense) Experienced quarterback (Davis Brin), playing really well ... I think it's been him and Tanner, tops in the league most of the year, throwing. Same thing with (Keylon) Stokes, their receiver, and then they've alway had big backs, and they run it downhill — that's something that they do really well. So to me, it's exactly what I remember Tulsa being. It's a downhill run game, they can really throw the football, they've got a wideout that's really good, a quarterback that's experienced ... and then again, on defense, they make you earn it with the "Robber" defense they play, and they're really, really big — that's what (head coach) Phillip (Montgomery) has tried to do. They have recruited to it — they're really big. Their d-line is big, their linebackers are big, their corners are big, their safeties are big, their running backs are big ... they're just big and pretty physical.