Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie met with media members during his regularly scheduled Tuesday press conference. The transcript of some of his remarks are below.
Opening Statement…
“First off I want to address the Brevin Randle situation from our standpoint as a football team and also speaking on behalf of our program and Brevin. It was brought to my attention on Friday of what happened. I had no idea during the game that it happened. I addressed it immediately with UTEP Head Coach Dana Dimel that night through a phone call. I was disappointed. My initial reaction was very disappointed just like everyone else I was disappointed in the action. I was disappointed for a lot of different reasons. The negative attention it brought Louisiana Tech and the negative attention it brought our football team and the consequences it has. I was disappointed in the choice that Brevin made. Brevin has been held responsible. He has done everything that we have asked him and continue to do everything that we have asked him to do. He has been remorseful. He has accepted responsibility for his wrongs and we are moving forward. It is not defining of our football team in terms of the character of our team and program. Countless thank you notes and encounters with people that we travel with on the road. Whether it is serving us food, on the plane or in our hotels. The compliments that pour out about the character and integrity of our football team and the players and young men that they are. I never have a stronger belief in our players than now and who they are as people. Just like everyone else we are disappointed. We are holding Brevin accountable. He has accepted responsibility. From our standpoint when you get into coaching and education our job is not to cast final judgment on an action. Our job is to hold people accountable. To teach them. To hold them accountable and responsible for their actions but it is also not to give up on people. This program is certainly not going to do that with Brevin Randle. I know his teammates are not going to either. With that being said, I think everything with our statements being released, Brevin’s statement and his accountability for his actions. We have handled it and we are looking forward to moving forward as a program. We are looking forward to showing who we are as a program in the midst over every day. We are ready to move forward to Western Kentucky. What has happened has happened. We are very remorseful for it.”
On matchup with Western Kentucky…
“We are excited about the great challenge of playing Western Kentucky. We had a really courageous effort from our team on Friday night against UTEP. We started very fast on offense and special teams. Defensively we played a very strong football game. The fast start was critical to our success. We won a football game on the road for the first time in a very very long time here at Louisiana Tech. We celebrated that but we have put that al behind us. Now we are 2-0 in conference and have a great opportunity against Western Kentucky this week on a Thursday night at Joe Aillet Stadium. I anticipate a great student turnout and a great turnout from North Louisiana. We are playing a great opponent in Western Kentucky. Tyson Helton has done a phenomenal job there. Tyson Summers their defensive coordinator does a great job. He creates havoc as a defense. They lead the country in takeaways. Drew Hollingshead comes over from Mississippi State where he worked with Mike Leach and has fit in great there from their standpoint on offense. It is going to be a big challenge for our football team. Both of our quarterbacks have practiced this week. We are trying to get Hank (Bachmeier) back in terms of his shoulder. They are both practicing. It has been a good week from that standpoint and we are looking forward to moving forward as a program and the challenge against Western Kentucky.”
On the importance of a strong start in Conference USA play…
“They are aware of it and we have definitely talked to our players in our team meetings this week about the importance of it. The importance to us regardless if it is Western Kentucky or Middle Tennessee this week. I say this week because as the standpoint of that game is next Tuesday. We play two games this week so we have the opportunity to try and get to 4-0 in our conference. That is why it is important for us because we are 2-0 in conference now and we look forward to the challenge of trying to be 3-0. It is a home game so we always want to play well at home and defend our home turf. Western Kentucky has done a phenomenal job in this conference for a long time. They are a very very talented team with the preseason players of the year on offense and defense with quarterback Austin Reed and linebacker Jaques Evans. They live up to it. We will definitely have our hands full on Thursday night.”
On quarterback situation changing game plan…
“It does not change a great deal.”
On preparation with conference schedule…
“We have to adjust in terms of the time we practice and we also have to look at the volume of things we do in practice. The ultimate goal is for our players to be fresh and excited to play a football game on Thursday night. Practice is what dictates everything and practice execution is your game day reality. I love practice and some of our players really love to practice but our players really love to play the game. So from that standpoint, we get to play two games in a week which is what they really like to do. We have to be smart coaching wise of our players. Preparation, we have to get a certain number of reps on plays to allow ourselves to execute at a high level. Ultimately what we want to do on this stage is execute at a high level on special teams, defense and offense. We want to have a great sideline and to do those things you have to have lots of energy. The team that is the most excited to play has an upper hand. Being able to try to inspire your team on short weeks. There is a lot of different things that go into it but our players have handled it very well. At practice last night I thought it was very intentional. They came out with an intent to prepare really well on a short week.”
On game management…
“Trying to find a game plan that attacks who we are playing and whoever is at quarterback, running back, receiver or offensive line. You have to evaluate your personnel every single week. We have a base system that we have to start off with. Then you also evaluate who you are going against and how you can put your guys in the best position to be successful in the point of attack. Last week, the plan of attack and some of the things you have to think about is that we knew we had a short week coming up. The way we played the football game on Friday night some of the thought processes go into it. From the point of if you can get up in the game quick and early like we did. We have to play better int the middle of the game on offense there is no question. Also, we would like to shorten games if we have the upper hand, we know we are playing another game in six days so let’s try to shorten this thing. Maintain our lead but also be smart with how we handle the football game.”
On Smoke Harris’ first career punt-return touchdown…
“It was a surprise to me and I think it is a credit to Smoke and Strength and Conditioning Staff and coach (Dave) Scholz. Smoke finally got long speed and did not get hawked down. His teammates really enjoyed giving him a hard time about that in our team meeting. When you watch that punt return, it is a credit to a lot of the blocks that we had. A lot of the times Smoke makes about 10 people miss and the 11th guy runs him down. In this case you look out there and we have guys that are in teach-tape shadow technique on punt defense. They are at teach-tape double team. A lot of things from a coaching standpoint our players did a phenomenal job. Coach (Dan) Sharp talks a lot about special teams getting the pieces of the puzzle right in terms of personnel. We have made some really good strides on kickoff returns and also punt defense in getting the right pieces there from the standpoint of being able to execute what we call.”
On WKU quarterback Austin Reed…
“The natural arm talent that he has stands out. He has an unbelievable release. He gets the ball out very quick and he is very accurate. You can tell just be watching him, the confidence he has in himself and the confidence he has being out there. He fits the scheme and immersed himself really well. He understands what he is trying to accomplish. He gets the ball to his playmakers and throws the ball downfield very well. He is really hard to sack I think he has only been sacked three times this year. He is very accurate. He is a really good athlete in terms of when they ask him to run the football he runs with toughness in short-yardage situations. He does a great job within their offense. He is extremely talented. He has quick release and you can tell he has a great grasp with what they are trying to accomplish in his scheme.”
On WKU …
“Wide receiver Malachi Corley is one of the best players in this league. Their running back Davion Ervin-Poindexter is a really good player. They have some really talented skill position players on offense. From a defensive standpoint they are so multiple with what they do. They are a blitz-heavy football team. Jaques Evans is the preseason player of the year on defense and you can see why through the first few games. Aaron Key at linebacker and Upton Stout at cornerback are all good players. They play a physical style of football. We have a ton of respect watching how they play. We talk about it all the time; the Epson doesn’t lie. When you watch them they play with an edge and they play really hard and well together. Those are things that we are trying to get in our program and there is times this year when we have done that as a football team. We will have to do that Thursday night.”
On bowl game potential…
“We have not got into that right now. It is amazing to think that after a week from today we will have played eight games and only have four left. That is really a reality that sets in to this team is after next Tuesday we only have four football games left on the schedule. That shows how fast things go in college football and how fast our season has gone in particular with our unique schedule. We are focused on the daily basis of trying to have a great practice on Tuesday night to put ourselves in a great position on Thursday.”
