The curtain has been drawn on the first week of spring football practice for Texas Tech. Following the conclusion of Saturday’s practice, recently hired assistant head coach/receivers coach Justin “Juice” Johnson made his initial appearance with the media. Jerand Bradley, Myles Price and Drae McCray joined Johnson and spoke to the media, as well. Here are the takeaways:
Coach Johnson
On how he was approached for the job at Tech:
“Oh, we just had some conversations about it and it just ended up working out. I know the type of man that coach (Joey) McGuire is, I’ve worked with coach (Marcel) Yates, I’ve worked with coach (Kenny) Perry. I’m very familiar with the staff and very familiar with a lot of the players, seeing how I recruited some of them. There was a lot of familiarity within the program in general, it was kind of like that.”
On inheriting the entire receiving core:
“It’s just kind of about coming in and being yourself. I think you know, we just always talk about capturing the heart and mind first. And so with these guys about capturing the heart and the mind and I think it’s they know you care about them and you love them. It’s pretty easy to get them to play hard for you and be detailed. If they know you can get them better, it’s pretty easy to get the guys to play for you so we’ve just been attacking it.”
On what he looks for in a receiver:
“In general, just receiver traits, you’re going to have different things. I talk to the guys all the time that everybody possesses a dominant trait. So Drae (McCray) might be a fast guy, (Jerand Bradley) might be a big guy, Myles (Price) might be a twitchy guy. Everybody’s going to have different traits that they possess, right, not one better than the other. We just talked about exercising that dominant trait all the time… I don’t need Myles to be JB, I don’t need JB to be anybody else. I don’t need Loic (Founji) to be anybody else here, I need everybody to be the best version of themselves.”
Jerand Bradley
First impression of coach Juice
“There’s a lot of energy, a lot of emotion with him. He recruited me out of high school so I’ve known him for a long time. He was one of the first guys who recruited me so I already knew what I was getting into because he already knew who I was. We’ve been talking for a long time so he’s a great coach all around.”
Difference in the offseason from year one to two in Kittley’s offense:
“It’s been a lot different because we’re not as stressed or worried about thinking too much. It’s more like, what are different ways we could get open with these routes and the plays. It’s pretty much smoother and we’re just finding different ways to get open.”
Drae McCray
On what brought him to Lubbock:
“The most enticing thing was probably the relationships. I think it was more of a combination of things, though. The relationships, the quarterback situation and mostly the culture. Like I wanted to go somewhere where the culture was already built. You could step into a place and see they already have a standard and you have to rise to that standard. So that’s why I came here, to go somewhere where I’m being pushed every day and I don’t have to help rebuild the standard. There is already a great standard that has been built here.”
On how helpful the returning players have been in teaching the new system:
“They’ve been very helpful every day, it’s always something new. In walkthroughs we’re always talking ‘Okay, okay, if this happens, how am I doing this?’... . Tyler (Shough) has been a great guy, whenever I first got here we watched film. He literally went through every install with me. So the guys have been great in bringing me along and I really appreciate them for that.”
Myles Price
On being a veteran presence in the locker room:
“If (the younger guys) see me buying into The Brand, they’re going to buy into The Brand, so for me it’s about giving more to this program. Giving more so everybody can give them more, so the younger guys can give it more.”
On the progression of QBs Tyler Shough and Behren Morton:
“I can tell they’ve been watching a lot of film. It’s times where the defense is showing something, and I see it. And then our quarterback is seeing it so we’re on the same page and everybody’s kind of on the same page. We’re getting checked into the right plays, everything is just flowing really smoothly.”
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