McGuire, DeRuyter give update on Wilson, prepare for Hutchinson, Iowa State
After the win over Kansas last weekend, head coach Joey McGuire and the coordinators, Tim DeRuyter and Zach Kittley, look ahead to this week’s challenge against Iowa State, only needing one win to secure bowl eligibility.
As previously mentioned, standout edge rusher Tyree Wilson injured his foot against the Jayhawks and McGuire spoke about Wilson and provided a complete injury report for this weekend’s game against the Cyclones.
“We expect Tyree Wilson to be out, he’s still going under some more testing,” McGuire said. “With a guy that’s projected to be a top 10 pick, you’re going to double, triple check. He had x-rays Sunday and he’s getting another group today.”
McGuire later clarified that there is a possibility that Wilson plays against Oklahoma on senior night, but they may send him to a foot doctor in Green Bay for further testing.
DeRuyter spoke about the absence of Wilson and what he wants to see from a few other players in his absence.
“With Tyree being dinged up, someone’s got to step up,” DeRuyter said. “Joseph Adedire has done a really good job backing him up all season. Guys like Myles Cole are going to have to step up to pick up some of that slack.”
DeRuyter also spoke about the development of Jesiah Pierre, who has had an excellent two game stretch against TCU and Kansas.
“I think he’s starting to feel a bit more comfortable in our scheme now,” DeRuyter said. “He has the ability to step up with Tyree being absent this week and he showed it forcing that strip sack against Kansas.”
With the threat of the Cyclones imminent, DeRuyter spoke about the Big 12’s leading receiver in receptions and targets, Xavier Hutchinson and what his defense can do to limit one of the best players in the conference.
“I’m not certain you can stop him; he’s leading the Big 12 in receiving. We have to limit the explosive plays, which we didn’t do last week,” DeRuyter said. “There’s some similar schemes that we just faced, so that may help, but it’s just awareness around where he is.”
Similarly, Kittley spoke about the Red Raider offense’s challenge against one of the best defensive units in the nation in Iowa State.
“First and foremost, you got to be able to establish the run and you got to have a great game plan on who you're blocking,” Kittley said. “So biggest thing is trying to establish the run early. Playing with some tempo can give them some fits, but at the end of the day, it all just kind of comes down to us executing and staying the course you know I mean, when you look at these guys on paper, they’re best defense we've seen statistically all year.”
As previously mentioned, Behren Morton will be a game-time decision and Zach Kittley elaborated on what he may do in the quarterback room this week.
“So right now, the plan is probably just kind of do what we did last week as far as kind of splitting those reps between Tyler and Donovan,” Kittley said. “Behren, it’ll be interesting to see, he was out there with the trainer, seeing how he was moving earlier. With him I expect him to be more of an emergency situation, but we’ll see.”
Another game time decision is freshman tackle Ty Buchanan, who won’t likely play ahead of Monroe Mills at right tackle, but McGuire mentioned that he may slot in at the position if they move Mills to left tackle.
“The way Ty played against TCU really kind of opens up what we can do at the tackle spot,” McGuire said. “I expect him to stick at right, but when we get healthier, maybe we can slam Monroe to the left side.”