Takeaways: Kingsbury gives update on Bowman, talks about bye week
Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury announced after Sunday’s practice that freshman quarterback Alan Bowman had a partially collapsed lung and they are waiting on a timetable for his recovery, but for now he is doing alright, Kingsbury said. Here are the other takeaways from the availability.
Dakota Allen
- For today, Dakota Allen said the defense was just trying to fix all of the mistakes and make corrections.
- When asked what made the second half different, Allen said they all just came together and played as a team. “First half, we were watching the film, there might be 10 guys doing their job and one guy not and it just makes the whole defense look like they’re not doing their job.”
- Allen said the captains stepped up to keep the team motivated. He mentioned Jah’Shawn Johnson, Broderick Washington, Eli Howard kept the energy up on the sidelines.
- Allen said instead of focusing on finishing, they have to start focusing on starting fast.
- When asked if the defense came out flat or West Virginia just played better, Allen said it was a bit of both.
- Interestingly enough, the defensive player that hit Bowman was junior defensive lineman Ezekiel Rose, who was at East Mississippi Community College the same time as Allen. They both talked for a little bit after the game.
Kliff Kingsbury
- “(Bowman)’s in good spirits. I’ve never had one that’s had it – a new kind of experience for all of us but he’s doing better and he was up and alert, seemed to be in a good mood.”
- The true-freshman suffered a partially collapsed lung on a hit early in the game. Bowman did not have any broken ribs and Kingsbury believes because of that his recovery should be sooner rather than later but he is still unsure of a timetable yet.
- He went on to credit the West Virginia coaches and players, saying they outcoached and outplayed Tech in the first half. “I didn’t see the sense of urgency, I didn’t see the toughness that we had been playing with.”
- He described the situation to where Jett Duffey had to come in for Bowman as the game plan was centered around Bowman and they had to adjust to what Duffey was more comfortable with. This was the case when McLane Carter went down against Ole Miss and the game plan then had to be adjusted for Bowman.
- He described the bye week as a good time to re-evaluate, reset and try to get the starters of the team back healthy again. “The last few weeks, it’s been a bit of a hodgepodge of everybody and we need to get everybody on the same page.”
- He also talked about the continuity of the team given two quarterbacks, who were starters, went down with an injury in the last few games. “You’d like to get that guy the majority of the reps and that’s when they take off, you see that learning curve accelerate, and we haven’t been able to do that because of the injuries.”
- On Carter, Kingsbury said he has worked back in a little bit, given that quarterbacks cannot be hit during practice and Kingsbury wants to make sure he is 100 percent before Carter goes back out. “We’ll see if he’s ready this week, and kind of make a decision from there.”
- On T.J. Vasher, Kingsbury expects him to be back for the TCU game after the bye week.
- When asked how to work on starting games instead of necessarily finishing, Kingsbury said this, “We definitely addressed it and talked about it and we’ve got to better, we’ve got to come out with more energy and not play so timid and on our heels and we don’t need that feel out period.”
Demarcus Felton
- Felton described the running back room as very competitive since there are five running backs who can play at that spot. However, he did say they always coach each other up on what they each can do better. He also said when another back does something good the other backs are the first ones to congratulate him.
- On Ta’Zhawn Henry, “It’s just that dog mentality in him. He doesn’t back down from anything. He’s always pushing to be great.”
- Felton said his focus during the bye week is getting better and perfecting his craft. “Coming up with ways I can help my team be successful in our next game.”
- When asked what the deal was with the Chucky dolls, “I don’t know you’ll have to ask Ta’Zhawn and Tre on that one.” Both Henry and King are the only ones that have one on the team.
Jack Anderson
- Anderson said the most frustrating thing about yesterday’s loss was the slow start. He said that is something they have got to work on.
- When asked how they go about working on that, Anderson said it is about the mindset. “We’ve been saying ‘finish’ for so long and that’s working and we’re finishing well.”