Takeaways: Raiders prepare for Horned Frogs

The media got the chance to speak with Jonathan Giles, Baylen Brown, and Keke Coutee on Monday after practice. Below are some notes and quotes from each of the players on the loss to Oklahoma and the upcoming game versus TCU.

…Sophomore receiver Jonathan Giles caught 10 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday night. He deflected most of the praise regarding his game and said he liked what he saw from all the other inside receivers, especially Cameron Batson and Ian Sadler. Said coach Morris was also very proud of their performance.

…The biggest reason for his big performance on Saturday?

“Just listening to coach Morris during practice. He is very hard on us when it comes to being physical in the run game and running our routes. He is very hard on us every single day, so we just feed off of him.”

…One of the biggest cause for debates over the past couple weeks was whether Mahomes should be playing despite not practicing as much. He practiced a lot leading up to the Oklahoma game and Giles said that really made a difference.

“I feel like it did. He had more time to work with us during the week and get his rhythm right. I feel like it did help a little bit with the overall performance on Saturday.”

…Giles is unsure whether Mahomes is 100 percent healthy or not, but pointed to his stat line – 52/88 for 734 yards and five touchdowns – as evidence that he is healthy.

“I’m not really sure. That’s something that you will have to ask him because I’m not quite sure. From the game, I would say he is pretty close to 100 percent. It is pretty cool watching him.”

…Looking onto TCU, Giles and the team are more than ready to travel to Fort Worth, they understand how the last two years have gone and are ready to make a change.

“We feel good. We have a good gameplan. Coach Kingsbury does a good job putting a gameplan in place, and we are very confident going into this game.They have a very good defense just like last year. They run to the ball, they have good DBs. It is going to be very interesting and very fun to go down and play them.”

“We can’t wait. Not only just from last year, but also the last time we were down there and how bad we played. We can’t wait to get down there and show people how far we have come.”

…With the defense giving up 854 yards of offense and 66 points on Saturday, I asked Giles what was the attitude like from the defensive players during practice this week.

“They are definitely staying positive. I was listening to coach Gibbs talk to them today about effort. That’s what is key. Being in the right spot and having good effort. The offense is always cheering them on and making sure they do their job and they cheer them on. They are staying positive and we practice against them every day and make each other better as a whole team.”

…Giles made many big plays on Saturday including an amazing fingertrip grab touchdown. He said he doesn’t know how he made the grab, honestly, and declined to comment on if he had the best hands on the team.

…For all the praise Giles has received, he did have a costly fumble on Saturday and is still upset in his performance due to the fumble, despite the big day. Giles responded well to the adversity, and has used his experiences to continue to lead the team.

“I am still disappointed about it. Coach Kingsbury always harps on, no penalties, no turnovers, and no one can stop us. For that to happen to me was disappointing especially as a leader of this team.”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s just one play (is what I tell the other guys). You still have four quarters to prove who you are and show who you are, especially on national TV. I knew after that fumble that I was going to have to come back even harder than before.”

…Giles said he didn’t feel any pressure to always score stating they can’t control what the defense does, only what they can do. They try and score every single drive, no matter what the defense does.

…Through seven games Giles has 53 catches for 917 yards (number seven in country) and 11 touchdowns (tied for first) and has thrust himself into some early Bilitnikoff conversations.

“It is an honor for me to be up for something like that. Especially with recent players who have won. It’s an honor, but at the end of the day, I’m more focused on the team and winning. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get the win.”

…Senior offensive lineman Baylen Brown also shared his thoughts with us this week. He said they have been working a lot of different areas over the past two weeks and feels like their progress showed on Saturday.

“We are getting after it every day now. It’s more we need more run fits and getting our pad level down. I think the progress we made really showed last week. We were pretty much able to go down and score at will. Eventually we will get a win.”

…West Virginia debacle aside, Brown feels like the offensive line (and Pat’s ability to trust the offensive line) have improved.

“We had a rough week versus West Virginia, but other than that I think we have gotten better and better and better. Pat has learned to stay in the pocket more and trust us which has helped out. Especially last week him throwing for a lot of yards.”

…With Justin Murphy out for the first half last week due to a suspension, there was a bit of shuffling going on on the offensive line. He doesn’t think the offense looked any different during the first half, but felt them pick things up when Murphy came in.

“I don’t think we missed a beat. Murph moved to tackle when he came in and we just kept going like we were and kept scoring and scoring. When he is in, we always work together well.”

“You have a guy like that who has played a lot of games this year and is one of the leaders on the offensive line. It helps when you don’t have to worry about him sometimes, and he is always playing hard.”

…TCU is actually number two in the country right now in sacks per game, just a hair behind Alabama, and are averaging 3.86 sacks per game. Brown and the other OL aren’t bothered by TCU’s ability to generate pressure if they stick to the game plan.

“We don’t really worry about that. If we are go out and execute our game and worry about what we do, it won’t be that way.”

…I also asked Brown about his thoughts on true freshman tailback Da’Leon Ward, who has received six and seven carries over the past two weeks.

“He deserves it. He’s come out and worked hard. He came in during West Virginia and ran the ball hard and the coaches liked what they saw. He came in. He knew the pass protection scheme. He has come in and run the ball hard. No complaints.”

…Nobody in the Tech locker room has forgotten about TCU’s shellacking of the Red Raiders in 2014. In fact, they use it has motivation.

“Always. Last time we were there, we lost by a lot, so we are excited to go in there and show them what we have.”

…H-receiver Keke Coutee had a big game of his own on Saturday snagging 10 balls for 172 yards and a touchdown. He credits his success to Kingsbury.

“Just a great gameplan by coach Kingsbury. He is going to always have a great gameplan each and every week for us, we just have to execute.”

…Coutee was asked what it was like having pressure to score every drive and what it feels like as an offense to practically score at will.

“There really wasn’t any pressure. We didn’t blink. We really had no choice but to just keep scoring. We just have to keep going and keep scoring.”

“It’s a great feeling. It’s a great feeling that we have one of the top offenses in the country. Knowing that we can literally score at any time is a great feeling.”

…Coutee and the offense are expecting another shootout on Saturday versus TCU and says the TCU DBs are physical, but they should be able to get open.

…Ahead of Coutee at the H-receiver position is Cameron Batson who put together a very gritty nine-catch, 99-yard performance with a touchdown on Saturday. In fact, Tech’s inside receiver caught 513 of Mahomes’ 734 yards on Saturday. Coutee says the physicality of a guy like Batson makes the receivers play harder.

“He is a fast guy, I’m a fast guy. He’s probably the most physical receiver we have. When he is being physical, it makes us up our game and be physical. We have to go against those linebackers all game.”