On Monday, Texas Tech offensive tackle Terence Steele and transfer DB Zech McPhearson addressed the media following Red Raider head coach Matt Wells.
The following is the complete transcript from the two student-athletes
OL, Terence Steele
Q. Terence, I guess, when did you finally know you were going to come back, and what were your feelings?
STEELE: I knew in the summer when I was coming back. We already had a plan in place. We have good depth at the offensive line position, so I was able to take those first two games off and really take my time and recover.
Q. Were you frustrated during that time in recovery, or did you kind of feel a little bit better knowing that that was part of the plan?
STEELE: Definitely, I felt confident, from the very first day it happened. We have a great strength staff and sports medicine staff. So just the plan they had in place, I had full confidence in, and I knew I was going to get back on the field.
Q. How did you get hurt?
STEELE: It was a freak accident that happened in the weight room.
Q. How would you rate the offensive line's play through this portion of the season?
STEELE: It's definitely not where we want to be, but best believe every week we're working our tails off to be the O-line that we know we can be.
Q. Where do you feel the O-line can improve the most?
STEELE: After watching the film this past game, it's pretty obvious to me to pass protect better. Need to be more consistent in the run game. I feel like we made strides in the run game, but like I said, we need to be more consistent with that.
Q. Terence, obviously, Oklahoma State's offense is going to get a lot of the headlines, but what stood out about their defense? I guess specifically about the defensive line.
STEELE: They were always flying around to the ball. They gave great effort. They were relentless in their pursuit.
Q. How in are you guys to Jett now being the starter?
STEELE: For the O-line, it doesn't matter who we put back there really. We've still got to do our job. We've still got to go out and perform and protect whoever it is back there. I'm kind of excited to have him back. He's a baller. He'll make plays, and dude's a competitive athlete. It will be exciting.
Q. Where have you seen -- has he kind of stepped up as a leader? Like more -- not even just Saturday, but after that?
STEELE: Jett? Of course. That's the tough guy he is. Go in the locker room. He's always dabbing people up, making jokes, just talking to people. That's just the kind of person he is.
Q. Could you feel a different type of spark in the huddle or in the way that you all played as an offense when he came into the game?
STEELE: Yeah, I could say so. That's just the kind of energy he brings to us. We kind of feed off his energy. I could definitely say we felt that spark.
Q. For you, are you, after a game like Oklahoma, where it was like 30 or 40, are you a kind of flush it guy, or do you let it motivate you?
STEELE: I definitely let it motivate me. You kind of let it sink in, you know. For me, I went home, kind of remembered my why, why I pretty much play this game, and you pretty much learn from your mistakes and let them motivate you to be better next week.
Q. What is your why?
STEELE: Me, I do it for my family. They've been through a lot. If you know about my -- just what they've been through, I just want to repay them for everything they did. Football is a means for me to do that.
Q. Terence, at any point, did you think you weren't going to come back from your injury? How tough was that -- like you said, if it's a freak injury, obviously, you're kind of a little bit upset.
STEELE: There's always that small voice in the back of your head is that what if. I try to not let this come out as much. It's better to have a positive attitude. Your body responds to that. So I really pretty much kept a positive mindset. I told myself I was going to come back soon, and I did.
Q. Do you think the injury and then just the lack of consistency maybe along the line, the movement, constant movement, has been part of your issue as a team and that might be improving as you get more reps and more games under your belt?
STEELE: Oh, for sure. That first game, I'll be the first to say it wasn't my best. I had to knock some of that rust off. This past game, I made improvements from the first game, but it still wasn't what my potential can be. Yeah, best believe I'm working my butt off every day to improve, be better for this team.
Q. So when you first got hurt, what were you told about when you were expected to return? Was it about the expected timeline?
STEELE: I was definitely way ahead of schedule. When it first happened, it was about four to six months, just letting my body heal pretty much. But like I said, we've got a great strength staff and a sports medicine staff, and they got me back to being 100 percent pretty quick.
Q. I remember coach Wells said at the start of summer. Was that like in June when you got hurt?
STEELE: Yes, it was in June.
Q. How have you handled -- just with you and Travis going right or left, how have you handled being back? I guess where you are and where you were.
STEELE: I think we both handled it pretty well. It's great draft stock to be able to switch from left to right. We practice left and right tackles -- you know, movements, every day in practice. So there was really nothing to be confused about.
Q. Do you do a little bit on the left side now when you practice?
STEELE: Yeah, like I'll do drills. I'll get in my left type of stance and do some drills with that, and Bruffy will do the same thing with the right.
DB, Zech McPhearson
Q. Zach, I guess from a defensive perspective, what did you all learn from the Oklahoma game?
McPHEARSON: Just overall, probably to stay consistent. We looked at the film today. I mean, some good, some bad. It just didn't work out too well for us. We're going to go out there today and make the corrections, do what we've got to do to get better and just stay positive and move on to this week.
Q. What was some of the good in the film?
McPHEARSON: It was a few plays. Tommy Leggett had a couple of good plays. Just a lot of effort things, not really, I want to say, from a scheme perspective, but just a bunch of good effort plays that some guys on the defense made. I mean, just -- it's just got to be more everybody doing it.
Q. Can you think of the most frustrating thing that stood out on the tape when you watched it today?
McPHEARSON: Yeah, it was a lot. I just know that we didn't play to the standard that we want to play at. We hold ourselves to a high standard, and that's just not the brand of football that we represent. We've got to do better.
Q. What do you see from Oklahoma State and a guy like Tylan Wallace and Spencer Sanders, dual threat at QB. What kind of problems do they potentially have for you guys this Saturday?
McPHEARSON: Well, obviously, as QB, we've been seeing it a lot for the past few weeks, a QB that can throw and run. I feel like we're ready for it in an aspect, but on the outside, in the secondary, we've just got to challenge the receivers and not give them anything free, play every play with a chip on our shoulder.
Q. With a guy like Tylan Wallace, one of the best receivers in the nation, in the Big 12, how nice was it at least to see a guy of his caliber in CeeDee Lamb last week so you had some sort of reference?
McPHEARSON: It was good. Going against him, he's a great player. Going against Tylan, we've got to challenge him. He's a good receiver, well-respected throughout the league. But we've got to make him earn everything.
Q. When it comes to improving your tackling, is it just a mindset? Is it just a reps kind of thing? How do you do that?
McPHEARSON: Tackling is just a mindset, that's all it is. Just in the moment, you've just got to have the will power to do it, whether you're mind's made up or not. That's all tackling is. Tackling can be taught in some ways, but when you're out there, it's just a mindset. You've got to want to get the ball carrier to the ground.
Q. When you kind of look at Oklahoma State, at least the small amount that you guys have looked at so far, what kind of stands out to you in terms of their offense and the playmakers they've got?
McPHEARSON: They have a great running game, obviously. I would say overall just probably their run game, just trying to stop their run game and make them pass the ball. They're going to try to beat us around the ball for the most part, but we've just got to go out there, stop the run game, and then they're going to want to pass the ball and then stop that and shut the offense down.
Q. Does Chuba compare to anyone you guys have played so far?
McPHEARSON: Yeah, probably Oklahoma. In a way, they're pretty similar.
Q. What can you take from this game?
McPHEARSON: Well, Oklahoma, they really like to try to hit us on the stretch with the boundary. I feel like Oklahoma State is going to try to do the same thing. We got hit on that against Arizona too. Teams probably look at it as a weakness in our defense. We're going to focus a lot on that this week just to stop the stretch in their boundary.
Q. Are you a big flush it kind of guy right after a game when you lose by 30 or 40, or do you kind of let it motivate you a little bit?
McPHEARSON: Right after the game, I'll probably be pretty frustrated. It sits on my mind for a while. After a while, you've got to get over it and focus on the next week. Just in my position, that's the mindset of a DB. You can't let stuff sit on your mind too long or it's going to keep on happening. Just got to play the next play and move on.