Everything Steve Sarkisian said at his Alamo Bowl press conference

SAN ANTONIO — Here is everything Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said at his pre-Alamo Bowl press conference, courtesy of ASAP Sports.

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STEVE SARKISIAN: It’s great to be here. I think this is credit to the Alamo Bowl and all that they’ve done. This has been a great week for our players. I think that it’s been an awesome experience. We’ve had good events, great practice site.

I think all in all, I think you get to this point of the week, it’s getting ready to actually play the game, which is the fun part. I know that we’ve put in a lot of work. I think our players have put in a lot of work, and we needed to. A great deal of respect for the University of Washington and their football team, their program. They’ve got a great team.

We’ve had to prepare hard and prepare well. I think our kids have done that. I think our staff has done that. We’ve enjoyed the week, but now we’re at that point, I think everybody is ready to play the game.

Excited about it. Looking forward to a great ballgame tomorrow night.

Q. Coach Sark, Quinn said yesterday that he thought he had it figured out after the Oklahoma game and that the Oklahoma State game was kind of a moment where he needed to dig in. Have you seen him mature since that game a lot and over the course of these practices to where he’s doing a lot more things that aren’t freshman but more college football player?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Yeah, I think so. I think one thing that is hard when you’re a young player and you have some instant success is that you think you do have it figured out. There’s a lot that goes into playing quarterback at this level, and whether it’s on the field, off the field, fighting through adversity, persevering through adversity, and I think Quinn has had to do that.

He’s kind of been exposed to a lot, the good and the bad, the tough times in game, the tough times off the field. I think it’s forced maturity. I think he’s handled it really well. I think he’s represented the University of Texas really well. I think I’ve seen him grown.

I’ve said this all along; I think the past couple weeks he’s probably thrown the ball and we’ve executed the passing game better than we have for the last couple months, quite frankly, and that’s encouraging because I think that a lot of that is his buy-in, his want-to, his commitment to it. Not that he wasn’t committed before, but there’s another level of commitment that you go to as a player, and I think Coach can speak to that.

He’s got a veteran quarterback, Michael Penix, great player. He had to fight through some of those similar adversities. I’ve watched his growth. That’s part of the process at this level.

I think we live in a world of instant gratification, and perseverance is kind of a little bit of a lost trait. But when you see guys that have it and you see them fight through, I think there’s another level of gratification that you can go to, and I think Quinn has seen that, and we’ve seen it in him.

Q. Steve, with Roschon and Bijan obviously out for this game, what kind of opportunity is there for those younger running backs? I’m not expecting you to give me a split breakdown, but will those guys, Jaydon, Jonathon, Keilan all have a chance on Thursday?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Yeah, all three of those guys will play. Obviously Keilan is not a young guy. Keilan is a veteran player for us. He’s been with me his true freshman year when he was at Alabama, so I think he’s very comfortable systematically with what we do, obviously just hasn’t had the opportunity, but explosive player for us. He’s provided a lot of versatility to our offense.

Jonathon and the opportunities he’s had from a year ago to this year, every time he’s gotten the ball he’s played well for us, and we’re obviously all really excited about Jaydon Blue. He’s a guy that’s probably matured as much or more than any of our true freshmen from spring ball until now, so we’re fortunate. It’s a talented group. Now they’re going to get their opportunity to go play and play at a high level against a good team.

Q. Coach Sark, last time you brought us down here, your offense scored 56, your defense gave up 67. What are the chances of your offense putting up 56 tomorrow and your defense giving up 67?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I hope it doesn’t go that way again. My neck was sore after that. I felt like it was a tennis match.

But you know, bowl games, they’re crazy in how they can go. Obviously Washington has got a very explosive offense. These guys are fantastic playmakers. They’ve got a great scheme, really good quarterback, good up front. We’re going to have to score; we understand that. But hopefully we don’t have to get ourselves to 60. That would not be good for us and probably not for them, either.

Hopefully it’s just a good football game. Hopefully we tackle well, which is going to be important. That’s always your concern going into a bowl game when you’re off for about a month is tackling and then conditioning.

I think we’re prepared for those two things, but that’s always the challenge going into a bowl game.

Q. Those of us from Seattle who have followed you through your career, one of my guys yesterday said that you’re a lot less Pete Carroll and a lot more Nick Saban; how are you different today than you were your first year at Washington?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I still think I’ve got a lot of Pete Carroll in me. You don’t spend eight years with somebody and them not have an impact on your career. But from that time, I got to spend three out of five years with Nick Saban, and I think you learn a lot that way, too. Obviously two different ends of the spectrum of the way they go about their business.

But the end result, both guys are winners, and they do it their way.

I think the biggest thing I found out for me is how do you be Steve Sarkisian and not try to be Pete Carroll, not try to be Nick Saban but be me, and I think that has created a lot of comfort for myself and for our staff and for our players that they know what to expect on a daily basis from me, and ultimately I think your team starts to take on your own personality, and I think that we’ve got a good personality on our team. We work hard. We’re tough. We’re disciplined, but yet we know how to have fun together.

I think that’s probably a little bit of a blend of both. I’m fortunate, man. I’ve got a chance to work under two of the best in our era of coaches. I don’t take that lightly.

There’s a lot to be gained and a lot to be learned from both guys.

Q. Steve, obviously you want to win every game, but when you’re building a program and you’re in your second year, what do you feel like is at stake in a bowl game like this?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Well, there’s nothing like, for us, getting nine wins. Look at the last decade of Texas football; how many times has there been nine wins in a season? We’re trying to build something that is sustainable, that can withstand the test of time. We don’t want to be a one-hit wonder. We want to be able to build this the right way, and I think we are doing that. I think our players recognize that.

But validity is winning, right? You are what your record says you are. That’s why I think this game is obviously very important to all of us in our organization. It’s going to take a really good effort. We’re going to have to play really well in this game to do that.

But inevitably, I think we’re doing a lot of things the right way. I think we’re coaching the right way. I think we’re recruiting the right way. I think we’ve instilled the culture in our team the right way.

But inevitably it comes down to performing and performing the right way on game day, and that’s the next opportunity we have is tomorrow night.

Q. Steve, that’s a real fast track down the hall and there have been fireworks in this stadium. What do you remember most about that shootout with RG3 and what did you learn from that experience?

STEVE SARKISIAN: We were just talking about it, yeah, and I remember Keith Price was our quarterback, and he had a fantastic game. I think he accounted for seven touchdowns, threw for over 400 yards; I mean, it was a fantastic performance, going against RG3, who was the Heisman Trophy winner at that time.

I also remember we couldn’t stop the run. It felt like they were handing the ball off and it was just chunk after chunk.

But it was a great game. We had an opportunity to go up three scores. We couldn’t do it, and they were an explosive group. Coach Briles had that team rolling at that time.

Like you said, I hope we’re not in the 50s and 60s tomorrow night; that probably wouldn’t bode well.

Q. Coach Sarkisian, when you watched the Washington film was there a particular game or moment that jumped off the screen for you, as well?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Yeah, I think for me, I think there’s a totality of a body of work, right. These guys have played well all year. I think one game that stood out to me, because I’ve been in the game, I think going to Eugene and beating Oregon in Eugene in a hard-fought game against a really good Oregon football team, that was really impressive because their backs were against the wall. Oregon kind of got a little bit of control of the game, had the lead, had the chance to kind of solidify it, and UW kept fighting and finding a way and finding a way, and ultimately got a victory in a heck of a rivalry game on the road.

I know that was a — having been part of that game, that’s a huge moment for that football team and that school and the city of Seattle. I know that was a big moment for them.

Obviously there was other great wins, and winning the Apple Cup and all those things, you see the body of work throughout the season.

They’re kind of unfortunate because the Pac-12 changed the rule this year not to have a North and a South division to where if it was North and South they would have been representing the North and playing for a conference championship. Kind of fell on a little bit of bad luck the way that it went, or we could be staring at the Pac-12 champs right now.

The reality of it is, this is a really good football team, and it’s a totality of the body of work, but I do know going and getting that win in Eugene, that’s a heck of a win.

Q. Sark, can you talk about what you’ve seen from Jonathon Brooks in the bowl practices, what stands out, and to what degree does he have to prove himself still to you and the coaches, and how will this game play into that?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Well, I think Jonathon has done a nice job for the last two years of following the guys in front of him. He had great leaders in front of him with Bijan, Roschon and Keilan. Those guys go about their business like pros. They’re very intentional in what they do, not just on the football field but in workouts, in the classroom, in life, the way they conduct themselves. So I think he’s had great role models that way. He goes about his business the same way.

The one thing Jonathon can do, he’s a natural runner with the football in his hands, and whether it’s between the tackles, on the perimeter, he’s got great ball skills. So the biggest thing for us is for him just to go out and be him, not try to do more than what he’s already shown us. He’s more than capable to be a very good football player for us.

Now it’s just about being in the moment and just being him and not trying to do more.

Q. Sark, you’ve got some pretty good leaders that have been leaders for you the last two years moving on after this season. I wondered during the bowl practices, have you seen guys that are planning on coming back next year step up into those leadership roles, and how important has that been to identify those guys and know who your leaders are going to be when you get back in January?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Yeah, it’s been really cool. A guy to me that has really stood out that I’ve seen from my time here from the beginning to where we are now has been T’Vondre Sweat. This guy has really started to mature in a way that — he has a really positive impact on the guys around him. Obviously he’s a really good football player, imposing figure, and obviously demands kind of respect when he speaks, but yet I think he’s doing it in a way of maturity, and in his own way I think the players really respect that about him. That has definitely shined through.

I think J.T. Sanders is another guy who came in with a lot of hype freshman year, was a special teams player, then produced on the field this year as a sophomore. I think he’s grown into his own of being that leader mentality. I think Jaylan Ford in his own way.

I think anytime you perform first, then your voice carries a lot more weight, and I think that’s one of the things about all three of those guys, they’ve performed this year. They’ve produced this year. Now they’re stepping into those leadership roles and they carry a lot more weight and a lot more validity when they speak.

Q. Coach Sark, you recruited John Ross and coached John Ross. How similar is Xavier to John Ross?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Yeah, I think that’s a fair comparison. The elusiveness, the ability to get to top-end speed like Ross had and Xavier has, there’s definitely similarities there for sure.

I credit Xavier a lot; you can come in with natural ability, but he works his tail off, and he’s the first guy on our practice field every single day. I can’t beat him out there. He’s always working on his craft. That’s a sign of a great player.

John Ross was very similar. He worked at his craft. I remember playing Ross on defense at times when we just didn’t have the secondary. We put him at nickel, and I don’t know if everybody knew it yet; we only played one coverage every time he went in, and it was man because that’s what he could do and he knew how to do it.

Xavier could probably be a great DB, too. They have the movement skills, the ball skills. They both have really high football IQs. They understand the game. That’s probably a fair comparison.