Norvell: Notes and Quotes + Daily Dose

Tyrone Swoopes. (Will Gallagher/IT)

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AUSTIN — In his Tuesday media availability, Texas wide receivers coach and play-caller Jay Norvell said that his team came out strong in the second half, but that earlier inconsistencies in the game hampered his offense.

“Kind of a tale of two halves for us,” Norvell said. “Very inconsistent in the first half. We had some penalties, some inconsistent drives. We didn’t finish on third down.”

Norvell said that this was one of the stranger games he has coached, as his team rushed for more than 400 yards and won the turnover battle, but still lost by three. He also mentioned that penalties on the penultimate drive killed the team’s momentum, and that it’s time for the team to look to next week and to freshman running back Chris Warren.

“We felt like we were on the verge of scoring that drive,”Norvell said. “But overall, very proud of Chris Warren in the game. Very proud of the way our guys fought and played in the second half, and we certainly have to come back this week and be ready for a real strong Baylor team.”

Warren, who was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week on his first career start, went for 276 yards and four touchdowns, including one of 91 yards where he ran through multiple Red Raider tacklers. His play-caller continued to heap praises on the 4-star back.

“He played with more confidence as the game went on,” Norvell said. “We were nicked up, we lost some kids with [Foreman] and [Gray] not being able to play.”

Norvell mentioned about how in order to take some pressure of his true freshman back, who was left as the lone ball carrier with D. Foreman, Gray, and freshman Kirk Johnson injured, they had to innovate on the offensive side of the ball. This lead to both Tyrone Swoopes and Jerrod Heard on the field at the same time until Heard’s injury later in the game. Norvell said that while Swoopes has been declared the starter this Saturday against Baylor, they are still trying to get Heard ready for the game.

“We’re working with [Heard],” Norvell said. “We just want to make sure he’s healthy and ready to play. You can’t mess around with those injuries.”

When asked what would happen if both Swoopes and Heard were unavailable to play, Norvell said that they would look at Kai Locksley and Matthew Merrick. Locksley and Merrick are both true freshmen who have not seen the field at all this season. Texas also has walk-ons Logan Vinklarek, Jimmy Greenwood, and Trey Holtz on the roster.

More Norvell Quotes:

“I think Tyrone has done a fabulous job with his role. We’ve tried to make it bigger almost every week. His confidence has grown. I think I’ve said this the past couple of weeks, there’s no one on our team having more fun than Swoopes.”

“I’m not happy with where we are in the passing game so I’m not happy with the receivers’ play. I’m not happy with the accuracy of our quarterbacks. The passing game falls on the accuracy of your passer.”

“I think [Heard will] benefit from an offseason in this system and the plays that we’re using. I think he’ll take another step from playing… There’s no experience like game experience. I’m confident he’ll continue to improve. He’s a tremendously athletic guy, he just has to keep putting the pieces together in the passing game.”

On possibly having to burn Merrick or Locksley’s redshirt: “It’s not ideal. That’s something we’ll look at, but they are here and on scholarship. If it comes to that, it’s a decision we’ll have to make when we do it. It’s not something you’d like to do in this situation at this point in the season.”

On recruiting: “It’s not difficult. We tell them the truth. Recruiting is pretty simple; it’s about credibility and it’s about being yourself. We never had a problem doing that.”