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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 16, 2017Dylan CantrellNic ShimonekMychealon ThomasLubbock, Texas Texas Tech - 52, Arizona State - 45 Q. Dylan, that last play, was that something you guys have been working on quite a bit, was that a surprise? Or was that something you looked at and said, okay, this is the time for it? DYLAN CANTRELL: No, we've had it installed and been working on it a couple of weeks. Great job by the O line, and great seal block on the edge by Donta Thompson cutting off that corner and then you just gotta finding a way to get in. Q. You expected that call to come some time tonight? DYLAN CANTRELL: It was in the game plan. So, yeah, if it was the right situation then we were going to roll with it. Q. When was the last time you scored a rushing touchdown? DYLAN CANTRELL: My freshman year in high school. It's been a while. Q. Were you a receiver then, too? DYLAN CANTRELL: I was. It was a little 1-yard, basically same type of thing, 1-yard jet sweep. Q. You caught everything that was thrown at you tonight. Even a ball out of bounds that they looked at probably because they didn't feel like it could have been inbounds. Was it just a special night for you? Could you feel it from the very beginning? DYLAN CANTRELL: That's one thing as the receiving corps that we work on every day. We take a lot of pride in catching everything that comes your way. Nic put the ball exactly where it needed to be every time on that post. Perfect ball, the back-shoulder fades. That was one thing that was open. Playing a lot of bail technique so the back-shoulder fade was there and he put it where it needed to be. And you just gotta find a way to make a play. Q. Which was your favorite catch? DYLAN CANTRELL: Maybe the one on the shoulder, if I had to pick. But, yeah, I just try to put my team in every position we can to get in the end zone and move the chains. Q. How much pride do you all take in getting your yards after a catch? How big is that to the entire receiving corps? DYLAN CANTRELL: No doubt. We have some of the most electric guys in the country. They're dangerous with the ball in their hands. You've got Keke and Cam who are quick, and me and Derrick who are a little bit bigger and try to run people over a little bit. But we take a lot of pride in that, just making big plays and when your number is called making a play. Q. It was 45-45, 90 yards to go. What did you see out of Nic in the huddle at that time? DYLAN CANTRELL: Oh, I mean, he's a leader. Throughout that whole game we never had any doubt that we were going to go down and score at the end. And we came out hot. Had it going. Defense was rolling the first half. Hats off to Arizona State. They came out in the second half and made a lot of plays big plays. I know their receiver made a lot of big plays, running backs, quarterback. And they've got great players and they're a good team. When it comes down to it, defense made good stops and offense made a drive to go win it. So that's what you gotta do. Q. What did they do defensively after you guys scored that touchdown in the third quarter? There was a lull there [inaudible]. DYLAN CANTRELL: They didn't change up. We just kind of hit a dry spell and just gotta stick to what we know and make those routine plays and that can't happen. We gotta be better than that. Q. What did Nic say in the huddle right before that last touchdown? DYLAN CANTRELL: Yeah, I mean, they had the timeout and it was between that and another play. And just he looked at me and he has some confidence in me. And my teammates looked at me and they said we have the confidence in you -- just find a way to get in the end zone. Q. How about the downfield blocking tonight by the receiver group. Is that something you guys take a lot of pride in, because boy it was sure evident tonight? DYLAN CANTRELL: No doubt. You see a lot of teams guys taking plays off at the receiver position in the run game, but that's one thing that we've stressed since day one is downfield blocking and just doing anything you can to help the running backs out. For me there's no better feeling, sometimes better than a touchdown, if you get that spring block and you see the running back run by you for a touchdown. There's no better feeling than that. Q. You've got asked forever about your rapport with Pat. How is it with Nic, because it seems like you already seem to have that same kind of chemistry? DYLAN CANTRELL: Yeah, Nic's been here for almost four years now. So we've got countless reps. And that's one thing this offseason, as soon as Pat declared, that's one thing that we made it a big deal and stressing every three or four times a week going out and doing extra routes and just getting that timing down. I think it's worked out for us and we've got to continue to build on it. Q. You probably don't necessarily want to bad mouth an opponent, but Arizona State was last in the nation in pass defense last two years. Do you feel like tonight, need to go out and take advantage of that, have a big night? DYLAN CANTRELL: I didn't even know that. Like I said, they had a lot of fight in them. Down 20 points or so at halftime, coming out and making it a game. Like I said, hats off to them, but we have a lot of fight in us, too. It's probably a game the past year or two I'm not sure if we would have pulled it out. That's one thing that we stressed this whole offseason is finishing the games. And that's one thing that we lacked at last year. So hopefully this will give some confidence and we'll build off of it. Q. That last touchdown, how much fun is it to show your speed, (indiscernible) to the edge? DYLAN CANTRELL: Like I said, just had some great blocks and just find a way to get in. Kind of maybe thought I had, I would have a chance to have to dive at it, really focusing on staying out of bounds no matter what because we want to keep the clock running. And then had a chance and had to make a play. Q. How does it help beating a team with this much pressure, a must-win game for them? DYLAN CANTRELL: I don't think we thought about it like that. We just approached every game the same and prepare as well as possible and go out there and try to make plays and help our guys out and get the win. So I think we approached it as if we were going against anybody in the country. MYCHEALON THOMAS: Michael Thomas. Q. What was quicker, your move to get the fumble or getting off the field with the ball? MYCHEALON THOMAS: I was just trying to get off the field to get the offense the ball back so they could score. That's all I was trying to do. Q. What did you say when you saw -- MYCHEALON THOMAS: I seen he had kicked the ball at first. I didn't think I was going to get to it at first. I had the opportunity to get on the ball and I grabbed it. Q. Overall from the defensive line how important was it for you all to stuff up the middle, because seemed like they were trying the avoid it early on and they were trying to go to the sides. How important was it to establish the middle? MYCHEALON THOMAS: It was very important. We just had two weeks of preparation on them. And we knew what we had to do, so we made sure that we did our job. Q. What was different for you guys this year against Ballage? Was that a goal to kind of shut him down? MYCHEALON THOMAS: It really wasn't a goal. Last year we were just young. And this year we just stepped it up. We had, like I said, we had two weeks preparation on them. So it wasn't a goal. We just knew what we had to get done. Q. You actually had a little defensive back play there at the end of the game. Is that instinct that you just were going for the ball and looked up and all of a sudden you're covering a receiver? MYCHEALON THOMAS: I seen him go out and my instinct was just to take him because I didn't know if nobody was behind me. And I just made a good play and I did a good job. Q. You also had a sack and four tackles in the first half. Was that one of your best games (inaudible)? MYCHEALON THOMAS: Since last year? Yes, it's been one of my best games. This game will be one of my best games. Q. Coach Kingsbury talked about your work with Coach Whitt and your strength and all that. Do you look at tonight as a payback for all the effort that you put in? MYCHEALON THOMAS: Yes, it's a very big payback. I was working my butt off during the offseason, during fall camp to get bigger, get stronger. I appreciate Coach Whitt and his program. Q. What did you all do during the weather delay? MYCHEALON THOMAS: We just stayed focused. Made sure we stayed focused and knew what we had to do. Don't lose focus of the game and just -- Q. Since it had been a while since pregame did you all have any snacks or were you all hanging out? MYCHEALON THOMAS: Hanging out in the locker room. We had snacks too. We were just hanging out in the locker room and eating for a little bit. Q. What was Coach's message after you guys scored that touchdown and you guys had to go out there and get that stop? MYCHEALON THOMAS: He just said: Let's get the stop. It was on us; defense wins games. And our team was dependent on defense. And we did what we had to do. Q. What does it do for guys like Zach Barnes and Eli Howard (indiscernible) the quarterback, to get that last sack? MYCHEALON THOMAS: It was a good play. We were just trying to get off the field. They had a penalty, I think, offense had a penalty. So that helped us better just to get that sack. It sealed the deal to win the game. NIC SHIMONEK: Nic Shimonek. Q. What's going through your mind when it's 45-45 and you know your work is not done? NIC SHIMONEK: Gotta score. Each and every drive no matter what the defense is doing or what the situation is, first quarter, end of the game like that, whatever the case may be, the goal was to score a touchdown every drive. I was trying to calm those guys down a little bit. And I could sense the -- I wouldn't say nervousness -- but maybe anxiousness, urgency to make a play. Just wanted those guys to relax, stay within themselves and ultimately that's what we did. Found a way to win. Q. You said you wanted to calm them down. You felt pretty calm yourself? NIC SHIMONEK: Yeah, you know, I got a little frustrated there in the second half. It seemed like they pretty much had a good play call for everything we ran as opposed to the first half. But, yeah, even I had to tell myself as I was telling those guys, calm down, we got this. I kind of had to take a step back and tell myself that, because like I've mentioned in the past, I'm a very emotional player. At times I get too high -- in the highs and too low in the lows. So going back to what I said, I need to take a step back. While I'm telling them to calm down, I need to tell myself to calm down as well. Q. When that play call came in, the last one to do the hand-off to Dylan, what was going through your mind when that play call came in? NIC SHIMONEK: I knew it was going to work. Situations like that in any football game, you gotta give your best player the football. And he's one of our best players. I knew he was going to -- first, four, five, dudes over there he was going to find a way to get in the end zone, as big, fast strong as he is. I was very confident in the play call. As soon as he said it, as soon as Coach Kingsbury said it, I knew it was our game. And like I said, Dylan, he wasn't going to be denied. So it was great effort by him. Q. How would you say (indiscernible) asset in this game? He seemingly never let the ball hit the ground? NIC SHIMONEK: That's who he is. He's probably got the best eye/hand coordination, best ball skills of anybody I've ever been around, high school, Iowa, here, he just makes plays. I threw him one back-shoulder and the dude was draped all over him, face mask, before the ball even got there. The ball kind of just stuck to him. He one-handed it, got a foot in. But that's what he does. That's what he does in practice. Have a ton of confidence in him that he's going to come down with the ball every time I throw it to him. So, yeah, he's a great target. He's a great asset to have in there. Q. Seems like you got off to a much quicker start than you did last week. What was the biggest difference? NIC SHIMONEK: There's also a negative to that. We didn't finish as well. This coming up week, we need to put the two games together. Started slow last week, finished strong. Started faster this week. And just didn't finish. Found a way at the end. But you know it's a work in progress. It's only the second game of the year. But, yeah, moving forward we just need to put together four quarters. We played about as bad as we could play in the second half leading up to that last drive -- offensively, defensively. But in this league, a win is a win, whether you win by one or you win by 50, a win is a win. That's the goal, to go 1-0 every week. And we accomplished that goal, so moving on to Houston. Q. How much will this team take from this win in terms of confidence building forward? You get a big sense that this is a big momentum win for you guys? NIC SHIMONEK: I'm not sure we would have won that game last year. Just the backs against the wall, needed a play. The offensive line, man, the offensive line, that last drive, if we wouldn't have went down there and scored, the whole game would have been my fault because the offensive line was giving me so much time. If I couldn't find anybody, if I couldn't make any throws, I don't know what I'm doing up here. As far as the defense goes, they got, what, a minute and 55 seconds left, I believe, to go score. And an offense like that, that's nothing, similar to us. And we're fortunate to make some plays. Justus Parker made a great play with a pass deflection. Got the sack. Sloppy in the second half, I would say. Sloppy in the second half. But found a way to get it done and at the end of the day that's all that matters. Q. Keke and Dylan both are way over 100 yards. Of course, Derrick and Cameron both made big plays, too. How much did it seem like to you your first read was open tonight and how many of those big plays were maybe second or third guy that you looked for? NIC SHIMONEK: You know, there was a couple -- the touchdown to Dylan was a fourth read, the post in the first half. Q. Fourth read, did you say? NIC SHIMONEK: It was a fourth read. Well, I guess third. I guess third. But, no, they do a great job getting open. Like I said in the past, you get those guys the ball. I threw a little bubble to Cam in the first half. Bad ball, threw it down at his knees. He had to bend down and get it, stopped his momentum, and makes the dude fall on the ground and goes for a touchdown. It's a blessing to have guys like that that you can shoot it out there and anything can happen. I'd probably say the play of the game, it was third and 10 and I found Cam for a first down. He did a great job getting open, great job of knowing where the sticks were, just finding it, getting a first down. And that goes back to having chemistry with these guys, working all spring and summer, just being on the same page. Q. Was he your primary on that play? NIC SHIMONEK: No, he wasn't. I was looking -- it was third and 10, I was looking to go to one of the big boys outside, hoping they would just get into their guy and make a play. But they sat on it. They played a good defense for what we called. And going back to the offensive line, man, I felt like I had seven, eight seconds back there. And then Cam found a hole. I shot it to him. Like I said, he did a great job knowing where the sticks were, getting the first down. And we went on to score after that. Q. What did you think of Justin Stockton tonight because he ran the ball really, really hard and made some big catches for you, too? NIC SHIMONEK: We just gotta keep trusting him, give him the ball. He's a very explosive guy. He always has been. Just gotta be consistent. If it doesn't work, first, second play, one or two runs in a row, just be consistent. Feed him. Eventually he's going to hit a hole and he's going to find a lane and make a big play. And the same with Nisby. I kept telling Nisby, he fumbled in the end zone, he was kind of down on himself, but I think it was the second quarter at that time, I was like we've got this whole game; that's not the last touch you're going to get the rest of the season. You've gotta flush it. Being a quarterback, obviously we have to have a quick memory for interceptions and sacks and fumbles. So I was trying to relay that message to him to get him a little more upbeat. But those guys are doing a great job. And as long as we keep running the ball, it's going to make it easier on everybody, me, the receivers, everybody. Q. Arizona State had ten sacks the first two games. All those guys across the defensive front made a bunch of plays so far. Were you thinking going into this game thinking you are going to have to throw in time? And also how much -- was there much talk this week about the offensive line, hey, guys, this is a big challenge for you guys, you have to come through? NIC SHIMONEK: No, I trust those guys up front. I trust all five of them. I trust Coach Brandon Jones to put them in the right position to be successful. There was never, man, I'm about to drop back, I gotta get it out quick, here they come. It was never like that. I knew they were going to pick up who they needed to pick up and the rest is on me. There were two or three -- I think I got sacked three or four times. One or two of them were my fault. I just gotta be able to get the ball away. I know there was one play where I was running around back there, seemed like 20, 30 seconds, ended up taking a sack. Just gotta play smarter overall. Q. You mentioned you had calming words for the team. What did you say before that game-winning touchdown? NIC SHIMONEK: That we gotta score. We didn't have a choice. Like I said, it seemed like everybody was antsy, anxious, urgent, but me personally, whenever my back's against the wall, I've always been this way, it seems like I play a little better. So I was fired up for the moment. I was just trying to tell my offensive line, you know, they're getting tired. It's the end of the game. They really haven't been subbing a lot. You're going to be able to block them. And if you all do that, you can trust me, I'm going to make the play. A little too close for comfort. I'd say the game got a little too close for comfort. But I wasn't going to let that one slip away. Q. Dylan said the last time he scored a rushing touchdown was his first year in high school. Who was the last team that you beat with a drive like that in the fourth quarter? NIC SHIMONEK: Man, I don't even know. That's a long time ago. That's a long time ago. I don't even remember. Q. You said the first game it was awesome to be out there; do you still have that feel? NIC SHIMONEK: Oh, yeah. The delay -- I tried not to let the delay affect me, or us as a team, as a unit. Stay hyped. Keep those guys amped up. But, man, you only get 12 of these guaranteed. So especially at home, anytime you get a chance to play in front of your home crowd -- and they were awesome tonight -- you gotta take advantage of it, simple as that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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