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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 30, 2018

David Beaty

Lawrence, Kansas

DAVID BEATY: Thanks for coming today, y'all.

First of all, just talking a little bit about last week, a couple things that stuck out that I did not mention at the postgame presser that I want to make sure that I do. First, a big congratulations to one of my heroes, one of the best all the time to ever play here, John Hadl on his retirement. Looked like he had a great weekend. I was able to see him at the timeout where they honored him.

What a classy, unbelievable Jayhawk. What a great career he's had. Got the sweetest wife in the world, the greatest family. I know everybody here feels the same about him. Just so, so in debt to him for all he's done for this great university. Just can't tell you enough how much he's meant to us, really to the university. It will always be Coach Hadl to me.

Obviously Larry Brown and the Orange Bowl team. Having that team here last weekend, it was a real treat. It was an honor to have those guys around. Larry Brown, go the to meet him on Friday. What a class act. He's 69 years old. I'm convinced he could still play. He is a good-looking dude now. He is a big, big man. Man, just a class act.

Talking to him that Friday was just an honor to be able to get to know him. First time I ever met him. The fourth member of that team to go into the ring, if I'm not mistaken. John Zook, Riggins, Bobby Douglas, another gigantic human. Great players from that era.

Really cool to have that team here, to honor them, after 50 years. I think they had an amazing weekend from all accounts of everybody that I heard. They certainly deserve it. They're absolute legends. When we speak of the shoulder of giants we're standing on, it's certainly those men. It was great to have them here.

As far as the game goes, we got to put our players in position to be successful in all three areas of the game. I think we're getting a little bit better in all those areas. Peyton, he played probably his best game. You can certainly see his confidence continue to build. You can see the confidence in him from our team and the guys really in all three areas, just coming up to him, and you can start to see him develop as kind of the leader of this offense.

I thought our staff did a really nice job to get ways some of our better players the ball the other day. Khalil and Pooka were both big for us in the game. We knew what we wanted to do, were able to accomplish that for the most part.

Trying to be creative in order to get them the ball in ways that maybe they hadn't seen that were easy for us, maybe harder for the defense to defend. But things that were just easy for us to do. I take my hat off to our staff for that.

We said that we had to improve in a lot of areas. We accomplished one of our major goals, which is scoring on the first drive of each half. That was critical. Set the tone for the game. We had a three-and-out and a score on the first drive for each offense and defense in the second half, which was critical. Thought it set the tone for the second half.

The defense continues to create turnovers. We had two more this week. Really the offense took great care of the ball. We didn't put it in jeopardy to where we turned it over.

We did learn some things the other day about risk versus reward with regard to putting the ball out. We talk about that all the time, but sometimes you got to go through it to learn it. We were able to go through it and learn it.

Other than that, so, so many key guys. You guys got specific questions.

Q. Offensively, I think you had 300 or so yards. You're not where you want to be yet. What else are you looking for from this offense to trend in the right direction?
DAVID BEATY: I think as we look at the tape, there's still some lulls that go. I know there's ebbs and flows in football games. It just happens. There's still some lulls in there, within that second quarter.

As we go back and look at the video, the execution part of it is just where we got to focus in a little bit more. They did a better job executing than we did in that second quarter. I think we were able to settle down in the second half.

We have to avoid those lulls. We have to be able to continue to put first downs together. Three-and-outs, those things put a lot of pressure on our team. They put a lot of pressure on all kinds of teams. We have to be able to move the ball and get first downs.

Q. Watching you guys, you never think about your long snapper. Does that mean he's doing a real good job since he's never the story?
DAVID BEATY: I say this all the time. Maybe the best value that you can get on a football team in college for a scholarship is a long snapper. Typically you can't afford to scholarship more than one at a time. Most of the time that means that guy is probably going to be your starter from the first day.

John has been that type of player since he got here. He came here as a walk-on. He didn't come here as a scholarship player, but he earned one. He had one coming to him when I walked in the door, so I didn't have to give him one. It was already coming his way, which was great.

He's playing against his brother this week. We asked him to change his number this last year. When we asked him to change his number, he told us what number he wanted, asked if it was open. It was No. 39. I think there's a little battle in the household which one is the better 39, him or his brother.

Q. Mike Lee didn't start against TCU this past weekend. What led to that?
DAVID BEATY: Just competition. I mean, really it's just standard competition. How are you preparing during the week, how are you managing what we're doing defensively and game plan-wise. Those things are critical.

At that point I think there's no doubt Clint felt better about going with McCullough or any of the other safeties we had at that point. But he was no doubt going to be a part of the game plan. At that point nobody is exempt from competition. He didn't do anything outwardly. You just have to compete and produce in practice because it's going to carry over to the game.

Q. Think it motivated him?
DAVID BEATY: I think it did. We had to take him out a couple times, too, because of mistakes. I think that kind of motivated him a little bit.

Mike is a competitor. I don't think he's a guy that shies from that. He's been a starter from the time he walked in the door here. Sometimes that can be hard on a guy, to learn that, man, the world doesn't always just revolve around whatever it is that you want, right? He's not that type of guy.

Man, all of us need that wake-up call every now and then, Listen, there's a standard, and I have to meet it, just like everyone else.

Q. You talked a little bit on Saturday about Peyton dealing with criticism. Do you think the way his demeanor is is uniquely wired to handle the outside noise?
DAVID BEATY: I don't think I could say it any better than the way you just said it. It is uniquely wired. There's times when I'm asking him to be a little bit more of something he's not. I've learned how to take who he is and make that a positive, too. When you're somebody you're not, your teammates, they see.

He is steady Eddie. It's been a good thing for him, for sure. It's really more adjusting to us. That's your job as a coach, to make sure you're getting what you need, but able to adjust all the personalities. There's plus and minuses to all of it. You said it about as good as it could be said.

Q. Can you recall the conversation last week, how much confidence that gave him after a game that maybe wasn't his best?
DAVID BEATY: I think he was speaking about just the messages I sent him on the bus. He was sitting behind me a little ways. I wanted to encourage him based on what I saw in the game.

I saw a major improvement in terms of understanding what we were doing. I could tell and our coaches could tell we were on our way to getting what we pictured we were wanting, right?

The thing that I still was really most satisfied with was when we made the simple adjustment, that you saw the success come his way. We weren't able to finish that game off. There's no excuse for that. But we certainly saw what we needed to see out of him.

The thing is, I'm sitting here talking a lot about him. But, guys, I feel the same way about Carter, I really do. Miles is going to be the same way. He's not quite there yet, but he's going to be the same way.

Those guys, they work their tails off. They're here every morning early. They're committed to doing it. Right now I can see a lot of confidence in all their eyes because they know what they're seeing. Everything is structurally based, where are the weaknesses, how do we get our pieces moved around to take advantage of that space.

Q. You said before the season you were kind of hoping to play Miles every week. Obviously that hasn't played out. What kind of led to that?
DAVID BEATY: It would probably be easy to see, the guy had a significant shoulder injury on his throwing arm during the Baylor game. Him coming back at this point in the year is going to be predicated on need. If we don't have to use him, then we won't.

He is a very unselfish kid. We are going to continue to prepare him. He still takes snaps with us every week. He prepares himself as well. There's only so many snaps to go around to be able to get everybody completely prepared. If we can get a situation where we can continue to keep a shirt on him, that's best for him if we can do it.

We still got a lot of ball left to play. It's like I told him and all those guys, we're not considering that with anyone, but if we don't have to, we're not going to put him in the game and play him for two or three plays and waste a year. That would be unfair to him.

Q. Is that the same with Evan?
DAVID BEATY: He's not quite there yet. We'll have to start making decisions on some of those guys here. I would probably be more pressed to use Evan if we weren't producing in those positions right now. But my main goal is to make sure that he's healthy. Same thing with Quan. They're battling injury. I don't talk in-depth, but they're still battling with some things that may take a while.

Q. Doug Meacham, do you get another assistant that's an on-field coach?
DAVID BEATY: We promoted Jeff love. Jeff Love was basically -- he is our video coordinator. He's come out of that role. We promoted him to be my assistant.

I still have head coaching duties, so I have to step out of that room from time to time. Jeff was a quarterback coach at Houston Baptist. We studied together, grew up in the game together. He knows exactly what I want, what we're looking for. He knows exactly how I want them coached. We come from the same tree in regard to that.

I trust the language. I trust that when I walk out of that room, whatever is said is just like it's coming out of my mouth. As the head coach, there's got to be some times where I have to step out. Unfortunately we had one of our kids, his brother was killed this last Saturday, Hempstead. A terrible situation.

Every now and then as the head coach, you have to step out of the room. When you do that, you got to have somebody that you trust, somebody that you know. Jeff, he was already on our staff, so it was an easy adjustment. He knows and is familiar with what we're doing.

Q. You mentioned the improvement and confidence from a personal perspective, program perspective. Talk about the importance of building on the Big 12 win, the attitude of winning, that you're capable of winning?
DAVID BEATY: Absolutely. I mean, those goals continue to set themselves. Now we're moving to the level of back-to-back Big 12 wins. Getting that first Big 12 win for the season under our belt was big. We obviously would want that earlier in the season, but it didn't happen. You just keep working till you get that breakthrough.

We were able to get that last week. We have to make that kind of a pillar. I said that a few years ago when we played Texas. Those games can be pillars that you can talk back on, say that was one of the big turning points if you continue to build on it. If you don't, it becomes a game that you played, right?

We've got to make sure that this becomes one of the pillars in our program by backing it up with another victory at home this week.

Q. (No microphone.)
DAVID BEATY: Surprised and shocked that the guy was still available, to be honest with you. He was a very talented guy. It wasn't like he was quietly heralded. He was a guy that won a lot of awards. If I'm not mistaken, it was the Gatorade Player of the Year, one of those players of the year.

You turn on his tape and you saw a lot of ability in terms of spinning it, he can flat throw it, great release, compact. You could tell he commanded the offense.

The other thing is he can move. In this day and age, there's so many freaks playing on the other side of the ball, you better be able to move a little bit. If you can't move at all, it makes it very difficult. He had all those things about him. We had done a lot of studying on him, knew how cerebral he was. Most of the guys we've had play here, really everywhere I've been, have been pretty cerebral.

Q. Is Jeff Love the closest thing you had to an assistant offensive coordinator who would help you design the game plan and do the play calling during the game?
DAVID BEATY: No. I would say that those duties, like I said earlier, that's us as a group. As we break down how we game plan, we do it as a group. I don't get in there and say, This is it, amen, that's your lunch, eat it, that's what we're doing. We don't do it that way.

We have a bunch of smart guys in that room. We bounce a bunch of stuff off each other. I just left it, we're talking about a certain situation we're still trying to mull over. It's a group effort.

One of the things he's helpful for me on is understanding structure. As I'm talking to him, when I am communicating about what we're about to run, knowing what they're in is critical, knowing their decoys, things like that, he understands that really, really well.

All of us have a role on game day. One of his roles is kind of helping me in that regard. Nobody really is any more involved than anybody else. All of them are really good at what they do. It works good as a team.

Q. He's up in the booth, correct?
DAVID BEATY: Yeah, he's up in the booth.

Q. (No microphone.)
DAVID BEATY: Man, you really do. You'd have to be blind not to see it. They started off the year a little slow offensively. Of course, they played a really good Iowa football team. They weren't lighting it up, right? They lost Kyle, who was a really good player. They had a backup come in that I thought was a really good player, I still think he's a really good player. When Brock came in, you could see a spark, production go up. You couple that with Matt Campbell and his staff, I mean, it spells trouble. They're good football coaches. They're going to manufacture ways to get the ball in the end zone. I think they've done as good a job as I've seen. Matt Campbell has a great future ahead of him. He's one of the better ones I've ever had to coach against. He's good.

Q. Now that we can interview the offensive coordinator, do you think we can get the defensive coordinator once a week?
DAVID BEATY: Next question (laughter).

Q. Iowa State seems like they're getting to the quarterback real easily this year. 22 sacks. How are you going to protect Bender?
DAVID BEATY: JaQuan Bailey is really good. The guy that sticks out to me is Lima. Their nose is a problem. That guy is a really good player. He looks a little bit like Isi to me. This dude can play. He is a talented guy. As much as we got to worry about JaQuan, I mean, Willie Harvey is a terrific football player. They've got some guys over there. Brian Peavy, he has 40 starts, leads them, plays corner. This dude is not very big, but he'll bring the wood when he hits you.

They do a really good job defensively. They have some really good players. I like their middle safety, Greg Eisworth. Three really kind of new guys in the secondary and top cloud stuff that they do. All of them understand it really well. They're doing really well.

Their strength to me is that defensive line. They got some dudes that can give you some problems. Spencer Benton, 58, not a lot of people talking about him, but I'm telling you, Spencer, you're a good player, we know about you.

They're good up front. Well-coached. Do a good job of putting pressure on him. They're actually better this year than they were last year. Sometimes it's a little difficult when you're in a three down front, but they do a nice job.

Y'all have a good one.

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