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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 2, 2019

Broderick Washington

Lubbock, Texas

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Broderick.

Q. Coach talked about it, but on the first third down of the game, you get the tackle-for-loss there, what was that like to immediately make an impact?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: I really didn't think about it. I was just caught up in the moment of just being able to play football again. I was just excited for the season. It kind of just happened really.

Q. In general, Coach Patterson talked a lot about those third down stops. What can you see among guys when you see so many opportunities and you convert them during the game?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: Coach Patterson has a great game plan for the defense. Getting third down stops is one of them. Really just trying to hit our goal. I can't really remember what our goal is. I don't know the number, I can't think of the number right now.

Just trying to get as many third down stops as we can, get the offense the ball as many times as we could was really our goal. We did pretty good at it Saturday.

Q. How good was it to hit someone else for the first time?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: It was great (smiling). Fall camp pretty long. We don't go live every day. Being able to hit someone else, not really thinking about having to take care of our teammates, nothing like that, it was a great feeling really.

Q. (No microphone.)
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: I try to just prepare the same way every week. Like, okay, say Saturday, watched the game, went through all my creations and stuff. The next day I came in, hear what my coach had to say, pretty much the same things I was thinking. Actually sat down and watched some of UTEP's last game.

I try to just keep it simple really, give myself a schedule, and I stick by the schedule every week regardless of who we're playing.

Q. When you guys are getting out to a comfortable lead against a team, to continue to lock in for four quarters, knowing you're up 35-10, but three weeks from now it's going to be tighter than that.
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: Maybe (smiling). No, I'm just kidding.

Really one thing that Coach Patterson says, he always has stories for us. One thing he's told us in one of his stories is he used to be a wrestler. His dad would tell him just to stare at his opponent the whole time until it was time for the match. I pretty much did that Saturday. It actually worked. I'm going to continue to do that, just watch them until I'm back on the field, stay locked in until the clock says zero and we win the game.

Q. (Question about UTEP.)
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: They do a lot of the same similar stuff as Montana State. We have a good idea of what we might see, what they could give us. Pretty much it's just us cleaning up the things we messed up on and getting better at those little things.

Q. In terms of run game, what have you seen from 19, if you've been able to see that, the runningback from UTEP that has 140 yards?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: He's a big, solid, physical back. He's downhill. He's not making too many moves. He's trying to get north and south right now.

But with our runningbacks, it's pretty much the same thing. They're trying to get downhill. They don't make a lot of moves. I feel the preparation we have leading up into the game will be pretty good for us. We'll be ready for them come Saturday.

Q. Just from your perspective, when did you feel the defense not necessarily felt comfortable but felt in a groove? Started off with three three-and-outs.
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: We have five in a row. That's all good (smiling).

Honestly, I'm not sure what it was. I just felt like everybody had a common goal and we weren't going to stop until we accomplished that goal.

Q. You seemed personally very excited about the opportunity to get a safety down. Y'all practice that in scrimmage. How much does that drive you?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: It kind of makes me upset to know I was that close and didn't get it done. This upcoming week, I'll be really working on finishing and just getting to the quarterback.

Q. At what point for you in that first game were you game day is back, got the chills? Is there a game day tradition where you hear it or see it, we're back?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: Honestly, the newest thing that we do now that I think made me really know it was game day is when we first pull in, we put our stuff down in the stadium, we all take a walk around the field. Coming down the tunnel, that's when I was like, Okay, it's game day. I was locked in from then.

Q. Nice to get a night game early on in the season, too?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: Oh, yeah, I can't wait. I know the fans will be out there going crazy. The atmosphere will be great. Really is nothing like playing in Jones at night. Can't wait for it.

Q. Is it kind of hard to dissect where you need to improve when you have such a dominant performance defensively, dominant on third down as well?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: I wouldn't say it's hard because our coaches, they grade every little thing. Pretty much once we got our grades back, got feedback from our coaches, it was only little things that we really messed up on. It wasn't anything that was too big or too critical.

It's just the small, little details like. For instance with me, my footwork was bad. It might have looked like I had a good game or whatever, but the way our coaches grade things, they grade really hard.

Knowing that I've been working on my footwork, knowing it's not perfect, just drives me to go harder in practice this week, really focus on that.

Q. Do you think this defensive line group is the best you've had here at Texas Tech?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: It's kind of hard to compare just because the way the two different schemes that we have. In this new scheme, we're allowed to be more aggressive, get after the offensive linemen. That just makes things really different. It's hard to say.

Q. How much hotter was it on the turf on Saturday than it has been on the practice field? How do you feel y'all handled the heat?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: It's really been hot all fall camp. I mean, it was just like practice, honestly. It didn't feel any different. It was hot either way.

Really the weather just a mental thing. We didn't think about it, so it didn't bother us.

Q. After the game on Saturday, Coach Wells mentioned something in passing about how he appreciated you guys buy in because things have changed. He mentioned y'all do something different preparation-wise on Friday. Do you know what he's referring to?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: So on Fridays, with Kliff, we would go to the country club, to a movie, then go to the hotel, we'd have multiple meetings and stuff like that.

Now we come in, walk-throughs, eat at the country club, go to the hotel, we just got downtime really. We're with each other bonding, having family time basically.

Q. I don't know how much you watched the defensive unit as a whole, was there anyone else that stood out for you?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: You want me to name them all, go through it?

Q. Pick out one or two.
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: Jaylon Hutchings. Really the whole defense honestly, if we being honest. Everybody was flying around. You could see, like, the techniques that Coach Patterson wants us to do, closing space before tackling, you would see guys jumping off the screen, making tackles everywhere.

Q. You talk about going up against the pace of the offense in practice. At some point were you wondering, Montana State, when are you going to pick it up?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: No, I pretty much enjoyed the little rest really. Our offense guys a hundred miles per hour. It's so fast in practice. The defense often gets upset with how fast they go in practice.

At the same time it's really going to have us prepared for when we get in the conference, we're going against teams that use the tempo more often in non-conference.

Q. You mentioned getting to be more aggressive on defense, going against opposing offensive lines. Did that play out on Saturday the way you foresaw it? Give us an idea of what that means.
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: I saw it a lot on Saturday. Really I'm not sure how much you played football growing up, but being in a stack stance, you can generate a lot more force and power than you can in the frog stance. It just allows you as a defensive lineman to use all your power in your legs, be able to attack offensive linemen faster than what it was in the past.

Q. More attacking than reacting?
BRODERICK WASHINGTON: Yes, sir.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Broderick.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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