Jay Norvell (Texas WR coach): Tuesday press conference

[gocalbears1994]

A few interesting comments from Coach Norvell, who is now calling the offensive plays for Texas

Offense's identity

• Trying to cut down playbook
• Want players to play with speed; react fast; don't overthink
• Can't do everything; We want our offense to be known for something
• We want an identity
• Looking for improvement every week; Lot of challenges ahead of us
• Last week versus Rice we were very simple

Team's effort

• We knew it wouldn't be perfect
• Effort should be perfect
• "It takes no talent, to play with great effort"
• That's what we asked of them last week

Culture

• We don't have a unit yet; Lots of individuals, some players out for themselves
• Challenging each guy to play less selfish
• "Good teams are unselfish. We're not there yet"

Offensive plays

• Last week we didn't get enough offensive plays
• Not enough practice
• Big difference this week; Cal will throw the ball almost every snap
• Last year Arizona had 114 plays against Cal last year
• "Cal can score, they are very talented offensively"

QB Jerrod Heard

• Jerrod Heard is an interesting kid
• Different in a game than he is in practice
• Tyrone was a little more comfortable in practice, but didn't make plays on Saturday
• Jerrod's skills only show up on game days, not in practice (e.g. when they don't tackle)
• Jerrod did a lot of things in that Rice game. "extremely decisive"
• You can tell the confidence a QB has when the ball leaves his hand
• We challenge the kids to be decisive
• I was very pleased with Jerrod from last Saturday
• We'll grow with his skills
• Jerrod providing a spark with his feet "changed everything". Gave us confidence
• Why didn't he start earlier? Hard to see Jerrod's skills when QB is not being tackled in practice. We just thought it was time we found out can Jerrod play

Running game

• We need to do a better job running the ball
• We were very disappointed in how we ran the ball versus ND. Tried to run, but couldn't
• Wants to get their RB's more touches. Will run inside and outside
• Trying to get our RB's into some rhythm

Youth on the team

• We have three Freshmen starting on offense. Hard to believe
• Lots of growing to be done
• Each week we should be better. Not the same team they saw last week
• Lot of great kids on this team. Hope fans support them

My overall reaction: I'm glad Cal is playing Texas early in the season. It is clear Texas is trying to find their offensive "identity", who their playmakers really are, and how to put together an "offense" (instead of just a collection of plays). I agree with a number of other recent posts: the key to us winning is getting a good lead on Texas and forcing them to try and keep up with us on scoring. Cal should win, if we can execute well. Go Bears!!!

 

[AdmiralBear]

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[LafayetteBear]

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