The two coordinators had their opportunity in front of the media last night.

Eric Morris:

[Relationship with Kingsbury] him and I have been together for 7 years, we think alike, but I’ll be out there signaling with the offense now . . . I’ll be in the box, I’ve never coached the game down on the field, it’s been the same way, we work really well on game day, we’ve had a good relationship, I think he trusts me, it will be the same thing with him signaling . . . [Kingsbury with the defense] he’s been cheering for them a lot, the defense has been doing a great job, Coach Gibbs has been doing a good job of getting those newcomers ready to play . . . [Brandon Jones and Jabbar Juluke working together] they’re working really well together, the spend a ton of time together, they are devoted to making this run game better, all that terminology is being straightened out and . . . when you look back and self-scout, we ran for 900 yards last year and we’re putting more emphasis on it, more run period and live periods, live blocking and tackling, which we need . . . best players thus far: it’s been hard, they’ve been good, Keke [Coutee], Cameron Batson and Jonathan Giles, Zach Austin is working his way back, they are working and dynamic and explosive . . . [DeQuan Bowman] he’s got a lot of guys in front of him, had early trouble with the playbook, but now he’s got those down and now he hasn’t made the mental busts, but he’s behind the 8-ball with Files there . . . [Nic Shimonek] he threw an interception today, he takes that hard, he strives to be perfect, he takes it personal each day, tell him to leave at night . . . [on criticizing Shimonek] Kingsbury is always wanting to be nice to quarterbacks to flush the bad play, but he [Shimonek] likes the criticism, he takes it on his shoulders, which is what you want . . . [Shimonek’s furniture] I have not bought any furniture, his chalk paint is his speciality . . .

David Gibbs:

Just feel like when we roll our twos and threes, we have more quality, we have a long ways to go, going against the offense is a task in itself, doing more running game helps improve our defense, we’ll use every rep we can get . . . [Kingsbury with the defense] I think it’s awesome, he’s in our meetings, watching film, good having a different perspective, someone has a different opinion of a player and defense, I’ll do whatever it takes to fix this defense, I’m not the guy that thinks I know all of the answers . . . [Kingsbury with the offense] he’s been over there a bunch, I have my own problems, he’s been around and been in our own meetings, I’m assuming Morris is doing the same offensive coach [Gibbs says something to the effect that he doesn’t keep tabs with Kingsbury during practice] . . . [with Kingsbury watching the defense closely] I think it picks up intensity, I’ve always used that wherever I’ve coached, you always use that as motivation and he’s standing right there and he’s more involved and be more hands-on with the scheme and the relationship with the players will be better, after three days, I’m excited about the direction of the program . . . [players who have impressed] we’ve got a bunch of guys improving, I’m not the guy to point those things out, it’s all about winning football games on Saturday afternoon, we need a whole bunch of guys to get better and improve . . . we’re rolling so many guys in there, even at linebacker today, Jamile Johnson and Christian Taylor are going with the 1’s on defense and you don’t really know that they’re out there, and when you don’t notice a defensive player being out there, that’s good [think implying that there weren’t many mistakes] all of the d-linemen I’m excited about, they got their brains beat in today, but that happens . . . . Broderick Washington doesn’t know how to not stop working as hard as he can . . .

Defense wins the day!

Practice No.3 is ✅

Defense wins the day. #WreckEm #DontFlinch pic.twitter.com/53IMBvhf3L

— Red Raider FB (@RedRaider_FB) March 8, 2017

Practice.

Full contact, full speed.

Let’s fly around today. #WreckEm #DontFlinch pic.twitter.com/Ull9wnJQF8

— Red Raider FB (@RedRaider_FB) March 7, 2017

LAJ’s Don Williams has more on Kliff Kingsbury focused on the defense, Jah’Shawn Johnson says that he likes it:

“I know a lot of guys have been talking about it,” safety Jah’Shawn Johnson said Tuesday. “They’ve been liking it, actually were surprised when he first came out there and came to the defensive side. They were like, ‘What is he doing?’ But he’s been a big help to us.”

Through his first four seasons as Tech coach, Kingsbury’s taken care of his offense and given his defensive coordinator autonomy to run the defense. That seems to be true of many head coaches of spread-passing teams.

There’s also a quote in there about how Nic Shimonek spends a lot of time with Zach Kittley, the offensive graduate assistant, and watches a lot of film with him.

LAJ’s Don Williams has some player reaction from some of the players on the new turf, which they say is softer and doesn’t burn them.