Recap

Head coach Matt Rhule:
Opening Statement:
"Hopefully this will become a sort of rite of spring tradition. It was really nice to have it in the stadium and I'm grateful to Baylor Nation. We had several hundred people at the event before (the game), and we had a crowd on the sideline, which was what we needed. I'm proud of our team for the work they've done. We have several hundred hours of community service, they're doing well in the classroom and with 50 days of me, coach Snow and coach DeLeone yelling at them, they came out today and played football. We had some good moments and some bad moments and I'm proud of them. So many guys stepped up and I wanted to mention some of them. Wyatt Schrepfer and Obim Okeke, I'm really proud of those two guys for playing the whole game. Christian Beard and Daniel Russell and Dalton Justice, I'm really proud of those guys. I said to our team when you have a format like this, guys have got to step up. Sam Tecklenburg, who's one of our starting tight ends, put on number 75 and played left tackle with the twos all day, so that's unbelievably unselfish and it's also really football smart."

On Ish Wainright's performance:
"I'm proud of Ish. I really didn't want him to play in the game but he came to me and said 'I can play in the game I know what I'm doing.' He's really smart and I didn't realize how much he knew but I think it's because he's coming in on his own and learning the plays. Everything is signaled to the guys so he learned the signals, the plays and what to do. He came up to me and said I can do it and if you can, you can. He's also obviously got great hands and they would go up and catch that ball. I don't know how many plays he played but he was certainly productive."

On the importance of getting to springà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I'm proud of them. I wanted them to walk out of here with their heads high. We've been really physical, we haven't relented. You're allowed 12 days in full pads and we took 12 days in full pads. Even when injuries happen, we've pushed them in meetings. You hear people say kids can't pay attention for more than 30 minutes, well we're keeping them in meetings for two hours and 30 minutes, so they're obviously learning something. I'm proud of what they've done off the field, I'm proud of what they've done on the field. I wanted them to walk off the field feeling good about everything they did and also understanding that life is about what's next. We have a long way to go as a football team."

On the coaches' goalsà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We dived right into May recruiting so we had to do a great job making sure these kids finished academically, but also coaches will be on the road this week so we'll get back and start our camp season but at the same time work at football and figure out who do we have and what can we do."

On Zach Smith's performanceà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"His ankle is still bothering him but I thought he threw some deep balls that guys had to fight for the ball for him. Francis Brown and the corners have done a great job this spring because early on we caught all those balls on offense. Jameson Houston stood out to me, competing for the deep balls today, but I thought Zach did a fine job and the two minute was his best moment to see what he could do with the pressure on. The first drive by Zach and the first offense was really good, he threw the touchdown and they called it back for a tackle in the backfield. I'd have to watch the tape but I've been pleased with Zach all spring. He's getting better and better and better and will be one heck of a quarterback."

On Charlie Brewerà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Charlie's got a special something, he just has it. He and R.J. Sneed should be in an econ class, Jalen Pitre as well, the future is just so bright. Those kids are just football kids. Charlie gets out of the pocket and makes sarcastic comments to me, nothing fazes him. As he has the chance to develop, he's going to be one heck of a quarterback and he's certainly one heck of a leader."

On gauging the team despite injuriesà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Today was more for them. I'll watch the film, but we ran 95 plays on Thursday. Thursday was like my last true gauge schematically. Anytime you compete you get something out of it but to me it's all about the overall body of work. If I'm a quarterback and I have no time, you can't really evaluate me. And if I'm a wideout, my number never gets called, you can't evaluate me. This is a process over time to evaluate the guys and I think we know where a lot of our strengths and weaknesses are. I'm pleased with the guys we have and I thought a lot of guys did their best today."

On accomplishing everything they wanted in springà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I'm happy with everything they've accomplished. My job is to teach and instruct, to correct and give them opportunities. I'm really pleased with how far they've come, but that's just one step in the process. There's another step and you just keep building. They're a team I would really like to be around. That's such a huge part of this. If you like to be around the team and they like to be around you, that's key. I feel really good about the culture that's being established and the culture already set in place. I always think there's more that we can get done. I'm really pleased with their effort and now we're ready to make a huge jump this summer."

On what they wanted to show the fans during the gameà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It was going to be vanilla obviously because we're on TV and I want people to see our kids being physical, protecting the football, disciplined, guys not yelling at the refs or taunting each other. I would like to see us be a team that doesn't beat itself, and then you can start from there. I want our kids to show the way we do things. It's not always what you do it's the way you do it."

On upperclassmen leadershipà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It was really important to award Brian Nance today because they've worked with it and bought into it and they've done a nice job. It's not that those kids haven't bought into it, but the older you get, the harder it is to change something. If you want play for a long time, you've got to learn how to adapt and that's harder for the older guys. But there are a lot of those kids who are stepping up and doing it with their play and vocally."

Sophomore LB Lenoy Jones Jr.
On the spring practice grind, what's it like now that it's overà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"A little breath, but I know how our staff is. We'll go back to the grind in two weeks. We need to get out there, and get our bodies used to the contact."

On Coach Snow wanting things to be perfectà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"He says, all he cares about is effort. All the mistakes are all going to come with a new defense, but I feel like we've been doing very well with defense. We've been playing very fast."

Junior DE Brian Nance
On learning on the go with a new coordinatorà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I think we've bonded real well. We're still in the learning process, but I think it's a full team commitment. Everybody's started studying playbook, which we've never had before. So, it's kind of different, but we've been adapting to it well. I feel like we're picking it up now. The game has slowed down for us, so it's good."

On developing his leadershipà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Pretty much just leading the defense. We're done with spring ball, but you can mentally get better in the game. Your knowledge can always improve. Knowledge and effort; you can't teach that. I want to be that leader that pushes them to it. "

Senior S Taion Sells
On the defense's performanceà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We flew around and made a lot of plays. We had a lot of key players that are hurt, but for the most part we flew around and made plays."

On offseason preparationà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦.
"Mostly learning the plays, so I can play faster and play smarter. That way I could move around and be loose out there. That's mainly what I wanted to work on."

Sophomore QB Zach Smith
On today's gameà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I thought the offense played really well for the most part. We've been practicing for about forty days straight and it was a really good way to end spring ball."

On the offensive styleà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I like the offense. It's more of a pro-style, but we still have some tempo. I think we have adjusted really well to it. Receivers, running backs, tight ends, and linemen, I think we all like it."

On the offensive schemeà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We are going to take what the defense gives us. We are not going to run something into a coverage that is not going to work."

Freshman WR R.J. Sneed
On his success this springà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I was surprised on how successful I've been the past few days. I've been having mostly good practices, and it's been pretty good."

On how it went todayà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I had a pretty good day besides that one drop, but other than that it was a pretty good day."

Senior QB Anu Solomon
On fitting in on the team and the quarterback raceà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I just take it one day at a time. I'm competing against great quarterbacks in Charlie and Zach and we're going to compete our butts off and see what happens."

On choosing Baylorà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I had some schools that guaranteed me as a starter but to me as a competitor, I don't like that. I want to compete for a spot. My dad always taught me that nothing in life is guaranteed and I've been fighting my whole life so I didn't want to take the easy way out."