The Craig Way Show
Quinn Ewers on facing Arizona State, the return of Isaiah Bond and more
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If you're a pro, you've got a new partner in town, Florin Decor, from tile to wood to stone. Florin Decor has more styles and job lock quantities of Schluter, Mape, Leidecrete, and other brands pros trust. Come see a whole new way to wow with Florin Decor. Now open in Littleton. And we're back to the Craig Way show. Have a message for Craig? Share it by using the Talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app. (upbeat music) - We'll be first from Steve Starkish. We've heard from Kyle Flood, from Shoddy Barron, from Bert Auburn, thanks to Craig Way. Heard from Quinn Eures? Well, let's hear some more. It's Texas Prepares for Arizona State. In the Peach Bowl, coming at you Wednesday kickoff at noon, our coverage begins at 9 a.m. But here's more from Quinn Eures at the media availability. - What, when I was in a bond, is healthy and ready to go? Well, what kind of impact does he have on the offense and how much does he change how dynamic you guys can be? - I mean, yes. It's always going to be hard to cover guys, you know, that fast and, you know, has that much speed on the outside and can make moves and it's just a really dynamic receiver. - Josh Newman, go ahead. - Yeah, Quinn, and just with this season alone, how much have you seen Arch grow up, you know, in terms of, you know, his mentality and how he approaches the game and just how prepared do you believe he is to kind of take the reins of SART's offense? - Yeah, I think over the past two years he's definitely grown and matured for sure to be able to be successful at Texas. - Danny Davis, go ahead. - Quinn, over your three years, what has Jake meant to you personally and to this program Jake Majors? - Yeah, I mean, he means a lot to everybody on this team, I know that for sure. I mean, just the amount of juice that he brings and, you know, just the amount of comfort that we all have playing beside him and knowing that he's going to get us all in the right call for, for past protection and for the run game. I mean, just a super smart guy and awesome, awesome guy to be around for sure. - Senator Colton, you're up? - Hey, Quinn, we talked to Jedi and Michael Taff yesterday about the grind of this season, so long season. You play long seasons at South Lake Carroll, you know, the way the state title game. How is this similar to that and what do you have, what special preparations do you have to go through to stay fresh because it's a real grind. You can just play some two games. It gets all the January 20th. - Yeah, for sure. I mean, like you said, it's a long season and, you know, it's nice to have a little more time in between these games to be able to get to, you know, as close as close as you can, back to 100%. And also just gives you more time to prepare for, you know, the opposing team that we're playing. And, but at the end of the day, it's awesome. It's awesome to, to still be playing football whenever, you know, other guys are at home or training for the combine or whatever it is, but it's definitely a blessing to still be playing football for sure. - David Eckert, go ahead. - Oops, sorry, oh, it is going off. Hey, Quinn, I'm just curious, what are two or three things that you specifically need to do to be successful on Wednesday? - I think I just need to be a good leader through, through the adversity because adversity is going to strike and just take care of the football. - Barry Middleton, go ahead. - Good afternoon. So thinking back when you were a kid and dreaming about being a quarterback at the University of Texas, did you ever have, were your dreams this big? Did you ever think that you would be playing at this stage, being the general in the field, to lead this team to not only the peach bowl, but to tell you who you're going? - Yeah, I mean, that's, it's the stuff you'd think about as a kid for sure, but, you know, you never know if it was actually going to happen or not, but, you know, now we're actually in this situation. But, you know, I don't think it's really sunk in, you know, what's really going on around, around me and just the blessings that I've been able to, you know, be a part of. - Jeff, how I'll go ahead. - Quinn, as you guys get further along into the playoffs and the season progresses, I just want to, you know, blocking out the outside noise being good or bad seems easier said than done. What keeps you grounded and focused and locked in and not, you know, thinking about what's outside or what's next or anything, just kind of focused on today and then the next day? But what keeps you grounded? - Well, I think, I think my teammates, 'cause that's what they deserve, you know, we're all in the same situations. We all have stuff going on outside of football. But, you know, we all decide to come here and come to the facility and practice each and every day, be away from our families, be away from our loved ones. And, you know, we all have the ultimate goal of trying to win a national championship. And that's what everybody deserves. Everyone, everybody deserves my best. And I think that if you ask anybody in that room, they'll, or anybody in the locker room that they'll say the exact same thing. - Good time for three last questions in Q, Chip, go ahead. - Quinn, does this feel like it's new life for you, this team now that you're in the playoffs? And, you know, you talk about, you know, your ability to raise your level, you did that against Clemson. And did DeAndre say anything to you, you know, after he dropped the pass that ultimately got picked? - Sure, you know, I mean, you can look at it like, our first hard many games until the bi-week was a season. And then, again, until our next bi-was a season and then again until the playoffs was a season. So, you could say we're kind of in a new season for sure, but I think what we've done a really good job over this year is just taking each week as its own week and focusing on what we need to do that particular week and not being focused on what's ahead or what just happened the previous week. And, yeah, and then, but DeAndre, I mean, I'm not, no one's worried about that with DeAndre. I mean, I think I might have let him up the field a little too much and it can go either way. - Two last ones, Thomas Jones. - Who am I happy to hear? When you have a guy like Trevor Gooseby up front, how can you help a young player, you know, in practice and during the game itself? As a quarterback, what can you do to help him? - Well, I think what helps him the most and what I've noticed is just the smaller things, whether that be, you know, it could be as simple as a high five or a knuckle bump or just telling him, hey, good job there, good job, you know, pass protection. You're doing a heck of a job out there. And I think that goes a long way for young guys 'cause I know for sure when I was young, that would help me a whole lot, just as simple as that. If an older guy and a leader of the team came up to me and just told me I was doing a good job. I'm like, all right, now, I'm gonna settle in here a little bit and, you know, kind of get into that flow state. Last one, Joe Cook. - Kind of along those lines, you know, what's it say about Trevor himself that, you know, if Cam's not able to go, if Calvin gets knocked out of the game, that, you know, he can jump right in and you still feel like he can be protected on either side by number 74. - Yeah, man, he's definitely proved that over the past few weeks that, you know, he's more than capable of coming in at any moment in time and being able to, you know, go play ball and, you know, just super proud of the way that he's carried himself and prepared himself to be able to do that throughout this year, you know, going into the season, you know, you got two really good tackles and, you know, Guseby's sitting behind him, you know, he's probably thinking he's not gonna get much play in time this year. And then for him to be able to kind of flip that switch late in the season, it's been really cool. - Trevor Guseby's been phenomenal for Texas this season, way he's been able to do the step in at various times against A&M, against Georgia, against Clemson. You feel really good about where he'll be at next season, especially with Texas possibly losing, what, three starters on the offensive line, if Kim Williams, the clairs, you know, Calvin Banks and Jake Majors will be gone next season, could be Kim Williams as well on that right side. Real quick, Craig Way mentioned that he thinks when you were as well have a good game against Arizona State passing defense, give about 215 yards per game, 57th in the country. Defensively, in terms of yard's given up, I mean, they've gotten gushed a few times this season, including against BYU, gave up 346 passing yards in that win over the Cougars 28-23. But we've seen offenses be able to throw against Arizona State. I believe I shared the stat with you earlier in terms of EPA, just an advanced metric in how they grade offenses and defenses. Arizona State defensively, 100 in first in the country in defensive success rates on dropbacks. Anytime the quarterback drops back to throw, I believe successful yards is like four yards or more. 42% of the time the opposing offense is successful against Arizona State's secondary. So one thing to keep an eye on, I believe Texas will be able to run the ball very well against Arizona State. And especially so if Quinn Ewers in the offense can find the rhythm in the passing game, and I think having Isaiah Bond back will be huge because Texas has not really had bond healthy, except for maybe against Florida, and then Oklahoma, but after that, not too much. He's not been healthy that much. Did not finish against Georgia, did not play against Clemson. So having Isaiah Bond back will help the passing game tremendously. More than come here as our three of the Craigaway Show continues after this. - At Arizona State University, we're bringing world-class education from our globally acclaimed faculty to you. Ranked number one in innovation for 10 consecutive years, and number two among public universities for employability. ASU isn't just ahead of the curve, it's creating new paths to success. Earn your degree from the nation's most innovative university. Online, that's a degree better. Explore more than 300 undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs at asuonline.asu.edu.
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