After their 33-16 win over Missouri last night, Texas head coach Tom Herman was asked about the play of some of his second-string guys and the answer he gave included some interesting perspective.
"One of two things happens when a guy goes down," Herman explained. "When a coach calls on a backup, the entire team - coaches, teammates, everybody - there are only one of two reactions."
"It's either, 'Hey man, we're good. I've seen the way this guy trains. I've seen how hard this guy works. I've seen how hard he studies. I've seen how he prepares like a pro. I'm excited to see this guy play, because I know he's going to help us."
"Or, it's 'Oh my God, don't throw the ball to him. Don't throw it in his direction. Don't run the ball behind him. Because I've seen how he doesn't prepare, and I've seen how he doesn't study film, and I've seen how he doesn't go hard."
"And that's it. There is no in between. It's either your teammates have the utmost confidence that you are competitively focused, or they don't and we train our guys on how to do that. It's not just us, it's the buy-in level from them too and it's their ability to understand that and take that kind of coaching and apply it."
Hear more from Herman in the clip.