DC Phil Bennett Gives Excellent Interview to 1660 ESPN Central Texas

On Wednesday afternoon, Baylor Bears Defensive Coordinator Phil Bennett spoke with David Smoak and the gents of You Make The Call, 1660 ESPN Central Texas's afternoon radio show. If you have the means, click this link and listen to the interview in its entirety from 1660 ESPN's audio vault. It's well worth your time. In lieu of embedding the audio here or giving you a full recap, Craig Smoak essentially live tweeted the event to great effect. Check out his tweets below, then let's talk about your impressions in the comments.

On the Secondary...

#Baylor DC Phil Bennett: CB Ryan Reid played last 6 games of the season with torn abdominal muscle. @1660espn

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Bennett: "Coverage-wise we're not that far off. I don't care what anybody says. We're not that far off from being very good."

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

This one is particularly fascinating to me, because I can see what he's saying. When you look at the early portions of the season, things seemed much stronger than towards the end. Perhaps the secondary was more banged up than we initially realized.

Bennett: "I am so excited about Tion Wright. Tion has finally matured. He's blossoming right now. Ran a 4.41 the other day."

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Bennett says in hindsight he should have played Tion Wright more but just didn't have the confidence. Had a hell of a game vs. OK State.

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Bennett: Ryan Reid should not have played the Tech game. That was my fault. He was not well enough. Was a coaching mistake and I regret it.

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Really a very candid response from Bennett here. He's owning up to the mistakes he's made, which is somewhat of a refreshing change from the standard coachspeak.

Bennett: I have the gut feeling that the day is coming for Terrence Singleton. Has the desire and passion just ran into bad luck.

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Freaky T!!!

Bennett on DB coach Dishman: He expresses himself. He's been there and done it. When we announced his hire our kids gave him a standing O.

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Bennett: "It was a close call those last 4 games to bring Jourdan Blake off the redshirt. That's how desperate we were. It was a fine line."

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

On the Cotton Bowl...

Bennett says he will never get over the Cotton Bowl loss to MSU. Says it was a validation game and felt they were as good as Ohio State.

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Briles called staff meeting Saturday following Cotton Bowl. Bennett says it was one of most productive meetings since he's been at Baylor.

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Briles told coaching staff: "I'm looking for answers. I'm not looking to blame."

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

On the Defensive Line...

Bennett on young DL: "Greg Roberts, Jamie Jacobs, Xavier Jones...I really am excited about those guys."

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Bennett: I want to play a lot of guys. Those last 6 games we were on pins and needles. Oakman, KJ Smith had to play way too much.

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Bennett says they're looking to play a lot of guys and build quality depth at a higher level. "We've got to cut Shawn Oakman's plays by 20."

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Other Stuff...

Bennett jokes (maybe not?) that he's gone straight to sophomore WR Davion Hall to tell him that defensive meetings are starting.

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Bennett on recruiting: First of all and this is no disrespect to anybody but I only go by my stars. There are some of those 5-stars I like.

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Phil Bennett: "I don't think by any stretch of the imagination we're through. At all."

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015

Eeeeeexcellent.

Finally, I think Craig sums it all up pretty nicely for all of us:

Alright, I've officially caught spring football fever. #LetsGo

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) February 18, 2015