Texas defensive end/linebacker Breckyn Hager just made himself a lot of friends in Lubbock, Texas. And by "a lot," I mean none.
Hager caused a bit of an uproar when, in an interview Monday, he said the defensive mentality of the team was to "injure" Red Raiders quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
"I say 'injure that quarterback,'" Hager said. "That's the mentality right now. We've got to take him out. We know he's banged up and we've just got to get after him."
Reporter: "Against Kansas State you said the defensive mentality was to 'kill everything', what's the mentality of this game?" pic.twitter.com/RGx4sEFBmz
— Bob Ballou (@BobBallouSports) October 31, 2016
Hager said he wanted to "injure" Mahomes on multiple occasions during the interview.
Suffice it to say, that comment didn't go over well. Not with Texas Tech fans and certainly not with Mahomes' father.
Are you kidding meRT @RickyDoyle: Hager on the Texas D's mission this week: "Injure that quarterback."
— pat mahomes (@PMahomes) October 31, 2016
On Monday afternoon, Hager and coach Charlie Strong issued statements regarding the "injure" comments.
"I want to apologize for what I said earlier today at our press conference," Hager said (via Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News). "I play hard and it's our team's goal to get pressure on the quarterback, hit him and disrupt the offense. When I go out there I want to play my most aggressive game, but I'm not trying to do anything to physically injure someone. I have too much respect for Patrick Mahomes and every quarterback I play against to ever do that. That's not what I'm about, not the way I was raised and not the way we play football at Texas."
"I want to make one thing clear -- we never walk into a game wanting to injure someone," Strong added. "We would never coach that way and that's not how our team plays. We respect the game too much, we respect other players, we respect how hard they've worked to get in the position they're in, so that's not our character."
Regardless of the intent, Hager's words will be a big part of the lead-up to Texas and Texas Tech. Besides, there's history. Two years ago, Mahomes was knocked out of the game against Texas after a hit from former cornerback Quandre Diggs.
On the year, Mahomes leads the FBS with 439.9 passing yards per game to go along with 28 touchdowns through the air. Texas' defense is eighth in the Big 12 in points allowed per game (32.8) and last in passing yards per attempt allowed (8.7).
