Football August 27, 2018 ACC Football Coaches Quotes Week 1 Audio of Coaches Teleconference from Wednesday, Aug. 29 (mp3 file) BOSTON COLLEGE | CLEMSON | DUKE| FLORIDA STATE | GEORGIA TECH | LOUISVILLE | MIAMI | NORTH CAROLINA | NC STATE | PITT | SYRACUSE | VIRGINIA | VIRGINIA TECH | WAKE FOREST BOSTON COLLEGE Steve Addazio Weekly News Conference Transcript: Aug. 27, 2018 BC opens the 2018 season Saturday at home vs. UMass STEVE ADDAZIO: Obviously excited to get going here, start the college football season off. We're really fired up about that. It's been a great preseason camp, got a lot accomplished, a lot of great effort by our team. Announced our captains. I think many of you saw that. Will Harris and Jon Baker we voted in as the two captains, two fabulous young men, really good players with a lot of game experience, a lot of program experience. We're thrilled about that coming out of camp. Heading into this game against UMass, without a doubt this is the best UMass team we've faced since I've been here. Have so much respect for Mark Whipple. I was a high school coach in Connecticut, he would bring a box of donuts in. Head coach at New Haven. I go a long way back with him. Lot of respect for him, heck of a football coach, he's built a good program. They have a lot of talent both sides of the ball. They have a great speed. Watching them play Saturday night, I thought they looked fantastic. Seem to have strike ability on offense, on defense they're blitzing, doing a lot of different things. He's got a heck of a football team. Be a tremendous challenge for us here Saturday afternoon. We'll have our work cut out for us. We're in the heat of preparation right now moving forward. With that, any questions? Q. Talk about the offensive line. I saw you had Ben at right tackle, Jon back at center, Lindstrom... STEVE ADDAZIO: Ben (Petrula) was a natural right tackle. He did a great job at center. He could certainly move back to center. Jon Baker has played at a high level in training camp, like he did in the opening game last year till he got hurt. He's the most veteran player, captain of the team, the apex of the offense so to speak. Ben is a natural right tackle. He spent most of the camp there. He's taken certainly a number of center reps. Lindstrom has emerged in training camp as a real up-and-coming player for us. He's done a great job at center. The good news is we went from I remember a year ago, we had an issue with Jon got hurt, Shane was out, Shane Leonard ended up being done for good. All of a sudden Ben rolls in, got to make him a center. Now we feel like we have a handful of centers that can all play. That's a good thing, practice. Q. Chris more natural at right guard, Chris Lindstrom? STEVE ADDAZIO: Chris could play tackle or.... we do a lot of pulling and things like that. He's one of the best I've ever seen. He's an excellent puller. I think he's a natural guard. If we need him to, we have all those position moves available to us. Sam (Schmal) is playing high level at guard, Aaron (Monteiro) is playing left tackle, John Phillips has had one of the best training camps. He certainly can play either position. We've got versatility and depth up there. That is the kiss of death: next thing you know you have a run of injuries. We have seven or eight guys that we feel confident can play full-time up front. Q. Are we going to see a lot more versatility from AJ Dillon than what we saw last year, one-dimensional for him? STEVE ADDAZIO: Last year I thought our running back coach, Brian White and our staff did a good job of bringing AJ along. He's been playing third down, catching the ball out of the backfield, understands all the protections. I look at a young player in David Bailey right now. It's funny, David is another one of those really talented young backs. Watching him right now, he reminds me of where AJ was at this time a year ago. The growth that AJ has had has been phenomenal. Your simple question, will his role expand, every down back? Yes. I can't wait to see him catching the ball in the backfield out of the perimeter. Q. Is he one of the best natural athletes you've ever seen? STEVE ADDAZIO: I mean, you can say that, yeah. His uniqueness is his sheer power and size and speed. He also has the finesse of a smaller guy. He's got great hands. He's got great fine motor skills. In terms of big, powerful men, yes. I mean, you compare AJ to a wide receiver, his uniqueness is just his sheer power, size and speed. I've never seen anybody like him. I mean, he's unique, very unique. Then he can make you miss on top of it all. He's a different kind of guy, special, special guy. Q. You mentioned the UMass team speed. I know you guys run a lot of tempo, too. How do you try to match up with that defensively? They run three-wide, four-wide sets. When you look at the depth of your team, how do you match up against that, how will you? STEVE ADDAZIO: They get it every day. I mean, we're going pretty fast on our offense. That will be of no shock for our defense, that's for sure. That's the good news. But we give our defense, we go one-one today. We got fast guys, too. Smith is pretty good, Mike, Kobay White is pretty fast. Our defense is seeing that speed and they're seeing the tempo every day. That's a bonus. Q. The shackles off of Anthony entirely now at this point because it's a game week? Is he 100% ready to go for you? STEVE ADDAZIO: 100% ready to go. The shackles are off; I know he is not going to be hit till Saturday. Yeah, he's been full go here for almost a couple weeks, maybe 10 days, something like that. Doing great. Feeling great. Looking great. Like anybody else, you've been away from football for a while, missed spring practice, that kind of stuff, takes a little bit back to get going again, get in the groove. That will be a little bit of an adjustment curve in there, I'm sure. Q. Expand on your relationship with Mark Whipple. STEVE ADDAZIO: I was the head coach at Cheshire High School, lived in Cheshire. He lived in Cheshire, a head coach there, New Haven. I saw him all the time. He would come over, see me all the time. We used to have these New Haven Foundation football dinners on Thursday, I'd see him there. Got to know Mark good. Always respected him, a good offensive mind. I've talked to him even in my history on different job opportunities. I know him well. I think the world of him. He's a heck of a football coach. He has built an outstanding program twice, once before, then come back and he's doing it now at the IA level. Based on what I saw the other night, this is surely his best team as well at UMass in this second return. He's put together a lot of talent. He understands how to attack defenses as the play-caller. He's a very accomplished guy, a pro. His team looks and is playing like a well-coached football team. Q. On facing a talented UMass offense STEVE ADDAZIO: I mean, he's going to throw the ball down the field. They were 17th in the country last year in throwing. He wants to put it down the field. Always felt like Mark was a guy that was a gambler in terms of he's going to take his shots. They're going to have trick plays, take their shots down the field, they're going to push the tempo. He still believes in the run game, too. He's got the weapons right now. Isabella is a real fast guy, change-of-direction, speed guy. I think Porter is the other guy, an excellent guy. Palmer, I'm sorry. They have the weapons. They have a returning offensive line that has a fair amount of career starts. They've got good size. You see them take the field, both tackles, 6'4", 6'5", 6'6". They have a running back that's a very good running back. They have the pieces, the receiver. The quarterback is very accurate forward thrower. We recruited him. I know him well. He actually went to Virginia Tech, scouted him out of Virginia Tech. He's a really good player. They have weapons. If you have the horses and the weapons, you can do some things. If you don't, it's a little harder. They've got them. Q. Passing game, seemed like they were very successful with their shallow crosses. How difficult is it to defend the horizontal part of their passing game in addition to their ability to go deep? STEVE ADDAZIO: Passing is very similar to ours right now. They want to create runners, yet they have the ability to hit you deep. I think you better get some shots on the quarterback. You better disrupt the quarterback. That's hard to do sometimes when the ball is out of your hands real quick. You have the ability to make sure of coverages, play man, zone, mix it up. We can run a little bit in the back end. We'll be able to do some different things there. Without a doubt, we have our full attention on the speed that they have at the receiver position, the ability to stretch the field. Q. You mentioned Isabella is a good wide receiver for UMass. Will Hamp Cheevers get a chance to cover him. STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, I mean, he's a heck of a player. He's a proven player in ACC competition. He played a bunch of snaps last year. He had maybe one of the best camps of anybody, playing at a high level. You're talking about a guy that can flat run now. He's a fast guy, got great anticipation on the ball. Yeah, looking forward to watch him play, Lukas, Will, Taj. These guys, they've all been in the fire. It will be great for them to match up against what I think are two really outstanding receivers. Q. You talk about the returning quarterback, running back, receivers, offensive line. Do you see any similarities between their program and yours in terms of returning talent? STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, I mean, I think any time you have a bunch of guys coming back, you got veterans coming back, I think you have guys that have been in the fire before. On top of that, they got a chance to play a game and we didn't. That's a good advantage, to get one under your belt. No matter who you play, that's a good thing. No matter who, where, what, opening day sometimes can bring about some malfunctions. You're hoping that doesn't happen. Opening day has a tendency. They talk about your most growth is in your first two to three games. There's a reason for that. One of the things we're trying to do is get best game tempo as we can take. We did not have a game on Saturday. We got that accomplished. Obviously if you have a game, a bunch of injuries, maybe that's not so good. You have a game, come out healthy, get that game under your belt, that gives you a chance to work out some of the kinks a little bit. There's nothing like being in the game, nothing like it. No matter what you do in practice, you can't quite resemble a true game. Q. You talk about disrupting Ford. Zach and Wyatt from the outside, is that where you think you can attack him? STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, any time you have your three- or four-man rush, those are guys that are really good pass-rushers. We're going to get some one-on-one matchups. I'm sure UMass will do what they can to double them up. The more people you put in, less people going out. I'm sure we'll see a bunch of that, too. We're going to do some stuff to try to free these guys up and move the pocket, not only from the outside in but from the center up, make that pocket a little bit more of a disruptive pocket, unsettle it. Any quarterback, you let him sit back there, treat it like it's seven-on-seven, they have the ability to hurt you, for sure. Q. About the energy level of the team. Coming down the end of camp you had the dog days of camp. What has it been like jumping back in, having a game week, preparation for an opponent that's not a teammate? STEVE ADDAZIO: The energy was great today. Our kids did a great job. We came off of a player day yesterday. I thought they hit the ground running today. We had a jump-start on this last week. We put Thursday, Friday, Saturday into UMass. We're back at it again today. I think the energy is high. I think the excitement level is high. It's opening day. These guys work year-round for these 12 shots. That's what they're guaranteed. This is one of the precious ones. It's coming right here in front of you. We're trying to do enough to get prepared, but we're also trying to keep our team fresh and fast. Sometimes the players get saved by game week. There's so much you can do in a game week. It's not like training camp. Hopefully we'll get them in that groove, get their legs back all the way. We still got plenty of time. Q. With a sense of your excitement level, nothing better than an opening game, where you're at with this team, what you've been able to accomplish off of last year going forward? STEVE ADDAZIO: I personally am very excited, our staff is, our whole program is. Opening day, it's one of the cool things. You come out of camp, truly culminates a year's worth of work. You're back in it, ready to roll. We're excited about I we're excited about the fact that we have a team that's a very together team. They love football. There's a great camaraderie on this team, a great chemistry. There's not a lot of distractions. Obviously, everybody, us included, you're still super hyper focused on game one. It's a marathon, though. Your hope is you come out and play clean game one, not be sloppy, have a bunch of penalties. This is what I tell the kids, what I believe in: all that matters game one is getting a W, okay? That gives you a chance to come back and regroup and get ready for game two. What I fear with teams sometimes over the years is there's so much expectation in game one, sometimes game one isn't necessarily the best reflection on what your team is going to be. You hope it is, but it doesn't always work out that way. No matter what, you swing and fight, when the fourth quarter is done, you look at the scoreboard, you're 1-0, that's the expectation level. Not how many yards we can get, how many points we can put up, this or that. No, it's just we're going to play a really good opponent, we're going to battle our tails off, we're going to find a way to sing the fight song in the locker room and be 1-0. That's the mindset. What you're asking me is accurate, the expectation and the energy of the start. Sometimes that can cloud it, then all of a sudden kids are in there. One expectation: find a way to win the game. We have a good team. We've got talent on the team. Now we have to play cohesively together on Saturday. Saturday is what matters. We have had a great training camp, really had a great training camp. That's fantastic. That's in the bank. Saturday, we need to have a great day. The old adage: you need to be the best team on that field that day. That day matters. That's the message I'm into right now, focused on being the best team on that field on Saturday with no other expectation. Thanks, guys. CLEMSON Dabo Swinney Press Conference – Aug. 28, 2018 Opening Statement: “It’s game week. I’m excited…I really am. This is just so much fun…having an opportunity to get back out on the field and play. I’m ready to kick it off, and I cannot wait to see our team play and see where we are. I think that’s where every head coach is at this point. It’s game one, and you can only find out so much in practice, so I’m excited to see how we can handle a game atmosphere, play somebody, get some knowledge on where we are and continue to improve. That’s what we want to do…get better one day at a time and one week at a time, all year long. We want to give ourselves an opportunity to have a great season. “We’ve had a really good camp. It’s been a tough camp, and I think the team is well-prepared for the totality of the season. That’s what we try to do through camp…expose them and get them ready for what they’re going to see, and what we think we’re going to need to be able to do from a schematic standpoint all throughout the season. Our guys handled that very well, and we came through it in good fashion. For the most part, we’re a pretty healthy team, so I’m excited about really having good depth as we kick it off. “Just a few things about Furman...first of all, I really like Clay [Hendrix]. I’ve had the opportunity to be around him for the last couple of years, and he’s just a heck of a football coach. He’s a great man, and he’s very, very good at what he does. It’s very impressive what they’ve done at Furman. Just last year, they were one of the most improved teams in the country. Their win total went up five from the year before, so I’m impressed with their season last year. They had a heck of a run into the playoffs and just got better and better. They’ve bought into what [Clay] is trying to do. “It’s one of those games where people will say, ‘Oh, they’re just playing Furman,’ but we don’t ever look at it that way. We have a standard, and it doesn’t change whether you’re playing a I-AA opponent or the National Championship game. It’s the exact same every single week, and that’s how you develop consistency in what you’re trying to do. That’s worked well for us. We get ready for the opponent, but we spend more time focusing on how we play. How we play is based on how we prepare and the effort, focus and attention to detail. That’s what we focus on week in and week out, and sometimes people say ‘They’re playing Furman…that’s a game that Clemson should win.’ And I’m like ‘Well, you know, Furman has beaten Clemson 10 times.’ Ten. It’s not like they’ve beaten us once when the skies parted…they’ve got double-digit wins against Clemson. I don’t know when the last one was, but I know they’ve beaten us 10 times, and I would guarantee you that Clemson was probably favored each of those 10 times and supposed to win the game. But ‘supposed to’ doesn’t get it done. This is a game of performance, and you better show up every single week. “Openers are always tough, and this will be no different. When you look at their defense, they’ve got 9-of-11 starters back that are juniors or seniors. They’re a veteran team…they’ve got a bunch of guys back with good experience and know what they’re doing. All of the defensive linemen are back, all of the secondary is back, and they added [Amir] Trapp, who we know is a good player, to that mix. One of their all-conference linebackers is back, so it’s a really good group that knows what they’re doing and will be improved. Offensively, to be quite honest with you, it is stressful to watch them. They do a great job schematically…shifts, motions, in and out of option offense into traditional spread books…you have to be able to play base and option defense. They really stress you, and they do an unbelievable job with their play-action game. They can expose you in a heartbeat. Last year, they threw the football 20 times a game, which surprised me initially, and they average 17 yards a catch. So, it’s usually a big play, but most of it is built off their option principles. They drop back, which puts a lot of strain on you from a discipline standpoint…especially for the guys on the back end and where their eyes are. This will be a challenge. Every opener is tough because you haven’t played anybody, and then you line up and play a team that’s going to really challenge you from an assignment standpoint. It’s stressful getting ready for a bunch like this, and it’s really easy to see why they had the success that they had last year. We’re excited for the challenge. Their kicker and punter is the same guy, and he’s back. “At the end of the day, it’s a special time. The season starts now for a lot of people, especially our fans. But it starts in January for us. We check a lot of boxes. It’s offseason; it’s mat drills; it’s self-evaluation; it’s spring practice; it’s exit interviews; it’s transformation; it’s summer grind; it’s fall camp—there’s just a lot of things. But it all builds to this. This is why we do all of that. It all builds to this moment—the season. We get 12 opportunities. That’s all we’re guaranteed—Lord-willing. It’s exciting to know that it’s finally here, and we’ve got an opportunity to have that first goal in front of us—win the opener. We’ve done a pretty good job of that over the last nine years, and so hopefully, we can achieve the very first goal on Saturday. That’s what we’re trying to do.” On playing multiple option teams early and close together: “The benefits are that you get a lot of practice on cutting blocks, so that becomes not a foreign thing anymore as you get more practice time against that. The bad part of it is that other teams get to see you play [against it]. Most of the time when you play an option team, they don’t really have a lot of tape to study you on as far as how you defend certain things. So it’s good and bad.” On the quarterback competition: “Last year, it really wasn’t close. Kelly [Bryant] was trying to win the job, and all of a sudden, it became very clear-cut. That’s where we were. This year, it’s different in that you’ve got a proven guy…a guy who started 14 games for you and won a conference championship in his first year as a starter. And people get better and improve, no matter where you start, and that’s what’s happened with Kelly. He’s had a tremendous year of prep since January. I’ve had a front-row seat. I had no idea how it was going to play out. Obviously, you bring a guy like Trevor Lawrence, who’s really off the charts from a talent standpoint, in here…but you don’t really ever know how it’s going to translate until you start coaching a guy. Guys can be really talented in high school, but sometimes it takes a little while for it to translate to this level. There’s a lot going on. But he demonstrated in the spring that he’s one of the unique guys that has this unique talent but was also absorbing it very well and wasn’t overwhelmed. He still made a lot of mistakes, and Kelly was the clear winner in the spring as far as being the starter. But it was also pretty obvious that we have a guy in Trevor who we thought was going to get better…that was the mentality going into camp, and that’s what we saw. “I’m really, really proud of Kelly. You have to have thick skin when you play quarterback. So many people have their own opinions and agendas without watching practice or one tape—or if they do, they don’t know what they’re watching—and he’s handled it well. It’s really a breath of fresh air. He’s been locked in on himself and had an awesome camp. In three scrimmages, I think he was 23-32 for 300-some yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He did a tremendous job playing with both groups…he didn’t always get first-team reps, as those reps are spread all camp, but he just came out on top from a grade standpoint. At some point, you’ve got to go play, and that’s where we are. “The flipside of that is that Trevor did exactly what we thought he would. He came back more in control of what was going on and with a better knowledge base...which he should have, as he had already gone through installation. Physically, he’s a very gifted guy. He’s 6’6”, 216 pounds. He’s also in a really good place mentally. The game has slowed down for him, and he’s demonstrated a really good command. He had a great camp, but Kelly was the most consistent. That’s just where we are. “Kelly has earned the opportunity to go start, because somebody has to run out there first. He’s earned that, and no one has given him anything. But Trevor has earned the opportunity to play and continue to compete. I’m excited about it. The best-case scenario is that they both play well, and it’s really sad that some people may pull for someone to not play well. They’re Clemson Tigers, and we should pull for these guys to play great. That’s the way it should be. Go play well. And the best thing is that they’re really in control of that and are very prepared to do just that. They’ll just do what they’ve done in camp, which has been awesome. I’ve never had a camp with this type of quarterback play, and I’m not just talking about Kelly and Trevor. I’m also talking about Chase Brice. He’s right there. It’s just such a good situation…a healthy situation. When they run out there, they’re Tigers. We’re going to play more than one running back. I want them all to play well. We’re going to play a lot more than four defensive linemen, and I want them all to play well. We’re going to play a lot more than five offensive linemen, and we’ve got eight, nine or even 10 receivers that deserve to play and will have opportunities to play. I want them to play well. At quarterback, that’s just where we are this year. We’ve got really talented guys that have earned the opportunity to play, and man, we should pull for them to play well. “It’s exciting. You’ve got a guy that’s proven, and I cannot say enough about Kelly and how he’s handled himself in this day and age. His character, his selflessness…he’s locked in. But he pulls for Trevor. Same thing with Trevor…he’s one of the most low-maintenance dudes you’ll ever meet. I know he looks like Hollywood and all that, but he ain’t none of that. He’s a ‘show up, do your job, yes sir, no sir, loves his teammates’ kind of a guy, and Chase is the same way. It’s just awesome. They’re in control of their performance. When we grade these [quarterbacks], I’m not worried about if a receiver drops a ball or a left tackle misses a block…we’re grading them on their knowledge, their execution, and their performance. That’s where we are, and if something changes, we’ll all see it. It’s not like practice…y’all get to watch the games. Everybody will have a front row seat to see it. Kelly doesn’t have a 12-game contract to be the starter, and Trevor doesn’t have a 12-game contract to continue to deserve to play. Don’t worry about who’s starting. When you play, play well. That’s what I tell everybody at every position—you’re not entitled to play. It doesn’t work that way. I don’t have a lifetime contract. I have to prove that I should be the head coach, and I have to earn that every year, every week. That’s life. But these guys all understand that and embrace that. Let’s go to work. It’s going to be fun.” DUKE David Cutcliffe Opening Statement “I guess it’s safe to say here we go again. The first thing I can say about our team is it has responded really, really well. They hang on to your words. “We have no excuses as coaches because they’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do. We have to continue to work on being consistent and efficient. “Our opening opponent requires you to be efficient on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game. Army West Point is extremely well coached and executes extremely well. It’s a big challenge to stop a four-down attack. They led the country in fourth down conversions a year ago and they have a defense that thrives on putting you down in distance. They do a great job at pressuring quarterbacks. “For us, we have to be a very consistent team. We’ve practiced well and had good, hot work this morning. I know they are ready to play and they’re ready to do something besides practice. And I don’t blame them for that!” On Tuesday’s Practice “We had our regular Tuesday practice on Sunday morning. We got them up at 5:30 a.m., and did a pre-church practice. We asked for forgiveness and we were given that. We turned around and had the first day of school Monday. We never have practice on a Monday to start the academic year so we gave them a complete day off yesterday. We were able to turn our Tuesday into a Wednesday practice.” On the Opportunity to Showcase the Program on the National Stage Friday “I haven’t talked with the team about it specifically, but we’re all very aware of it. When ESPN asks you to play these games, you’re going to get good exposure. I don’t love playing on Friday nights when high school teams are playing, but we have television contracts. When we’re asked to do something, we’re going to follow through. “I’m excited because it is Labor Day Weekend. It gives people a great opportunity to come watch a football game on Friday night while being able to have the weekend off. “Maybe as much as the national scene, I’m hoping Durham comes out. What a great opportunity to start a holiday weekend. It’s Durham Night. We’ve been very appreciative with how Durham has embraced us. We have a lot of friends in this community. I’m counting on a home-field advantage. “What we do from a television standpoint, I expect us to play well. Every time we do that on a national spotlight, it helps our program because we go recruit everywhere. This one is going to be focused on Durham and what we have to do to embrace our community and represent our community well.” On Preparedness in the Kicking Game and on the Defensive Side of the Ball “We were really disappointed in both of those aspects last year. We were a little sloppy in getting the punt blocked. It’s hard to explain. It’s a combination of protection, Daniel [Jones’] awareness and doing a good job schematically. You have to do better. “We had eight possessions last year. If you give up three sacks in eight possessions, that’s an extremely high number. Every time you play Army West Point, Navy, Georgia Tech or Air Force, you have to try to match up physically and hopefully we can do that better than we have before.” On the Ability to Stay Mentally in the Game During a Long Army West Point Possession “The thing that pops into everyone’s mind is the defense. If you go out there and go three-and-out, that’s playing right into their hands. We stayed on the field a year ago offensively, we just didn’t produce as many points as we would’ve liked. The entire time the other side of the ball is on the field, coaches are working with offensive players. That is a constant teaching and adjusting time, doing your best to keep them in the entire game. We had a 17-play drive last year that resulted in a touchdown, but it wasn’t good enough to win the game.” On Duke’s Wide Receiver Unit “Aaron Young is back and he had a great camp. T.J. [Rahming] can play all over the place. We have to get T.J. the ball. We’re going to see a number of guys who will play and play effectively. Johnathan Lloyd will also start. Johnathan Lloyd has had the best camp of everyone. We have a lot of backups behind them and you’re going to see them. We may see one of the true freshman, Jake Bobo, in this game as well.” On the Injury Situation “Patrick Leitten is not back by any means full speed, but he’s getting some work. Will Taylor is doing more than we thought he would be able to do. At this time, I would say the same about Jeremy [McDuffie]. I wouldn’t say either of them are back and at 100 percent. There are some things Jeremy can do and hopefully he will be able to play in this game but we just can’t count on him being 100 percent yet but he will be soon.” On Duke’s Defensive Back Depth “Josh Blackwell, Leonard Johnson and Marquis Waters have all been here a couple years and they are extremely well prepared. Michael Carter II, too. Leonard Johnson is going to play a role in this game. He is big and he can run. Marquis is a much better physical product this year. We’re going to play a lot of people there. Matt Guerrieri hasn’t done a good job but a great job in getting those guys ready. We have a lot of combinations we can play and we’re trying to work more than just a few people at corner. I’m excited. I know there’s a couple new faces but it’s the most athletic secondary that we’ve had.” FLORIDA STATE Willie Taggart TAGGART: All right. I'll bring the juice today. All right. Game week. It's been a long time. How many months I been here? Enough. Spent a lot of time looking forward to this. Game week from this point on is all gas and no brakes, and really excited about watching our guys go out and perform Monday night. I know our guys work really hard, and I know they are tired of hitting each other. We've got a really good opponent coming in at Doak Campbell. We have to bring our A Game. It's a football team that knows how to win and they are very well-coached. Again, the last two years, they have been in the (ACC) Championship Game once, so we've got our hands full on Monday night, but we look forward to the challenge. Q. You've been able to cater your offense and allow your stops to the strength of your quarterback. What from your view of him so far are his strengths as a quarterback? TAGGART: I think he has a lot of strengths to be honest with you. He can throw the football, throw the ball really well, and he can run. I think when he came out, he was one of the top three best quarterback and he threw really well. I love his command back there and just how calm he is back there at the quarterback position and a lot of that comes with the experience and being comfortable. But he throws a really good football. And he can run. He can get you some first downs with his feet. Q. Since being named the starter, how has [Deondre] Francois handled it and how has the team rallied around him? TAGGART: He's handled it well. He blew my phone up, wanting to watch some film, or how are we going to attack Virginia Tech, spending time with teammates all the time, flying around. This training camp is the most excitement I've seen from him and just being with his teammates and laughing and joking and that's great to see out there, as well. Q. Virginia Tech, Bud Foster, very well respected. What does he do that makes him so successful on defense? What challenges will he present with his schemes? TAGGART: Go back to they are fundamentally and technically sound. I think that's a huge part of playing really good defense, and they are rarely out of position. Those guys are always in position to make plays, and I think he has a good understanding of how he wants to call the game. They move their front defensive line at times, they stem them before the snap, and they will move back the snap which can cause you problems up front if you are not prepared for it. I think all those things, on top of him just understanding the game and how he wants to call his game; and I go back, you keep it simple for those guys to play. Q. On Monday, you'll become just the third coach in 42 years to make his FSU debut. What does that mean to you and what does that say about the consistency of the program? TAGGART: It means a lot to be able to lead this program and to be able to try to stand on the shoulders of those guys that came before me and did a great job here. Says a lot about this program. Says those guys before me won a lot. Got to go out and win a lot of ballgames if I want to be a part of those two. Q. When you first started, you said it's getting into that routine, even finding where the coach's offices were when you first came in. Does it go hand-in-hand for game day, too, knowing where to be when for your first game? Is there any stress that comes along with that? TAGGART: Yeah, I think this being the first game, there's a lot of stress because there's a lot of unknowns and it's the first time that we are all going to battle together. So there's a lot of unknowns, so you're always stressed and worried and making sure that you're prepared and you don't know necessarily everything to expect from your opponent. So you've got to be ready to adjust ASAP. For the most part, it's just like any other season, though, once you get going, then it's all go. Q. You've said since you got the job that it's been a dream job and goal of yours. Do you think the nerves or eagerness will hit at any time this week or Monday and then once you run on the field, it's just another game? TAGGART: Yeah, they’ve been hitting me, a lot, in a lot of different places. But you're right. I mean, I think once you run out of the tunnel and you get to the sideline, again, it's locked in and to the game plan and going out and try to execute and help our team do the very best to try to win that ballgame. I know leading up to it, there's going to be a lot of excitement throughout the week. It's going to be that way. There will be a lot of nervousness. It's all part of it, good nervousness, but it will be fun. I'm looking forward to it. Q. On the depth chart, there's a whole lot of ‘ors’, specifically, with the wide receiver position. Is that just because you're happy with all of the guys and you think all the guys can contribute or just what's the reasoning for that? TAGGART: They all can contribute and they all will contribute. How? A lot of different ways for us. So that's why they are on there. We figure they all play for us. Q. Jaiden Woodbey came in and seemed to impress a lot of people during the spring. Now he's projected to start. I guess could you just discuss his eight or nine months on campus, and how he's impressed you guys enough to get a starting job? TAGGART: Jaiden's been everything that we thought he would be from the time we recruited him and to come here and I remember first time meeting the young man and talking to him, he spoke about how passionate he was about Florida State and how passionate his brother was about Florida State. He's shown that ever since, again, we met him and every time we talk and he's been on campus; usually when a kid come that far away from home, you get homesick and you have a lot of issues. We haven't had any issues with Jaiden when it comes to that. He's fit in perfectly with our guys, and not just his teammates, but I see him hanging out with other athletes on campus and that's great. You see a young man that's just really, really excited at being at his dream spot, as well. But he's not just satisfied at being here. He wanted to come here and he wanted to contribute and be a big part of what we're doing athletically football-wise. He's doing his part from there. I mean, everything he told us he was going to do, he's doing it. Q. You obviously grew up a big fan of the program, big fan of the Bobby Bowden era. What's it going to be like to see him on the field Monday night? TAGGART: For me it's going to be like the spring game, watch him walk out there, get goosebumps every time I see Coach Bowden. Very happy for him to be back on that field. To start the season off for us as honorary captain, it's going to be great and to have Peter Warrick back here, some of his former players back and around, I think it will be a great day for him. We'll make sure that we go out and perform for him so he can be happy with the Noles. Q. Do you project Dontavious [Jackson] and Stanford [Samuels III] to be able to play Monday night? TAGGART: I do. Dontavious practiced with us yesterday, and so I think he'll be well. Stanford, he did some individual stuff with us yesterday. I expect for them both to play. Q. And do you expect to play multiple running backs, maybe up to -- you have a lot of -- Anthony Grant is obviously a really good player. You have five of them. Do you expect to play -- could you play all five? Is it two or three? How do you envision it going? TAGGART: We going to play them. How we going to play them, you going to see that Monday night. Q. Some much the players, we know what's going on with Dontavious and the tailbone and Stanford. Josh Kaindoh we haven't had any details on what's plaguing him. Is that a decision from him and his family or something that you were involved with, too, to not really disclose what Josh is kind of battling? TAGGART: Josh is going to play for us on Monday. I think it's kind of like any other athlete that's playing. You're going to have some bumps and bruises and some things that go on and try to take care of them and do what's best for them to make sure they are healthy and they can perform for you. We are doing the same thing with Josh. Q. Josh Jackson, his versatility for Virginia Tech, what's the biggest challenge trying to slow him down? TAGGART: You have to be able to tackle him. He's a big kid, big athlete at the quarterback position, and they do a good job of using him in the run game. So we've got to make sure we do a good job of game tackling and getting on him, and he throws the ball well for them. I know Coach Justin [Fuente] has done a great job with quarterbacks in the past and find ways to put them in the best position to make plays. You can see him from last year, he was getting better. He's a young kid, played for them, and you can expect him to be a lot better going into year two for them. Q. Do you have a relationship with Coach Fuente? Your thoughts on his career and are they still similar to Virginia Tech the way they were at Memphis? TAGGART: They are. He's been head coach at Memphis and Virginia Tech and he's done a great job at both. He turned the Memphis job around. Turned that program around and they been winning ever since, and then to be able to go to Virginia Tech in the first year to play in the ACC Championship game, it says a lot about who he is as a coach and what he stand for. He's a winner. When you watch his team play, they are very well-coached and they play hard and they play tough and you've got to come ready to play. Q. We saw the moment with Marvin Wilson Monday practice in the Oklahoma drill. What have you seen from him as he's gotten healthier and healthier in the fall and is he 100 percent ready to go? TAGGART: Marvin, that was fun to see. You could tell the young man was so hungry to get back out there. I commend the young man for his effort when it comes to rehabbing. He rehabbed like no other out there. He rehab as if he was going to prepare for a game, and I think by doing that, it put himself in a position to be able to play here for his first game for us, and it was really good to see him out at practice. You all saw that. He was able to make a play and he just let out a lot of emotion. I think all those emotion was just, man, I'm finally back out here with my teammates and able to contribute. I've been really impressed with him. Again, he put his head down and just got to work and didn't complain about anything. Just wanted to make sure he's in position to help his teammates out. . With the uniforms for the game on Monday, some coaches may see as letting the players choose uniforms as a distraction. How do you see it? Is it a reward? Just clothing? How do you kind of explain uniforms, something that should be basic but might have more meaning? TAGGART: I don't know if I should answer that for you because you're leaving -- no, I’m just playing (Laughter). I let our Unity Council pick our uniforms. Again, our players should have some say some something. You know, they are excited too, and they want to go out and play well and look good. I let them choose. Now, I have the final say in what we're going to do, but the guys come up with them and we figure we'll do that and every Monday we'll come out with what we're going to wear that week. Again, won't be crazy. We can't be crazy. We only have so many colors we can use. I think it will be fun. It's not for everyone to like but I think our players will like it and there will be some fans out there that will like it, as well. It will be something different, but again, doesn't matter, as long as we go out and win. Q. Going back to the wide receivers, Keith Gavin looks like a guy that's the starting guy. What kind of camp has he had, and is he a guy that you are counting on to take a big step? TAGGART: Absolutely. Keith, he's improved tremendously since we been here. He's been a guy that's been a focus, getting better as a football player. I don't remember him missing one practice, even going back to spring ball. He was there every single day and going on with every rep in the springtime. But watching him and how focused he's been in this training camp, that says a lot about where his head is and what he want to get accomplished this year. He's one of the leaders in that room and we expect big things from Keith this year. Q. A little different of a question. We had a chance to talk to Willie Simmons and he talked about this weekend being unique because you have your own night to shine. Talk about your relationship with him and how neat it is to have your own night this weekend to play. TAGGART: Willie and I are good friends, and support him, he support me, and hopefully if I get a chance, I can stop by and get to see his first game on Saturday. But it's a great opportunity for him, and I know he'll do well. Again, Monday night, the only game on TV for us, that's going to be fun. Spotlight does strange things to some people. We got it here in Doak Campbell and we're excited. Can't wait. It's Labor Day. Only game on TV, Monday Night Football. How about that. Q. I see you've got D.J. Matthews listed as your starting punt returner, one of the ‘ors’ at wide receiver. I guess he's ready to go, A, and then what does he bring to you on punt returns? What kind of special athlete is he there? TAGGART: He's a guy that needs the ball in his hand. Again, he can stop on a dime, and people talk about going to zero to 60 real quick, he's one of the guys that can do that. You give him his space and he can make a guy miss and go, and you need guys like that when catching the ball and a guy that you can -- especially when it comes to returning, you want a guy that's reliable; that's going to catch the football and he takes pride in catching that ball back there and you want someone like that back there. Q. When it comes to the receiver positions in your offense, are they inter changeable, or do guys know certain spots and focus on that? TAGGART: Guys know certain spots. But they also interchangeable, too, all depends on what we're trying to get accomplished. We want the ball in their hand or who we are trying to attack on the defensive side of the ball. But if we are just going to stay stationary and whatever, then again, guys on one side of the ball and understand what they are doing. But they are all interchange -- because of formation, they all got to know the assignments because everything is by concept and they understand the concept; they understand how to get it executed. GEORGIA TECH Paul Johnson Weekly Press Conference Opening statement: “Well I think after eight weeks of spring football and fall camp, getting ready to play, we’re excited to be in game week. We’re looking forward to having the opportunity to go out against a different team and see exactly where we are. I thought we had a good camp, it was really physical. For the most part, from an injury standpoint, well we should’ve gone into the game pretty healthy. We’ve had a couple of off the field incidents that may affect a couple of guys playing, but other than that just excited to play.” On what sticks out about Alcorn State on film: “Well, I think they’re very well coached, I think they have a good system and that they understand it. They know what they want to do, they’re very similar to the system that Rich Rodriguez ran at West Virginia. As you would imagine the offensive coordinator played offensive line at West Virginia and Pat White was the quarterback there, so they have some familiarity with that system. They got a new quarterback and a new running back, so there’s not a whole lot of tape on them, although they played some a year ago. Offensively, they’ve got a couple of pretty good receivers. The tight end is a good blocker. Their offensive line, they’ve played some, they’re like everyone else. They’ve lost some guys and played some. Last year I think they averaged over 400 yards a game and scored some points and did very well in their league. Defensively, in that league everybody kind of throws the ball around so you know it’s hard to single out any individual guys. They’ve got a couple of defensive ends that are pretty good pass rushers, they’ve got two big guys inside to hold the point and they run well. I think they’ve won their division in the SWAC four straight times. You know they’ve got some good players and a good team, a lot of JUCO players.” On youth of defense in key positions and their athleticism or just playing well: “We hope it’s some or all of it. It’s up to our guys over there to coach and let them coach and then we’ll evaluate the results. So I’m sure they’re playing in there, who they think they need to play.” On starters and depth chart: “I think it’s still a process and the defensive guys will get a better feel for it as they play in games. I’m going to give you an example, Taquon Marshall is the starter, he’s going take most of the reps unless something happens. A lot of those other positions, talking about tackle, or at stinger or whatever, the guy who’s listed as the backup may play more snaps than the guy who’s a starter or until they sort it out. In this game, Will [Bryan] will play tackle, unless he’s playing guard, Andrew will play tackle, Zach Quinney will play tackle, Bailey [Ivemeyer} will play tackle, maybe Jack DeFoor. So all those kids are going to play and then as you start to play other competition and you get into two or three games, if there’s a huge drop off then you’ll have a starter. In some positions, at receiver right now with the guys who are injured, with Adonicas [Sanders] out and Steph [Dolphus] with his hand. More than likely, that’s going to be a three man rotation, with Malachi Carter being the third guy who’s a true freshman. So he probably is not going to play as much as the third guy at tackle, but he’ll play some. If he plays well, he’ll earn more playing time. We may put him out there and after three games, say oh my god he needs to be the starter.” On the experience of backfield this season and potential to be explosive: “We’ve got a lot of those guys back, certainly Taquon should be better after a year of play. Qua [Searcy] and Clinton [Lynch], if they can stay healthy, will play a lot of football. Nathan Cottrell has played a lot, so you got three guys there. I think d-backs is probably the deepest it’s ever been, as far as players. Once we get Kenny [Cooper] back, if we get Kenny back after the first week, we’re probably going to be as deep on the offensive line as we’ve been in a long time. So you know you hope, but somebody can step off the curve. We had an injury this week, Bruce Swilling, I don’t think he’ll play. He got hurt on a scooter. So you just don’t know, things like that happen so you got to stay healthy. Just like with Lucas [Johnson] getting hurt, I mean that’s a big injury. People say well he’s just a backup quarterback, but it changes everything. It changes James Graham from being a receiver; it changes the position where you have a lot of depth. So historically, the years that you have really good teams are the years you can stay away from injuries and guys can play and you win the close games.” On how high the limit is and what can be accomplished this year: “We got 12 games, you’d hope to try and win them all. I tell those guys it sounds cliché, but we’re worried about the first one. This first game, I got a lot of respect for Alcorn, you watch them they’re well coached. Whatever, we’re playing Georgia Tech. To me it’s no turnovers, no penalties, special teams, all those things that will lose you a game early in the season. We’ve got to go out there and take care of that and play with some fire and some enthusiasm. I mean you spend an awful lot of time getting ready to play football, to play 12 games or 13 games and well you better enjoy it when you get out there because it doesn’t last long.” On decision to change discipline policy: “I came to the decision to change my discipline policy this fall. I’m tired of punishing the coaches and myself, getting up at six to run every morning. We’re not getting up because we’re usually here, but it doesn’t seem to affect some of the guys. It’s usually the 90/10 rule, 10 percent of the guys cause 90 percent of the problems. I don’t think we ask guys to do a whole lot, we ask them to go to breakfast if you have a class before 10. We ask them to go to class and we ask them to go to study hall and be on time. Part of that is taking accountability and training and being responsible to your teammates. Now once and awhile something’s going to happen and I’ve got to interpret that. Take Parker Braun, Parker has been here for three years and he’s never missed anything. To my knowledge he’s never missed class, never missed a breakfast check. If all of sudden he misses a breakfast check and he calls in and goes oh my god coach, I’m five minutes late, my clock didn’t go off, okay I got you. If I got another guy who does that, who’s missed 25, probably not going to listen as much. So that’s kind of the way it works.” On view of discipline being a problem before: “I don’t think discipline is a problem as a general rule here because of the type of player that you get, the type of individual you get. I really do believe that little things are important and the more I can teach the fact that little things are important, I think that has a lot to do with whether or not you win close games. When we recruit guys and I go into a home, I tell their mom and dad, we’re going to try and make them the best football player and we’re going to make sure they get their degree. I take that serious and if I’m trying to make them to be the best person they can be, I need to teach them some accountability somewhere along the way. I don’t have discipline problems where every Monday morning I get a call from the Atlanta Police department because they’re brawling at some club in midtown. That’s not what I’m talking about; I’m just talking about little things like going to class, going to breakfast when you’re supposed to. All those things that are designed to help those guys achieve and getting that degree and being successful. I want them to take some accountability in doing it and it’s a part of growing up.” On what he wants the team to take away from Saturday’s game: “I want to win the game and I’d like for our guys to go out and perform well. We need to be better in all areas we’ve identified, special teams is huge. If we’re in a situation where we’re in a last drive before half, last drive of the game I’d like to see some improvement. Consistency, negative plays on defense, big plays on offense, just play a good football game and then we’ll build from there.” On signing of better classes and the new redshirt rule: “I think what it does is gives you more depth. I’ve always told the coaches if you’ve got a guy that can help us win, he needs to play. Sometimes because of injuries, guys who maybe shouldn’t have played, had to play because of depth. The one thing that the new rule will do is it gives you some depth. Now if we know that one of our freshmen is going to play all year, then we’re going to get them into the game on Saturday. I don’t think you just let all the freshmen dress and say that’s one of their four games. I think you need to gradually think it out.” LOUISVILLE COACH BOBBY PETRINO PRESS CONFERENCE – Alabama (Aug. 27, 2018) Opening Statement COACH PETRINO: “First, just let me say our thoughts and prayers are with John Asher’s family. Obviously, everyone here knows him – great guy, great man. He’ll be really missed. (The) 45th anniversary of Paul Rogers – congratulations Paul, excited about that, that’s a heck of a deal. “And now, it’s game week. It’s a good time for us. What we did is, Friday night, we had a ‘mock game,’ which is part-scrimmage and part-situations, and a lot of special teams. You’ve got to get all the special teams work, with all the things that could come up in special teams. But, I like the way it was done. We did a good job with it. Our players did a good job with it, preparing for it, and then, they come in on Saturday morning and we do a team run, and then, came back last night and had our start-of-the week practice for Alabama. Today’s their day off, we always do that early in the year, have Monday as their day off. That’s when some of our players take labs and have later classes, and then sometimes later in the year, we change it to Sunday as the day off. It works out better for Monday, so our first real practice again tomorrow for the Alabama game. “But, we’re excited for it. Fired up for our team. I think we’ve had a good camp. We’ve grown and gotten better. I think we’ve learned a lot about our players, they’ve learned about each other, and we’re excited to play a game. We’re certainly at that point where we’re tired of hitting and tackling, and going against each other, so it’s time for a game, and we’ve got a good one playing the defending national champions. Great tradition, very well-coached team, with a lot of really good players. It’s a great challenge for us. We’re looking forward to it. We’re excited. We need to have a good week of practice, good week of preparation—not just practice, but the entire week of preparation, and the meetings and the studying, and really understanding. It seems like we’ve been working for this game for a long, long time, so it’s nice to finally get here and get the week going.” (On players who unexpectedly became starters) COACH PETRINO: “No, and I think we hand out the two-deep right after the press conference. But, no, I think we’re pretty much … we’ve had some really good competition and we still have some competition going on. This is the tentative starting lineup, and obviously, you’ve still got to practice and work to get better in practice, and work to keep your job in practice. But, it’s pretty close to where we fought it would be when we started the season and there hasn’t been a whole lot of change, luckily (knocks on table).” (On performance of senior wide receiver Jaylen Smith in practice) COACH PETRINO: “I was excited to see the shape that he’s in, and how he was able to handle the load in practice, the reps, and be able to do anything and everything. He did go through the scrimmage the other night, the mock game the other night—did a nice job, caught some nice passes, so that was good to see. I think he’s in good condition, ready to go. So, I was happy about that, and that’s a credit to our trainers and the other things we have to allow kids to condition: the underground treadmill, the other treadmill that lowers your weight, and the ability to go ahead and condition when you’re not fully healthy. I was a little bit surprised how good of condition he was in.” (On performance of redshirt sophomore quarterback Jawon Pass in camp) COACH PETRINO: “I think he’s getting there as the leader. The first thing you have to do as a quarterback is do your job really well, to be a leader. You have to be able to direct and change the mood at times. And I’ve seen him see that and do it, and demand kids to pick it up and get going. So, that was really good to see. It’s his time. He’s ready to go. He’s been preparing for this for a long time. He just needs to relax, have a good week of practice. He did really well Friday night. I was really excited about how sharp he was, how accurate he was, and his decision making, so we’re going to focus on decision making and execution all week long in practice.” (On the challenges of preparing for the possibility of two Alabama quarterbacks, not knowing which one will play on Saturday) COACH PETRINO: “Yeah, and one of them only played a half, and then cranked the ball deep and did a great job throwing the football. We've been having to prepare for both of them. They both can run, and they're both big 220-pound guys that can run with big hips that are hard to tackle, so the thing we have to do is get in position to make the tackles when they do run and do a great job of form tackling and getting extra guys to the ball. They're very sound on everything that they do – protection, run game, their RPO game that they do. We've got to be able to recognize splits and formations and tips and try to have an idea what's coming before the ball’s snapped.” (On the development of the defense under new coordinator Brian VanGorder) COACH PETRINO: “I've liked our camp. Like I said last week, our attitude, our toughness and our commitment to effort has really showed up in camp. I felt like the other night that our assignments and speed, we were playing faster because we knew what we were doing. There wasn't a lot of hesitation out there. So, I was happy with the way we ran to the football and the way we tackled, and the attitude that we're playing with is what you need.” (On Pass’ development as a passer) COACH PETRINO: “That’s kind of what he was coming out of high school. We felt like he's getting back to the pocket passer, the guy that can move in there. He does a really good job of throwing the ball across the middle. I think that's something that has really shown up in practice and in his ability to make those passes where you’ve got to hit the top of the helmet. I think it helps with his height and his release in doing that. He also does a good job of moving and throwing the ball on the run. He has a really short, quick release and gets his body in the right position. So, I think his two years here, he's improved and worked extremely hard at it. I think it's going to be being able to carry it over from the practice field to the game field so that you continue to have the right set, have your feet in the right position, get your shoulder in the right position and be able to just focus on my reads and let the muscle memory take care of itself.” (On what makes Alabama’s defense so successful) COACH PETRINO: “They’re always really good at stopping the run and working to stop the run, whether it's technique and fundamentals and being sound, or pressuring you with run pressures to try to stop the run. Then, they’ve got guys who can really rush the passer. They do a good job, they've always done a good job of adjusting during the game too. That's one of the things that we noticed from them before. They're going to come out in the second half and have a couple new things that we didn't see in the first half, particularly on third down.” (On the aim for the first offensive series of the game and if it will change at all for Saturday’s game) COACH PETRINO: “No, it doesn’t change, it’s another game. Start of the season, so we'd like to take the ball and go get a touchdown. That’s typically what we want to do and expect to do. You try to mix different personnel groups, different formations in there. We've got to do a good job up in the press box, really understanding what we're seeing and what they're doing to those different personnel groups and different formations. You’re not only trying to score, but you're trying to learn and bring it to the next series.” (On status of tight ends coach Coach Klenakis) COACH PETRINO: “Yeah, nothing has changed there.” (On whether Klenakis will be coaching Saturday) COACH PETRINO: “No, he’s not coaching Saturday.” (On working to motivating players to believe that they can beat Alabama) COACH PETRINO: “Well, we're working on it every day. I think you do it by working extremely hard in practice and understanding that you did that. Trusting your teammates did it and going into the game with confidence, and one of the things that helps your confidence is you really understand what you're doing, and you study and know the game plan and know what we're doing and then you're ready to go execute it. So, it's not it's not like it's a new thing or anything, it's the same thing you try to do for every game and part of your job as a coach is to get your players to believe that you can go out there and win the game. Get your players to believe during the game that you're going to win the game. That's a big part of coaching. We've had a lot of good games where our players have done that and then you go out and play the way you can play every now and then you get a game where it shows up that you really didn't believe it and then you make the mistakes and you normally catch a ball and you drop it. You normally hit this curl you know 10 out of 11 snaps and all of a sudden, the ball is high and sailing off. I always believed that that's part of whether you believe when you're going to win, or you don't.” (On if there is any way to know if the players fully believe) COACH PETRINO: “Well, you go play the game. Here we go. It's time to do it.” (On potentially gleaning information from documentary following Alabama’s camp) COACH PETRINO: “We had guys that looked at it every night and took notes and drawings and try to get as much out of it as we possibly can.” (On team’s health entering the season) COACH PETRINO: “I think we're pretty healthy, so it looks like we should have everybody available and good to go.” (On when he studies film of other teams) COACH PETRINO: “When we come back from recruiting, we always have three teams that we're going to spend time on in the offseason getting ready for the next season. So, we usually have one week where we totally game plan for this game and we come back in spring ball and spend time practicing for it in spring ball, and then, you come back in the summertime, and then, spend another week or two weeks on game planning. And now, it’s started all over again. So, it's one of those things…a lot of times, there's not a lot that you change, but there are times where (you say) ‘Hey, were not executing this very well.’ You take it out, so really, you probably eliminate more than you put in at this point in time because the first game plan, you put everything you’ve got up on the board, and then, you start eliminating.” (On dealing with injury to redshirt sophomore fullback Tobias Little) COACH PETRINO: “You know that’s part of football is that you understand there will be some injuries, and it's unfortunate. Tobias has worked so hard and I was excited to see him play, and I know he was excited to do it. He's got a great attitude and he'll come back from it. but guys are just working hard doing to get their name called and get carries. There’s still good competition. They're still working hard at it, and you’ve got (redshirt junior) Trey Smith, you’ve got (redshirt sophomore) Dae Williams, you’ve got (redshirt freshman) Colin Wilson … (junior) Malik Staples has come in and helped us and done some really good things. And then, you’ve got the two freshmen (Hassan Hall and Javian Hawkins) that are still trying to understand what's going every play, but boy, can they run and catch and are exciting.” (On his message to Pass before Saturday’s game) COACH PETRINO: “We're just going to go out and practice right now, and then obviously, there'll be a lot that we talk about. But, he's just going to practice.” (On status of sophomore safety TreSean Smith for Saturday’s game) COACH PETRINO: “Yeah, TreSean’s done a nice job and played Friday night, did a good job.” MIAMI Head Coach Mark Richt Opening statement… “Before we get started on LSU and the game, I want to at least make mention that we had our president come and visit us today. President Frenk came by to see our football team, and we actually started out our day in the indoor facility – in the ‘Soffer,’ which is what we’re going to refer to it now. If you ever hear me saying that we’re going to the Soffer, we’re going to the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility. That’s what I’m going to call it and I want everyone else around here to call it the ‘Soffer.’ That’s exciting news – we had our president come by and said hello. Then practiced outside and then, at the end of the day, I decided to finish the last little bit of practice indoors as well. We had a few guests come. Rob Finizio was there, and he gave a great gift for the field. I just wanted to let the players know about the great gifts and there’s others, even in the room today, that have given great gifts and we are so thankful for those.” “Getting into the LSU game, we are excited that it’s finally here. It’s just a few days away now. Today is Tuesday and we had a Tuesday-like practice. Today is more first and second down-type things. If there are blitzes, blitzes that people might use in first and second down, out in the middle of the grass – the green zone, we call it, between the 20 [-yard line] and the 20 [-yard line] – that was the focus today. A little bit of short yardage and goal line today as well, when we have full pads on. Tomorrow will be Wednesday and it will be treated as a Wednesday practice, which is more third downs, third-and-medium, third-and-long, red zone stuff and that’ll be what we do tomorrow. Thursday we will have a Thursday practice, which is in shorts and helmets. We’ll be covering kind of a little bit of everything and doing a little one-minute offense, one-minute defense, cover some kicking situations. Then Friday we’re going to be treating it as if it’s another Thursday - another dress rehearsal day. We’ll travel Saturday and then we’ll play, of course, on Sunday. That’s our schedule for the rest of the week.” “We’re getting ready to play LSU, like I mentioned. Great football team. Historically great. I think ‘great’ is the way to describe them now, when you watch their film - very physical, fast team. They recruit as good or better than anybody in the country. They have more NFL players on rosters right now than anybody in America, that’s about three or four years running – there’s always great players there, great coaching. Coach Orgeron has done a wonderful job there of recruiting and motivating his team. Just watching the spring game, you can see the talent base they have and the way they get after it.” “Last time Miami played LSU, it was the worst defeat in a bowl game, probably ever, that Miami has had. I think it was in the Peach Bowl. The biggest margin of victory in a bowl game for LSU – I think it was in 2005. We know we’re in for quite a challenge. Being a coach in the SEC for all those years, you know what LSU is about. I’ve had a chance to play them a few times. A great challenge, I’ll just say that.” On how to prepare for a running back with limited film available… “When you’re facing a running back, you pretty much have to defend the scheme. They’re going to run certain plays no matter who the running back is. One guy might have a better ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and you might have to make some adjustments there, try to make sure you get a good matchup, not a bad matchup. The thing about when you play man coverage, it’s not just defensive backs and receivers. There’s receivers and running backs, and linebackers and safeties – they have to cover people too. You can get yourself in a bad matchup if you’re not careful.” On playing at AT&T Stadium for the first time… “I’ve never been in a stadium like that. I’ve never been in that stadium. As soon as we get in town we’re going to try to get over there and take a peek. I think LSU has played in it three or four times and have never lost – I don’t know how recent that is, I don’t know if the kids saw it last year or not. We’re going to at least get our team in there and let them look. It’ll be nothing like game day, I’m sure, but at least they’ll have a little bit of an idea of what they’re up against.” On whether he would rather play LSU at AT&T Stadium or in Baton Rouge… “They’ll both be full of raging Cajuns, I can tell you that. Either way, it’s going to be loud as heck, I’m sure.” On how loud he anticipates the noise level to get on Sunday, including the LSU fanbase… “I think, without question, there will be more crowd noise than we can handle with our verbal cadence. We’ll be non-verbal. I would say there will be enough people from Miami to do the same. One year at Georgia, we played Boise State in the old dome. They might have had 10,000 people there, and we’re thinking, ‘no problem, we’ll use our verbal cadence and we’ll be just fine.’ Just the 10,000 made so much noise in that enclosed space, midway through the first quarter, we had to go non-verbal communication. That was a coaching error, just assuming it was not going to be that loud. I was wrong. I’ll never let that happen again.” On the debut of the new Hurricanes uniforms for Sunday’s matchup and what he thinks of them… “I think they’re awesome. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. The fact that the Parley uniforms we’re having that adidas put together - I think everybody knows the deal. There is a lot of waste in the ocean and a lot of it is plastic, and a lot of is different other things that can actually be recycled and reused. The thought of taking notice of that type of issue and making some awareness of it is good…at the end, the jerseys will be auctioned for a good cause. It’s going to be good for that. Kids love that stuff. They like a different uniform. I’m more of a traditionalist, but I’ve learned over the years that if something as simple as that creates excitement and creates fun for our guys and for our fans, I’m all for it. “I want to make one more point: we are going to be a decal on our helmet to honor what happened at Stoneman Douglas High School. I know our baseball team had the decal on their helmets and other sports might have done similar things, but we will have a decal for [Marjory] Stoneman Douglas – ‘MSD’ will be on our helmets to honor those families and that school.” NORTH CAROLINA Head Coach Larry Fedora Opening statement “We’ve had a chance to get out of camp, and we had a really good camp. I thought it was very productive. We got a lot of the things done that we wanted to get accomplished, especially where we were trying to focus our football team. Now we’re into Cal and we’re in game week. It’s finally here. We get to find out a little bit about who we are as a football team in the way we prepare this week in practice and then when we go on this trip.” On the difference between prepping for Cal this year versus last year “You have some film to look at and actually figure out how you want to game plan it. That makes it a little bit easier. They’re going to make some tweaks and changes according to their talent, but you at least have to face things that you know basically what they’re going to do. It’s the same for them. It could be better for them in this go-around, their second year in the program.” On if the scrimmages helped him learn how to handle being without suspended players “I think so. We didn’t go into them being surprised. We knew what was going to happen, we knew when guys were going to be out. So we started putting a plan together then. And we were able to work the plan pretty well through camp. We got out of that first scrimmage and we started adjusting those reps with guys, and I think it’s been good. Now we’ll see on Saturday if it was a good plan or not.” On traveling so far for a game at the beginning of the season as opposed to the middle “I’ve never done it at the beginning of the season or the middle of the season. If I had to pick, I would choose for it to be at the beginning of the season rather than in the season. Five-and-a-half-hour flight, or basically 11 hours in the air, is not something I would want our team to deal with during the middle of a season. Fortunately, we don’t have to.” On how Xach Gill and other young defensive linemen have progressed and if they can tackle a big assignment Saturday “Yeah, I think so. I think both Xach and Jahlil Taylor – the other freshman who is inside – (can), and I would say Gavin Lewis is probably behind those two. But I think probably surprisingly that Jahlil Taylor really did some nice things during camp and showed that he can help us. If we need to put him in, we can get some solid reps out of him. Same thing with Xach. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that we want those guys to play 40 snaps in a game because we really don’t. But I think both of them will be able to give us some quality snaps during this game.” On if he knows about how many true freshmen will play “I would be guessing because I haven’t really thought about it and I haven’t really looked at it. But if I went back and just really thought about who, I think there’s no doubt William Barnes is going to play at some point in the game. I think there’s a chance you could see [Joshua] Ezeudu play in this game. I think you will see Javonte Williams play in this game. I think you will see Dyami Brown play in this game. You will see possibly Antoine Green play in this game. I’m just going through positions. I mean, defensively, I think you could see Bryson Richardson, I think you could see DeAndre Hollins, I think you could see Javon Terry, I think you could see Trey Morrison, I think you could see Jahlil Taylor, I think you could see Chris Collins.” On what’s impressed him about Javonte Williams “The thing that has struck me the most is he’s so mature. He has handled a lot of situations that we’ve put him in really well. They haven’t flustered him. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t make any mistakes. He’s made mistakes, but the way he’s handled those mistakes has been very, very mature, not like a true freshman. He did that in the spring when he was still supposed to be in high school. So he’s a different individual mentally. He’s able to handle pressure, he’s able to handle those situations without getting flustered and still be able to do his job. So that to me is probably one of the most impressive things about him. He can carry the ball. Another thing is he’s really good in pass protection. He’s really good and picked it up well, his technique is good, all those things – which is typically the most difficult thing for a running back coming out of high school because they don’t get to do a lot of it in high school. But it was natural for him. I just think his maturity level is the thing that’s been the most impressive.” On Ratliff-Williams’ reaction to being a punt returner “[Anthony Ratliff-Williams] is always pushing me. He’s always pushing me for everything. He wants to be out there and everything. Every chance you can put the ball in his hands, he wants the ball in his hands. That’s one of the things I love about Ant, you know, is that he wants the ball in his hands and he knows he can make plays and he can help this football team. It’s not that he’s won out. He’s proven that he can do it. I’m sitting there watching last night and watched T.J. Logan catching punts. I never even put him in that situation ever. Never even thought twice about it, but we also had a pretty good one at the same time. But he did some good things.” On Nathan Elliot knowing early on that he will start “We’ve got to make it a benefit. For me, I’ve been dealing with quarterbacks for a long, long time so I have a way that I like to handle quarterbacks and I’ve always liked quarterbacks having to compete always until they have really separated themselves. In this situation, the separation came quickly so he knew he was going to be the guy. Now, it’s not like, ‘I’m competing for my job as much as I’m competing to lead this football team. So I’m competing every day to make sure I’m the leader of this football team, I’m the leader of the offense, I make sure this offense does what we needed to do. I need to make sure we take care of the football and move the chains. Those two things.’” On feelings leading up to season opener now versus previous years “That’s a great question. I was thinking about that the other day and the way I sleep right now or the way I don’t sleep right now, and I was thinking in 1986 it was exactly the same way. The things that I think about right now going into this game are the same things I was thinking about when I was coaching high school football in the mid-80s at Garland High School. I really haven’t changed. The anxiousness, the anxiety, all of that is still there. I will ‘what if’ myself to death in every situation possible. What happens if this guy goes down? What if they do this? What do we do here? Because I don’t want to leave any stone unturned. That’s just the way I’m built.” On feelings about moving past last year with this season opener “Doesn’t change anything for me. The pressure I feel right now is the same pressure I felt in 1986. I mean, that’s just the way I am. To me, you have a philosophy and you believe in your philosophy and if you really believe in it, then you do it. You don’t worry about other things. You work to be the best that you can be and you coach your kids and you teach them so that they’re prepared for every situation. Those are the things I worry about. Is there going to be a situation that comes up in a game that I haven’t thoroughly covered enough for those guys? Because there are going to be some guys that I just pointed out are going to be out there for the first time in their life in a college football experience and that’s a tough thing. I can remember a kid that was through here a few years ago that was a first round draft pick, that the first time he went out on the field as a freshman, his feet popped and he fell down. The guy he was covering ran right by him. There’s no reason to talk about that, but I talked about that with the staff the other day. They’re freshmen. They won’t react exactly like you think they’re going to react every time. They’re freshman, but that’s to be expected so we’ve got to prepare for it.” NC STATE Dave Doeren, Head Coach, NC State Opening Statement: “I’m excited to be in game week finally. The players have worked hard, the coaches have worked hard and we’re excited to see our fans. This is our red and white game, the students, several of them came out for our mock game on Saturday and we’re looking forward to having them in the stands again and just being a part of the Carter-Finley game day experience. You start your 2018 season really in January and so a lot of time and effort goes into it. A lot of meetings, a lot of lifts, a lot of runs, a lot of mental time, a lot of practice, a lot of injury reports, a lot of everything, a lot of talking. And it’s finally time to play. We get to play a great team, I have great respect for Coach Houston and his staff. I think with Coach Donnie Kirkpatrick, Steve Shankweiler, who was with us last year and is there now, and their defensive coordinator Coach Trott, they’ve got a really good staff and players. Winning 28 games in two seasons, they’ve played a lot of football. I mean 30 games in two years is a lot of games, so they’ve got a lot of guys, even though they’ve lost a lot of starters in some areas, they’ve got a lot of guys that have played and expect to win just like we do. I look forward to the game, look forward to the atmosphere of the game, look forward to seeing our players, some of them that we know kind of what they can do and some of them that we’re excited to see what game day does to them. I think that’s part of the journey: what truly happens when the lights come on and the kick goes up and seeing what some of these younger players can do that we’ve either redshirted or that are brand new with us that are going to play. Just talking specifically about James Madison, we are waiting to see who their starting quarterback is, I haven’t heard yet, so we’re preparing for both. I’m very impressed with their tailbacks. We know a lot about Marcus Marshall, obviously Trai Sharp. Both of them are North Carolina natives and Cardon Johnson did not play last year due to injury but is back and a really good player. I think their tailbacks are excellent players. They have a big receiver outside in Riley Stapleton, #10, who finished the season really strong for them at 6’5. All five of their offensive linemen have started in games and so they have good experience there. Defensively, they are similar to us in that they lost quite a few players there on their defense, on their front, but defensive end #47 Darrious Carter is back. He had 14 TFLs and 8.5 sacks and is a disruptive player. I’m very impressed with Carter. The defensive tackle for them last year, I think he wore #15, he’s wearing #5 now. I was impressed with him on film. I think their two corners are exceptional players. They’ve both played a ton of football, they both make plays, they’re confident players. So you know that matchup for us, obviously we think our receiving corps is really good and so that’s going to be a big matchup in the game. And then the special teams aspect in game one, obviously that’s a big area for both football teams and how we’re going to catch it, kick it, protect our punter, rush their punter, and all the things that go with it, so I look forward to that part of the game and the third phase. Obviously a very important phase for us. I know Chris Dunn is excited to get out there as are some of the other young guys, so it’ll be fun to see them play for the first time. On training camp with the new redshirt rule and evaluating newcomers: “I think there’s various ways you can look at it. We’re not looking at it as an experimental deal where it’s a scrimmage where we’re going to see what they can do. They’re either ready or they’re not ready and some of them are ready to play and some of them are backups to positions and if there’s injuries they will play. There’s others that are not ready to play and the beauty of this is, in four to six weeks, they may be. This first month of school, where they’re on the scout team, getting into a routine and settling in. All of a sudden they may be less nervous or things may click and they’re more ready to play at midseason. That’s kind of how we’re approaching it. I’m not going to use the opportunity to throw a guy in just to see what he can do. Game day is not an experiment. This is what we do for a living and we’re going to make sure the guys that are out there have proven in practice that they’re ready to play.” On Kishawn Miller starting at CB: “Kishawn’s been steady, he’s very competitive, he plays the ball well, he’s stayed healthy. He went through the entire training camp and didn’t miss a snap. And really, that’s more of it than anything. Chris Ingram was playing really well and then missed a little bit of time. We think both of those guys are going to play, and play well, but when you’re talking about two guys being close in a competition and one guy practiced a lot more than the other, that’s kind of how it goes. At linebacker, Isaiah [Moore] is playing really fast and so is Louis [Acceus]. We feel good about both of those guys playing, just Isaiah ws consistent more than anything probably than Louis and made fewer mistakes during training camp. But we feel like both those guys are guys that can help us, and play and play well.” On Tyler Baker-Williams moving from safety to RB: “Going into training camp we had a lot of running backs and all of a sudden we had only a couple. It was really who on our team has been in a role where they could carry the football and do a good job. Tyler, in high school, played everywhere. He was a wildcat quarterback, he was a receiver, he was a DB, he was a linebacker, he did all kinds of stuff on his team. We do a lot of crossover drills to see how guys can run with interceptions even and the guy showed a lot of movement as a runner. Just talking to the staff, we decided if we’re going to move someone from defense to offense who would have the best chance of coming over and sticking and not sitting there for a week until somebody came back, because we didn’t want to invest reps in a player that we didn’t feel like could stay there. Tyler was doing well on defense, so we just felt like putting him there while Ricky was out and Reggie had a few days he couldn’t go. It gave us a player that if they didn’t come back, could stay there and play, and to his credit did a nice job. He’s very athletic, with his receiver background, but he can see he’s got good vision. He’s natural with the ball in his hands. I don’t know if it’s a career move for him, but for the time being it’s a place where he’s done a really good job and we feel comfortable with him. Back there.” On RBs Reggie Gallaspy, Nakia Robinson, and Trent Pennix: “Reggie’s our starting tailback, we feel really good about him right now. I’m excited for Reggie, he’s in good shape. He’s in a great place personally. I think he’s just one of those seniors that you can just kind of see is ready for his senior year and has put the time in and the work in. Behind Reggie we’ve got a bunch of young guys. Nakia (Robinson) is a guy that’s redshirted but has not played in a game yet. We felt like Trent Pennix early in camp was going to be a really, really good player and then he missed about 20 practices there, so he’s been back with us now for about a week and he’s looked good, but we’re not going to rush the process with him. We’ll see, you know it’s Monday, by the end of the week he may be the number two tailback, I don’t know, but you’re asking me for a two-deep on Monday, so you got one. Reggie’s had some different issues in his legs, so whenever they get fatigued we’re just careful with it. We don’t want it to be a deal where he’s out for a long period of time and it’s really just managing swelling, Uou know when you have guys that have anything wrong with a knee or an ankle and all of a sudden you have a hard day on it and they’re sore, you don’t want to push it to the point of injury. So for him, it was just giving him time to recover.” On how he handles momentum/when things are going well: “It is [going well]. I’m not a negative person, I don’t sit there and worry about things that haven’t happened. My job is to try to build on where we are and make it better and try to make sure that the people are around me who are helping me do it are staying on task and our vision doesn’t change and that we don’t get a big head. I mean it wasn’t long ago that people weren’t talking about us like that and quickly, as everybody knows, things can change. So it’s just trying to win the day. In my job, it’s making sure the players’ minds are in the right place and in their hearts and if I can just handle it one day at a time like I’m asking my players to, then things continue to stay the way they are and that’s how I look at it. I’m excited about the trajectory of our program for sure. I love being with the guys and I think our staff’s doing a great job, recruiting’s going well, and just keep doing the things we’ve been doing and keep it that way.” On Ryan Finley (How much confidence do you have in him on a scale of 1-10?): “I mean, on 1-10, 11. I think the guy’s in a great place mentally and he works hard, he’s got great teammates that he trusts and he trusts the coaches and the system/ Physically he’s doing everything he needs to do, so he’s just got to go out and play. You couldn’t ask for a guy to have put himself in a better position going into his last year.” On the offensive line: “Our depth on the offensive line is in a much better place than it’s been. I think Philip Walton really took advantage of a bunch of reps in training camp. Tyrone Riley and Witt were neck-and-neck there for a while, and Tyrone got pneumonia, which is kind of weird in the middle of the hottest training camp ever – but he missed a week and now he’s back, and that set him back, but as far as what he was doing, him and Justin Witt were right next to each other in the competition. I feel really good about the two-deep and Emanuel McGirt is finally healthy and had a good training camp, so the depth there is better than it’s been.” On the role Bradley Chubb played Ryan Finley’s decision to come back: “It gives you a frame of reference for him to look at because there’s a lot of pieces to it. Players are allowed to get insurance if they’re rated that high as a player, so Bradley went through that. So ‘your parents can talk to his parents, you can talk to him,’ so it’s not just ‘this is what coach said, I have to believe it,’ He was able to talk to a teammate that’s been through it. I think that’s helpful. And it is different. I mean quarterbacks are looked at differently than d-linemen, but it’s still somebody that he can have a frame of reference to in the decision process.” On James Madison: “I think when you say that in the last two years this team’s 14-1, 14-1, been to back-to-back national championship games, it doesn’t take long to get the team’s attention. And our guys, everyone’s singing our praises and this and that, but it’s a new year. We’ve got to go earn it. No matter what you want to be, game one is game one. You want to be 1-0 at the end of it. That gives you more opportunity than being 0-1. Our focus is on them, there’s no doubt, but I still think game one is a lot about not beating yourself. In last year’s game we beat ourselves. We lost the turnover margin in game one and won every other battle on the field and lost the game, so that was a great thing for us to be able to talk about, because a lot more games are lost than won the first couple weeks of the season, so we’re really, really focused, not just on them, but on us. I mean you look at them, they were +22 in turnover margin last year as a football team. That’s incredible. I mean, 44 turnovers they forced on defense and so we’ve got to take care of the football and we’ve got to get it back. We put 44 turnovers up there, the whole offense is like, ‘wow.’ It’s a big point of emphasis for our guys.” On the local North Carolina James Madison players coming to town: “I think everybody’s motivated. I’ve been at that level and have great respect for that level of football. Those players are going to come in here flying high, and they should. It’s a great opportunity for them as a program and for them as players, and our players are no different. You’ve got to respect the game. You’re not going to win it if you don’t.” On Stephen Griffin: “Stephen started practice again last week and so we’re just slowly getting him back to where he needs to be. He looked really good in the mock game and so we’ll have him for more of practice tomorrow than we had him for the last day and we’ll keep going that direction until we feel like he’s got the stamina and everything else. Saturday we’ll have to see where we’re at, but I feel really good about the progress he’s made so far since he got back.” PITT Pat Narduzzi Press Conference Albany Week PAT NARDUZZI: Great to have you here today. Appreciate you guys taking the time to come out on a Monday and check out the Panthers. You know, excited, really, to get this season underway. It's been a long time. Our kids have worked their tail off since really January, and a ton of work goes into it. I think they're ready to hit a different color jersey. We had a great fall camp. I think it's probably one of the healthiest fall camps we've been involved in. You've got to continue to keep that going all the time. We've tried to be smarter as coaches and just try to get them to the game. I think that happens when you got a little bit older football team, which I think we do with the 19 seniors that you guys all had a chance to meet at Senior Day -- or, excuse me, the senior kickoff luncheon the other day. Albany is a good football team. I know you guys want to ask many Albany questions, so I'm going to shoot you with them early. [They were a] 4-7 football team that beat Villanova last year, which is a good football team, as we know. And then they shut out New Hampshire, who is a CAA playoff team. That's a playoff-caliber team. So, I mean, you kind of talk about New Hampshire in the same terms you talk about a Youngstown, a great I-AA football team. Obviously Greg Gattuso is a great football coach. Obviously with his lineage and being around Coach Wannstedt. You know he's a darn good coach. They've got three Pitt guys on that staff. So they'll come ready to go with Nate Byham and Jim Sweeney and Jarred Holley, they are -- you know, they'll come into Heinz Field ready to go. They got -- probably their strength is in their O-line, D-line. I think in any good football team you're going to have a strong front group there. We talk about it all the time. But their entire senior -- I should say their entire offensive line is returning. Their D-line has got everybody returning. They've got three seniors on that group. I think a total of eight seniors in their starting lineups, I think four on offense, four on defense. Gattuso being a defensive guy, I think they were top 10 total defense -- I think No. 9 in the country last year. So they play good defense. So our offensive work will be right there in front of them. I think they've gotten good work in camp as far as going against our defense. So it's going to be a heck of a ball game. Our guys will be ready to come play. With that, I'll leave it open for questions. I know you guys have a ton of them. Q. What do you know about their quarterback? PAT NARDUZZI: You know what? Great question. Vincent -- well, Vinny Testaverde, as I like to refer to him, I don't know if they call him Vinny. There's only one Vinny. But he's a good quarterback. We've watched Texas Tech versus Texas back in 2014 when he played, I think play 32 he got in the game there, and looks composed. I'd say as a true freshman, I believe, or a redshirt freshman '14, looks composed throwing the football, really accurate quarterback. Obviously after went to Miami for a couple years and has landed at Albany, again, played with some great quarterbacks at Texas Tech -- behind some great quarterbacks at Texas Tech and also at Miami. So trying to find a home for him, and I think they got a quarterback that can hurt you throwing the ball. And I'm sure being in a football family, he can make the checks. And I'm sure Dad's taught him well in his youth. So a good player. Not as tall as his dad. Very mobile…maybe not like his dad. And a good quarterback. So we'll find out Saturday. Q. How do you feel about your quarterback play? I mean, obviously you're more confident in it than you were probably toward the end of last season. But compared to how you felt about it the first Monday press conference at this time last year? PAT NARDUZZI: Last year, the press conference, you had high hopes. I think you thought you had a quarterback in Max Browne, which I still think we do, that had potential to be really good. You had a guy that had been out of it for a while, hadn't played a football game for over a year. So I think that played into the whole thing. So I feel totally different. With Kenny Pickett being with what he did at the end of the year last year, as you guys all know, and then with what he'd done during spring ball, it's like this. It's consistent. You're going to see a consistent Kenny Pickett doing the little things right, not hurt you as a quarterback, protecting the football. So, I mean, it's totally different because you've got a guy that's got experience. There's not going to be much rust there. Although, he's still a freshman, you know, I should say he should be a redshirt freshman, but he's still a young guy that hasn't played more than one game as far as starting. So there's still going to be hiccups as far as I believe. I know everybody thinks he's going to go out there and be Kenny perfect. That'd be in a perfect world. But nobody's perfect, and I don't want to make Kenny tight like that where he's got to play perfect. He's still a baby. Q. You're not worried about putting too much pressure on his shoulders? PAT NARDUZZI: No, he likes pressure. I still don't want to make him feel like he's got to be the perfect guy. He's not perfect. And neither am I. So I just don't want him to think he has to go out and play a perfect game. He won't play a perfect game. No quarterback does. Q. When you're scheduling these games, what are you looking for when you go about scheduling an FCS program and how do you feel like Albany checks those boxes? PAT NARDUZZI: They got 14 PA kids I think on the roster. I got to be honest with you. I don't think I scheduled it. It might have been previous. I don't remember. I'm day by day. A lot of those games get kind of thrown at you and you kind of say yes or no and, you know, go back to my office and bury myself into some work there. But there's only so many teams available. But you know what? When you look at all the Pitt connections they have, I think it ends up being a pretty colorful look. When you look at a former Dave Wannstedt staff member coming back to Heinz Field and having Pitt men on that staff, I think it's a neat story. Again, they've got a good football team. And we could go to Louisiana and play some CAA team down there or play one that's not too far away. I think just keeping it in the Northeast region is a positive thing. Q. How far along are you with your defense getting to where you want it? PAT NARDUZZI: We'll find out September 1st, I guess. Right? We'll see. I mean, we’ve got a new coordinator who's calling a game for his first time in maybe 14 years or whatever it's been, very intelligent in Randy Bates, very detailed in game planning. And then when you look at the personnel, we've got personnel. We've got some guys. But then you've got to go out and show it on game day. Doesn't matter, you can have all the “P” you want as far as “Potential,” but, we've got to go out and play like we're a good defense, and that's -- you can tell at the end of the year, it's hard. Maybe we can tell after game 1, okay. They look pretty good, but then we're going to find out the next week, and we'll find out the next week. Ultimately, you're measured by what you do in a 12-game season. Q. Do you feel like the defense is in a place in terms of their understanding or their physical readiness, that kind of thing? PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, physical readiness, no question about it. Durability, no question about it. Then the intelligence part of it. I think they've got a good understanding of what we're doing. But like anything, you walk out there and the offense gives you a scheme, offense gives you a formation or back set something you haven't seen, how well can they, number one, communicate on the field. It all comes down to communication, because you can have one smart guy like Quintin Wirginis in the middle. But if we don't all communicate together, you're going to have issues. We see that in practice every day. That's something we continue to harp on is communication. I've never been through a perfect defense communication-wise, so we're always going to have a mistake here and there. It's going to happen. That's why offenses do what they do, whether it's a shift, a motion, a motion we haven't seen. But defensively, they're as prepared as they're going to be going into this opener. I feel good with what we do offensively preparing. It's not like we're running a Wing-T offense. We run a lot of multiple sets as far as personnel goes. We run a ton of formations. I think we ran 38 formations in our last scrimmage, not this past one, but 38 different formations. That's not including backfield sets or shifts or motions. So we're very multiple at what we do. Again, if I'm a defensive coordinator, that's what I want. I want someone to give me something different every day, not line up in one formation. So I think formationally, we'll be prepared for anything they give us. Q. Noticed on your depth chart Phillipie Motley is a co-starter with Dane Jackson, who started 12 games last year. Talk about that? PAT NARDUZZI: I think I told you since the beginning, you know, Motley's had a great camp. He really has, and there is competition out there, and there are some more guys. We'll see what it looks like. If Phillipie's playing well, we're going to roll with him. It's who is feeling healthy, who is feeling good. Coming out of camp, we need gamers, not just practice players. But I do say this: You play like you practice, and you practice like you play. So if Phillipie does what he did in practice for the last 20 practices, we expect a great year. We talk about the seniors all the time. They have to have the best year they've ever had. If you want to win a championship, those guys that sit in the front rows in our team meeting have got to play well. Q. Do you have any idea when Taysir Mack might get his name on that sheet? PAT NARDUZZI: Is he missing from that sheet? Q. Yeah. PAT NARDUZZI: Okay, here. Put his name on that sheet. That's probably just a typo. That's the problem you have when your depth is good. You can put him at the X. I don't know, you don't even know, it says receiver, receiver, receiver, but he'll be at the X. He's got the ability to play in the slot. He's got to build -- here's the thing about Taysir, he can play in the slot. He can play in the boundary guy, which is where Kenny likes him, and he can play on the field. He can move all over the place intelligence-wise, but put Mack on the depth chart. Q. As a starter? PAT NARDUZZI: I just said put him on there. We'll see. I mean, come on. Q. Some guys are in bold, that's why I'm saying that. PAT NARDUZZI: Some guys are in bold? I don't read the bold. I didn't think you could see that good (laughing). Q. Does the defense have to have a set personality? I know you want them to be ready for anything formationally, but in terms of attitude… PAT NARDUZZI: Well, hopefully they've all got an attitude. Q. How important has Randy’s influence been on them? PAT NARDUZZI: I think it's huge. Anytime your coordinator is passionate and has energy. It's going to play a part. Your kids are going to play like your coordinator, I think. So I think that will be something you'll see Saturday whether they play with a little different swag and energy. You know, you're hoping the lights turn on and at 3:30 that's what you see. They've got to be ready to go. Q. What was the thought this season as opposed to your previous seasons here, that made you feel comfortable talking about the championship game? PAT NARDUZZI: You know, we've talked about it every time in here [inside the team meeting room]. Maybe it's that 18 at the end of the 20, I don't know what it is. But it's these seniors. It's the way they talk. It's the way they believe. If they're talking it freely and if they've said it -- put it this way: When I first got here, these guys just wanted to win six or more games. That was the goal. When we had to change kind of how we thought. We talked about goal setting, doing big things, dreaming big. When I first got here, I was just trying to get them to say ACC. Forget the championship part at the end. But our kids talk in those terms now. Which for every football team you should have that goal. But we had to change a lot of mindsets when I first got here. People thought six or more games, that's a great season. You know, we tried to engrain that into our kids’ heads. That's just average or below average. So you feel good because they believe. I'm not going to go out and take a snap. I'm not going to make a tackle, I'm not going to make a catch. But these guys here, if they believe it, and I think we've got the talent, I think we have the mindset, I think we've got the chemistry to win a championship. Is that going to happen? We'll find out. Q. In your past couple seasons the offense, I guess, has been fairly vanilla in the opener. Are you thinking similar to this, it would be similar to what we've seen in the past couple years? PAT NARDUZZI: I don't know. We'll find out. We're in the process of game planning right now. But this [Albany] is a good football team. We're not holding anything back. So if you're asking that, at times we hold stuff back. I think most people know what we do. So we're going to go out and do it and find out how well we execute the offense. I mean, you know, again, we've got some new wrinkles that you may not have seen before last year. You may not see those this year. But you'll certainly see them as we move on. Q. You talk about changing the mindset. How much do those wins against Clemson and Miami do that for the kids? And how much will we see a schedule, called one of the toughest in the country, maybe not factor in when you've had those victories? PAT NARDUZZI: Well, our kids have played good and played big in big games. Obviously those wins help you. When you end with a win, it made the off-season a little bit more approachable for our kids, approachable for our coaches. But I think it helps you. I think when you have the ability to win a big game, and you've got the ability to win every game, period. If you can beat Miami or Clemson, why shouldn't you win an ACC Championship? It's pretty simple. I think our kids understand that. And that probably plays into part of why they talk like they do. Q. You're talking about Kenny not having to be perfect, you're not perfect. Does this team need to be perfect to get to where you want to get in terms of records? PAT NARDUZZI: Only if the other guys play perfect, okay, which probably won't happen. So if the other guys play perfect, it's not going to be easy, but that's our job to make sure they don't. It's our job as coaches to make sure we don't mess it up either. Q. You guys are replacing a pretty accomplished return man. I mean, you've got guys listed here. Are we going to see a rotation, a lot of guys getting chances in the return game? PAT NARDUZZI: You know what? Rafael Araujo-Lopes has been really -- has really been fantastic as far as a reliable punt returner. Let's start there. You know, with reliability goes -- we have possession of the ball. I think when you think about punt return and returning punts, the number one thing is that we have possession of the football after the end of that play. It starts with that, and we can have more, maybe an electric guy back there. But Shocky's been back there, Paris Ford has been back there, we may get different looks. It depends. I just know right now, I don't know if there are any “ORs” on there [the return game two-deep] or not. But, you know, we know we've got faith and trust in what that guy's going to do in game time. So we'll see what the other guy’s doing to get up there. But, you know, the return game is important. But I also will say this, maturity, having a lot of guys that can play special teams, because everybody thinks it's a one-man show back there in the return game. And we can go over tape, over tape, over tape of kick returns for touchdowns, punt returns for touchdowns. It's hard to do it all by yourself. If anybody thinks that Quadree [Henderson] did it by himself, is crazy. He's a great returner, but he's got help of ten other guys doing their job. And Coach Powell does a great job designing and organizing those return games, and will continue to do a good job. I think, forget the return guy, let's talk about those other critical ten guys on the field and what are those guys doing? I think those guys are better right now. That's so much more important than the return guy, to be honest with you. Q. Paris Ford on defense continues to progress? PAT NARDUZZI: You know, Paris was going like this (makes upward motion) -- he really was and is, I should say. Paris is doing a nice job. He's an energetic guy. I can't wait to watch him on the field. He's energetic. He plays with emotion, and I think the game is a game of emotion. Just got to make sure we keep him under control. He's wild. I love that part of him. Q. I know you're as curious as we are, and probably more to see what this team does when the lights come on. But is there one guy or group of guys or position of guys that you're sort of most curious to see how they fare now in week one against the other team? PAT NARDUZZI: Not really. I can't say there is one. You're looking forward to seeing 22 guys out there and the ten positional groups play. If I'm just, you know, fired up to see one group, then we've probably got problems with the other groups. They're so similar. I think I'm excited to see everybody go out there and play. I think that's where it starts. Q. When you make a statement like wanting to win an ACC Championship and embracing the mentality and being bold about that, does it put pressure on you as well? Do you embrace that pressure? PAT NARDUZZI: I don't know if it puts any more pressure on me. We're going to take it week by week by week. It's a one-game season. You know, there's pressure whether you want to be an ACC Champion or whether you want to win six games. Whatever your goals are, there is pressure to do that. I think when you've got one of the toughest schedules in the country and you have a football team that wants to and has a desire to win a championship, there is no pressure because they believe they're there and they have the ability to do that. So is it stress? Is it pressure? Our guys are ready to play ball. Q. Walk-on receiver Kellen McAlone was put on scholarship. Can you tell us about that? PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, I'm assuming you saw some of the stuff on Twitter. You know, Kellen is an unbelievable kid. Really the set-up for that whole thing, which I don't know if it showed on that video, he does so much in the community service. Forget what kind of football player he is. He's such a volunteer in this community. We talk about making an impact in the city of Pittsburgh, making an impact on campus, putting the smile on people's faces, that's something he does. Every day when we finish practice, that guy's there. I can put an X and save a spot for Kellen because I know he's going to be there. When I blow that last horn, he's coming up. He's right there. So he's done so much community service-wise. The guy works his tail off in anything he does on the football field. So he deserved that scholarship. It started with what he did on the field. We're not going to give it -- because he does a great job in community service. We just kind of set up giving it to him that way. I just said, hey, somebody wants to volunteer? One guy, you only have one, and he's sitting right there like he always is. He said, Coach, I'll do it. It's how we set it up, because I knew he'd volunteer like he always does. The guy will do anything. He'll come in here and mop the floors if we wanted to. That's the most impressive thing. I thought maybe there would be a little dip in maybe his swagger after Jimmy Medure got one. He's thinking maybe there is one more left. Maybe there's one more left. You'd kind of like them to not know if there's any left. You thought maybe you saw a dip in his practice, but all you saw was his rise. I watched him to see how he was going to react to that, and he turned it up even higher, which is Kellen McAlone. Q. Jeff George Jr. is joining your team? PAT NARDUZZI: He is, he is. We introduced him last night. He's on this football team. We're happy to have Jeff. We're happy to have his family involved in the program. We're still waiting to find out whether he's eligible or not. I think there was some word out there saying he was eligible. He spent the last 20 practices in Ann Arbor, so he's really a transfer. So I don't know what's going to happen there. So he's ineligible right now. So we'll wait to find out what that status is for him. But just to give you some background on that, he had visited in the spring. Was trying to decide between, after he left Illinois as a grad transfer, between Michigan and Pitt. I just feel like I got there and felt like, you know, maybe he made a mistake and decided to come here. SYRACUSE Head Coach Dino Babers On the team’s mentality entering Week One against Western Michigan “It’s a business trip. We need to go there and have that type of mindset. [Western Michigan] is a very good football team. They’ve had winning seasons the last three years, they went to three straight bowl games. They know how to win. We’re trying to get on a common ground with where they’ve been at, and I think we just need to take a different attitude toward them.” On Western Michigan “I see a team that wants to run the football. They have a tough, tough running back who’s very, very good. They have an explosive backup tailback that I believe rushed for 100 yards against USC in their opener last year. Their offensive line is big, tough and physical. They want to play a certain style of football, so they’re going to come out there and try to run the football. If we’re going to win, we’re going to have to find a way to stop it.” On opening the season on the road “It’s different for a program of our size to be on the road for the first game. We’ve got an experienced enough football team that we should be ok. We do have some young players in our depth, but we’ve got enough seniors on this football team who know how to travel. We should be able to do this and be ok.” On whether preseason injuries hindered the team’s progress “Not at all. We went full-speed ahead. The backups got in, and they did exactly what they were going to do. We refuse to slow down the growth of the football team based off of injuries.” On playing non-Power 5 conference opponents “It’s not the schools playing each other. It’s the athletes at the school. This [Western Michigan] team is really, really talented. You don’t win games unless you are talented. Talented football teams win games, not the name on front of the jersey.” On shifting his focus to Week One “I woke up this morning, and I was like, ‘Hey, this is a little bit different. I’m kind of getting juiced a little bit for this.’ I think the biggest thing about the first game for any head coach is that I really want our guys to get to the barn fresh. There’s no way their legs are going to be 100 percent, but I want to get them as close to 90 as possible so they can put their best foot forward.” On changing the culture “It starts with the players in the room. The hardest thing to do is turn a loser into a winner. It has to do with the physical part of it and the mental part of it. I think we've got enough players to win this year, but we've really got to attack the mental part of it. There's a toughness and focus that has to be carried for 12 football games before you have an opportunity to play 13." On the challenge of facing former Syracuse coaches "I think it's a huge advantage for them that they know our players. They recruited them, they watched them on tape. They should have a good feel for what they can and can't do." On the team’s mentality entering Week One against Western Michigan “It’s a business trip. We need to go there and have that type of mindset. [Western Michigan] is a very good football team. They’ve had winning seasons the last three years, they went to three straight bowl games. They know how to win. We’re trying to get on a common ground with where they’ve been at, and I think we just need to take a different attitude toward them.” On Western Michigan “I see a team that wants to run the football. They have a tough, tough running back who’s very, very good. They have an explosive backup tailback that I believe rushed for 100 yards against USC in their opener last year. Their offensive line is big, tough and physical. They want to play a certain style of football, so they’re going to come out there and try to run the football. If we’re going to win, we’re going to have to find a way to stop it.” On opening the season on the road “It’s different for a program of our size to be on the road for the first game. We’ve got an experienced enough football team that we should be ok. We do have some young players in our depth, but we’ve got enough seniors on this football team who know how to travel. We should be able to do this and be ok.” On whether preseason injuries hindered the team’s progress “Not at all. We went full-speed ahead. The backups got in, and they did exactly what they were going to do. We refuse to slow down the growth of the football team based off of injuries.” On playing non-Power 5 conference opponents “It’s not the schools playing each other. It’s the athletes at the school. This [Western Michigan] team is really, really talented. You don’t win games unless you are talented. Talented football teams win games, not the name on front of the jersey.” On shifting his focus to Week One “I woke up this morning, and I was like, ‘Hey, this is a little bit different. I’m kind of getting juiced a little bit for this.’ I think the biggest thing about the first game for any head coach is that I really want our guys to get to the barn fresh. There’s no way their legs are going to be 100 percent, but I want to get them as close to 90 as possible so they can put their best foot forward.” On changing the culture “It starts with the players in the room. The hardest thing to do is turn a loser into a winner. It has to do with the physical part of it and the mental part of it. I think we've got enough players to win this year, but we've really got to attack the mental part of it. There's a toughness and focus that has to be carried for 12 football games before you have an opportunity to play 13." On the challenge of facing former Syracuse coaches "I think it's a huge advantage for them that they know our players. They recruited them, they watched them on tape. They should have a good feel for what they can and can't do." Virginia Bronco Mendenhall Q. Bronco, there has obviously been a lot placed on Bryce, a lot of the faith put into him. We've heard a lot of stuff about how vital he will be to this team. His numbers last year, besides getting to the championship game, were not like video game numbers. How much different do you expect that he will play under this system than the more kind of traditional quarterback role he played last year? COACH MENDENHALL: You know, I think it's to be determined. We certainly know what we want those numbers to be, and we think we know within the system and past performances - within the system what that could be. I don't think anyone knows going into game one. We're still looking for a reference point. And that would be for all areas of our program. As much as any coach would like to say they know exactly where they are and what to expect in game one, I don't think anyone knows exactly what to expect. The bottom line though is our quarterback position will have to be exceptional for us to have a good year. That is the reality. So rather than pretend -- and Bryce is embracing those expectations -- our job is to build his capability in relation to the demand appropriately and is sequentially. So my guess is game one won't look like game 13, but hopefully it looks exactly as it needs to for his role and his development and our team's development for the first game. Q. Is it unusual to have captains and not have your quarterback be one of them? COACH MENDENHALL: Not necessarily. I would say especially in the circumstance of a transfer. And so sometimes as a quarterback that's an underclassmen I think that is pretty typical as well. So I would put those in the same category. Bryce received significant support in the voting. But, again, he's new, which is a little bit longer, and certainly has the respect of our team, but not the time yet. When you compare or contrast that to Jordan Ellis, Olamide - I wouldn't take it's a slight to Bryce. I mean, who gets more votes than those guys? I'm sure it's possible. Q. You opened kind of your tenure against Richmond, and you talked so much in the weeks after that about the demeanor on the sideline and the depth and the numbers in the program and how much work you had. When you stop and think about that, how far have you come since that moment? COACH MENDENHALL: Well, yeah, I think the difference of a 2-10 season to a postseason appearance is the best way to describe it. It was probably the first and maybe the most impactful precalibration in becoming the head coach at UVA on exactly where we were was the start of that season. I'm not going to diminish the fact that it was against Richmond. Really it could have been any team. Me then seeing our team's demeanor in Scott Stadium, how exactly we were prepared or had been prepared to play a game, and maybe some of the existing influences that I wasn't aware of. And so we worked diligently just step by step to recreate the culture of the love to play the game, love to prepare to play the game, and claiming our home space at a higher level. It's still a work in progress, but I remember just the graphic starting point and precalibration of, oh, this is where we are. That's what I remember most about maybe that game or that time period. Q. People had such a strong reaction to when you told the board of visitors there were X number of guys who were ACC ready. Right now, where is that number in comparison, and are you happy with the progress you've made? COACH MENDENHALL: Yeah, I don't intend to have like a barometer and maybe like number of customers served, you know, like at McDonald's something. The reality is I'm transparent and I'm truthful, and especially with my players. I won't share anything outside of our team room that I haven't shared with them. They know exactly where they stand and always will. They know exactly what I believe the truth is and always will. I don't think you can have growth as a person, as a team, without knowing where you currently are. I intend to keep with that exact same format. But what I have learned is it's much more powerful within the team format maybe than outside, or sharing it outside, where some don't want to understand or won't understand. Q. Coach, I think you've said you prefer to have a multi-talented quarterback. COACH MENDENHALL: Yes. Q. You had an any idea of what you were getting when you got Bryce. What has surprised you about him since he's gotten here? COACH MENDENHALL: The biggest surprise is poise and consistency. A lot of times with the new players, especially at that position, day by day there is way ups and way downs. With him it's been more of just solid, steady decision making. There are still days of or plays of volatility, but I've been most surprised and impressed with consistency, especially demeanor. There will be gigantic plays that he'll make, or maybe that we don't make, and he just matter of factly moves on. So his poise and consistency I think will give him his best chance and our best chance as there are ups and downs through the season - starting in game one just to kind of follow our guiding principal of less drama, more work, which is what he is. He didn't come in expecting accolades. He hasn't required any additional attention. He hasn't required any unique management. He just has been part of our team. I think that's what endeared him to our team. My hope is that his performance reflects that consistency of his demeanor. If that happens, then it allows our team to have the earliest success possible. As we all know, early season, especially with the ACC, is very important. Wins are hard to get. Q. How much did the time that Richard Burney and Mandy miss because of their injuries accelerate the development of Aaron and Jordan in particular? COACH MENDENHALL: Yeah, there was no one else. Without Mandy and without Richard, we could not practice as a football team, other than using first years and evaluating first years, and so Aaron Faumui and Jordan Redmond got the majority of the work with not only the ones but the twos and every other group that we could put in there because we were out of defensive line bodies. So the downside is we haven't had the consistency to have Burney and Mandy and Eli all together and working consistently for all of fall camp. We'll get a few days of that before Richmond, but what we have done is be able to establish significant depth with first years, and they are still first years, but they have been -- their development has been accelerated to the point they'll play significant amounts in game one all the way through the year is my prediction. Q. How would you describe the competition between Joey and Brendan. Obviously Joey is at the top right now. COACH MENDENHALL: Yeah, and that's going to go back and forth daily, as well as within a game, as well as game by game. It's the reflection of what I would love to have at every position on our team. I think it makes them both better. And also, you'll see certain situations where they're used in a little bit more relation to their skillset. So I view that position as my ideal for our team. There aren't many positions that are like that currently. If you're saying what do I see in the future, it would be a reflection of that. Q. Has there been a resolution to the Dylan Thompson situation? COACH MENDENHALL: The status with that is he passed his course at Ohio State. He has graduated. He is here. He just finished his second acclimation day. So he's behind obviously, but he is here. So he's practiced with us for two days. He'll finish his acclimation days. He'll have to learn our system obviously. It's hard to play without knowing what to do. Then he'll be integrated as he's ready and as he earns his way in. But it is a position of need. It will be really unique to follow how fast that matriculation happens. But I thought it was unlikely that he would arrive and I thought it was unlikely he would be on our team, so that's been an added bonus. Again, he's been here only two days so far, so we'll see how that comes along. Q. You've talked about you depth in the secondary, but receiver is definitely Richmond's deepest position as well. What do you see out of those guys on film? COACH MENDENHALL: Productive, consistent, confident, and they make a lot of plays. There are three of them that have 60 catches or more, with a quarterback that while he redshirted a year ago, proved capability in the playoffs before then. I really like their offensive system. I think the league that Richmond plays in, and William & Mary and JMU, I think it's a really good league. I don't think good football is tied to perceived level. Good football is good football. I think the majority of teams in that league play good football. They're coached well; there is good talent. The biggest difference is they're just not as deep in number of scholarships. I like the receivers a lot. I like the quarterback. I like their system. The other thing is they have a history, and they know how to win. Those are the expectations and just part of their identity. So, yeah, I like the test. It'll be a good one. Q. Among those top three receivers they have, is there one guy you have keyed in on as this is the matchup? We need to stop him? COACH MENDENHALL: Not necessarily. I watched their old quarterback in the Senior Bowl and he was very impressed him. The Richmond system is good. Their personnel is strong. Their quarterback and those three receivers, and I think they have two excellent running backs as well. I think they've done a nice job with their personnel and their system. I think the simple key is the more you focus on one of the receivers, the other two then become capable and more dynamic. The workload has been spread evenly, and I don't think that's by accident. You have to defend them all. Q. You've got a lot of receivers obviously. Chuck Davis is on the depth chart. Also on the depth chart as punt returner. I think he worked behind Daniel Hamm there last year. Where is he in his progress? COACH MENDENHALL: He just has labored behind the scenes and he just keeps making plays. There is no one that we trust to catch a punt more than Chuck Davis. If you're saying who do you put out there if you're just positive the ball has to be caught, which is basically every time, right? But sometimes there is a trade of for sure someone's catching ability with possibly what you might get after the catch. If it comes down to ensuring the ball is a caught, Chuck Davis is that person. We can put our entire team around him, put wind in his face with fans, play music, blindfold him, I mean, he just catches the ball. Makes a head coach sleep better at night. And then at receiver -- and today he was working against our defense, and he just makes play after play regardless of circumstance. Steady and kind of a journeyman backup, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the field for us at some point in maybe a significant role if he keeps doing what he is doing. Q. You talked earlier about comfort in your home space. I think you said last year that you never get involved in trying to get fans to come out. Just let results speak for themselves. But if there are 45,000 people there on Saturday and 15,000 empty sets, is a there a way in the way your mind worked that you use that to drive the team to prove to more people and make them come? COACH MENDENHALL: We know exactly what needs to happen: We need to win, and we need to win the right way at UVA. Luckily that aligns with exactly my philosophy. I want exceptional people, exceptional students that play great football. When that happens, it's hard not to come. It changes, it invigorates a community. It's a vibrant place to be on a Saturday, and there is a sense a pride and accomplishment that comes with being a UVA alum, someone that lives in the state, that, man, there is something cool happening in Charlottesville. We're a work in progress. That is the direction. Whatever the attendance will be will be a direct reflection on how much our philosophy and our success has been embraced to this point. I'll just take it as feedback. I don't get my feelings hurt. It's just gives clear feedback as to room it grow and ways to continue to expand and claim those spaces and connect with our fans through, again, the earned-not-given philosophy. I think that stadium and our stadium will be full when we're playing football in a manner that allows it to be full. So we'll just keep working. Q. Couple depth chart questions. COACH MENDENHALL: Sure. Q. Chris Glaser, when did he make that move and what was it about Ryan Nelson's play that made you think that's a guy we can trust at linebacker? COACH MENDENHALL: Yeah, just time and consistency. The edge has become more secure day after day after day through the beginning of fall camp, now going into game week. You're always, especially at the offensive line, looking to have the best vibe, and that usually means a player that can play two spots and sometimes three. Glaser can play center, he can play guard, and he can play tackle. So if you look at the two deep and say, Man, there are first year and we're kind of thin. You can really insert Glaser at three different positions. That makes it look better. Glaser is really versatile. We have been able to highlight that because of how Nelson has played from beginning of camp through to where we are now. So those two things are dependant on each other. Q. Really the exact same question on the other side. With Hanback moving over to end, what do you like there and what did Redmond do to make you think he's the guy? COACH MENDENHALL: Well, it's been out necessity because Burney Mandy Alonso have not been practicing and healthy. As we continue then to look at, Okay, what first years and what might be our best combination, it became apparent that Jordan Redmond at nose tackle was a little bit farther along than possibly other first years. So now looking at who might and what allows us to have our best three D-line on the field. Like, Oh, what gives us our best five on the field at the same time? Redmond's ability to play nose and Eli's ability to play end now gives us more depth with the same number of bodies. Q. Last year your field goal game was not very productive. What kind of competition did you have with this group? COACH MENDENHALL: The competition is ongoing. One of the bright spots through camp, earlier than what has happened recently I would say, A.J. Mejia started exceptionally well through camp. First two and a half weeks especially. The sound of the ball coming off his foot, it made the whole coaching staff and team stop. It sounds different and it was going through the uprights more consistently and from farther away. So I would say what I've seen so far in practice settings is the field goal range has been expanded and the consistency has increased. So those are good things. Now what's happening with Hunter Pearson returning to full health, which we're almost there, there is starting to be now the possibility of a longer range kicker and a shorter range kicker. Hunter Pearson's range is longer than A.J.'s, and A.J. is more consistent from a little bit closer. So there is a reality now of Mejia range, and then possibly another range. Based on how much data we can keep getting in on consistency and percentages, that'll determine whether we're going for it in this range of the field or Pearson comes out to take a shot. I haven't decided that yet, but that could be a possibility. Q. We've all heard and seen a little bit of how Bryce can kill you with his legs. How has he developed as a passer over the than the past year, and how much better is her now than he was when you got him? COACH MENDENHALL: Yeah, I'm hesitant in practice just to make definitive statement, but that's the area that he has improved most. It's the area this our team has improved most since Bryce arrived. Where the majority of the ball being moved early on in Bryce's career with us through spring and early fall was happening with his ability to run. More balance is coming daily with his ability to throw the football and us to catch and protect, and so we're a lot harder to defend when you can do both. So I would say we're making significant strides in that area. So in direct answer to the question of where have we grown most, his decision making and accuracy in throwing the football is probably where the biggest gains have been made. Q. When we met with Carla, one of the things she talked about was making a real concerted effort to bring football alumni back to the program. Most of those guys aren't your guys. What's the impact been of that? How much has there been an uptick in that and how much has the team maybe benefitted from that? COACH MENDENHALL: I think there has been a significant uptick because there has been a significant emphasis uptick. Carla has done a really nice job with that. I think that players might take offense to saying they're not my guys. I would say they're our guys. But I do understand what you're saying because I wasn't their coach. The ones that have interest in coming back though, it's been fun because they consider this their program. I'm currently the steward over the program and of the program. I really want it to be something that they're proud of and support and love the results. I love to run it in that way. It matters to me that they're proud of what we're doing and like what we're doing. I would say the overwhelming majority that have come back have shared that. They're coming back because they are UVA, and I am appreciative of that. Our team is appreciative of it. In a team meeting this morning, in fact, I believe the number was -- as part of out team meeting, there were 22 former UVA players that were Super Bowl champions. There has been some very special people on the field, and, man, there have been some amazing people off the field in terms of what they've accomplished. That, in essence, is what UVA football is. I want the success on the field desperately. I also want those successes off the field and quality lives, too. So the players that are coming back, they see that and it resonates and they're aligned with that. I think that helps make us each other's guys, even though I didn't coach them. Q. A little off the beaten path, but in Northern Virginia we've seen a few high schools cancel their football season; in New Jersey a few high schools have canceled their football season because of lack of interest. They didn't have the numbers turning out. Does that concern you, and what can you do to impact that? COACH MENDENHALL: Sure it concerns me, in this perspective. My opinion is that football is an amazing vehicle and platform to develop young people. Other than that, it's just a game. I'm not interested in it being just a game. It saddens me that a platform or vehicle to develop people is not being supported. I think what has to happen from my standpoint as well as other college coaches, is to make a clear emphasis that that matters. Yes, winning important. There is a strong business element and entertainment element. Viewership is driving college football. I stand on a very different side of that. Acknowledging the reality of that, my primary purpose is develop people so they can have amazing lives. When football goes away anywhere, it saddens me. If it goes away, I would like the community or possibly the administration to have to acknowledge by what they see in other coaches and programs, wait, are we really going to let this happen at the expense of development. I think possibly the perspective is results only, and I certainly think some of the safety issues are contributing or have contributed. So I think there is an interplay there. I think effective coaching and quality coaching is the development of people, looking after the welfare and safety of student athletes, and getting results. I don't see enough emphasis on all of that being presented. I think you probably don't either just if you look at what's written about our business. So I would love this program to be one that clearly shows that development, safety, welfare, and results can happen all at the same time. Q. When you think about guys like Tavares Kelly, Billy Kemp, Olamide Zaccheaus, Bryce now, even on the defensive side of things with Juan and Darrius Bratton, you've seen very successful football, and team speed is typically an emphasis. How pleased are you with where your team speed is right now? COACH MENDENHALL: We are establishing depth and speed, and so some of the players you just mentioned in Tavares and Billy Kemp, and now Bryce coming in at quarterback, those are all new players to the program. There are others as well, and so it's just reflective of possibly in roads being made to address depth in this program. It's become more visible in the secondary and at receiver in skill. That's accelerating faster than our depth in the lines. So even though there will be first years listed on O-line and D-line, most likely you'll see impact -- the impact we'll see will probably be through the speed rather than the trenched, even though there will be first years playing in both places. Q. Both you guys and Richmond are transitioning from more of a pro-style offense to more of an RPO-based offense. Much as there can be a disparity in scholarship players, does that even the field a little bit on Saturday? COACH MENDENHALL: Yeah. So I've coached against a number of FCS programs in my career, and coached at Northern Arizona myself. We never felt when I was coaching at Northern Arizona at the FCS level much difference between ones. It was just the depth. When you play a first game especially, anyone is especially vulnerable and there is always uncertainly. There are new teams, new schemes that have been made in the off season, and you're never certain. The amount of in-game coaching in game one, that's part of game one, and so I think possibly that's why -- and I haven't done the research on this. You could follow up. Seems to me like games one and two there are maybe more upset-ish type of games, and a game that happens you say, Holy cow, did you hear about so and so. That shouldn't happen. The simple uncertainties that come with game one and two I think add to that. Q. You mentioned the depth. What additional challenges does that bring? COACH MENDENHALL: Practice, practice for sure seasons, especially when you're relatively consistent playoff team. Man, it's where the redshirt rule really helps now in terms of adding to your roster. But more games with the same number of players or more games with even a fewer numbers, practice becomes really difficult. Then you end up having to choose. Do you become more NFL model-ish where you're serving each other. That's fine. Just the number of practice reps you get is lessened because you're under time requirements. Yeah, unique tradeoffs, but the quality of football being played is still very, very good. So a lot of innovations that happen with reduced numbers is some of the best coaching I think that there is. Q. Talking about the new redshirt rule, and you have these two back up quarterbacks who theoretically that could still play and take advantage of that, is there one you feel like you want to see in this opportunity? COACH MENDENHALL: Man, I think that's a fair question. There is all kinds of scenarios, and I hope we don't get to see our backup quarterbacks much. I know that there is a developmental part. But because Bryce is a transfer, every rep counts for him and he needs every one he can get. So you'll probably see us -- and it's a delicate balance. If you put us in the context, let's say we have a comfortable lead. Again, every rep is still helpful for him in the game context to develop our team. Then there is risk of injury. If he does get hurt, then, yeah, you need to develop a back up soon enough and capably. So I'm still erring on the side of Bryce's development because it's a new quarterback and it's game one with a long season to go. In terms of backups, we're going to be slower than quicker to insert at this point. Q. Do you find yourself in practice watching Bryce on some of these runs, just mind boggling kind of stuff? You can't contain your own excitement. COACH MENDENHALL: You know, I'm an excitable guy so there may be a corner of my mouth that comes up. It's just fun to watch an amazing athlete. There be will be comparisons made, but there is just the athleticism, change of direction, and how dynamic -- it's pretty special to be able to see, especially when it comes in the package being of a good player and a good person. That makes it better. So that's what makes maybe both corners of my mouth go up. The long run might make one corner go up, but then when I think about who he is, it might be both corners. Q. Based on what you just said about backup quarterbacks, where they in terms of if something happened and they had to play, how much of an about-face would that have to be in how you play? Are they both capable of playing and doing what you want Bryce today? COACH MENDENHALL: Yeah, Brennan is more aligned in terms of what Bryce does, and it would require less change within what we're doing offensively. Lindell currently is more polished and more experienced and farther, but the style play would be different, and so we've had to prepare for both. The context of the game and what's required, if we're playing from behind and possibly need to throw and catch at a higher level, then probably Lindell. If it's more -- it's about even and we still want to play the same style, then it's probably Brennan. It's the simplest way to describe it right now. VIRGINIA TECH Head Coach Justin Fuente Q&A Highlights Opening statement: “First of all just thank to all of our fans that came out for Fan Day. It’s a very enjoyable experience for our players and our staff. It’s very fun to work and live in a place that you know appreciates and values all of the work our kids put in and appreciates our program. It’s always a fun part of the year when we get to do that. “This morning we had our mock game or we just finished up mock weekend which I think is pretty important for us this year. It’s important every year but given the number of newcomers that will probably play early in the season it was a good exercise for us to go through our meetings and pregame rituals and really work game operation in that mock scrimmage and the kids handled it well. They did a great job, stayed focused and they will be off tomorrow and we’ll be back at it Tuesday getting ready for the game.” On preparation for an opponent with a new coaching staff in FSU: “Well it just takes a little more leg work. You know you have to piece things together. For instance, you watch Florida State film for personnel and then you watch where the coordinators have been from or what they’ve historically done for a scheme and then you try to match those two together. The good news is when it’s the first game you got time to comb through all of that. The bad news is you haven’t seen those two things together on film because they obviously haven’t played a game this year. It just takes a little more leg work there.” On thoughts Florida State’s defense combined with new coaching staff: “Well from what I’ve read and what I’ve seen I think they’re going to be pretty deep & athletic. I mean they’ve got a pretty accomplished secondary and defensive line. Maybe a little less experienced but that doesn’t mean they’re any less talented but a little bit less experienced at linebacker. They play a lot of tight coverage. I think there’s going to be a lot of gimmes out there. Just historically from Florida state in the past and with their new coordinator and the scheme we anticipate I think guys in the secondary are going to be down there tight.” On his thoughts about opening up with the first game as a conference game and the possibility for it to happen again due to the ACC Network: “Well I would say this: it would not be my first choice quite honestly but I’m not going to talk about it. I understand the things that we’ll need to do to continue to build up the network. I understand some of the requirements that come with it. No, if I was picking I would probably not choose that but I also kind of get it and kind of understand why there may be in the future some more early season conference games.” On seeing improvement in the running game: “I think the biggest thing for me is our overall efficiency. When you’re running the ball on first and ten, in order for that to be an efficient play even if it’s four yards or more, that’s starting on the chains. That’s on pace to make first downs and move the ball on the field. Obviously on third and two it doesn’t require four yards for it to be efficient according to our statistics or our computation. For me, it’s can we be more efficient? Can we create some bigger plays? You know that something we’ve talked about. Can we get the ball to the edge and the end and make that person miss? Can we run the ball to the inside and get the ball to the end and make that person miss? And then do we finish forward? I think quite honestly we have not finished forward. Those extra two or three yards from finishing forward are important in terms of staying on the chain and being able to be efficient running the football.” On chemistry of the offense: “I feel pretty good about it. I think it’s a group that’s hungry for improvement I feel like there’s a good mix of a couple older offensive lineman with some young guys and there’s some younger players that have played. That have been through it. They may be a little more seasoned than their age would suggest so I feel good about that part of it. Those guys and their communication ability and Josh’s ability to handle the moment and get things communicated to our guys and their kind of give and take on that side.” On what kind of year it will be for wide receivers after a year of experience: “Well the first thing is, when you’re talking about going from being a true freshman to a sophomore, it’s different than a junior to a senior. Some of the gains you can make physically can really help you be a much better player are really important from freshman to sophomore year. We’ve talked about this but we’ve put some guys out there that were really, really green and they’ve got a whole year of lifting and training that I hope helps them in the long run just from a physical standpoint. You hope to that the longer they’re in the system, the more versatile they become. You like to have guys that you can continue to move around to different spots because of their knowledge base in the system. They’re not just worried about their one piece of the puzzle, they have a bigger overall perspective and understanding of everything. There’s a physical aspect of it. There’s a mental aspect of it. There’s a level of confidence playing at that level that I think is important that sometimes can come with some experience.” On FB Steven Peoples: “First of all, as a person, everything he does he does as hard as he possibly can. There’s just no cruise control. He’s just all out. As a football player, he understands his identity. He is a strong, tough runner that the first crease he sees he takes. He doesn’t wait on it for the next best opportunity to come out. If there’s a glimmer in there, he’s punching a hole in it. He runs with great pad level and he is just strong as a bull. I really believe he has the chance to be really productive. He never says a word either which is nice. He’s just quiet. Occasionally we like some of those quiet players.” On if and how the young defense will handle playing a team where you don’t know what to expect: “Well the first game of the year you never know what you’re going to get anyway but in short the answer to your question is yes. More people with the more experience you have, the easier it is to make adjustments and handle the unknown. The less experience and the less knowledge you have the harder to handle the unknown in real time. That’s true whether it’s at safety or quarterback or wide receiver or really at any position where you have unexperienced players. There’s just handling the unknown and seeing them handle the adjustments because their knowledge level may not be up to par with Terrell and Tremaine Edmunds and that’s just kind of part of it.” On LB Rayshard Ashby and how the linebacker group as a whole takes coaching: “Rayshard is an exceptional learner and can apply those things really really well and they’re all at a different level but I would say Rayshard is exceptional.” On what concerns him and what gives him confidence about the offense heading into Game One: “Well I’m not sure I know how to answer that question. I feel good about a lot of things. I feel good that they’re in the process of preparing and hopefully we can push the ball down the field. Hopefully we can change tempos in the game. Hopefully we can run and protect the quarterback. I’m optimistic we’ll be able to do those things and we’ll see as the season plays out.” On The ACC discontinuing injury reports: “We want it to all be the same. In terms from league to league, from coach to coach, from across the country, we just wanted it to be the same. That was the underlying theme. I don’t think it was a vote of protest as much as it was hey we think this should all be the same. Whatever everybody else is doing is what we want to do and if we all need to make a change then we’ll all make a change. I think it was more along those lines.” On the health of the team due to fewer camp practices: “I feel pretty good. I don’t know if it’s because we practice four less times but we still have plenty of practices left so I don’t want to jinx it but I feel pretty good so far.” On goals and improvement of the running game: “Well I’ve been pleased with Deshawn’s [McClease’s] off-season. He came on and played pretty well towards the end of the year last year. He’s added some more weight. He’s looked good through camp. Steven [Peoples] we didn’t have for a portion of the year at least. I felt like maybe more than a portion but I’ve been pleased with him. [Jalen] Holston and [Terius] Wheatley have been battling it out for that next spot and Terius has made some improvements. He brings some things in terms of his overall speed. In terms of his running ability, Jalen’s a little different body than Terius so it’s really not fair to compare those two together. They’re two different guys. I’ve been please with their development. I need them to continue to get better. They’ve all taken the challenge through the off season and into fall camp to improve and be productive players for us.” WAKE FOREST Head Coach Dave Clawson Opening Statement... “This press conference means we are back into the routine. It is game week. You go through camp and when the season starts, you start the routine of the game plans and what you have to get done in a Tuesday practice and in a Wednesday practice. I thought we have had a really good camp. We came out of it relatively healthy. All of our team and our staff is ready to play the first game. There is always a lot of anxiety with the first game. It is the first time that a team goes out there together and the score counts. There are some areas where we have an idea of what we have and there are always things that get exposed in the first game. That starts the work. “The challenge this year is who we open with. Tulane was 5-7 a year ago and depending on your perspective, they were either an inch away or a sideline camera away from being a bowl team. They have had to live with that one inch for nine months. It really starts with their head coach. I think Coach Fritz is one of the most underrated and one of the best football coaches in the country. He has over 200 career wins and has won everywhere he has been. This is his third year. This is a much deeper and much more talented football team than the one we played two years ago here at BB&T. That was a game we were very fortunate to win. We really shouldn’t have won the game. We got outplayed and got very fortunate and lucky to win that game. Sometimes all you need is a win like that to get you going. “On offense, they have nine returning starters off an offense that averaged 27.5 points per game, about 400 yards per game. They have a returning senior quarterback in Jonathan Banks. He is a very talented football player. He threw for about 1,800 yards a year ago and had 600 yards rushing. He really had about 800 yards rushing before you take off the 200 yards for sacks. You a talking about a guy who was almost a 1,000-yard rusher and a 2,000-yard passer. He was responsible for 19 touchdowns. If the basis for a good football team is a good, experienced play-caller, then Tulane has it. They have their top three receivers back. Their tight end is back. The nature of their offense, with their option-based attack, is they create a lot of one-on-ones. They have a quarterback and receivers to take advantage of it. Up front, they are very good with three seniors, a redshirt junior and a sophomore playing for them. These guys are experienced and it is a very good offense. It returns nine starters, including the quarterback. They are not an up-tempo offense, or at least they haven’t been, but when you look at their numbers it is even more impressive because this isn’t a team that plays up-tempo. Two years ago, there was 152 snaps in the whole football game. Last year, it seemed like that was a little over a half for us. “On defense, they have six returning starters. They have two really good ones in the secondary. Their best linebacker is back. We are on the road. The American Athletic Conference is good football. This is the same conference as Central Florida and South Florida, so this is a good league. They are used to playing good teams. It will be a really good challenge. We will be bested for sure. This is game where we need to play well. We have to take care of the football and do well on special teams. With Coach Fritz, it is across the board, they don’t do too much but everything they do, they do extremely well. They do it with great effort. This is not a group that takes any plays off. They are a high-energy, high-effort group, which I think is a reflection of their head coach. We look forward to getting down there and having our first game as a team. After this one we will be home for a long time. It will be a good one to get, but it will be a challenge.” On the game plan and whether or not the team will be running the ball more against Tulane: “If you watch us on film, we’re a big RPO team. We adjust based on how we get defended. We don’t run this style of offense with a fullback and two tight ends. If you’re like a Stanford or Boston College, they just say ‘hey I don’t care how were going to get defended we’re going to play this style and pound you. We’re a little bit more designed to see how we’re defended. We can certainly be defended in ways that would cause us to run the ball more. We have to run our offense. This is what we do. This is how it’s designed and if its executed at the level it was a year ago, we’re not designed to line up with two fullbacks and a tight end. That’s not the way we are. We’re never going into a game saying we’re going to throw it 70 or run it 70. That’s just not the design of the offense.” On if starting a freshman quarterback behind an experienced offensive line helps the quarterback: “I think there’s no question. This is not John Wolford 2014 that’s a true freshman quarterback starting behind an offensive line that’s not as good as the one we have now. Not to take anything away from that group. That group competed hard and tried hard. I think right now we’re an offensive line that has maybe three or four NFL prospects on it that weren’t there four years ago. There’s no question that it’s easier to play quarterback right now with our offense because what we have on the O-line and what we have at running back and receiver. Any time you start a true freshman quarterback, it’s a baptism by fire. You can practice it, practice it, practice it but until they get out there in a game and play for the first time, it’s always new and different.” On preparing for Tulane’s offense early in the season vs. mid-season: “It’s one of those offenses that if it’s not your opener, you have to devote practice time in camp to it. It’s no different that Georgia Tech or Army. This is a very tough preparation, period, let alone if you have a short week. When we play Army or Georgia Tech, we always take time in the spring and in fall camp to do some work against that offense, unless it’s our opener or coming off a bye week. The nature of what they do requires extra preparation. The amount of formations, motions and different facto sets they get into in the unbalanced, there’s two challenges when we play a team like this. Number one is just getting lined up because you name a formation and they run it. Number two is having great eye discipline. It is an offense where if you put your eyes in the wrong place, the next thing you know the option is out or the quarterback is unaccounted for. This is how they make big plays. They get you to mis-fit stuff because they make it a challenge to get a line and the ball just squirts out and next thing you know, it’s 40-yards down the field.” Junior running back Cade Carney On excitement to get the season started: “We had a great camp this fall and we created a lot of depth. We are ready to play fast and hit another team. We have been hitting our own guys so we are just excited to go down to Tulane and get the season started.” On health going into the season: “I’m 100 percent which I am super thankful for. It has been a long time since I have been able to say that so I am excited and feeling great. I have been able to have a healthy fall so far and I’m ready to roll.” On depth at running back: “First and foremost we have an awesome offensive line that we are super confident behind and they make things easy for us. We have a 1-2-3 punch we feel like. Christian (Beal-Smith) has come a long way since the spring and Matt (Colburn) is ready to have a huge senior year. We are very excited, but more than anything we are excited about running behind the bug guys up front.” On having a true freshman starting at quarterback: “We take pride, especially in the passing game. With the sixth man protection, we feel very responsible for keeping Sam (Hartman) up and off the ground and the other guys off of him. If we can establish a good run game it will help him and take some pressure off him.” On the offense: “I feel like we can be better. We have another year of experience up front between Matt and myself and then we have Christian who is electric at running back, we have an awesome receiving core that we feel good about. So, I feel like we can continue to take the next step as far as being an explosive and fast offense.” Redshirt senior center Ryan Anderson On receiving praise from teammates: “It doesn’t really matter when the people off the field praise or don’t praise you, but it is good to hear praise from a running back. That means a lot.” On experience of offensive line: “When you get more experience as an offensive line, you get more advanced as an offensive line. You don’t ever reach a point where you stop learning or advancing.” On leading Sam Hartman in first game: “I feel like we have made huge strides since the beginning of camp. Now it feels that we have played together for as long as John (Wolford) played together. He has adjusted very fast and I am excited for the first game with him. “ On comparisons between Hartman and Wolford: “They can both sling the ball. Sam is a great quarterback and he is going to have a great career here.” On last first game: “It doesn’t really feel like it. I’m sure it will towards the end of the season, but it hasn’t hit me that this is my last season yet.”