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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCEAugust 27, 2014Al GoldenQ. I'm just curious, I know you're only focused on Monday, of course, but you guys have two primetime games in the first 20 days of the season. In recruiting how much do you still talk about Miami being a national brand and obviously somebody that is still attractive to networks? AL GOLDEN: No, I think from a recruiting realm, I think young people understand that, and I think the high school communities around the country understand that. That's one of the reasons why we can still attract nationally, but yet at the same time make sure that we're paying close attention regionally and locally for sure. In terms of our guys on the team, they're just focused on just this week and worrying about Louisville. The rest of it will take care of itself. Q. How is Duke Johnson doing in camp? AL GOLDEN: Duke has been doing good. He's had a great recovery. There's no signs of fatigue or anything. He's much stronger. He's retained his quickness. He's posted his fastest 40 since he's been here back in July, so Duke is ready to go. Q. And talk about the quarterback situation; how is that going to play out on Monday? AL GOLDEN: Well, Brad Kaaya is the starter, and it was a great competition in training camp with Jake Heaps. We feel confident we can win with either of them, but certainly Brad is the starter right now going into it, and the good news is that he's got a veteran group in front of him with Flowers, Feliciano, McDermott, Isidora, but he also has a complement of veterans around him, Duke Johnson and Gus in the backfield, of course the receivers in Stacy, Malcolm, Phillip, Herb, and then at tight end, Clive and Stan. Q. A couple of your players have told the media down there they've felt disrespected by the way Louisville played in the second half of the game, maybe thinking they ran up the score. Do you find any sense of extra motivation from the players given what happened in the bowl game and maybe some of their feelings about it? AL GOLDEN: No, not at all. I think Louisville played really well. They had an exceptional team. They had a team that‑‑ they only lost a couple times in two years, so that was a great team, played really well. But no, in terms of our program and their program, this is a different team for both, and clearly we have to take care of our business, not worry about anybody else's. Q. What was it about Brad's play in the month of August that kind of made you decide to go with him as your quarterback? AL GOLDEN: Well, I mean, his completion percentage was excellent. I think he did a great job at the line of scrimmage. I think that's probably where we got the most confidence from him, just his overall depth and understanding of what we were trying to get done and his ability to get us in the right play at the line of scrimmage. I think without that, it would be hard to name him the starter, but he certainly demonstrated to us all training camp that it wasn't going to be too big for him, and we're excited for him. Q. From what you've seen of Petrino offenses in the past on film, what is it about that Petrino system that makes them traditionally so prolific with him as a coach? AL GOLDEN: He does a great job, there's no doubt about it, but multiple formations and tempo, high completion percentage, and probably what goes under the radar is the ability to run the football in addition, so becoming a two‑headed monster if you will. I think those are things that we have to adjust to and be prepared for going into this game. Q. The defense this year has looked really good in camp, despite having a few younger players. What are your expectations of the defense, and how good can this unit be this year? AL GOLDEN: Well, again, that's the challenge that we have to answer. We can talk about it all we want, but at the end of the day, there's a great challenge, and I thought they improved in the spring. I thought they started to play together a lot more. I thought there was more harmony. I think our tackling was better. So at the end of the day, it's going to be going out there and proving it, and what better opportunity than going against a prolific offense like Louisville has. It's going to be a great challenge for us on Monday night. Q. I wanted to ask you about the two new starters on your offensive line. Seems like you're pretty set with Flowers, Feliciano and McDermott. Is there any plan for which players on the right side of the line are going to start and what rotation you're going to use? AL GOLDEN: Well, Danny Isidora, obviously a young man who played for us last year, he's been the starter since spring there, so that hasn't changed, and then Taylor Gadbois, KC McDermott, Trevor Darling, all of those guys have seen action at right tackle, and we'll let that play out this week to see who the starter is. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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