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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCEAugust 27, 2014Steve AddazioSTEVE ADDAZIO: I know you're all excited like we are. This college football season is kicking off, and it's been a long time coming. We can't wait to get started. As was said, we open up with UMass Saturday at Gillette, and this UMass team is a team that's being coached by Mark Whipple, and Mark is a New England guy. I've known Mark a long time, and our staff has known Mark for a long time and the guys on his staff. He's a great coach. He's done a great job with this program in the promoting and the excitement of the program and brought in some really fine players. We know that we're in for quite a great contest here on Saturday and are looking forward to that. We've had a good preseason camp. We've been relatively injury‑free, and got a lot of newcomers, a lot of young guys, but it's been exciting to watch these young guys develop and watch these old guys gel and to put together the 2014 BC team. We're fired up, ready to play and looking forward to it. Any questions I can answer? Q. Is UMass difficult to prepare for from a film standpoint because of a new coach and a new quarterback and new systems and so forth? Is there a natural pattern of which film to look at to get a feel for them? STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, I mean, there's no film. You've got new coordinators on both sides, a new coach. You can watch a little tape from last year for personnel, but otherwise it's hard. We're used to spending the week grinding out cut‑ups and watching tape, and it's not really what you can do, so it's an uncomfortable feeling. Q. Does that make the ability to adjust during the game more important than it would be in most situations? STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, I mean, I think you're preparing for a lot of things and then you've quickly got to figure out which one of what you thought you'd get you get, and make sure your plan is sound and tweak it where you need to. Q. Is this a game you guys like having on the schedule for interest in college football in Massachusetts? STEVE ADDAZIO: I mean, I always think geographical games are good. Obviously it's an opportunity for our fans; it's an away game for us but we're only playing 30 minutes away and our fans can get there and the UMass fans can get there, so I think that makes it good for the Northeast. Q. I was wondering what kind of preseason Harold Landry has had and what kind of impact you feel like he might have on your defense this year. STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, Harold has had a great preseason, first time he's healthy. Obviously he came in the winter and he had an injury, but he's had a great camp, he looks great, and we're expecting big things from him in the game. He'll be playing and making an impact this Saturday. Really talented young man with a great work ethic. Q. Now that you're on the brink of playing games, how is your receiving group looking for you guys this year? STEVE ADDAZIO: You know, we're a lot more well‑rounded than we were a year ago. We feel good about our whole group. We're an interesting group, we're a big group. The three starting guys out there are all 6'4", 6'5", anywhere from 225 to 250, and we've got a couple of young guys that are explosive that are smaller. It's just a question of the inexperience and the youth of that group, but the talent level of that group has really risen. Q. How is Bordner now that he's been there since the spring? How has he kind of made that transition, and what are your expectations for him? STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, he's really, really versatile. That's a guy, he can beat you in the throw game, he can help you in the run game in terms of blocking around the box. He's really a hybrid guy that has really got a lot of talent, great eye‑hand coordination, great ball skills. He's been able to jump back at quarterback some. I mean, he's a multitalented athlete that's over 6'4" and 235. It's kind of an impressive deal, and I think he's really going to give us a great boost. Q. I wonder if you could talk about your offensive line. If I'm reading it right, you're going to have five senior starters there. Seems to be an area with strength. Can you address that? STEVE ADDAZIO: It is an area of strength. These guys have all played a lot of football. We feel good about our front. We're big, we're physical, and we have a little bit of depth. So this should be an area ‑‑ for a team that wants to run it, you've got to have a good front, and we've got a good front, so that's a good thing. Q. And yeah, I wanted to address that obviously you lost probably the most prolific back in ACC history for a single season, but you're replacing him with a guy that's actually played a lot. Myles Willis is not a newcomer. Can you talk about what he brings? STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, Myles has gained some weight and size. He's now a 205‑pound guy, he's not a 185‑pound freshman. He's had a great along with Tyler Rouse. Those are two, not only are they talented but they're really‑‑ when you talk about the high end of character spectrum, these are two of the most elite guys on our team in terms of their work ethic and their preparation, and then you bring in three freshman tailbacks that I think are three of the more talented freshman tailbacks I've ever been around, so we feel really good about our pool of running backs. Now the question is really matching up their skill sets with what we want to do. Myles has got decent size but you wouldn't call him a big back. Tyler Rouse is not a big back. John Hilliman is a big back. He's a 225‑pound, fast guy like Andre, and then Marcus Outlow is kind of a combination guy with tremendous ball skills, and Richard Wilson is a big, strong, physical back, so we've got a good cross‑section there of guy with talent, and we're excited about them. Q. One other aspect of the run game I'm curious about is the role Murphy will play, but you didn't ask Chase Rettig to run very much last year. But I understand Murphy is a better runner. Will he factor in the run game? STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, yeah, Murphy is a great runner. I mean, we went from a guy that's not a runner to a guy that is a runner. He will factor in, yes. He's a dynamic guy. You talk about a guy who will put his foot in the ground and make you miss, he can go. He's a good thrower and a good runner, and he's been a great field general and a leader for us, which has really been nice. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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