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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 31, 2016

Dino Babers

Greensboro, North Carolina

DINO BABERS: Well, we have a fantastic opponent to open up this year. Colgate is ranked in the FCS level. They have a very, very experienced squad, 17 out of 22 starters coming back. They remind me of the Eastern Illinois squad that I had when we went out and upset San Diego State in the very first game my last year at that university and then San Diego State went on to win the conference and beat Boise State that year. They're a very experienced football team. They're physical in the front, and you get that much experience with a team that went to the quarterfinals of the playoffs last year, you'll get a very dangerous opening opponent. Hopefully my football team is listening to this, and we'll be ready to go.

Q. On the defensive line with defensive end Kendall Coleman as a true freshman, Steven Clark and Chris Slayton have spoken very highly of him. What can you say about what he's done to obviously show you enough to be a starter?
DINO BABERS: Well, the main thing is any time you get a freshman that comes in and plays his first year, you know he's going to be talented, but more important than that, you're finding somebody who's very mature for his age. So he's a do-right guy. He acquired the knowledge of the defense very quickly, and he plays the game with the right type of effort. Now, that's not going to help him when he goes up against people 23, 22 and 21 years of age, but eventually down the road we think he's going to be a really good player.

Q. And then as far as offensively, Eric Dungey did some good things last year. What have you done with him this year and what have you seen from him going into this first game up against Colgate, and run and pass, do you want him to still be able to get out of the pocket and run around, or do you want him to stay into it?
DINO BABERS: Well, first of all, we had to strip him down and start all over again with him. He has fantastic legs, but in our offense we're looking for a thrower first. If they can run, that's great. But we need people that are going to sit in the pocket and deliver the ball to the people that we want. I think he's done a nice job of trying to curtail his game to exactly what we need. If he needs to take off, he has that ability, but we're trying to keep him in the pocket more.

Q. At wide receiver you've got two guys that started at played a lot in Brisly and Ervin, but behind them it's kind of a little -- people have changed positions. What are you looking for from your depth at inside wide receiver?
DINO BABERS: Well, what we're looking for at any position with depth is someone that can come in and give us a consistent performance when the starters aren't in. That's throughout the entire football team. You hope that those young men can come in and keep it going and limit the mistakes that they make while they're in there.

Q. And what have you seen from Sean Riley so far since he's been at Syracuse?
DINO BABERS: Again, someone that's extremely talented, has a lot of God-given ability. He will get an opportunity to play this year, but he's young, he makes mistakes, and the more he limits his mistakes, the more opportunities he'll get to play.

Q. I actually wanted to ask you a question about another one of your freshmen, Devin Butler. Obviously we've seen him playing a little running back and wide receiver. How do you see him fitting in, and is he another guy who you expect to get a chance to play this year?
DINO BABERS: We're not sure if Devin is going to play this year or not. He's right on the cusp. He's a very talented individual, obviously by him being able to line up at multiple positions. But at the positions that he is lining up at, we have some depth at those positions, so we really haven't decided yet whether he's going to play this year or not.

Q. Any idea if Wayne Morgan or Rodney Williams are going to be able to go this weekend?
DINO BABERS: Those are both medical things, and you've got to talk to the trainers and the doctors about that. I don't know.

Q. As you enter your first game with the Orange, what's something that if you see it on this weekend you'll be really pleased to see, and what's something if you see it would concern you?
DINO BABERS: Well, the big thing is any time you get your opening game, you would like for the mechanics to be right, the mechanics from the players to the coaches to the schemes. You would like the game to be from a fundamental standpoint to be very clean, very limited amount of turnovers, least amount of penalties possible, and trying to cut down on the mental errors both offensively and defensively in the kicking game. Those are the main things that you look for in an opener.

Q. As somebody who has coached an FCS team to an upset win over a major opponent on the road, how do you expect Colgate will prepare? What are the kinds of things they will emphasize about the opportunity they have, that sort of thing?
DINO BABERS: Well, you know, first of all, when you're preparing for your Super Bowl game and you get the entire summer, the breakdowns are usually extremely extensive, so they'll know a lot about us. And then all you have to -- there's going to come a point in the game where is the game a game, and if it is, are you willing to commit everything to winning the game. You know, nobody has enough football players to survive injuries. Injuries to any football team can change a season, and as long as the game is going clean and there's not a lot of injuries, you can see people get extremely aggressive and go for the kill, so to speak. If there's a lot of injuries, then both coaches will have to think, wow, we're going to lose it all here, are we going to go all in on the first game or are we going to try to save something for later on in the season. I think those are some of the thoughts when you're playing that big of a -- you're making that big of a jump up in levels of play, but I can tell you right now, Colgate with this opportunity, they're going to play it all the way to the till, and they'll play it for the win.

Q. You mentioned some of the characteristics of their team. Are there some individuals that they have that have stood out to you on film?
DINO BABERS: Absolutely. Their quarterback, Jake Melville, is an experienced ball handler. You're talking about somebody that ran the offense last year, got them deep into a quarterfinal championship game at the FCS level. They have an outstanding receiver, John Maddaluna, No. 29, and then they have a thunder-and-lightning combination with their running backs. You put that together with an offensive line that has almost 75 starts between them and you get a very seasoned offense. And then you flip it around on defense, and they've got the Defensive Player -- Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in Kyle Diener, No. 38, their inside linebacker. They've got a First Team All-Conference rush defensive end in Pat Afriyie, and then they've got two Second Team All-Conference defensive line. So their entire defensive line is All-Conference. Their middle linebacker is a Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, and you put that front seven along with the back end, and you've got a defense that can make my life miserable about halfway through Friday night.

It's going to be a football game. I mean, we have -- some people say we've got the ninth, eighth toughest schedule in Power Five football, and I believe that. But playing an FCS opponent is one thing, playing an FCS opponent ranked in the top 20 at that level, that's something totally different, and when you add up all of that, I'd probably say we've got the toughest schedule based off of our personnel and who we have to play this year in the country.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Brisly. Last year he had triple duty as a receiver, as a kickoff returner, as a punt returner. Do you still see him doing all those roles? He was obviously very effective, but it has to take a toll, or do you get him some help in some area?
DINO BABERS: You know, we talked about that, and we have put some backups in certain areas for him, but the one thing I will say about Bris is he loves the football, and this is his last go around. This is his senior year, so he's got six months with us, and he wants to continue playing this game for a career. Even though we've got some backups, I'm sure he's going to be fighting, kicking, scratching and clawing trying to get out there.

Q. In your experience as a coach, how rare is it to have a guy that's so good as both a kickoff and a punt returner? There's not many guys in the ACC that do both.
DINO BABERS: Well, I've been on some teams with some cats, Chris McAllister at the University of Arizona was a punt returner and a kickoff returner. Dennis Northcutt, 10, 12 years up in the league with the Rams and the Browns, punt returner and kickoff returner. So I have been around people that can do it. It takes a special quality individual. But Bris has some of those qualities.

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