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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 21, 2016

Mark Richt

Greensboro, North Carolina

MARK RICHT: Well, I really don't have anything to comment on. I'm actually behind on a schedule, so I think we're moving a little bit late, so let's just go ahead to the questions if that's okay.

Q. Last week against Appalachian State, Brad Kaaya threw an interception at the goal line, which could have really slowed the momentum. It didn't happen, of course, and your QB mentioned postgame that in the past maybe the team would have possibly folded or started to point fingers that obviously wasn't the case. I know you weren't here last year, but have people inside or around the program mentioned even in passing that there's a different aura surrounding the program this year than in years past?
MARK RICHT: Oh, gosh, I really don't know. I did read Brad's comments that you mentioned. I don't know what's happened in the past. We've never really tried to focus much on that. We really are just trying to build something special here. We all just have to trust each other, and you're right, the pick was not good at all. Brad got hurt on that play. He could have been out for the year, who knows. For that moment in time, Brad is over there on the table, we don't know if he has an ACL or what, they score, bring it within two scores with most of the second half to go, so things looked -- I mean, things changed dramatically as far as the momentum and just the feeling and the vibe. We were getting ready to go up 28 points, I think, and then all of a sudden now it's 14 points in a matter of just moments, and again, you're still wondering if your QB comes back.

Thankfully he comes back, but even on the first play of the drive offensively, we throw the ball, we get a dropped pass. Wide open guy drops it, Ahmmon Richards, freshman. Like okay, let's bring it together, and then thankfully on 3rd down we hit a deep shot, and Ahmmon, the same kid, makes a beautiful catch, beautiful adjustment, and we're off and running again.

But it was good to see us handle that little bit of adversity there.

Q. I just wanted to ask about the development of Chad Thomas. He looked really good out there against App State. Can you talk about the things he's done to get better and what he means to the defense?
MARK RICHT: Well, all of our guys work so hard in the off-season. I thought Gus Felder and our strength staff did a beautiful job, strength and conditioning staff about a really good job with our players. They were in great shape. Their bodies changed to a certain degree, just about every one of them. Their body fat got better. So you show up in shape, and then all of a sudden you get an opportunity to play hard, and then the other thing is he's been very coachable. I read one of his comments saying that he really trusts our coaching staff and the game plan that we put in, and just trusts the coaches enough to do exactly what we ask him to do and how we ask him to do it, and good things are happening for him. So it's been really nice.

Q. Going into this bye week, what you can say about what your key focus is at this point, how you're going to handle the bye week and what you're looking for from your players moving forward.
MARK RICHT: Right. Some years, if I didn't think our team was playing physical and playing hard and all that, there's been times I've kind of hooked it up and had spring football and just said, okay, we're going to line up and do some three-on-three drills and Oklahoma type drills and start scrimmaging. But I think we have been playing hard, and we've been playing physical.

What I decided to do was have our normal fundamental practice but cut down a little bit of every piece of it, so we have all the elements of the practice but not go quite as long, kind of short and sweet, so to speak. So we did that yesterday.

Today we went just helmets, and tomorrow we'll go another fundamental day, and so we'll get those three days in, and slowly implement the game plan because we don't have to be in a major rush.

But by Sunday, we'll have a normal Sunday schedule other than we'll practice as if it was a Tuesday practice. Monday is our day off. Tuesday will be very much like a Wednesday practice, and then Wednesday and Thursday will be two dress rehearsal days, the type of days we would have on Thursday normally. So that's kind of how we're going to do it.

Q. I know you've got a lot to work on with your own team, obviously, though, spending 15 years in the Atlanta area, have you thought about that, what is it going to mean? What do you expect going up there, I guess?
MARK RICHT: Yeah. Well, just been there so many times, I think eight years with Florida State and 15 years with Georgia playing Georgia Tech, so cut that in half, obviously being there every other year. Just been up in that state a bunch. There's been some good and rough memories in there, but mostly good, and we're hoping to go in there and have a great performance.

But I don't think much about it other than I know I'll have a lot of family members there. Most of my family is still in Athens, so they'll be there, and I'm sure there will be a few people that cheer for Georgia that will be there, too. But Georgia does have a home game that day, so most everybody will be watching that thing.

Q. Joe Yearby came into the season coming off an all-ACC year, but Mark Walton has really stepped up his game. Can you talk about his improvement and what he's done?
MARK RICHT: Yeah, just you see him, you watch him play, he's got a lot of ability. He's very tough. He's a great route runner. He's a great pass protector. I think he runs inside, tackles well outside. He's got good speed. Obviously he can break tackles.

And Joe does, too. Joe and him both are guys that we don't really say, hey, he's a 3rd down back or some kind of situational back. We think both of those guys can do well. We just felt from the performances that we saw in the spring and the fall that Mark edged him out, but it wasn't like -- it wasn't a big deal but enough to put Mark as the No. 1 guy, and Joe is obviously getting a lot of carries, too.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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