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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 28, 2016

Larry Fedora

Greensboro, North Carolina

LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, looking forward to another extremely tough ACC conference game, going to Tallahassee with a great FSU team and a team that's coached very well. We're looking forward to the challenge.

Q. I was wondering, do you recall the first time that Mitch Trubisky was brought to your attention in recruiting, and when you saw him on film for the first time, what were your initial impressions of him?
LARRY FEDORA: You know, the first time, yes, I do remember watching him on film for the first time. You saw a kid that was a dual threat quarterback, a kid that could run, a kid that could extend plays, a kid that could make all the throws. You know, and so I mean, that just whets your appetite, and then you really started getting into and watching entire games, going to see him play in person, seeing him throw in person, all those things. So yeah, I do.

He was very poised that way when he was in high school. I mean, you could tell that he was an extremely poised kid.

Q. Did he remind you of any previous quarterbacks you had had or coached?
LARRY FEDORA: There were various elements of him that reminded me of quite a few quarterbacks that I have coached. Probably not just one guy. He had pieces of a lot of them.

Q. As impressive as your passing game was last week against Pitt, Elijah kind of struggled to get anything going on the ground. Was that due to anything that Pitt was doing specifically, or was that more because you were throwing the ball so well, it kind of became an afterthought or secondary for you?
LARRY FEDORA: It was definitely what Pitt was doing. I mean, it was not that Elijah wasn't running hard or any of those things. You know, it was more about what the defense was doing. They were stacking it up in there, and then they were getting safeties and linebackers involved. We knew that in the situation we were in, also, it dictated that we were going to need to throw the ball, and our match-ups were really good.

Q. You've faced some very good running backs already this year. What is your assessment of your run game at this point in the season?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, we've got to be better, we know. Each and every week we say that we've got to get better at limiting the run because I don't think with the quality of the running backs that we've played that you're going to sit there and just stop it, that you're not -- we're not going to be able to put enough guys in there to stop it because they can also beat you throwing, and we don't want to do it that way. So we're going to do -- we're going to get as many guys involved in the box as we need to to limit the run. We think we've got to play better than what we did in the first half last week.

Q. What's the biggest thing Gene Chizik has brought to your team?
LARRY FEDORA: I think Gene just, when he came in, he raised the standard for those guys. He set a standard for them, and he's continuously held them accountable for that standard. He tells them the truth. He doesn't hold back. I mean, he coaches them hard, and the entire defensive staff does that. I think it's been refreshing.

Q. I was wondering if you have a favorite memory from when Walt Bell was on your staff and maybe what stands out about him as a coach.
LARRY FEDORA: You know, I would say -- I mean, I've got a lot of really good memories of Walt. Walt is a very, very talented young coach. He's very driven, you know, and it's all football for him. I mean, there's no golf, there's no fishing, there's no hobbies. It is all ball. He's single, and so he spends probably about 20 hours a day thinking about football, and that's it. You know, I'm not surprised that he's moved as quickly as he has, but he's also paid a lot of dues. I think Walt was a GA for five, six, maybe even seven years before he got the opportunity when we hired him at Southern Miss.

I think he's a very, very bright young coach that's going to continue to move very, very quickly in this profession.

Q. You get another challenging running back in Cook this week, but with what Florida State has shown with Patrick, Stevenson and Francois, is this the deepest running game that you've faced this year?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, probably so, because Francois can also beat you with his legs, and Dalvin Cook is different than all the running backs we've faced. I mean, he's got great, great speed, great quickness and great make-you-miss ability. Even in the hole itself, you can be one-on-one with him in the hole, and he can still make you miss. He's got such great quickness and great vision, and he can take it the distance on any snap.

Q. Is Patrick more of a physical running back or just what your view is on him?
LARRY FEDORA: I mean, he's extremely good, now don't get me wrong. I'm not going to talk about him like I talk about Dalvin. I mean, I think Dalvin is really special. Patrick Stevenson is a really good running back. I'm not shorting him. He just -- I would say he's done a great job. He can run. He is physical, but he can also make you miss.

Q. I know you guys ended last season at the Orlando Citrus Bowl. I wanted to ask what is it about that venue that makes it ideal for a bowl game?
LARRY FEDORA: I mean, Orlando is a great town. I thought the people there that put on the bowl did a tremendous job with all the accommodations and how they handled our team and what they did with our team, and they were very easy to work with. And then Orlando itself, you've got so much going on in Orlando that your fans and everybody that's traveling with you, they have a wonderful time. I know my family really, really enjoyed it.

Q. I wonder when you look at it on tape if that one-handed catch by Bug Howard, how impressive was that, and is that the kind of thing that a receiver can practice at all, or is it all instinct?
LARRY FEDORA: Oh, they -- you would be surprised how much they practice that. You know, from all summer to all camp to basically probably two or three times a week that they're throwing -- the quarterback and those guys are on their own throwing fades, slants, different goal-line routes, and catching them with one hand, two, behind your back, I mean, everything, because they're trying to always be prepared for that situation.

Q. Ryan Switzer, 16 catches; have you ever had a receiver come anywhere close to that number? How good a performance was that?
LARRY FEDORA: That was a great performance, but yes, I guess four years ago at Virginia, Quinshad Davis caught 16 passes, so yeah, I have done it before, but I will tell you this: Probably the 16 that Ryan caught, there were a lot bigger plays involved in that, and he turned a lot of them into big plays. He played extraordinary, and he made some huge plays down the stretch for us.

Q. Just talking about the entire receiving corps last week, how efficient was that performance by them, and how deep do you feel like you can go down at those wide receiver positions?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, we thought going into the whole year that we felt like we've got about six guys that can play for us at receiver right now, and so feel comfortable putting any of those guys in in that situation. But what's -- and the good thing about that is you saw on that last drive, Matt Collins wasn't on the field, and Austin Proehl was out there and did a tremendous job in that series along with Ryan and Bug. So we do feel good about our corps right now.

Q. I just wanted to ask, can you guys what the psychological impact of winning a game like you won on Saturday, a game you trailed the whole way and then take the lead with two seconds left?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I hope it, one, boosts the confidence of the team. I think they feel good about themselves. I think they believe in what we're doing. I think they believe in each other, and they truly believe that as long as they continue to work hard and prepare the right way that they can win any game that they play. Basically you're never out of them, you just keep fighting.

Q. Can you encapsulate your emotion during the return after that?
LARRY FEDORA: I knew we were going to be in kind of a prevent-type of kickoff team right there because of all the different scenarios that we had talked about with them, with the throw back, which is what they were setting up, but we had a guy sitting on the guy that they were throwing it to, and then also when they get tackled that they could pitch the ball around multiple, multiple times. We knew we were going to be soft there, but that was a little bit soft for my -- for me. Yeah, that two seconds was really worrisome.

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