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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 19, 2016

Bronco Mendenhall

Greensboro, North Carolina

COACH MENDENHALL: I'm looking forward to participating in this historic game and tradition. I like my team. I like the way they are developing. Plenty of room to grow and improve in term of consistency and execution, but anxious to play another ACC opponent and glad to be at home.

So I'll take questions at this point.

Q. You said two or three times Saturday about finding the right combinations for your kickoff coverage units. How difficult is it that you're doing this in this stretch where you just played Pittsburgh that had Henderson and now you play Carolina that has obviously T.J. Logan but also Ryan Switzer in punt return. How is that challenging trying to figure out your own guys and then you're also facing some of the best return groups if the league?
COACH MENDENHALL: I think that you've captured the entire essence. It is difficult and timely. And so we are working as fast as possible to correct the mistakes and improve the units that need to perform at a higher level.

Good news is that we have a better idea of what our players are capable of and where they belong. The real issue now is just work capacity, how much can each player do in terms of the volume and number of snaps, and so we're trying to manage that at the same time.

Timely is the biggest word. The sooner we get this corrected, the better chance our team has to move forward and win and help control field position which really has a significant outcome or effect on the game.

Q. In terms of personnel and the capacity, there's a lot on Quinn, but you said before about how such a skilled tackler he is. Do you try to expand him at all in terms of kickoff coverage to see what he can do there?
COACH MENDENHALL: Yeah, there's a chance that Quinn and others will be asked to do more, and do more within reason; meaning, there might be trades from one special team to another or from one sub-group on defense to another to add a special teams play or two here or there, and he would certainly be one that we would consider.

Q. You guys have obviously made such strides in the downfield passing game. I'm curious when you look at your run game, it doesn't seem like that's developed as quickly. Is that because of the emphasis on the pass or what do you see failing in the run game?
COACH MENDENHALL: Yeah, I think it's a fair assessment that our pass game is growing through emphasis and expansion of not only design, but really the volume of work that we've put into it.

And I'm not going to say the run game has been or is an afterthought at this point. It just, for whatever reason, and I don't have a clear answer for you today, for whatever reason, hasn't taken kind of the same jump or moved at the same rate as the downfield pass game.

And so something for us to keep looking at and considering, but I don't have really a clear answer for you as to what might be the main influencer on that.

Q. When you go into this North Carolina game, they have given up a ton of yards on the ground -- will running the ball on this defense be an opportunity there?
COACH MENDENHALL: Oh, it will certainly be an opportunity and to make it clear, I really, really like our running backs and consider them a strong part of our team. Albert Reid and Smoke and Daniel Hamm and Jordan Ellis, so it absolutely is an option.

So I think, and a lot of our philosophy is, taking advantage of what is given to us by the defense and what has allowed and the matchups that we think will give us an advantage. So if myself and our offensive staff feels that that could be something, then yeah, certainly maybe it could be the week that there's a significant jump there.

Q. Just curious in the Pitt game, you had two guys, James Conner and Jordan Whitehead play on both sides of the ball, and I was wondering in your experience as a head coach in college football, how difficult is that for a player to do? Have you seen much of it over the years, and is it a growing trend now even with the guy in Michigan doing a good job?
COACH MENDENHALL: I haven't seen much of it but there are examples. When I was the head coach at Brigham Young University, University of Utah had a second round draft pick that went on to play for the Chargers, still playing, Eric Weddle, who played running back and corner and safety, and really almost anywhere on defense; but he carried the ball for them, as well.

I'm not sure it's a growing trend, but what I do think it is is innovative coaching and smart coaching with sometimes as thin as rosters can be; and rather than maybe making a significant scheme change, sometimes you can add the work capacity to a given player who can really make a difference.

And so I think Pitt is doing a nice job with that in something that, again, I think it's short of a trend but I think it's just good personnel management.

Q. Were you surprised to see James Connor rushing the passer in the fourth quarter?
COACH MENDENHALL: I'm not sure I would be surprised with anything James Conner is doing. He's a good football player and it looks like he's an amazing person and I think he's willing and wants to do anything he can do to help their team win; and why not, if he has the stamina and strength to do it. Just an impressive young man all around.

Q. Putting on your defensive coordinator's hat, what concerns you about North Carolina now that you've seen them on film?
COACH MENDENHALL: Yeah, my concerns, really, or my focus, I should say, not concerns. My focus, and at the risk of being redundant, is still almost exclusively on us.

Just working our position mastery, our execution, and doing it from beginning to end. And so really the relevance of any given opponent isn't so significant.

I will say that I'm very impressed with Switzer and his ability to help the team make critical plays. It was really fun and if you haven't had a chance to watch North Carolina, their last drive versus Pitt and the number of touches Switzer got and his ability to just help the chains keep moving and help their team keep win, and that's not counting the return duties that he has. I think he's a really good college football player, and that's jumped out to me at this point.

Q. Forgive me for butchering this name in advance, Olamide Zaccheaus, I was just curious, only one guy in the ACC has more touchdown catches. What makes him effective near the goal line?
COACH MENDENHALL: Well, there's two things. One, he works extremely hard. Very humble and so he makes the most of his practice opportunities but he's amazingly quick. And he's the fastest player on our team.

And so he's just, if I say all that together, he's a dynamic, hard-working player that's hard to cover, and he works really hard to get open. And so when you put those two things together, he becomes a threat that has been consistent for us, just as you mentioned, in terms of putting points on the board.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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