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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 26, 2016

Dave Clawson

Greensboro, North Carolina

COACH CLAWSON: We're just coming off a bye week. I think we had a good, productive week in terms of guys healing up a little bit and getting healthy, and the extra time always helps when you play Army, preparing for the option offense, preparing for their multiple defense, and certainly watching film, this is the best Army team that we have faced. They lead the country in time of possession. They are second in rushing offense. They are third in total defense.

Coach Monken and his staff have really done a great job and has elevated that program. This will be a challenging week in a lot of different regards for us.

Q. How important has Duke been to your defense this year, and what do guys like that do to opponents?
COACH CLAWSON: Well, he's critical to our defense. He's one of our best players, and the big thing with Duke is it allows you to get a pass rush with a four-man rush. We played the first half of last season without Duke, and really, had trouble generating a pass rush without blitzing, and the great thing with Duke is at times we can rush four, or even three, and still get some pressure on the quarterback so we don't have to hold up in coverages long.

So he's certainly a difference maker for us when he's healthy and when he's playing, and fortunately for us, he's off to a good start this year.

Q. Can you give us an update on Kendall and whether you think he can play this weekend?
COACH CLAWSON: You know, it's still a little bit up in the air. But he's been practicing. There's times he looks good and there's times he doesn't look like he's quite ready, so you know, we're going to practice him again tomorrow and see how he's doing but I would anticipate that John Wolford will start for us, and we've just got to kind of see where Kendall is as we move along here.

Q. I know you haven't mentioned the possibility of Bowl eligibility with the win. Why have you taken that approach?
COACH CLAWSON: Well, again, I think when you start a season, there are these big picture goals that you want to accomplish, and I think you mention those things at the beginning of the year, and then the off-season program. But once you get into the season, it's just a week-by-week season.

I know it's clichÃ© and I know it's coach speak, but it's real. We can't become Bowl eligible unless we are 1-0 this week. So to talk about it, that has no impact on how we play this week.

We've got to get ready for Army. We think they are an improved football team. We have struggled against them the last two years here. We've been very fortunate to win, and I guess our thought as a program is, if you take care of 1-0, all those other goals take care of themselves. We don't want to talk about it. We want to get ready for Army and try to play the best game we can against them and if we do that, all those other things take care of themselves.

Q. Will Kendall still be regarded as the starting quarterback when he's really healthy and ready to play again?
COACH CLAWSON: When Kendall is 100 percent and can play again, he will be our starter. He's not going to lose the job over an injury. But what we have to monitor, is he 100 percent. And we have another very good quarterback in John Wolford who has played very well, and if Kendall is not at a hundred, we don't need to rush him and get him in there before he's ready.

We can be -- I don't want to say cautious with him, but we don't want to put him out there before he's ready and risk losing him for another extended period of time.

Q. I've heard other coaches have that philosophy, that you don't lose your starting job because of an injury. What goes into developing that? The fans really care about, of course, the quarterback, and maybe not so much a defensive tackle or tight end or something like that. I assume the same policy across the board, not just quarterback. But what goes into your decision to do it that way?
COACH CLAWSON: I just think it always comes down to what gives you the best chance to win. You know, if we did not have John Wolford, then maybe if Kendall is at 80 percent, he becomes a starter again.

But the bottom line is, we're not sure where Kendall is. John is 100 percent, he is healthy, and he gives us the best chance to win. I don't know if it's a big philosophical deal. I just think if a guy is your best player and he's the starter, because he's out there on the field doing everything right, and he sprains an ankle or he hurts a wrist or something happens, that's not really fair to him to be a reason to lose your job.

Now, he certainly has got to come back healthy and has to be playing at a level that he is still your best player at that position.

So again, I don't know if it's philosophical. I just think it's pragmatic that you're going to play the best player, and if somebody was the best player before they got hurt, they are probably the best player when they are healthy.

Q. Talking about this weekend's game against Army, it seems like points are going to be at the fewest between you guys and Army, you're only giving up like 15 points and they are only giving up like 15 points. I guess if you want to tell people to come to the game, come early, you might see some early points and that's it.
COACH CLAWSON: Well, we are good on defense and Army is very good on defense. We are giving up a little over 17 points a game. They are giving up 17 points a game. We both have -- our offenses are -- both offenses have ball control. Army leads the country in time of possession and we are certainly in the top, I think, third or quarter of the country in time of possession, as well.

So we're both teams that rely on their defenses. We try to be opportunistic on offense and take shots when they have them, and again, it's worked out well for Army and it's worked out well for us this year.

Q. How difficult is it, I know you guys play Georgia Tech and you play other teams with the option, and option clubs, how do you guys get yourself ready for that?
COACH CLAWSON: You spend all spring football, all August camp, all season defending, you know, whether it's read option or vertical routes or different combination routes and protections. You know, what Army does and what options teams do that are so unique, that you've really got to back off and change your defensive teaching going from being a pursuit-based defense to an assignment-based defense. And that's a tough switch to turn on and off on a weekly basis.

So I think we're fortunate that we've had the bye week. It gave us a couple of extra days to prepare. And the other difficulty is just simulating on scout team what they do. As hard as you work at it, you'll never do it as well as they do it.

Q. Throughout your career, you've rebuilt several programs. Coach Monken is going through that same rebuilding process at Army. What are some of the big picture issues that you always face when you have to go in and rebuild a program? Some of the things that particularly are part of your philosophy.
COACH CLAWSON: Well, I think a lot of it has to do, No. 1, just getting the locker room right, getting players and getting your staff and getting everybody associated with your program to share your vision of what you want it to look like. And then it's then recruiting players that fit the school. It's developing them and making them stronger and getting them faster, so that you're always improving and you're always getting better. I feel that that is happening here.

But watching Army, it's also happening with his program; that they are a stronger, faster, more developed team than the team we played last year or the year before.

You know, so it's a process, at schools like Wake Forest, it's a timely process because of how we recruit; that we have to be very centered on player development. We have to make sure the players we have are constantly improving, and again, I believe that's happening within our program.

But I also know it's happening with Army's program, which makes this week so challenging.

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