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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 30, 2017

David Cutcliffe

Greensboro, North Carolina

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: As I look at our 2017 team, we're young, but we got some experience in some of the right places. We have three senior offensive linemen, we've got a returning quarterback, we got some people up front on defense that have played a good bit at linebacker and in the interior. Some new secondary people. But this will be the fastest, probably most athletic Duke team we've put on the field. We've just got to go to play well. If we don't, it's going to be a tough road because we have a tough schedule.

Q. Had I told you 10 years ago you'd still be at Duke, what would have been your response?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: I would have said, I hope so. But I don't think you would bet on it, you know.

It's been a great place to be, and it's going to be a great place to be. We really are appreciative of the university and its commitment that it's made to our program, very appreciative of a lot of people that have allowed us, players and coaches that have worked with us, that have allowed us to continue to be here.

Q. With your SEC background, the obvious question is, with all of the advancements that we've seen the SEC make in football, how comparable is ACC football to SEC football either in your time in the SEC or right now?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: I think it's right in line with it. I became used to in the Southeastern Conference the same thing we're doing now: amazingly competitive conference top to bottom. We've been able to do that in the ACC maybe best of all as far as expansion. We've got everybody playing better football. That's something that maybe is even a little bit more so than what I saw in my time in the SEC.

Then as far as national championships and national award winners, it's the same type intensity. What I love, I think one of the biggest differences, people ask me all the time, Why is the ACC making the move? I think it's been a commitment across the board of our individual institutions to magnify football and invest in it. I think ESPN has helped that. ESPN's commitment to the league has helped that. I think all the schools are following suit.

We've got good coaches, good programs. This is going on for a while. It's not just a matter of good teams. We have a lot of good programs in the ACC.

Q. How close, if at all, were you ever offered the head coaching job at the University of Tennessee?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: I never let it get to that point, so it's an easy get off for them and me. I knew I wasn't going to. I had opportunities at other places that we've kept quiet. But we knew we were in the best place. I think I got the best job in America, and I mean that. I'm not just saying that.

We really hadn't entertained anything else.

Q. You mentioned the schedule. Looking at the way it sets up with having to play nine straight games, did you have to do anything different off-season or pre-season camp preparation to get your guys ready for that type of long stretch to open the season?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Yeah, I think there's two things involved. I talked with our strength people back before we started our summer program. We knew we were going to have to be in incredible shape. I wanted to come into camp, which we normally do, but just in a really elite level of conditioning. And we were.

What it allowed us to do, I've tried to be smart with this four- or five-week camp of practice before you play a game. We were in school two weeks. Honestly, the first week, because our guys were in some really tough classes, we only practiced every other day during that. I felt like it worked out really well for us. I thought at the right time when school ended, we had a lot of steam, we were really energized in all of our work at that point. So it's been a good camp.

Q. Dave Clawson mentioned having the longer camp kept his team healthier. I'm wondering if you guys had the same results in that aspect.
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Yeah, we're healthier than we've been. We had less - knock on wood here - muscle pulls, some of those things. The players, it's kind of been a mixed review. I asked them. They didn't love coming in a week earlier, but they did tell me that their bodies felt better than normal.

That's a tough tradeoff for young people. I hope everybody thought about it as obviously Wake Forest did and we did, it was a chance to take care of your players a little more than you normally would.

Q. You got a little help this year via the grad transfer rule on your offensive line. Is there anything about the grad transfer rules you don't like or would change?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: That's a real difficult subject. When we look at graduate transfers and people aren't getting degrees, they're just switching schools, I'm not so in favor of that. It's unique, to say the least.

Right now, as we move forward in college football, just transfers in general is getting looked at and talked about a lot, just where they talk a lot about open transfer, period. I would not be in favor of that. That's too difficult to manage. You spend too much energy, time, money. That's been bantered about by a lot of people in the media.

You kind of have to be in it to understand that whole circumstance.

Q. You talked throughout the off-season about how impressed you'd been with the progress that Jeremy McDuffie made. How much did the thumb injury in camp impact that continued growth throughout camp? How do you expect it to affect his play during the season? Is it going to be a matter of it's harder to make a catch on an interception opportunity, or something that might not have any issue at all?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: There's no question that it will affect the ability to catch the ball. But based on practice today, I mean, he really had a good day. He was active. We had a pretty full-speed day. He hasn't really lost much. He's an excellent football player. He's got great instincts. It certainly doesn't look like it's bothered him tackling at all. There was one time in team period today where the show team, scout team player went up, it was kind of in the end zone, a long ball, and the other guy came down with the ball. Jeremy couldn't pull it out. It made me realize right there, there's some effect to that.

It's not going to be that way all that long. The cast is bigger now. That cast will be minimized as he continues to heal. So for the season, it won't be a big deal. I hope he can manage it well. He's going to play this week.

Q. What kind of pre-season camp did Mark Gilbert have for you?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Really good. He had his best practices since he's been here. I think his growth as a person throughout the spring, particularly in the summer, I've been really pleased. He's had a good run in school. He's had a good run off the field. He's become a leader. He's setting the tone as a work ethic guy at corner, which is what I wanted to see from him. So he's going to start. I would expect he's going to play really well.

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