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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 6, 2017

Steve Addazio

Greensboro, North Carolina

STEVE ADDAZIO: It's great to open the season with a win, especially on the road. We started a freshman quarterback and gave him a chance to really get his feet wet. I think the quality of the opponent and the toughness of the game helped us a great deal to be able to develop our program and to be able to see where some of the things that we need to fix or tweak or address so that we can make ample improvement going into week two.

We're playing a great team in Wake Forest. Dave Clawson is one of the guys in the business that I have utmost respect for because of the way that he developed his team, his program, the detail, the fundamentals. You see it all over the tape. The way he's taken his team and over the last four years, I think, has been a remarkable job. They're talented. They have speed. They're good on defenses. They've always been.

Offensively I love their quarterbacks. I think they're both athletic. John Wolford is such a winner, and they've got playmakers. That's what happens when you have an opportunity to develop your program. So we know we have a great task in front of us. Thank God we're at home. But this will be a real dog fight here, so we're working hard this week to develop to get ready for that great challenge.

Q. You mentioned your young quarterback. What did you assess from Brown in that first game and how much of what you saw was kind of what you expected after seeing him in practice?
STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, all you can do is hope that you'll see what you saw in practice to validate your decisions. But I thought he went into the game, I thought he handled the pressure of the game. I thought he was very composed in the two-minute drive before the half. I thought in the second half of the game, which was a tight, close game, he made some critical, clutch plays. He had a great look on his face and digested all of that like a veteran.

I think it was a great learning experience and learning curve for him in that game. I thought I was very pleased with his performance. He realized, we realized that there were so many more opportunities there that we let get away, and that's part of this process. It's always great to come out with a win in those situations, digest it, and I think you improve each week and you make more and more plays. But he certainly has the tools, the demeanor, and the mental toughness to play that position.

Q. What do you want to see your team's biggest improvement as you go from week one to week two here?
STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, I think we want to continue to improve all over the place. As you said, from week one, two, to three, those are big growth weeks. I think we were able to pull out of that game enough things that pointed out accurately where we needed to grow. I would say offensively we'd like to take another step in our run game. I was pleased with the growth in our throw game, though we have to keep improving there. We threw the ball more times than we've ever thrown since I've been here. I think it was around 42 times. We ran over 92 plays, which was the most of any B.C. team since the inception of going into the ACC. So we've got to continue to improve that.

On defense I thought we did an unbelievable job of hurrying and hitting the quarterback. Being able to mix our coverages. We had a couple of mistakes that we want to get corrected there and special teams I thought we had some really good moments, and I think there were some things in there, some good confidence builders with our field goals. But there were some things in our game that we need to get corrected, which we were all about right now.

Q. I was wondering about the development of John Lamont in the linebacker position and how he fits into the plans for Boston College right now?
STEVE ADDAZIO: John Lamont has had an outstanding off-season, preseason. He's really talented, he's really athletic, he's really physical. I think he's going to be one of the great linebackers in our league. We're very high on him. He's going to continue to gain more snaps as the season goes on but I really believe that he's going to be an outstanding player really a great find for us in John. I think he's got the tools to be exceptional.

Q. With the way Kobay White played the other night, do you feel like he has an opportunity to really be a difference maker for you guys on offense?
STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, I think he'll be a difference maker in the conference. He's a red-shirt freshman. I think he has exceptional ball skills, power, and speed. We've got a number of good, young receivers right now. When we have the quarterbacks that can deliver the balls to them. So I think we're going to see more and more out of Kobay and some others as well, which is really exciting for us to take that part of our game and to really grow with it.

But Kobay had a great game, made key plays and that's something he's been doing all camp. That wasn't a new phenomena. So I expect to see it as we move forward.

Q. Coach Clawson mentioned a little bit ago that all of your meetings lately or at least most have come down to the last few minutes of each game. Can you talk about a little why that is and why you two have played such close games with each other?
STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, I think we're pretty evenly matched teams. I think there is kind of an inner division kind of rivalry there. I think our kids are both battling for that win. These are competitive, hard-fought, tough games as you pointed out. Whether they're here or there, it doesn't seem to make any difference. We've talked about that at length and we'll continue. Our kids have a great deal of respect for Wake Forest, and they know that this is going to be a four-quarter contest.

We've got to find a way to get into the locker room and sing the fight song at the end of the day. That's what it comes down to when Boston College plays Wake Forest. They know that and it's anticipated. So it will be exactly the same this year, and you've got to be able to run the race and finish. So that's what we're getting ourselves prepped for.

Q. Along those lines, Colton Lichtenberg, your young placekicker, had a really good performance your first game of the season?
STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, it was nice to see. There is a guy that needed a little confidence boost, and I think that helped a great deal. It was great to see, got into the red zone. We scored in the red zone, and that's what you have to do because when you don't, it's a momentum, confidence killer. So having that weapon become active was fantastic. Obviously critical in that game, and it will be critical as we move forward.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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