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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 6, 2017

Dave Clawson

Greensboro, North Carolina

DAVE CLAWSON: We were glad to get off to a good start. We played fairly clean football in our first game. Had some personnel advantages, but I was excited that we didn't have procedures or turnovers or a lot of those sometimes game one mistakes that you make as we turn the page and get ready for B.C. this week.

Obviously, the competition level is going to jump way up. B.C. had a great first win. Got a difficult road win in a tough place to play, and had to play a full 60 minutes to do it. This will be a great test for us once again, they're really, really good on defense. Their two defensive ends might be as good a one-two combo in the conference or the country.

Their corners are excellent. They're very stout in the middle, and I think they're very, very improved on offense. So this will be a very challenging game for us.

Q. What are you still curious to learn about your team now that you'll be playing Boston College this week as opposed to Presbyterian?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, I think there is still a lot to learn. Like I said, I was happy that we played and the fact that we played clean. That was a game that we had a lot of personnel advantages. This is a week that the personnel on both teams is going to be similar. There are certain places we have a slight edge, they have a slight edge, but every time we've played against B.C., it's been a fourth quarter and it's come down to the last possession, all three of my years here. So these have been close, hard-fought games. B.C. plays with a physicality on both sides of the line of scrimmage that we have not faced yet this year.

So it will be a chance for us to see how physical we can play and how we match up against two very good lines. Just a really good football team. Right now B.C. has won four games in a row. And three of those games have been on the road or a neutral site, and they're playing really good football right now. They're also extremely well coached on special teams. There are no freebies with B.C. and any part of what they do. They don't give up big plays. They're very hard to move the football against. They're well-coached on the special teams units.

Offensively they make you fit every gap and be very sound. They're very well-coached and just a complete football team.

Q. Has John Wolford been a case study in persistence and tenacity over the past three years?
DAVE CLAWSON: Yes. I mean, I don't know if he's a case study. I think he's a model in terms of what we want all of our football players to be. First of all, John loves football. He's highly competitive, he's highly motivated. He's a great student-athlete. He's in our business school and does very well. He's competitive in all aspects of his life. He's very driven.

When he first got here, he played really before he was ready, and we really didn't give him much help. And a lot of times you play a guy before he's ready in a situation where we didn't surround him with much, you're concerned about what that does with the psyche of a quarterback with the amount of hits he took. He just keeps fighting and battling back. It's just the way he's been raised. It's his make-up. He's a fighter. He's a competitor, and he always comes back better than you think. I'm just really proud of him. But, obviously, we need him to play well for us to win.

Q. There are probably a lot of ACC scars on him. Could I have one more quick follow-up. What were your impressions of Anthony Brown handling that hurry-up in his college debut?
DAVE CLAWSON: You're starting the game as a red-shirt freshman and you win, you did your job. We offered Anthony. We had him on campus. We thought he was an outstanding prospect. They athletic, live arm, lot of poise, very mature young man. He's one of those kids that when he was in the office, it's easy to really fall in love with him. He has a good personality, and he was a kid that we really liked and we wanted at Wake Forest.

So watching him play his first game, you know, he made some plays with his feet. He stuck some really nice balls in there. He had a corner ball on third down which was a beautiful throw. The job of the quarterback is to win the game. Right now, he's 1-0 as a starter.

Q. Greg Dortch seemed to make an impression for you guys last week. What kind of impact do you think he can have on the offense and special teams too?
DAVE CLAWSON: I hope that as a red-shirt freshman that is something that he can sustain. And we need that to show up every week. We're excite about him. He made plays against our defense last year on scout team. He's one of those guys that can make you miss in a film booth, he could have made you miss in a film booth since those don't exist anymore. But very -- when I say that to players now, they look at me like I've got three eyes. But he's just very quick, very elusive, has really good ball skills. You know, it was good for him.

Game one he had some success. He knows going against our defense in practice and certainly when you look at B.C. on film, the space isn't going to be as wide. We've got to make sure that we take care of the ball and protect the football in tight spaces. But he is off to a good start. It would be nice to think that we can finally have a return game here in punt returns and kick returns. That's not an area that we've been really good at the last three years. But it's hard to be a good kick return team or punt return team if you don't have a dynamic, illusive returner. And Greg certainly gives us that.

Again, it was a good debut. But the competition level gets tougher this week, and he knows that, and we know that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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