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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 4, 2017

Justin Fuente

Greensboro, North Carolina

JUSTIN FUENTE: Had a good day of work yesterday. We understand the challenge in front of us. Boston College, very well-coached. Very physical football team. We are going to go on the road and try to get on the right side of the ledger in conference play.

Q. Walker (ph) has more punt return yards than most teams had all of last season. What has made him so effective?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Two things stand out. One, he has a real knack for it. He's got some bravery. He can catch the ball moving downhill and get off the spot really quickly.

The second thing is, he's gotten other guys that seem to me like they are taking a tremendous amount of pride in doing a great job for him. I mean, they are really sticking to people, playing with great technique and effort, and he seems to be able to just have a great feel and hit that sucker downhill really quickly.

Q. Your coverage teams have been really good. Who have been some of the best guys for you in punt coverage?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Kickoff coverage, we haven't had many opportunities on punt coverage. You know, Terrell Edmunds stands out playing with pretty high level speed, playing down the field. Really going on two years in a row now for us of him just forcing fair catches and just really pressing the returner. Been really pleased with him.

It starts with the punter. We are willing to sacrifice a few yards for a very good hang time. Oscar has done a good job helping that coverage unit by hanging the ball up there.

Q. As you look at Landry, how good a job do they do of moving him around and make it hard to find him in your blocking scheme?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Yeah, they do. They will stand him up and line him inside and try and get him matched up on people, and then line him out wide and let him really go. I mean, to me, he's a pretty elite pass rusher. He seems to have a great mix of both speed and power in terms of being able to run around you. Also being able to mix in a bull rush or up and under. We'll certainly have our hands full with him.

Q. When you think about Yosuah Nijman for you, what has his development been like and how is he playing for you right now?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Well, I think he continues to get better. It's never really been a question of physical ability with Nij. It's always just been continuing to learn the game and refine the techniques. He's done a good job pushing through the last couple weeks.

I think he's felt better this week than he's felt in several weeks just from a physical standpoint. For him it's about refining his technique. At times he can get away with some things because he is so big, strong and athletic. But he's improving daily out there.

Q. They have been scheming against Bud Foster since the 90s. What keeps that guy having the Hokies at the top or near the top every year in defense?
JUSTIN FUENTE: : Well, I think the first thing with Bud is he's a student of the game. He's not afraid to look at other people and see what they are doing and think about it and try and see if he feels like he needs a way to adjust year-in and year-out to keep up with what people are doing offensively. He enjoys that part of it.

He's not -- while there are some characteristics of his defenses that have carried over from year-to-year schematically, I think one of his strengths is he's willing to think and look outside the box. The other thing is I think he does a great job with not just his position but his side of the ball in terms of they have got some real core values that they stand for and a level of play that's expected.

Those kids feel a level of responsibility to live up to that on a weekly basis.

Q. What do you think of the two running backs?
JUSTIN FUENTE: They are big, explosive guys. I know the freshman I saw in high school and was really impressed with him, I thought he had a chance to be a really, really good player; I still do after watching him play a cup many games. But really to me they are big, powerful, explosive running backs that have the power to get the tough yards but also the explosiveness to bust the long runs.

Q. Wanted to ask you about Cam Phillips and what makes him such a standout wide receiver. He's averaging almost 15 yards a catch, in this era, kind of more of a short passing game. What are his best attributes?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Well, first of all, I think he's the best one we've got by a long ways, which kind of makes him probably get mortar gets.

Second of all, he is an explosive player. His short area quickness is pretty impressive. He's got some strength about him.

In my opinion, the best thing that he has or his best attribute is his intelligence. He really understands the game. He's easily coachable. You can move him around all over the place and he's still going to understand the big picture of what's going on. To me, that makes him really versatile and easier to find ways.

To get him the ball.

Q. Also, when you come off a game like you did against Clemson, No. 2 team in the country, obviously standouts both sides of the ball. What did you learn about your team after that encounter?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Oh, I don't know. I kind of take these things one week at a time. I learned last week we weren't good enough to beat Clemson, and this week we have to be good enough to beat Boston College.

I've been disappointed in some things and we've talked about those things as a team. But we've got to move on. We can't spend all our time patting ourselves on the back or hoping around about the good or bad that happened last week. We've got to move on.

You know, as far as what we learned, that we didn't prepare well enough, and also didn't play well enough to beat a talented Clemson team at home last week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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