	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 18, 2017

Larry Fedora

Greensboro, North Carolina

LARRY FEDORA: Looking forward to going to Blacksburg and playing against Virginia Tech, another Coastal Division team that we have a long history against.

Q. Curious, obviously you guys are playing fewer snaps per game offensively than your offense aims for. Is that by design because of the younger personnel or is that a result because of not converting first downs and things like that?
LARRY FEDORA: That's more of a result for not moving the chains, not converting on third and fourth downs. That's really more of a result of that.

Q. When you look at Virginia Tech's defensive line, particularly the interior guys, 4 and 8, what do you see from them?
LARRY FEDORA: I think both guys are very -- they are big. They are disruptive. They are quick-twitch guys. They are physical. Both Tim Settle and Walker, both of them are doing a heck of a job in their defensive scheme.

Q. Virginia Tech has an Australian punter this year. I know you have one, as well. Curious, as a coach, when you're recruiting that type of player and through that academy for the first time, what kind of leap of faith is that as a coach to offer a scholarship to a guy that's half a world away that you've only seen on film?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, at least for me, it was a heck of a leap of faith because I never got to see him in person. Talked to him on the phone a few times.

You're really -- you're hoping to evaluate what you can from the film and then you've got to have a lot of faith in the coaches that are coaching them and take their word for it, and they have got a great reputation with the guys that they have sent over here and the job they do at the various schools they are at.

Word-of-mouth gets around and made it a little bit easier to, you know, to take that chance.

Q. Were you nervous at all offering that scholarship like that?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, I was extremely nervous. I mean, I was worried that I was getting catfished. So yeah, I had no idea -- because I never got to see Tom's face. I never knew what he looked like.

And then he was going to come at the beginning of the summer and then it got pushed back to midsummer and then it got pushed back to right before camp, and so he walked in the day or two before we started camp. It worked out all right, though.

Q. To take a look on the other side of this matchup with Justin, what he has done with Virginia Tech in a year and a half's worth of time, and just what the Coastal Division has done to shake up a little bit here with coaches like Justin Fuente in the mix?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, you just look at the coaches throughout this entire division. You've got great coaches in this division and they have done a heck of a job. I think year-in and year-out, it's been, you know, anybody can win the league and anyone can win the Coastal and it continues to being like that.

I think Justin has done a tremendous job coming in, and first of all, making a really good decision to keep Bud and the defensive staff intact and then installing his offense. You know, it's been, I would say, as smooth a transition as there could have been, I think. Doesn't mean there isn't some tough things for them but he's done a great job.

Q. Offensively for you, despite some adversity this season, what can you say about freshman Michael Carter in the backfield, coming off his best game so far this year and what he's done with multiple-touchdown games in the first seven weeks that you've had him?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, I'm extremely excited about Michael's future. I mean, every rep that he's get, he's gets better and better, and he's growing, and something new comes up and he learns from it. He's a great kid and he's doing a great job but I'm excited about a lot of young guys that we have in this program and what's going on for them.

Some of them are playing before they probably ought to but they are going to benefit from it. They are going to get better and better and you'll see in the future as we go, it will pay off for us.

Q. Record-wise, this is unexplored territory for you, and I wondered how you are adjusting to that.
LARRY FEDORA: Well, you don't have to like it. You know, there's nothing that I like about it. We talk about adversity all the time as a football team, and you know, that overcoming adversity is one of the most important things you can do. You're going to face adversity in every game and in your life and everything.

So this is just another form of adversity. I think it obviously develops character and develops who you are as a person and the way you handle things, and so I think for me, it's mainly that we stay positive in everything we do. You know, we have a sound philosophy that's a proven philosophy and we don't start grabbing things here and there just because somebody thinks that you ought to change something.

So we stick with what we do and what we believe in, and we continue to work and we keep a positive attitude.

Q. You've just mentioned, a lot of this experience is going to pay off in the future for a lot of your young players. How do you balance the bigger picture down the road with still trying to win football games this year?
LARRY FEDORA: Really, I don't really pay any attention to the down-the-road stuff, I really don't. We haven't changed anything from the way we do things as far as our focus is on, you know, this day and being the best that we can be this day. And then when Saturday gets here, it will all be about Virginia Tech.

But we're installing a game plan and trying to be the best that we can be on every day.

Q. Left field question for you. Paul Johnson has a really good record against the rotational teams in the Atlantic. Curious if you have any theories why, having played them so frequently.
LARRY FEDORA: You know, I would say I haven't thought about it. The first thing that would come to mind: Maybe because they only play them once every seven years.

So, you know, they probably don't think about the triple-option or the option game that Paul utilizes on a daily basis; where probably the teams in the Coastal Division that play them every year probably spend a lot more time on it.

Q. Do you feel like over time that you have figured out best practices and the best way to get guys ready, whether it's drills, practice, that sort of thing?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, we have a plan, whether it's the best plan, I have no idea. We feel like it's the best plan. Over five or six years now playing Paul, you know, and doing things that we feel like we need to do; whether or not you have an open week or not, if you're going to be in a short week, all those things you have to take into consideration.

You plan out months in advance to be able to hopefully put a team out on the field that can compete with them.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297