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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 19, 2018

Larry Fedora

Greensboro, North Carolina

LARRY FEDORA: We finished up spring on Monday. Had a good spring. We got a lot of reps with a lot of young guys and got a lot of people a lot of work. It was a very productive spring.

Q. How are you feeling about your quarterback position coming out of spring practice?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I would say that both of them were better than they were when they left off at the end of the season. So I think they have made a lot of progress. I think they did a really good job this winter preparing themselves.

I think both of them are much more comfortable in the offense and with what we are trying to do. I think the game is slowing down for both of them so that the decision-making process is much easier for them and therefore they can be much more accurate.

Q. What went into the decision to not have a spring game this year? Was it a matter of you felt like it was more beneficial to have that extra practice than the whole public spectacle thing?
LARRY FEDORA: The biggest reason was we needed to get more reps and so we just had a normal scrimmage. You know, when you do the spring game, you're limited in what you can do and how many reps you're going to get and you're doing it for the fans. This was much better that we could get more reps and get really what we wanted out of it.

And then on top of it, we had construction going on in the stadium. We don't have seating everywhere because they are putting in new seats and so it just worked out better for us that way.

Q. Do you feel like this is something you're going to do going forward or is it just a one-time thing?
LARRY FEDORA: I mean, I don't know. It just depends on the team. We had a lot of young guys that needed a lot more reps this spring and so it just worked out better for us in this situation. But we'll make that decision, you know, I mean, each and every spring.

Q. Last week we talked about Charlie after one of the practices, and I was thinking about the offensive line and how you lost Bentley this time a year ago and he was the leader and Cam came in and was the leader. Is Charlie taking on a roll of leadership and if not, who might be the leader of the offensive line right now going into your summer workouts?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, I would say that Charlie is starting to evolve into that position. He really is. I mean, one, I think Charlie has really had a great spring. He's just now really getting to understand what it means it play offensive tackle and he's been a tight end his whole life.

So he's really starting to understand that, had a great spring. You do start seeing him -- he's starting to come out of his shell more and be more vocal. He is very well respected on our football team, so there for he's in a position of leadership. Jay-Jay McCargo at center is and probably Nick Polino, who is probably the older of the guys up there is doing a good job of it, also. So I feel good about where those guys are right now.

Q. Is it difficult for William Sweet to sort of take on that role until he get back on that field? How does he handle something like that since he would have been one of the guys, had he not gotten hurt last year?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, it's always hard when you're injured. It's hard to try to lead when you're not involved in the actual drills and you're over there rehabbing. It's just always hard.

But I think William is well respected. I think everybody knows what he can do. I think -- now, William is one that is vocal and will talk and does a good job of communicating, and so it will be good to get him back here this summer.

Q. What were some of your biggest take aways from Monday's scrimmage?
LARRY FEDORA: You know, I would say that, one, I felt the biggest thing was that I felt our quarterbacks were comfortable. I think that nothing really surprised them. I thought that they were -- their decision-making process, they looked at ease. There was nothing coming at them that they didn't know what to do, and so that wasn't a surprise. It was just a good take away from the scrimmage.

Anthony, he's really done some nice things. I was pleased to get a really good look at the incoming guys that entered school in January. Bryson Richardson really did a nice job, Javonte William, Dyami Brown. It was really good to see those guys perform in that type of atmosphere.

Q. What do you think your biggest strengths will be this upcoming season?
LARRY FEDORA: That's a great question. You know, that's a great question. I don't know. I don't know yet.

Q. The O-Line as a group, how do you feel like that unit performed throughout spring and with the lack of experience and injuries you're still working through, how is it to develop a cohesive unit during spring ball?
LARRY FEDORA: That's the toughest thing is because of injuries or guys out here, a day or a couple days here, it makes it really difficult because that group needs to get a lot of work together.

Unfortunately at this time, with you just weren't able to do that because William Sweet wasn't out there. Jay-Jay wasn't out there. You were rolling in a lot of guys looking for the Top-5 or the best five, and so that changed throughout spring.

Now, on the other side of that, it was good that you got a look at a lot of people and a lot of people got opportunities, and it was good to see the growth that some of those young guys have made in one year.

Q. I know Memphis and a handful of other schools had spring scrimmages off-campus this year, or spring practice sessions, whether for recruiting benefit or to promote the program. Would you ever try to do that with one of your teams and why do you think more schools haven't done something like that?
LARRY FEDORA: We have done that, actually two or three times, since I've been here. We went to Charlotte one year. We went to Greensboro one year and we've had scrimmages in different places in the State of North Carolina and we did it for recruiting.

We wanted to take the team to the fans. You know, it was a good experience for us and it was also -- we tried to treat it as an away game for our guys and we tried to do things very similar so that they would understand how we were going to do things when we were on the road.

I would consider doing that again in the future, and I liked it in the past.

Q. To look at the new additions to the coaching staff, what have you taken away with the new faces that have been brought on to the team and moving forward as a leadership committee together?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, it's been really good. The transition's been very smooth, starting with Luke Paschall, who has taken over our special teams and wide receiver. Luke was a GA for me in the past who was with the receivers before, so he knew exactly what we were doing and what we wanted to do, and he and I have very, very similar philosophies on special teams. So that was very smooth.

You know, brought in Tommy Thigpin, a former player that's been here before as a coach. Tommy loves the place, has brought a great sense of energy, along with Robert Gillespie. Robert came in from Tennessee and has just been a really bright spot for our football team coaching the running backs. And then we brought in Henry Baker from Rutgers to coach the corners, and he's doing a great job and bringing a lot of energy to the position.

So I think these guys have done a great job so far and I'm really looking forward to working with them through the entire year.

Q. On the defensive side, just expand a little on what you've seen from Crawford and why he's had such a good spring moving forward.
LARRY FEDORA: Well, one thing, he stayed healthy all spring and his effort was just unbelievable throughout the spring, for a guy that's 310 pounds and he's making plays all over the field, from sideline-to-sideline and downfield. You know, just really proud of the effort that he's put in and the want-to.

You know, he's become a leader, also. I mean, when guys see somebody playing like that, that's contagious, and so really excited about his upcoming season.

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