	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

September 12, 2018

Dino Babers

Greensboro, North Carolina

DINO BABERS: Well, we're just really excited about the game we've got coming up this weekend on ESPN. We know we're going to have our hands full. Florida State is very, very talented, and we all know what kind of coach Coach Taggart is. He's one of the hottest coaches in the country, and the reason is because they do a fantastic job. So we know we have our hands full, and we're looking forward to the contest.

Q. I'm curious with the new kickoff fair catch rule, how have you seen that used or not used up to this point in the season?
DINO BABERS: Well, the first game, our first opponent returned most of the kicks, but our second opponent used it quite a bit against us. I just think it feels like it's an option whether you think it's an advantage to not have your kickoff return team execute their right to return it or whether you just want to give that up and get the ball on the 25. I see it as an advantage or a disadvantage based on how you use it based on who your opponent is.

Q. In your career, as you're preparing to face teams that have noted kick returners, guys who are really explosive, how do you make that decision about whether or not to kick to them, and how much do you worry about the message it sends if you don't kick to a guy?
DINO BABERS: Well, I don't worry about the message it doesn't send. Some people need to be respected. Some kick returners have won Heisman trophies returning kicks, and I don't think we're in the business of helping guys get their Heisman trophies.

I just think it's a matter of who the kicker is, what kind of personnel you have on your return teams, and whether you think you can handle the individual or not. There's some special team out there with some special God-given traits that can return kicks.

Q. Obviously Moe Neal has had a good first couple games. How much of that success do you think is based on the strides he's made since last year, and how much of it is more opportunities from the offensive line?
DINO BABERS: I think it's a combination of both.

Q. Just wondering with Andre Szmyt, what was it during fall camp that made you realize that he was going to be the guy that you were going to go to this season?
DINO BABERS: We keep numbers on all our kickers, it's a mathematical thing, and his numbers were extremely high. Based off of those numbers, we wanted to exercise some drills that we could do to see if he could handle the pressure, added pressure in practice and still kick with the same high percentage, which he did. And then based off of that, he deserved a right to just see if he could do it in the game because even though you can do all those things right in practice, some kickers get in the game and they just hardly know their name. They just fall apart. We gave him an opportunity, and obviously he didn't fall apart, he did extremely well, so we're really excited about that.

Q. And then looking at a guy like Sean Riley, he's somebody that clearly doesn't have the size of somebody like Jamal Custis. What does he do in his route running that makes up for his size?
DINO BABERS: You know, sometimes it's an advantage to be big. There's no doubt about it. But when you're playing a big person's game, sometimes there's an advantage to be small. Joe Morris is the leading rusher in the history of Syracuse football, and we've had fantastic tailbacks in our tradition here, and yet he's one of the smaller ones, and he's the leading rusher. Sometimes when you're in a big man's game, to be the small guy can be an advantage.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Jamal Custis. I know he's fifth year in the program now. Can you describe how hard you've seen him work for the opportunity that's in front of him, and what do you expect to see from him for the rest of the year?
DINO BABERS: You know, I think he was on a program to catch, I want to say, 10,000 balls over the summer. I mean, he was in the weight room, catching balls off the JUGS machine and having coaches push balls at him. He's really, really worked hard to try to have the best senior year that he could possibly have. I think in his career he's been close to being a starter on a couple occasions, and he's had some bad luck on those occasions. I just feel like this is his last opportunity, and he's trying to make the best of it.

Q. To look at the defensive side of the ball and Andre Cisco, three interceptions in the first three games, just what you can say you saw from the true freshman throughout camp and what you're seeing right now?
DINO BABERS: The number one thing is we felt like we have another player on our team by the name of Kendall Coleman who started as a true defensive end for us, and when Kendall came in, he just didn't act like a young person, he acted lot a person a lot more mature for his age, and he went about his business and he went about his work in that manner, and that reminds me of Andre Cisco exactly the same way. I think he does laugh and he does crack a smile every blue moon, but I haven't seen it very much. He's very stoic. He's very focused, and he knows what he wants to do, and by going about his work like that, I think it's helped him to play beyond his years.

Q. And then Eric Dungey was talking about the play with Donte Strickland in the Wagner game where he had tried to push forward and essentially the ball went to Strickland, instead he handed it off to him and he took it on the left side and he made kind of a joke of it that you said, nice play, don't do that again. Just what you can say about a play like that, kind of a headsy play in the moment but what you took away from a play like that that had a little bit of trickery?
DINO BABERS: I think what I told him is exactly right. He'd better listen and not just hear me on that. I thought it was very heads up. I thought it was very spontaneous, and he'd better not do it again.

Q. Obviously Florida State is struggling right now, not looking too sharp. You guys are off to 2-0 start and played Florida State close last year. Do you get a sense on the team, are guys thinking upset, are guys thinking -- do you sense the confidence level on your team is pretty good for this week?
DINO BABERS: You know, we checked back, and we haven't beaten those guys in I don't know how often and Coach Taggart is such a good coach he actually came up and beat us with the University of South Florida personnel two years ago, and Florida State's personnel and talent is way, way above that. We have the utmost respect for not only Coach Taggart but also Florida State. We understand what these guys represent. We understand they're five stars and four stars, and it's going to be a very difficult task that we have on Saturday.

Q. They've changed their scheme on both offense and defense, so how different do they look in these first couple games they've played compared to the teams that you saw the last couple years at Florida State?
DINO BABERS: Well, I mean, they look more like University of South Florida and Oregon on offense, and then they have a Michigan State defensive flair to them with their defensive coordinator coming from Michigan State. I've never had the opportunity of playing Michigan State, but it's similar to some of the stuff that the University of Pittsburgh does on their back end. It's like you have to piece those two different teams together and put them together. I think that the defensive scheme is obviously Michigan State plays fantastic defense. I think they will be good on defense. I think they could be good on defense right now and people don't know about it. There's just a matter -- it takes some time to put some of those new systems in, and you never know when it's going to kick in with the kids. And then the same thing on offense. Obviously Willie is known for his offense. His offenses have always been good, and he's got outstanding personnel to work with at Florida State. I think these guys are ready to explode on somebody, and I hope it's not us.

Q. Talk about Florida State's two running backs, Akers and Patrick. How do you defend both running backs?
DINO BABERS: Well, one is a huge guy that makes you want to question your responsibility of whether you want to hit him or not. He makes you make a job decision every time you run up to hit the guy, he's so big. And then Akers, he's 4.33. He's faster than everybody we have on our football team. If he gets out in the open, we're not going to catch him. I mean, Virginia Tech couldn't catch him, either. I think it was 85 yards or something like that. So he's one of the fastest guys in college football. It's a thunder-and-lightning show, and they're extremely, extremely talented.

Q. It's been a long time since you coached against Coach Taggart. What do you see from this year's Florida State squad that might be similar to something you just talked about at South Florida and Oregon?
DINO BABERS: Well, I still think that they play fast. They still play wide open. They're still doing the spread. They do a lot of things to stress your defense, and they have big play capabilities all over the football field. And again, I have the utmost respect for Michigan State, the University of Pittsburgh defense. That defense is one of the best defensive schemes in the country, and they're playing it on that side of the ball, and they're going to be fine over there, too.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297