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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 26, 2018

Mark Richt

Greensboro, North Carolina

MARK RICHT: Playing tomorrow night, so very busy week. Just no day off for anybody, coaches, players. We turned today into just a glorified walk-through, which would normally be a Thursday we'd get a little more running in there. But long story short, North Carolina is dealing with the same thing, so we're ready to play. I'm sure they are, too.

Q. This is a really random question. You were a graduate assistant at Florida State in '88 when they made the, I guess, now infamous Seminole rap video. I'm wondering what you remember about it, and I've heard that you have showed that to some teams as a kind of warning about not getting ahead of yourself in a season where you're getting a lot of hype.
MARK RICHT: I don't remember if I did that. I probably did somewhere along the way as far as showing the tape years down the road. Yeah, I was there for sure. That was a game we lost 31-0 to Miami in the opening game. Still won the rest of the games, and I think we ended up No. 2 or 3 in the nation that year. But that first game got us. Everybody was a little bit full of themselves for sure.

I can say this: When I get approached by people that want to do certain things, whether it's a video, obviously a music video or something that other people can use for motivation, I'm not interested in that.

The other thing is you get some of these reality TV things that people want to do, and it's hard to do that because people are affected by that. The coaches act a little different, players act a little different. No one wants to act different, but if you're sitting there knowing the camera is on you and this could be on national TV and what I say or what I do may draw attention to me, may not, just human nature, especially with the players, that they may act a little bit different and change the mindset of your team. You work so hard on the mindset of your team, on the team unity, on the focus, on what's important, and then you start dealing with outside interests, and it usually doesn't go well.

Q. I hadn't thought about that, but that's actually a good point about the sort of reality TV aspect of it. This was certainly well before that. Have you watched that video at all in the years since that you can remember? What are your thoughts --
MARK RICHT: Maybe once in the last 10 or 15 years. But I think the quarterback I've got now, Cade Weldon, Casey, his dad, was in that thing if I'm not mistaken.

Q. Peter Tom was.
MARK RICHT: Yeah, he was for sure. I remember Odell Haggins being in it and a lot of people giving him a hard time primetime and all that. It was fun and funny, but it wasn't very funny after the first game was over. A lot of people wanted to point to that as part of the reason we got beat down so bad.

Q. Do you know who is the starting quarterback for Thursday, and if so, who is it?
MARK RICHT: That's a good question. Yeah, we'll know when we roll out on the field first play for sure, so that's what I'm going to tell everybody. But yeah, I know.

Q. What have you seen from Perry in the last game or the last couple games that made you think, okay, now I've seen enough where I need to reevaluate things and take a look at the starting quarterback position again? What started clicking for him that you noticed?
MARK RICHT: Right. It's like any other position. I always tell the players you have to earn the right to win, and you have to earn the trust of the coaching staff and your teammates to get in the game. Every position besides quarterback, and maybe a punter or a kicker, is one that -- it's common to have multiple guys get in the game. While guys are earning playing time at another position, he may earn 20 percent of the game, let's say, and so that's pretty easy to get the guy in there for a series or two, and no one thinks much about it, but when you start putting the quarterback in there, it's different. And it's different for a good reason.

I mean, a lot of the -- if a right guard makes a mistake, he might get hit for a minus-one-yard run, but if the quarterback makes a mistake, it might be a pick six. You want your quarterbacks to be mature enough and ready enough for the moment if they do get into a game, and every game is a risk if you get a younger player in the game that could make a mistake.

But I guess to answer your question, he has grown up in my opinion to the point where I think he knows what we're doing, why we're doing it. I think Weldon is in the same boat. They're at the point in their careers where you're not going to learn much more about them until you get them in the game. That's what we did, and then we'll continue to assess everything week by week.

Q. I know they weren't able to go yesterday, but Jaquan and Ahmmon, were they able to do anything today, and are they out for this week or can they play?
MARK RICHT: Yeah, Ahmmon I would say is out, and then game-time decision on Jaquan.

Q. Can you elaborate on the challenges of playing on a short week, and are you a fan of playing on a short week, and how has your team focused with a big game next week?
MARK RICHT: I mean, it's tough. There's no doubt. I know as a coach, your game ends on Saturday, and then that night you're grinding for the next week's game. You've got to get as ready as possible. Our Sunday was a very, very busy Sunday. I mean, I enjoy going to church and spending time with family at lunchtime and doing all that. We don't usually get in the room, in the office until maybe about 2:00 on a Sunday normally, and this past week, like I said, we were working Saturday night and Sunday morning 8:00, and just trying to get the game plan ready.

So you know, you don't get a lot of rest mentally, and the players, we had no day off. Normally Monday is off and Friday is off as far as actually practicing. We practiced every day this week, even though today was more of a walk-through.

Yeah, so it's short. It's fast. You hope to be as prepared as possible. But personally do I like it? I'd rather not play on a short week. I think it's very tough on the players from a physical and mental standpoint, and if you said there was a danger to it, I could say there is because any time fatigue sets in mentally or physically, it's tougher on your players.

Q. Can you elaborate on keeping the team focused for the big game next week?
MARK RICHT: I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I know we've got a big game tomorrow night. We don't get too crazy considering one game bigger than another one, especially in conference play.

Q. Two weeks ago you had Deejay Dallas go over 100 yards. Last week Travis Homer had over 100 yards. How special and difficult is it when you have two good running backs? Do you sort of play the hot hand or whoever is producing that game?
MARK RICHT: Well, I guess it's fairly common. I think a lot of people are playing two backs and splitting the carries. I think it's better for them health-wise, I think it's better for them morale-wise, and I think a guy is going to be more fresh throughout a game and throughout a season if he's sharing the load. I personally think a lot of it has to do with the amount of space that's created when your number gets called. When Deejay was in the game, there were some runs where the line maybe blocked a little better or the receivers blocked a little bit better downfield, and it might be a game when Travis gets the ball there's more space. I think those guys will take full advantage of the space they get, and sometimes when your number's called, we're knocking them down a little bit better than another one.

I mean, I'd rather have two guys that we have trust in, and three for that matter, and roll them and keep them fresh and then just -- I think you create better runs, better broken tackles, better yards after contact if you have guys that are fresh, as well. I think there's a lot to substituting and keeping guys fresh.

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