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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 3, 2018

Steve Addazio

Greensboro, North Carolina

THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by Boston College head coach Steve Addazio.

COACH ADDAZIO: Looking forward to getting down to Raleigh, playing a really good NC State team. Dave's done a great job with this program. They're well-coached on all three phases. They're talented. He's obviously recruited very well and this is a really good football team that we're going down to play and they're undefeated, and explosive on offense, one of the better run defenses in the country.

We have our work cut out for us. We've had a good week. We're preparing and we're getting ready for very, very tough opponent in NC State here on Saturday.

Q. (Inaudible) receivers hasn't had a ton of action out there for you, but coming from central New York where I know you had a lot of recruitment and a lot of success, Noah Jordan-Williams, what can you say about the CBA product and what you've seen from him and maybe his road and (indiscernible) the field this season for you, if he is a weapon that you could see out there a little bit more?
COACH ADDAZIO: Noah has probably got the best hands on the team. He's a tremendous pass catcher, good physical stature, tremendous guy. I think he's just working on -- he's still a young guy working on the details -- the details and the fundamentals, the details of the scheme, but really made great progress this past spring and this past preseason camp. And I think you'll see him have a really fine career here.

Just think as he continues to grow and mature he'll take the next steps necessary, but he's a really good player and a really, really tremendous person.

Q. Speaking of the culture you've helped to build at Boston College, obviously four bowl games in the last five seasons. You're 4-1 through this season and just had a bounce-back win after the loss to Purdue, what you can say about the grit about this team and kind of the MO of Boston College.
COACH ADDAZIO: I think this is a team that has a lot of grit, a lot of toughness, really great chemistry. And I think they're Boston College men. And we talk about that here. And a Boston College man is a guy who has high character, high integrity, understands and appreciates wanting to be great in the classroom and on the football field. And those are the kind of guys I get a chance to have the privilege to work with every single day.

So I think we pride ourselves on the fact that we're going to be a physical team. We're going to be a tough team. And I think we recruited some good skilled players.

As we go into the center of the schedule right now, right, this is game six, everybody's in the middle of the season right now. I think it's about figuring out how to make gains and improve. I think it's a little bit of good fortune and staying healthy. All these things come together. And you're hoping that you're going to get ready, if you can be healthy, to play your best football and everyone's fighting against the same problems.

Q. I was wondering if you could tell us whether A.J. Dillon and Jeff Smith have been able to practice, and if you have any updates on their availability for Saturday?
COACH ADDAZIO: Jeff Smith practiced great today and looks pretty good. A.J. is not practicing yet but is looking very good, making great progress. So it's kind of going to come down, probably going to really come down to the game time decision routine again. That's what I see right now.

So we'll have to wait and see. It's how much improvement he can make over the course of the next few days.

Q. If he can't go, who are you looking at to step up behind him?
COACH ADDAZIO: Ben Glines we thought had a great performance and is playing at a high level. Feel really great about Benny and Travis Levy and Davon Jones and young freshman David Bailey. So I think you'll see a variety of those guys. But Ben Glines will be carrying the load.

Q. What's your assessment of your defense as you get ready for this attack on Saturday?
COACH ADDAZIO: I think if you look at us statistically, we're probably doing quite well in the sack category, quite well in the TFL category, quite well in the interception category.

So we're making plays. But I think we've really bared down this week. We've had some poor gap fits in the run game. And I think we feel that we can play a whole lot better at a higher level stopping the run. And we've put a heavy emphasis on tackling and a heavy emphasis on the consistency of our run fits.

So we're making a lot of explosive plays on defense, but we need to be more consistent in stopping the run. So there's a big emphasis this week on that obviously.

Q. With the rise of your team, Syracuse and Duke, is that going to make this, the parity in the league even bigger or stronger this year than it's been in the past?
COACH ADDAZIO: You know, it's a good question. I believe I've said several times that this is an elite league because the bottom has come up and we have elite teams. We've got national champion teams over the course of the last five years, we've got two of them. I believe I'm right in my years.

And so we've got marquee teams. We've got national championship-caliber teams, but as a league overall I think it's a very competitive league. And I think if you are into following things, the most amount of drafted NFL players that come out of the ACC and the SEC. So I think it speaks to talent level that's within the league.

And I'll just throw a little thing in there that I'm proud of being a part of the ACC. There's a lot of things you're proud of. But one thing I want to add to that, this is quite a good academic league. You're talking about some nationally recognized academic institutions that are playing football at a very, very high level and producing talent at a very, very high level.

Q. Talk about the quarterback from NC State, Finley, what do you see preparing for him on Saturday?
COACH ADDAZIO: I see an elite player. I think he's an NFL player. I think he's got a great arm. He sees the field well and he appears to be a really good leader. So I think that he's a dangerous guy that's got certainly our full attention. And anytime you have a quarterback of that level usually means you have a pretty fine team. He's outstanding.

Q. Talk about their defense. Are they pretty good too? They had a couple players that went to the NFL Bradley Chubb and (indiscernible). Are they still a good defense down there in Raleigh?
COACH ADDAZIO: That's why I'm really impressed with what Dave's done. Graduated (indiscernible) outstanding players on offense and defense as you just mentioned. (Inaudible) leads the categories nationally in scoring defense and rushing defense. And I think they're excellent.

So this is a legitimate -- it's an undefeated team. Should be an undefeated team. It's legitimate team. It's a talented, well-coached team. I'm very impressed with (indiscernible). So yes. The defense we're playing against in my opinion is outstanding.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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