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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 10, 2018

Mark Richt

Greensboro, North Carolina

MARK RICHT: Just got off the practice field a little bit ago. We actually decided to practice indoors in the Carol Soffer indoor practice facility. We call it the Soffer. But we are playing in Virginia. We are playing at night. The forecast is going to be cool, so I felt like it would be a good idea to get the guys out of the heat and go ahead and get it done inside. It worked out great. So that was a good thing.

With that, I'll just let y'all ask what you want to talk about.

Q. Especially after the loss of a burner like Ahmmon Richards, how important has slot receiver Jeff Thomas been to your success so far this season?
MARK RICHT: He's been huge. I mean, it's amazing what he's done so far. Of course I had visions all summer of having him and Ahmmon both, knowing what they're capable of. It was a pretty exciting thought, but unfortunately that didn't come to fruition. But Jeff, he's played big for us. He's not the biggest man as far as his height, but when he jumps he's tall, and he's made some spectacular catches all year long. He's averaging I don't know how many yards per catch, but a bunch, and he's just making plays when we need him the most. Every time we've asked him to make a play or get open in a certain look or whatever, he's done it, and he's -- he may have dropped a ball, but if he did, it might have been one all year. He's been very sure-handed the whole way, and of course his speed helps him separate and take it to the house, too.

Q. He came on for you late last season. What have you seen from him in terms of growth this season?
MARK RICHT: Well, as a person, a lot of growth, much more mature, taking care of his responsibilities like a grown man should. Really proud of him and how he's handling his academics and the things that are outside of football, but as a football player, he's become a very precision route runner. Sometimes guys with super speed and quickness only have one speed, but he's learned to not only get open because of how fast he is but how well he can run a route.

You usually get most of your situation by how you run the route or how you release your route, and then you keep your speed because you are fast, and if the quarterback throws it well enough and you can keep the separation, you can score. He's got all that ability, but you could throw a little bubble screen to him or any kind of route, he can catch it and make people miss and get a lot of yards after the catch.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Gerald Willis's play. Willis has been so dominant inside for you guys. How much does that free up your defensive ends to be a little more aggressive or a little more effective?
MARK RICHT: Well, I think they're more effective because what happens is if you edge rush, if you're on the outside and you're coming around that corner, if there's somewhere to step up in the pocket, then a lot of times quarterbacks can escape a really good pass rush by an edge player. But if he's trying to step up and there's Gerald Willis there waiting on him, you know, it does keep him from getting out of harm's way from our -- that's why we're getting some good strip sacks and things of that nature from our outside guys because guys like Gerald, especially Gerald who's done such a great job of pushing the pocket up in the face of the quarterback. But he's also getting a bunch of negative yardage plays in the run game, as well. That's key to our success. We know when we get negative yardage plays it's hard to get 1st downs on those drives, and that's what we're looking to do.

Q. Obviously so much is made of the turnovers with you guys. How important and how good has your offense been at making those turnovers kind of converting them into points?
MARK RICHT: Right, much, much better this year. Last year there were some games we didn't really take full advantage of it. You know, as big as the momentum -- as big as the turnovers were to change the momentum of the game, if we don't score touchdowns, it's not that -- it's more of a downer. Say oh, we got the turnover, we're not getting anything out of it. You've got to give credit to the offensive guys for sticking it in the end zone or throwing it in the end zone, however it gets in there. But it's so crucial to get points off of turnovers. In that game in particular there was zero margin for error. We had to get touchdowns. We couldn't get field goals. That's why we were going for it on fourth down a couple times, and then we made some clutch throws and catches. Scoring after turnovers makes that turnover twice as good.

Q. I'm looking back at last week, when you're down 27-7 against a talented FSU team, how much doubt was in your mind? I know you had mentioned that you were maybe close to putting Rosier in the game. Were you worried at that point before that turnover came?
MARK RICHT: Oh, that part, I don't know. But I mean, was I worried? We were down 20. I mean, I knew something had to change pretty quick. You know, and was it the quarterback or was it just something had to change. But getting that turnover was big, and then being able to score the points afterwards was big. You know, N'Kosi didn't play perfect by any means, but he played big when he had to and made some beautiful throws, and stood in there and handled the pressure of the day, and that's big, and that's just one more thing you can cross off the list of being able to experience.

I mean, I think most people know that was the greatest comeback in the history of the series, being down 20 and coming back and winning it has never happened in the history of that series. It's been a big momentum series, and we certainly lost the momentum in a big way. And like I said, I was talking to someone earlier, a lot of people were expecting us to win the game and win by X amount of points and all that kind of thing, so you're the favorite team, and then you go down 13 and then go down 20, I mean, how many teams at that time -- at that point are in shock and can't turn it around. That happens a lot. The favorite team gets behind, it wasn't supposed to happen this way, and everybody is looking at each other like what's going on, and then they just can't recover. But we did recover. We recovered because we kept fighting and we made plays when we had to.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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