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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 20, 2010

Mike London

COACH LONDON: Good morning. It's an opportunity for another home game, another 6:00 o'clock game, to get our fans and students involved in an opportunity to see us play here at home again. So guys are itching for an opportunity to get back on the field and play football, play winning football.
So we're excited about it, and ready to move forward with the season and where we are, so looking forward to it.

Q. Has Ras-I Dowling returned to practice this week, and if so, does he appear to be any closer to 100%?
COACH LONDON: I don't know about the 100% part of it, but he did practice yesterday. So every day is a day we continue to evaluate our guys as to whether or not they'll be at game pace, game speed and ready to play.
But he practiced yesterday, and felt pretty good. So he'll practice again today and keep moving forward until Thursday when we have to report to the ACC what our players that are questionable, doubt, or out, what that status may be. But I expect him to practice again today.

Q. How much of a handicap has it been not having him for three of your six games?
COACH LONDON: Well, anytime -- you know, he's an All American -- anytime you lose a significant player on defense, particularly in the back end of things, it's something that you're concerned about.
But as I said, Devin Wallace has had to step in and play. As much as how we feel about Ras-I, he's one of our captains and him not being able to play. The next guy that steps on the field has got to be able to play and provide us an opportunity to be competitive and win.
Whether Ras-I's 100% and ready to go this game, we have 100% confidence in the next guy up mentality with Devin Wallace.

Q. I'd like to ask you about your philosophy there at quarterback. At what point if things aren't happening with the senior, do you start looking toward the long-term picture of your program and make the move to the younger quarterbacks to get them ready for the future? Your philosophy there?
COACH LONDON: Well, the philosophy for me coming in and as we are right now, we have a fifth year senior that has played in a significant amount of games. We have two underneath him that have not. The only games they've played in have been this year.
There is a vested amount of interest in Mark Verica and what he's seen and what he's done. I know it's frustrating for others and for himself to see him throw three interceptions and then everyone wants a quick change, but I think the development of the other guys that are behind him are still in a phase of development.
We'll continue to look for opportunities to put them in the game, but right now Mark gives us the best chance to win. To answer your question about at what point, there are still six games left in the season. So by no means is anyone panicking or anyone saying we've got to make changes.
But what I am cognizant of the fact that going into a game, that if we're not on with the passes or making good decisions, you know, then you'll have to maybe put someone else in there.
But we have confidence in Mark and what he can do. We've seen what he can do. So we'll keep moving down that path. There are six games left and still opportunities for this football team to win games. We're going to keep moving forward.
At such time when it doesn't look like we'll have any more opportunities, then maybe we'll start thinking about putting other guys in. But for now, Mark is our quarterback, and he's the one we're all standing behind.

Q. Okay, are your young guys at a point where they can manage and get you through a game, or get everybody lined up and do the things that need to be executed or are you a little bit concerned about that at this point?
COACH LONDON: Well, the young guys have gotten with the practice reps and now some of these game opportunities. They're going to have to get better. Their learning curve is going to have to move forward and get us -- get those things or address those type of things. That's when we've got to find places to put them into the game to develop them.
So if Mark is playing well, we're not looking to put those young guys in if Mark is playing well just so they can have those experiences. We're going to put guys in that can help us win the football game. Right now we feel that Mark is the best option for us at this point.
Hopefully, as I said during the season, as the season goes on, we can put whether it's Ross Metheny or Michael Rocco in the game in a portion of the game that they can still continue to work on getting people lined up and making the calls because that's how you're going to get better.
But the confidence level that we have in Mark, and then the confidence level that those other two young men have to gain, obviously, would be by putting them in a game. So we're going to look for opportunities whenever we can so we can kind of get the best of both worlds, if possible.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Morgan Moses. I know he got his first start, I believe, at right tackle in that North Carolina game. How much did he actually wind up playing and how did you assess his performance in that game?
COACH LONDON: Morgan ended up playing every rep in that game. I said before I think the speed of the game and things like that he had to adjust to. But he had mentioned to me he had gone against the individual he was playing against in an All-Star Game.
I would say Morgan had a couple of mental errors which is probably the case for a true freshman that took close to 60 snaps or so. But I think overall his play was very good in terms of knowing your assignments. Getting on the defender that he had to block.
But, like anything else, the more reps, the more opportunities he has to play, I think he'll develop into being a really, really good player here. The big question will be would it be at tackle or guard because of the injury situation with Landon Bradley, it was a tackle.
So we'll see what happens. If Landon comes back, if you move him to guard. The opportunities for him to play have presented itself, and now, you know, we've got to do a good job of making sure we put him in at the position where he can help the team and also further his development.

Q. I think only seven or eight true freshmen in the country have started a game at offensive tackle this year. Four of them are in the ACC. Is that a surprising number to you? How much higher do you think is the learning curve for those guys up front?
COACH LONDON: The number having been in the ACC, I mean, it's news to me, I guess I would say. I don't know what the circumstances are for the other teams. But for us, he was the next -- when he first got here, the learning curve was the plays, the terminology, the runs whether the running back's going to fit. Then you start progressing going through that.
But I think it caused us with the injuries to Landon Bradley to say, okay, we're going to have to put him in. He's played some tackle and he's played some guard. Where can we best put him in to help us win games? And early on, it was at guard. Then we moved him out to tackle.
Now because of an injury situation, it was back out at tackle. But, I think with Morgan, he comes in and he watches film, and I think he starts to see a glimpse of what he can be and what is needed to compete play after play when you're playing in the ACC.
He came here to play, and that's what we're going to do with him. And his learning curve will continue. Every game is a learning curve for him. But he relishes the challenge and I'm glad he's on the team.
As I've said, we've had good linemen here in the past with D'Brickashaw Ferguson, and Elton Brown, and Brandon Albert, Eugene Monroe. We're hoping and feel good about Morgan developing into an opportunity to be one of those type of guys.

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