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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 25, 2012Randy EdsallCOACH EDSALL: Well, I thought we had a very good spring. We had basically five objectives that we wanted to work to get better at during spring. Number one, was to make sure that everybody was all in with what we were doing. I think we've accomplished that. The attitude, the effort, the enthusiasm was there this spring. It was fun to be on the practice field and around the guys. Again, everybody's on the same page. I thought we needed to be able to compete more, and I saw that get better. We had a chance to finish some games last year, and we didn't. That was another objective was to finish better. We made progress in that area. Then I wanted to make sure that we were going to be a more physically tougher than a year ago, and more mentally tougher, and we're heading no the right direction there. We went into spring and came out of it healthy, and looking forward to the summer. Q. With C.J. being last man standing with Ricky Schultz moving on, how soon do the incoming freshmen get to play ball, and report to campus? Those are two cerebral and smart kids. How do you see them picking things up this summer? COACH EDSALL: I think we have two excellent candidates at quarterback in Perry Hills and Caleb Rowe. They'll come in on June 17 and start their classes on June 18th. They'll have the playbook and be able to do that. They'll be able to get involved with the weight room, and they'll be involved with our other players there. We as coaches can't do anything with them until August 6th and they report on the 5th and we start on the 6th. But those two guys will come in and battle it out to see who is number two, and who is number three. I've got complete confidence in both of those guys. I think they have excellent skills, and that's why we recruited them. Can't wait for them to get here. Q. How concerned are you that you could experience some growing pains or difficulties at quarterback in the fall when Danny O'Brien's out there leading Wisconsin to another Rose Bowl? COACH EDSALL: I'm just concerned about C.J. Brown and Perry Hills and Caleb Rowe. I think C.J. Brown proved last year that he's more than cape a capable quarterback to go out and lead our team. You've seen the improvement with him this spring. I think it's a big statement that his teammates voted him a captain for this year, and what they think of him and what they feel his leadership capabilities are. So I'm excited about C.J. leading the offense. Excited we have two young kids that are eager and hungry and they'll be sponges and come in here and absorb everything and put themselves in position to be the back‑up. Q. How do you look at the fact that maybe the best quarterback in your system last year is going to be playing for another team next fall? COACH EDSALL: I don't worry about player that's aren't here. All I worry about is C.J. Brown and Caleb Rowe and what they're going to do for us. Everybody here is all in and just looking forward to continuing the work to progress with these young men. Q. Just to follow up on C.J., a different offense last year, running a spread. Could you talk about how C.J. has adapted to that offense, and what kind of progression you've seen from him throughout the spring? COACH EDSALL: C.J. has picked things up mentally with everything that we're doing, and you could just see him get better with the more reps that he had and everything. What we'll do is install quite a bit of offense during the spring. We'll go back and say here's what we can do with all of our guys. Here's what C.J. does well, our receivers and our offensive line. We'll pair it down. When you get into game planning, it's a lot different. But there are things he needs to continue to work on to improve. But he's got all the qualities you're looking for. Throwing ability and things mechanically that you need to work on. He's got the feet, the escapability, the smarts, all of the things that you're looking for in a guy that can lead your team to a lot of victories. Q. How would you describe the responsibility differences between the two, the post style and the spread? COACH EDSALL: I think one thing is we're a multiple, no‑huddle, pro style with some spread principles. But, again, we'll be making most of the calls and taking it off the quarterback and let him do the things that he needs to do. So, like I said, I think C.J. will do a great job. Again, I think it's evidenced by the fact that his teammates elected him as one of our four captains for this year. Q. I wanted to ask you about Joe Vellano and what it means to have a guy with his experience and his capabilities to anchor the defense? What can you do having him there to build around? COACH EDSALL: Well, Joe is a tremendous example to everybody on our team. Joe's a hard worker. He's got good quickness. He plays with a high motor. He's relentless. He's kind of a throwback type of a guy, and he's a good leader. He's going to be a two‑time captain for us here. Just a guy you like to be around. It's a guy that the players respect tremendously. Then to see a guy who has had that kind of success last year being an All American and now continuing to go in to the weight room and work hard and then go on the practice field and work hard, those are the kind of guys that are most respected by teammates. Joe is one of those guys that everybody looks up to. Not only does he lead by example, but he'll get on guys. So he's just a pleasure to coach. We just expect for him to have another good year. But we also told him now that there will be people‑‑ he might see more double team this is year than he did a year ago. So he can't get frustrated by the fact that maybe he doesn't have as many tackles. What we want him to do is do his job. If they've got to double him, then that frees somebody else up to make plays. Q. Going off the spring game and the injuries you had in that game, are they all still the same as you had thought they were that night? Anyone else have to have any off‑season procedures? Is Devonte having his surgery this week? Is that the only one this off‑season? COACH EDSALL: Like I said, we were fortunate this spring. I think a lot of that is due to what Drew Wilson, our strength and conditioning coach and what we've done since January. But really, the only guy is Devonte Campbell who will have a surgery for a sports hernia. Not this week, but the following week, because he's got some academic responsibilities that he's got to handle this week in terms of some things. So that will probably take place, I think sometime next week or the week after. But everybody else, the sprained ankles that we had in spring game was nothing there. You get your bumps and your bruises. But, no, we should be really good coming back. We expect Kenny Tate to be healthy once we get ready to practice in the fall. Nick Ferrara who was out, Matt Robinson will be able to go full go. Tyrek Cheeseboro will be ready to go, Makinton Dorleant should be ready to go, he and Evans will be ready. So that is the one good thing about this spring. We've got a lot of guys who have a lot of depth and a lot of work. So we've created some more depth and created some more competition amongst our team, which I think is great. Q. Vellano did not require surgery, correct? COACH EDSALL: No, Joe has been in a boot, he'll be in a boot another two and a half weeks, non‑weight bearing. But, no, he should be good to go. Q. After your spring review in game and camp, are there any other guys you're toying with as far as moving around and experimenting? Any you'll look at this summer? COACH EDSALL: No, the only thing that we did is we took Steve Grommer and moved him from guard to center after looking at the spring and taking a look at where we're at and doing that. That is the only thing we've done since spring ball ended in terms of evaluating the whole thing and taking a look at them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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