|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 25, 2013Al GoldenTHE MODERATOR: We now welcome Miami head coach Al Golden. Coach, just a brief opening statement about spring, then we'll go to questions. COACH GOLDEN: Yeah, we came out of spring relatively healthy. We should have everybody back by August 1, with the exception of Dyron Dye. But it sounds like he will have a chance to be back during training camp. We came out of it healthy. We learned a lot. We only lost two starters off the fall roster, so this was a unique spring in that we had an experienced group, a mature group. I think we got a lot done. We're anxious to see some of our young people get drafted here in the next couple days. Obviously the staff is working real hard to make sure that those that don't get drafted get a great free agent opportunity. That's where we're at for now and we'll open it up for questions. Q. Al, wondering if there's anything new with Gabe Terry? How do you handle a situation like that? COACH GOLDEN: Well, again, Gabe was suspended before the incident. Obviously we did not take him to the spring game. Gabe is no longer with our football team. Q. How do you evaluate a situation like that when someone gets arrested? COACH GOLDEN: How do I evaluate it? Q. Is it the same process you take every time? COACH GOLDEN: You're breaking up on me here. What is the question? Q. Do you evaluate the situation the same way every time or is it a case‑by‑case process? COACH GOLDEN: It's certainly case‑by‑case. It certainly has to do with the résumé of the young man in terms of whether or not there were any incidents in terms of his career here, whether he does all the things we ask him to do. All those things factor in. Q. Will your offense look any different this year with your new coordinator James in charge? COACH GOLDEN: It will certainly have his fingerprints on it. There's going to be a lot of things that we'll do similar to last year. But I don't think there's any question there's definitely going to be some nuances that James and the things that he likes to operate with. Q. Is there a certain area that you feel pretty good about coming out of the spring and some areas you have concerns about going into the fall? COACH GOLDEN: I have certainly have concerns everywhere. We built some depth in the spring. I have concerns at a number of positions. Again, we're building and growing. We got to continue to do that, keep the hammer down, not relax. We got a long way to go to be the type of team we want to be. Certainly we'll get going on that the next 12 weeks. Q. With Malcolm Bunche, do you foresee him staying at left guard? COACH GOLDEN: Malcolm is really a talented athlete. Because of his ability to run, his size, he's unique in that way because he doesn't give up much speed or agility with his size. He can play either guard or either tackle. Again, it will sort itself out in training camp. The best five will start. But certainly we'd like to get to the point where we're playing nine or ten in the game, for sure. Q. Eddie Johnson not coming back, you finish the spring with Alex Figueroa, Tyriq McCord. How concerned are you at that position, the lack of experience there? COACH GOLDEN: At what position? Q. Strong side linebacker. COACH GOLDEN: Obviously I think Alex did a great job. For Tyriq, it's really not a change of position. Those positions are primarily married in our system. They're the same skills and techniques. Certainly Thurston Ambrister should be healthy and ready to go by camp. He'll be cleared here shortly for full participation. Then we have a young man Devante Bond coming in, too. Between those guys, those guys competing, getting better, I wouldn't rule out Cornileus over there, either. Depends who the best three or four end up being and who plays the best, performs the best, and we'll go from there. Q. David Thompson, you have him on the depth chart. What are you expecting from him post baseball this season? COACH GOLDEN: Right now he's concentrating on baseball and school. When he's done with baseball, then we'll cross that bridge. I'm not really interfering with David. David is exceedingly bright, can figure things out in that way. So I expect him to be a quick learner with Coach Coley in this system. When he's done, he'll take a break, come out, start throwing. He's an excellent athlete. I would like to see if we can use him in different ways, for sure. Q. Are there any players that you don't expect back with the team due to different circumstances, whether it's transfer or going in a different direction? COACH GOLDEN: I think right now kids are finishing up exams. I think it would be premature for me to say that or speculate on that, especially when nothing's definitive. I think it's probably prudent for me to wait until we're finishing exams and then make a release. Obviously every year this time there's kids that for a variety of reasons, whether it's to go closer to home, to play earlier, to have a better opportunity, whatever the case may be, seek transfer. I don't want to speculate on that right now. I think the best thing for us to do as a university is to let it play out and then release it all on one day if that's acceptable for you guys. Q. I don't want to push. There's been some reports about Robert Lockhart's future not being with the team. Would he be under that you would want to wait? COACH GOLDEN: It's hard for me to speculate when I don't know what their status is, or that status is evolving. You know what I'm saying? There's rumors all the time. I think it's best for us to see what their status is and if there's any status change to make sure we notify everybody at that time. There's some privacy issues with that, too. Q. How does a backup runningback situation resolve itself throughout the spring? COACH GOLDEN: I was pleased with Dallas Crawford. I think I said that after the game. I think he had a really good spring. He certainly shows that he's interchangeable, can do a lot of things with the football. Right on with Dallas, still tenuous in terms of Eduardo, what the decision is going to be there. He's anxious to come back. All indications are that he will be cleared. In terms of the medical aspects of that, I have to make sure I'm careful and don't overstep my bounds in terms of his privacy, the information that we have. Then Danny Dillard made a lot of progress. He's got a long way to go. But we certainly hope that Danny will continue to grow and mature and learn and be comfortable in there. Obviously Gus Edwards, we have a big back coming in. I think the eight ball here, the guy that threw us the curve, was Mo Hagens. Mo really grew as a ball carrier. He really grew as a ball carrier. I'm excited about Mo and the contribution he'll make. Q. Is there any chance that Gabe could come back to the team or are you done with him? COACH GOLDEN: No, it's done. I apologize. I don't know what was released from our end. He's no longer with the team. As I said earlier, he was suspended before the incident. We've separated and going in another direction now. Q. The new punter, talk about him, what you like about him. COACH GOLDEN: Well, I mean, obviously he's going to give us a great opportunity. Really the experience we need, the veteran player that we need. Again, I'm excited about Goudis. Did a lot of good things this spring. Got to take that next step. Then we're going to supplement that with a lot of eager walk‑ons that want to come in and earn a scholarship. Pat kind of bridges that gap. We're going to have a lot of guys competing both at kicker and punter, but O'Donnell certainly gives us an opportunity to be really steady. We're really steady with the punting and kicking the last two years. I think O'Donnell gives us a chance to continue to do that. Q. Please excuse me if I come off uninformed here. When I called up your website, the first thing I saw was a picture of you swinging your golf club. Could you talk a little bit about Alex Figueroa, a guy talked about for a while, but under the radar. COACH GOLDEN: He's a great golf instructor (laughter). You know, I kept waiting for him to hit a wall, whether it was in the off‑season program, whether it was with his weights, whether it was academics, missing something. I just kept waiting go him to hit a wall, and he never did. He's a mature kid obviously. His parents are Marines, very disciplined young man, very competitive, very tough. He comes to us 6'3", 231, very strong, physical, smart, explosive. When it's all said and done, he's going to be 250 and running really well, and he's a smart player. We're excited about his progress. We've kind of thrown away the freshman tag because he doesn't act like it at all. Basically he started from the first practice to the last and did the same in the off‑season program, really did a great job with his conditioning, came in in good shape. He's on a mission right now. We're going to let him continue to grow and do his thing. THE MODERATOR: Al, thanks for being with us. Enjoy the spring and good luck in the golf tournament. COACH GOLDEN: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|