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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 20, 2013Al GoldenCOACH GOLDEN: Obviously we're returning home to play Virginia, a team that has played really well against us the last couple years. It's going to be a great challenge. David Watford, their quarterback, very impressed with him. The number of completions he had in one game, Georgia Tech, 43, the number of completions he's had for the year. Kevin Parks, their tailback, has been a big, physical, downhill runner. They're getting a lot of help from Jennings and Smith at receiver, McGee at tight end, and Keeon Johnson coming on for them as a freshman wideout. On defense, very physical, very aggressive signature Jon Tenuta defense, a lot of take‑aways, doing a great job on first down and getting a number of three‑and‑outs per game. Great challenge for us. We have seniors that have been through a lot that we have to support and play really well for on Saturday. That's something that we're anxious to do here at Sun Life on Saturday. I'll take questions. Q. Al, have you noticed a day at all since Duke got hurt where just like the emotional balloon has been emptying out around your team or for the most part have guys stayed up? COACH GOLDEN: No, I think guys have stayed up. It really hasn't been about Duke getting hurt. It's been more about Stephen getting healthy in the last two weeks. I think that's something that everybody's excited about. Obviously we feel like Stephen has a chance to continue to play better and take a big step here down the stretch. Randy got hurt. Everybody was disappointed for him because of the type of person he was. But it really hasn't been where it's impacted us negatively. Q. Do you anticipate Phillip on Saturday or not? COACH GOLDEN: I do not. Right now he's doubtful. Again, stranger things have happened, but I don't foresee it. He did not participate with us today. Q. Do you see any similarities between Watford and Stephen Morris maybe in terms of build, strong arm, athleticism? COACH GOLDEN: Yeah, I think you can make that case. I think obviously David is young, showing what he can be, to go out and complete 43 balls in a game. 60% is a good number for as young as he is. I think that's a good comparison. He's got a good arm, he's been making good decisions, especially with his quick throws underneath. I think that's fair. Q. How about the running of both quarterbacks? How much does he want to do and how much do you want him doing? COACH GOLDEN: Well, he didn't do any for I guess about two months there. Really the first time he scrambled was against Virginia Tech. He scrambled one time. I think everybody held their breath. He scrambled a little bit more the other day, moved the pocket. It's not about his ability to scramble, it's about him being able to protect himself in the pocket and have a play‑action game, which was diminished during this time that he had with his leg. Obviously he played better last Saturday versus Duke. We're really not talking about his leg anymore. We're talking about football and getting back to the standard that he wants to play at. Q. How are the other guys doing besides Phillip? Stacy, how is he doing? Artie Burns? COACH GOLDEN: Stacy is fine. Corn is fine. Artie is like Phillip, he has not participated yet this week. Herb is still not completely healthy. But everybody else is on track. Q. If you had to anticipate Herb and Artie, what would you say they are for Saturday? COACH GOLDEN: Artie is in the class with Phillip. That would be doubtful at this point. Herb has a chance. Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow. At least he took some reps, so he's ahead of those two. You just never know. But Artie and Phillip would be doubtful right now, and Herb I guess would be probable. Q. The run D hasn't been as consistent these last couple games as you were at the beginning of the year. Anything that you've noticed about why there have been some struggles there? COACH GOLDEN: We've been on the field too long. We're not as good on third‑down defense as we have been. We're not tackling as well. We haven't been taking the ball away. All of that is exacerbated by the fact we haven't been as good as we need to be on third‑down offense. Obviously we've had some turnovers at pivotal moments, like the one on Saturday at 17‑7. That was a pivotal turnover. Clearly the Virginia Tech game would have amounted to three pivotal turnovers. It's the responsibility of all three phases, but certainly as it relates to specifically defense, we have to tackle better, we have to get off the field on third down. We're not as good in the red zone as we have been the last couple weeks. We have to tackle better than we have been. Q. Why do you think the tackling hasn't been as good as it was at the beginning of the year? COACH GOLDEN: I don't know. We've had those discussions a million different times. Obviously some of those are private, confidential, if you will. It's something that we definitely looked at in a multitude of ways. Part of is that if you don't get off the field on third down, you're on there too long. We got to do a better job of getting off the field on third down. We have to do a better job of taking the ball away. If we don't take it away, which we haven't the last couple weeks, then you can't get off the field. Third down and no take‑aways, as I said, has compounded the issue. Q. Talk about Virginia, their offense. Seems like they're a very good offense when everything is clicking. COACH GOLDEN: I mean, very big, physical offensive line. Jake McGee, a tight end, 36 receptions. He's doing a great job for them. We also see Swanson, 49, who comes in. I think Watford probably benefited from the bye week. Going to come in here ready to go. Parks is big, and I say 'big' because he's powerful, he's got a low center of gravity. He plays like a big back. Obviously they're getting better production of late from the receivers, and obviously Keeon Johnson has made a difference as well, the young freshman. Again, when they get it going, it's difficult to stop because Watford obviously is throwing the ball well, Park is running it, McGee, what they're getting at the receivers. We're going to have a great challenge and have to play really well. Q. Talk about Senior Day for you guys. What is special on Saturday for you guys? COACH GOLDEN: Again, we want to keep our emotions in check. We want to honor the seniors with how we play certainly because this is a group of guys who stood with the University of Miami through a very tumultuous time. Really not only did they not run from a problem, but they adopted it as their own and stayed here until it was resolved, until it was fixed. They delivered us through that. For that we're very grateful. These young men haven't had a bowl game to play for the last two years, so they have two regular‑season games and a bowl game. Our focus clearly all week has been on Virginia, coming off a bye week, who is going to be fresh, and we're going to have to be ready to go. Q. Have you ever been in college part of a situation like the Justin Renfrow situation where he's playing for opposing teams in back‑to‑back years? When the matter was posed to you, what was your first inclination? Did you talk to Mike London at any point about it? COACH GOLDEN: Number one, no. The rule is not that old. These circumstances wouldn't have come up very often. I don't know how many instances since this rule has come up that it has happened. You may know that as you write the story, but I don't know. As it relates to Justin, he had already gotten a release at the end of April or May and was on track to graduate. So we really didn't get involved with him until, I don't know, late June or July out of need. Obviously, there was a young man that was out there that wanted to go to graduate school, that had fulfilled the NCAA requirements of graduating. So it really didn't matter at that moment whether or not I talked to Coach London or not. He was not part of their program anymore, and it was really somebody that we needed to help us. Obviously he has helped us at a spot that we needed help at. Q. Did he approach you first or you became aware of him? COACH GOLDEN: I don't know. It was one of those deals where we got a release, a form that said that he got a release. I don't know exactly how he came through compliance. We started a dialogue, just like we did with David Gilbert and Pat O'Donnell. Those are all three kids that have helped us this year that obviously because of our circumstance we had to get a little bit unconventional from a recruiting standpoint. Those are three kids that graduated from their programs that thought they could come in and help here and go to graduate school at the University of Miami, and we're very pleased to have them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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