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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYSJuly 20, 2014Anthony HarrisKevin ParksGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, and welcome to the ACC Kickoff. We will get started here in this room by reminding our folks who are watching on the digital network that our streaming is being provided by Ruby Tuesday, the official home of the best in ACC sports video. We have Kevin Parks with us from the University of Virginia. He'll be joined right after by his teammate Anthony Harris. We will have KP here for about seven minutes. Kevin, we have a microphone that is floating in the back of the room. Q. Kevin, last season you eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark. What have you been doing this off‑season to try to replicate or surpass those numbers this year? KEVIN PARKS: For me I've been doing a lot of speed training, so those 20 yards, trying to turn those into 40, 40‑yard gains, turn those to 60, and get more explosive plays for my team. I would just stay a whole lot of speed training. Q. Last year you guys were in almost every game, although your record wasn't very good. You return almost everybody, and yet you're schedule is really, really difficult. You open with UCLA, you've got to play Louisville, Richmond, who's given ACC teams fits, then you go to BYU. How important is it to build this team's fragile confidence to get off to a really good start? KEVIN PARKS: Yeah, in the off‑season that was really important, we knew what teams we had to face this year, and I would just say the offseason it's been incredible, Coach O'Brien, he's got us together and he has did a tremendous job with us, and as far as our captains, me, Harris, Greyson and Henry, I feel like we're taking more leadership in the team in getting those guys together and getting ready for the season. Q. You guys ended last year on a nine‑game losing streak. What makes you think this year's team is going to be much improved? KEVIN PARKS: In the offseason, like I said, we focused more on the little things, not jumping offsides, as far as training, making sure our foot was behind the line, just the little things that makes things right. We know what kind of season we've got ahead of us this year, and I believe we're ready for the task. Q. First three games are at home. How important is it to get off to a great start on your home turf? KEVIN PARKS: It's a big thing for us. We'll hopefully have a home crowd behind our backs. As far as UCLA, hopefully it's a big sellout, big crowd. It's going to be a big thing for us that we've got those home games. I believe it's going to help us out a lot. Q. How about Greyson Lambert? Seems like you've got a lot of playmakers and talent on offense and it seems like a lot of riding on him. What are your impressions and do you think he can be a good quarterback for you guys? KEVIN PARKS: Greyson has always been a great leader. Even when he wasn't playing last year and the year before that, guys always looked up to him. They always heard his voice. He's always been a vocal leader, loud, and guys are like, wow, this kid is serious about what he does. I'm excited for Greyson to lead this team. The other quarterbacks, as well, everybody looks up to the quarterbacks. It's going to be a big thing for us, and I'm ready for Greyson to show the world what he can do. Q. The crowd support many times last year was not good when you guys were on the long losing skid. Is it just a matter of winning, getting that feeling back to bring the fans back to Scott Stadium? KEVIN PARKS: I believe you're right. We have to do that, to get the crowd back in. I know my team and we're fighting hard, we're putting out everything we have, that should bring the fans back, let them know that we're fighting. Like you said, winning is a part of that, so we have to do that to keep the crowd alive and keep them coming. Q. We're always curious as to why North Carolina guys that play their high school football leave. Were you heavily recruited by any of the in‑state schools and what made you choose Virginia? KEVIN PARKS: No, that's really good. I wasn't heavily recruited by North Carolina, so Virginia, they stuck with me. They didn't care about my height. They didn't care about how fast I ran. They looked at my academic side, and I was pretty good in that. They always stuck by me, and I always felt this was the right school for me. Q. Kevin, Louisville has been dubbed your rival, I guess, with the new realignment of the conference. What do you know about Louisville, if anything? KEVIN PARKS: You know, watching them on TV last year, you seen they had Teddy Bridgewater. They're a great football program, so you know, them coming to the ACC is just making the ACC that much better. It's a good thing that they're coming, and I believe my team is ready to face, to play them. Q. Talk to me a little bit about pass pro, the job that it is at the running back and pass protection in this league with so many great defensive ends? KEVIN PARKS: Yeah, that's something you take great pride in. With your blocking assignments, you have to know who's coming in at all times. Because if you don't, you can get the quarterback killed, so I believe that's something my running back crew, we take great pride in. We're always paying attention to detail and know where guys are coming and knowing our assignments. That's something big and that's something we've got to do to help Greyson out this year. Q. Is there any one player in particular inside this league that you find difficult in picking up in pass pro? Obviously I'm thinking about Vic Beasley. KEVIN PARKS: Playing him last year, I seen him flash across‑‑ I mean, really fast one time. I said, man, who is that, and then I realized, seen the back of his jersey, and it was Vic Beasley. But Morgan did a very good job of him last year, Morgan Mosley, so we have to keep our eye on him because he's a great player, and he's a good player for the ACC. ANTHONY HARRIS Q. You had a phenomenal year, but all those interceptions probably put you on everyone's radar. Do you anticipate teams game planning away from you, and what are some of the things that maybe the defensive brain trust is doing to disguise where you'll be so you can still get those interceptions? ANTHONY HARRIS: Yeah, well, last year I had a really big year. I'm anticipating this year that some teams try to throw away from me a little bit, but you know, teams are going to do what they're going to do. They're going to do what they practice, and sometimes if I'm in that particular area then they're going to have to take a chance, and I'm pretty sure there will be times in games where teams trying to take a shot, they have good players, too, and they have a facility where they work and get better, so I'm sure there will be opportunities for me to make plays and for me it's all about just studying film, making sure my technique is right, that I continue to listen to my coach and trust that he'll put me in position to make plays. Q. Anthony, how good can this defense be, and do you feel like the defense may have to carry the offense for the first start of the season? ANTHONY HARRIS: Yeah, well, we're very confident in our defense. We feel like last year we had the opportunity to be a really good defense. We showed some good signs early on in the season, and then for one reason or another, whether it was injuries and stuff like that, or the guys just wearing down, we weren't quite consistent at coming to the midpoint of the year and the thickness of our schedule. Coming into this season we have a lot of guys returning. Because of the injuries we have a lot of people who played a lot last year who's gotten better a lot in the spring, so we feel like we've added a lot of depth. So for this year we feel like our defense is definitely a high point and that we're going to look to lean on. But our offense has improved in the offseason in every aspect as far as position‑wise and knowing the offense and knowing what they're doing out there, so it's all about getting comfortable with the offense and defense and just growing as a team. Q. What did you learn since spring ball about yourself and about your defense? ANTHONY HARRIS: About myself, you know, just guys really look up to me. I started to notice it during the season last year, but coming into this season, right away, right off the bat, guys have been looking for me as far as work ethic and setting a good example, how I study games, guys want to know what I'm thinking and stuff like that. I just now realize the influence that I have, and I'm trying to use that to impact my team in the best way, whether that's on the field or off the field. Q. What has your team done on defense to work really hard to try to improve your numbers from last season? I know that you returned the majority of the secondary. What have your linemen and linebackers been working on? ANTHONY HARRIS: Everybody is just working on knowing the small details of the defense. The defensive line wants to know how the linebackers fit in with what we're doing on each play. On the secondary we're looking to see where the linebackers fit on run support and not just worrying about pass coverage, so we're all just trying to get to know not only what each individual position is doing but how the other positions on the field affect us and then building on what the team wants to do to attack us. I think this year we're not just focusing on individuals as a position, but we're focusing on the defense as a whole. Q. You're one of those guys who has the proverbial nose for the football. How does one go about establishing or developing a nose for the football? ANTHONY HARRIS: It just comes, you know, over time. Just seeing a lot of football, being around it, knowing route concepts, so guys who have been in the game a lot, they know when you see one route, which route could possibly be coming on top of it or behind it. Just being around football and knowing route concepts, knowing offenses, known tendencies, and just with experience guys knowing how to get the ball. Q. Coming off a 2‑10 season what would you consider a successful season this year? ANTHONY HARRIS: It's hard to really put a number on it. Each season holds something new. It's all about getting better and trying to work in the offseason. Whatever number that may be can be the highest number possible. Q. Anthony, coming off that nine‑game losing skid to end the season, how critical is it for you guys to get a few wins right out of the block this season? ANTHONY HARRIS: Yeah, you know, we somehow strung together a bunch of losses, whether they were close or not, but we've noticed the difference between some of the games have been one or two plays here and there. Starting the season it's big to come out, get a win, get the ball rolling in the direction that we want it to go. That way right away the fan base will start to grow and come back and be more supportive, so once you get things going in the right direction, that's when it gets a little bit easier for you, but it's hard to get it turned around, but I feel like we've grown a lot and we've learned from some of the mistakes that we've made, and we're going to be better this season. Q. Anthony, who's pushed you the most offensively on your side when you're going up in spring ball? Who do you feel has challenged you the most so far? ANTHONY HARRIS: There's a lot of guys who have really jumped out at me who's gotten a lot better, Darius Jennings, he's a veteran guy, he knows the offense very well and he's came along, he's pushing me, he's a very explosive guy, can stretch the field, and then we have some younger guys who came and grown up on the scene, Canaan Severin and Keeon Johnson, guys who played a lot last season but who have gotten a lot of experience. But they're out there and getting reps now and they know what they're looking at when they're running their routes but they've been able to put a few here and there. I'm excited to actually see what the guys can do for us in the game this year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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