Around the Coastal: Wrap-up of what every team was saying

JIM PHILLIPS: Good morning, and welcome to the 2021 ACC football kickoff. If you're anything like me, you've been looking forward to this event for many months. This is a wonderful opportunity to gather together as we look ahead to the upcoming fall seasons with great anticipation in a hopefully more normal year.

Thanks to each of you for making the effort and taking the time to be with us here in Charlotte. On behalf of our coaches, student-athletes, schools and conference office staff, we sincerely appreciate your interest and your coverage of the ACC.

Each of you are an important thread in the fabric of college athletics, and I want you to know how much I personally appreciate what you mean to this league and how you and the entire ACC family have welcomed me, Laura and our five kids since becoming commissioner.

It's been an honor and privilege to serve as ACC commissioner over the last five months. It is truly my belief that there is no better conference in the country, when you look at the incredible student-athletes, our 15 world-class institutions, our broad-based sports offerings and our commitment to maximizing the educational and athletic opportunities for student-athletes.

I'm so proud to work with the tremendous chancellors and presidents that collectively serve as the ACC board of directors. I'd like to specifically thank Syracuse University chancellor Kent Syverud for his incredible leadership and counsel as the outgoing chair of the board of directors.

On July 1, Duke University president Vincent Price and University of Louisville president Neeli Bendapudi began their tenures as chair and vice chair respectively. Each will be outstanding leaders as we navigate the 2021-22 academic year.

Since I began my tenure in February, I've appreciated the chance to spend time with and engage with so many people. I'm looking forward to continuing to build upon those relationships with our countless student-athletes, coaches, administrators, league partners and with each of you.

Speaking of relationships, last night we were able to enjoy a wonderful evening celebrating our former commissioner. John Swofford has been invaluable to me since my appointment and is a true gentleman and a giant in college athletics. For more than five decades he served the ACC in many different roles, including the last 24 as commissioner. His transformational leadership has meant so much to this league, and he really is the gold standard of commissioners.

Over 225 current and former administrators, staff, bowl and television partners and friends were in attendance as we honored John and his beautiful wife Nora. In addition to our previous announcement that the Swofford name would be added to the league's annual postgraduate scholarship, we shared the news that beginning this year, the ACC Football Championship Game Most Valuable Player will annually receive the John Swofford Award.

There is a tremendous appreciation in this league and nationally for what John Swofford has meant to college athletics and as a friend to so many of us. Laura and I are so appreciative of our friendship with John and Nora. They represent everything that's right in college athletics and in this world.

John knows that I'll never let him get too far away from the ACC, and he's just a phone call away for me.

I'm looking forward to answering your questions a little bit later, but first I'd like to express some sincere gratitude, share some thoughts on my first five months, and address some of the timely topics affecting college athletics in our country.

As all of you are well aware, the pandemic created unprecedented challenges over the last 15 months. To say last year was unique was certainly an understatement, and we continue to owe a debt of gratitude to the countless front-line workers who have unselfishly sacrificed and put themselves in harm's way to serve others. My sincere thanks to all of our heroes.

Led by the extraordinarily and tireless efforts by the ACC medical advisory group, whose work continues, our schools safely and successfully managed athletics in a pandemic. Watching the resiliency, commitment and sacrifices of our student-athletes was inspiring, and the adaptability and communication by our coaches and administrators created a successful blueprint of effectively working together.

There's not enough credit given to our student-athletes, coaches and administrators for what they were able to accomplish this past year, so on behalf of the entire conference, let me say thank you.

What makes this past year's achievements even more incredible is that our student-athletes and programs shined while facing so many challenges. As we just witnessed here on the screen, the league crowned a champion in all 27 of our sponsored sports, and 10 different institutions won ACC Championships. ACC teams also won five NCAA team championships.

Virginia won the league's first-ever national title in women's swimming. Notre Dame won fencing, making it three of the last four national titles for the Fighting Irish. North Carolina took home its third straight field hockey title and the 21st for the ACC, including 14 of the last 20. It was an All-ACC final when Boston College defeated Syracuse to win the NCAA women's lacrosse championship for its first title in program history. The ACC now owns 16 NCAA women's lacrosse championships and has had a team in the national title game 11 times in the last 12 seasons. Finally, Virginia won its second straight NCAA championship in men's lacrosse, marking the 25th title for current league programs, including nine of the last 13 and 14 titles since 2000. In addition, the league recorded 24 individual national titles, a conference record. Overall, seven ACC schools won a team or individual national title this year. Simply amazing.

As outstanding as the athletic successes were, the league continued to lead its peers with an average graduation success rate of 92 percent. This matched the ACC's GSR average the previous year and was two points higher than the national average. In the sport of football the ACC remains the only conference to have multiple teams register GSR scores 90 or higher every year since 2005.

In the most recent report, four ACC football programs were above 90 percent: Duke, Louisville, Boston College and Virginia.

As you can tell, I'm so inspired by what our student-athletes, programs, schools and conference were able to accomplish during such a difficult year for all of us.

Over a period of four weeks in April and May, I had a chance to visit our 15 incredible institutions, spending time with each president or chancellor, athletics director, faculty athletics rep, senior women's administrator, coaches, administrators and support staff, and most importantly, the student-athletes was an amazing and energizing experience. While on each campus I was able to gain institutional knowledge and familiarity, both from an academic and athletic perspective. The visits also provided me with firsthand knowledge of how schools feel about the conference, what's working, where do we need to improve, forecasting our future, and how to serve the membership.

Overall, the feedback was very positive. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of wonderful accomplishments and initiatives that continue to be successful year in and year out with our conference, yet it's important that we never stand still, remain focused on the future, and work to see around the corner.

One area we all have more work to do across our country is in our social justice and diversity and inclusion efforts. The leadership of our student-athletes and schools in embracing the ongoing commitment to racial and social justice has been and continues to be awe inspiring.

More than a year ago, the ACC formed CORE, which stands for Champions of Racial Equity, and includes representatives from both the conference office and our 15 member institutions. As part of the ACC's continued commitment to social justice and racial equality, our schools and conference office implemented a number of initiatives and programming over the past year based on the work by CORE.

ACC Unity Week took place during the fall, winter and spring and will continue into the future. Throughout each of these designated periods, our campuses and conference office further elevated the discussions and programming to unite around social justice conversations and actions.

Programming in the fall included a virtual webinar where student-athletes on activism and allyship.

During the winter a digital focus was in play throughout February to celebrate Black History Month, which culminated in a league-wide celebration of the diversity among all member institutions.

In addition, as part of the digital play, ACC student-athletes shared their stories on the importance of Black History Month and their perspective on why leadership matters.

The theme for the spring was activism through sports, which was highlighted by notable guests highlighting three webinars and virtual walks across the league's 15 campuses and our own conference office in Greensboro.

Many of our championships took place during these Unity Weeks, allowing our student-athletes, coaches and staff to participate in a unity moment prior to the National Anthem and to incorporate "Lift Every Voice and Sing" before our championship competitions.

We are grateful for the support shown by ACC Network, in not only covering and participating in the previously mentioned initiatives, but also creating specific programs and features such as the virtual roundtable hosted by Dalen Cuff on former ACC trailblazers called "ACC Unite: No Struggle, No Progress."

The ongoing commitment, difficult conversations, and the initiatives surrounding equality, racial and social justice are incredibly important to making us all stronger.

As commissioner, I'm confident our conference will continue to enhance our dedication and commitment to diversity and inclusion. We will also not lose our responsibility to the importance of supporting and promoting the mental health and well-being of our student-athletes and programs.

This past May, the league sponsors its third annual ACC Mental Health and Wellness Summit, allowing our league to gather together, learn from each other and share best practices as we work together to continue to break down any stigma associated with mental health.

Changing gears, earlier this spring we announced the elimination of the league's intra-conference transfer rule, which allows our student-athletes the opportunity to transfer and compete immediately at another ACC institution. While we hope every student-athlete has a positive, life-changing experience at an institution, we also recognize that sometimes changes can be good and are necessary.

The decision to allow for immediate eligibility for intra-conference transfers was in the best interest of our student-athletes, as it creates greater flexibility during their collegiate careers and placed the ACC as a national leader in this area. We will continue to be proactive in our approach to enhancing the student-athlete experience and helping shape the future of college athletics.

The best interests of our student-athletes was also a motivating force behind the ACC's decision to fully support their opportunity to benefit from their name, image and likeness. While we appreciate the interim policy now in place, we will continue to work with Congressional leaders to enact federal legislation that will protect and benefit all student-athletes in the long-term and that will also ensure fairness and equity in college sports that we can't afford to lose.

There's no question this will be an ongoing topic, and our league will work tirelessly and collaboratively with other conferences on behalf of the nearly 10,000 student-athletes that annually compete in the ACC.

As we turn our focus to the seasons ahead, our ACC medical advisory group, led brilliantly by our chair, Dr. Cam Wolfe of Duke, continues to meet regularly, and I anticipate an updated MAG report to be released in the coming weeks. As a conference, our priority remains the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators and campuses.

As it relates to vaccines and any policies or mandates, those decisions will remain at the discretion of each member institution. Personally, I believe that vaccinations are critical to the protection of all and helping to achieve the goal of eliminating the COVID-19 virus and its variants. But I also deeply respect that getting vaccinated is a personal choice.

As we approach the fall seasons, there's no question that increasing the number of vaccinations will provide the best chance for our student-athletes and teams to compete. Our office using resources from the Ad Council created a PSA to encourage everyone to learn more about the benefits of COVID-19 vaccine. I'm also confident that our campuses will continue their ongoing education and communication related to the importance of vaccinations and other mitigation strategies.

It would break my heart, as it did this summer, for any of our student-athletes or coaches who continue to work so hard on their sports to have to miss a game due to a positive test or contact tracing.

As recently as yesterday, our athletic directors discussed the necessary protocols regarding scenarios when a team may be able to participate in a contest -- may be unable to participate in a contest due to COVID-19 infections or contact tracing and what that contest would be considered by the conference. Similar to the updated medical advisory group report, we'll have a decision in the near future.

For now football, why we all gathered here this week, what we're all excited about. Just over six weeks from now, our football teams will be kicking off week 1 of the 2021 season. When you look at the non-conference and conference match-ups, there's no shortage of exciting this fall.

Our teams arguably play the toughest non-conference schedule in the country. In addition to 23 games against Power Five opponents, the ACC will play 13 non-conference games against teams ranked in the final 2020 Associated Press top 25. All 14 teams play at least one Power Five non-conference opponent, while nine teams play two.

The quality of competition will immediately be evident as ACC teams kick off Labor Day Weekend with games over five consecutive days, and we're grateful that our fantastic television partners will provide national platforms to showcase our student-athletes and provide fans with access to their favorite ACC teams throughout the season.

We have a strong and important relationship with ESPN, and I appreciate the ongoing conversations as we look ahead to the future and maximizing our collective successes.

This includes ACC Network, which will begin its third year in August. It's truly hard to believe that the last time the ACC gathered for this football kickoff event, ACCN was still approximately a month from launch. We're thrilled to have them here today providing our fans coverage of this year's event.

ACCN is currently available in nearly 70 million households, and our partnerships have exceeded initial expectations over the first two years, including in distribution and in revenue. In addition to the football games that have already been released by ACCN, I'm excited to announce two additional games that will be featured exclusively on ACCN this season: Boston College at Clemson on Saturday, October 2, and Notre Dame at Virginia Tech on Saturday, October 9.

The addition of these games reinforces ACC Network's ongoing commitment to scheduling high-profile ACC events and surrounding them with comprehensive studio and on-campus programming as well as in-depth storytelling.

As we move through the next two days at kickoff and in the weeks ahead, stay tuned for additional ACCN announcements.

ACC football has a lot to be proud of. We've had a team in either the college football playoff or the BCS National Championship game in each of the past eight years. Six different teams have played in the historic Capital One Orange Bowl since 2013, and we've won three of the last eight football national titles.

As I've stated since my first day as ACC commissioner, football must be number one priority for us, for all of us, our schools, the league, ACC Network, our partners, coaches. We've been collaborating for months to ensure that ACC football has the mindset of 24/7, 365, and we're working together to further elevate football in the ACC. We're just getting started.

That commitment to football will not be at the expense of our other 26 sponsored sports. You don't have to deemphasize any sport simply to provide additional resources to others or concentrate on football.

For example, ACC basketball, which we all love, has been and will continue to be the paradigm for excellence, and I believe we can be among the nation's elite in every sport we sponsor. A renewed focus and commitment of ACC football will impact many aspects and partnerships for us, including our tremendous television and bowl partners. I'm incredibly pleased with the enhanced level of communication, energy and focus within our conference specific to our football programs.

There is terrific work being done by our football subcommittee. That includes six athletic directors and three head football coaches, Pat Kraft, Boston College; Clemson's Dabo Swinney; Blake James from Miami; Bubba Cunningham, North Carolina; Heather Lyke and Pat Narduzzi from Pitt; Virginia's Carla Williams; Virginia Tech's Whit Babcock; and Dave Clawson, chair of our football committee from Wake Forest.

Efforts to strengthen future scheduling, further engage with our student-athletes, deepen the ACC Network's commitment to football programming, elevating our football championship game, enhancing our officiating program and collectively discussing national issues and be a leader in that space is all underway, but there's much more work to be done.

Speaking of the postseason, let me take a minute to thank our partners here in the Queen City, who continue to work tirelessly with our office to annually host the ACC football championship game. On Saturday, December 4, Bank of America stadium will host the 2021 event, which marks the 11th time in the last 12 years that the game will be played here in Charlotte.

Following the ACC Championship game weekend, we will look ahead to the 2021 bowl season. Anchored by the Capital One Orange Bowl, I can't begin to express how thankful I am for our league's 11 outstanding bowl partners. Each offers meaningful experiences for our football student-athletes who earn a postseason opportunity.

We know 2020 was tough on everyone, and that includes our bowl partners and the communities that deeply benefit from their charitable contributions. It will be great to have our bowl season back in full force this year.

Finally, let me address the proposed changes to the College Football Playoff. As a league, we're using the summer to engage in conversations on what is best for college football post-season. Most importantly the student-athletes who participate.

Our ADs received the presentation that was given to the full CFP board of managers yesterday afternoon. Later today it will be shared with our 14 head football coaches. We appreciate the work by the subgroup of the CFP management committee as we continue to evaluate proposed options.

As was announced earlier this spring, the league will be represented on the CFP board of managers from Clemson University president Jim Clements, who begins his tenure after the incredible job Florida State president John Thrasher did prior to his retirement.

It was our charge to find another outstanding representative to serve in this prestigious role, and as a conference we are extremely pleased that President Clements humbly agreed to take the mantle.

The success of the CFP is undeniable. It's important we ensure any future evolutions will only enhance the regular college football season and post-season.

Let me thank all of you again for your interest in the ACC. I hope you enjoy the next few days here in Charlotte. The ACC has so much to be proud of, and I'm truly humbled and honored to serve this amazing collection of world-class institutions and the student-athletes that represent the ACC.

Thank you and, Go ACC.

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions and answers.

Q. On vaccinations, can you give us an idea of where ACC football teams right now in terms of hitting the 85% threshold are? Several other conferences have already announced that they are not rearranging schedules. If a team can't play, they will have to forfeit. Wondering why the ACC is still waiting to make a decision on that.

JIM PHILLIPS: We had a chance to get with our athletic directors yesterday. We have over half of our group above that 85% threshold with several others on the cusp. We all feel like that's a reasonable target across the ACC. So those are numbers as of yesterday.

Then overall from a student-athlete population, that number is even higher according to those schools, the data that they have currently.

As it relates to not making a declaration about if it's going to be a cancellation or a forfeit, we all really wanted to wait a couple more weeks or so. I think there's some more information that we're going to be able to gather. I think we'll understand the variant a little bit.

It's really the recommendation of our medical group along with our ADs and our presidents. There's direct alignment that at least this week we didn't need to make that kind of statement.

It will be forthcoming. We certainly will be transparent when that decision is made and let everybody know.

Q. Now with the rule allowing players to take advantage of the name, likeness and images, what are your thoughts on it? Are you all coming up with any courses to help the players out, knowing they're dealing with so much amount of money?

JIM PHILLIPS: So let me just state a little bit. I can't tell you how proud I am of our 15 schools and how they navigated this uncharted territory over the last six, eight, twelve months to what eventually came to fruition on July 1st.

There's been constant education going on on our campuses. The ACC office itself tries to help supplement some of the questioning. There's been education across, again, our footprint.

The success stories are many. We're seeing all of it around the country. I think it makes all of us feel a sense of gratification that we can do this thing. But we have some real challenges ahead if we don't get national legislation. I want to speak about that.

I think there's incredible opportunities for our student-athletes coming. But we need a national standard. Everyone expects us to play a national competition schedule. We go all over the 50 states. Not having a national standard will cause major disruption. You are already seeing across the country the wide-ranging disparity at times, depending on what state you're in, what people are able to do. So that's one.

Second is we have to have some help on anti-trust. We can't sustain constant litigation to the enterprise of college athletics. That has to be wrapped into it.

I think the third element for name, image and likeness for us as we look into the future is what can we do to help our student-athletes once they leave school from a medical standpoint. Can we provide some additional medical care for them. Can we mandate that two, three years, whatever that looks like over a period of time. Some schools are doing it, but we certainly don't have uniformity across 351 schools at least at the Division I level.

Can we mandate also an opportunity for all student-athletes to come back to school. That can be wrapped into this legislation.

Finally, it can't be a recruiting advantage. It just can't. The equity from those resources have to be equally distributed. Most of our student-athletes, the 500,000 that compete nationally, are Olympic sports student-athletes. So that continues to be the mantra and call.

What I hope doesn't happen is that because we've had some success here, we've seen these great stories of student-athletes being able to use, rightly so, just like students, their name, image and likeness, that we lose the sense of urgency.

In our conference we have four schools with state legislation -- or four states with state legislation, we have two with state directives, and we have four that rely on the NCAA rule. You can see within our 15 schools and our 10 states there's an unevenness to what student-athletes can do.

I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes. We need federal help. I think that we'll get it. But I hope it's sooner rather than later.

Q. As you look to the future of the NCAA itself, what is your preference for how you would like to see the NCAA evolve or devolve as it were? Do you still have confidence in Mark Emmert to lead it?

JIM PHILLIPS: So, I would say this. This is the right time to have a complete holistic review of the NCAA, leadership, structure, what do we want to do moving forward.

There's been so many things that have happened in our space here that the timing is right. No predetermined outcomes. Let's take a look.

When I look at what we really are super reliant on from an Indianapolis perspective, governance, what is the governance structure, do we have the right governance structure, one size fits all. Is the council working. They're working incredibly hard, but is that the right structure.

Again, all sizes, shapes within 351.

Championships? We've had a couple issues this year with championships. It's the thing our student-athletes love to do. So an assessment there, championships.

Then enforcement. I'm getting ready to go in August with out of our schools to Indianapolis. Some of those student-athletes on that team that will be subjected to whatever penalties potentially could be handed down were in middle school, were in middle school. So timeliness, fairness in the system.

That being said, the NCAA also has done a lot of great things and continues to do some really good work. So this thing isn't dumped on Indianapolis. I think we all have our fingerprints on the responsibility we have as leaders, whether it's commissioners or athletic directors or presidents.

Again, this would be a great time. President Emmert has kind of called for it, a recalibration of the NCAA. I think we should take him up on that opportunity and let's work collaboratively with the NCAA, with our conferences, with our presidents, athletic directors and such. Let's spend the next eight, twelve months figuring this thing out.

More changes are coming.

Q. Posted your announcement about the Virginia Tech-Notre Dame game on social media. Fans are frustrated. They rely on Comcast, can't get the network. Any progress made in the deal? Many areas in our state, that's our only option. Can you speak to the progress that's been made on possibly getting it before the season?

JIM PHILLIPS: Appreciate the question.

It's one of the top priorities I've had. I've been to Bristol. Had some great conversations with Jimmy Pitaro, Burke Magnus and the group. We have a tremendous relationship.

Distribution is critical for us. When I visited those 15 institutions, that was kind of the cry of all of our schools, is how do we get distribution wider. I think we have a great plan coming up. A lot of the carriers and providers, including Comcast, renewals coming up this late summer and into the fall. I think we're making tremendous progress with them.

Those frustrations are real. We'll never be the conference that we need to be until we get some of those issues taken care of.

I think we have a great strategy. It's been top of point every conversation we've had with our TV partners. They understand it. They get it. So we're hopeful to make a big dent in the distribution piece coming up.

Q. Jack Swarbrick said if the 12-team playoff goes through, he likes the setup for Notre Dame. Removes the imperative of having to play in a conference championship to have access to a national championship. How would you assess the sort of role of Notre Dame and the ACC going forward? If there isn't any possibility at any point that Notre Dame would potentially give up football independence? How do you sort of assess that relationship as it's working now? You have the Notre Dame logo behind you, and they're not here.

JIM PHILLIPS: Listen, I guess I'll work present time to past to maybe to the future. I'll jump around a little bit.

I think we all got a glimpse of what would be like to have Notre Dame in the conference this past fall. That was a really beautiful and beneficial relationship to both Notre Dame and the ACC. They had a chance to play a fantastic schedule. They had a chance to vie for a national championship and compete in the CFP. We have a real-life example of what that could look like.

When I look back, obviously I've spent time there. I think I have close ties there. I have a student-athlete son there and a daughter. So I think I know the institution pretty well. Led by a terrific president in John Jenkins and Jack Swarbrick.

In 2013 when they joined the league, they declared they were exciting about being in in all their sports, but they valued independence greatly. I respect that. The old kind of quip is, Notre Dame loves two things: one is being Catholic, second is independence. Sometimes those things get in reverse order. Sometimes they like independence even more than being Catholic. That was supposed to be a joke, but it didn't go over very well (smiling).

They know the ACC's interest. It's been less than bashful. It's been less than bashful since I've been here. But I also respect where they're at. I respect where we're at. Our concentration right now is on our 14 schools.

Who knows where the future's going to go. But I love the group of schools that we have. You always have to be ready to add. Notre Dame, contractually, if they were to join a conference, again structured by Commissioner Swofford in 2013, would join the ACC. That's where we're at. Appreciate the question. We'll see where this goes.

Q. Back to the vaccines. Many schools, including Notre Dame, are implementing athletes, students, having to be vaccinated. Would you encourage that to your institutions? If not, some kind of protocol similar to what the NFL is doing with greatly encouraging their players to get vaccinated?

JIM PHILLIPS: We are encouraging. It's split. We have seven institutions where it's mandated to be a student on campus, you have to get vaccinated. It's not just split according to what you may believe, just publics and privates. Virginia Tech is a perfect example being a public in the state of Virginia, what they've done.

There's no question that there will be a higher probability to be able to play for student-athletes if they're vaccinated. I mean, you can just sense it and see it and feel it. Our policies are going in that direction, too, though we're not ready to announce them today at the request of the medical advisory group.

If you're vaccinated, it's going to take you out of contact tracing issues and such. As a medical experts have indicated, those that are vaccinated are subject to getting the virus at a much lower, lower level than those that don't.

I believe in being vaccinated. I have a family of healthcare workers that have been on the front lines. But it's about us educating our student-athletes. Again, I stand by my opening comments. It's such a personal decision. So student-athletes have to figure out what's best for them. We're all hopeful that we can go through a season without any cancellation or forfeitures of any of our contests in any of our sports and that our student-athletes can stay healthy and safe.

Q. I know you spoke a little bit about this at the spring meetings about the transfer portal and the conferences' and coaches' concerns. Can you go into that a little bit more? What is exactly your concerns as the commissioner going forward with that, the issues it's caused this year, especially in men's basketball?

JIM PHILLIPS: It's likened to a game of musical chairs. That's what worries me, the music stops, there's not enough chairs, seats, scholarships for those in the transfer portal.

But the freedom of movement won out on that decision. I completely agree with that. I know as a former coach really early in my career how difficult that can be when it comes to rosters, when it comes to roster management, maybe life lessons, when things get tough, you can't just bounce out and go somewhere else.

So we're working through it as a league, understanding what it looks like in the different sports. As mentioned with 27 sports, there's a different flow for the transfer experience. Some of our sports are -- that are at a higher percentage of student-athletes transferring than some other Olympic sports.

I don't think we have enough data yet to declare one way or another how we help this thing. But I think it goes back to recruiting and us doing the very best job that we can to identify the prospects that fit our institutions. So more work to come on that.

Again, I feel the coaches' frustration. It's real. But in the end it was the right thing to do for our student-athletes.

Q. You talked a little bit about the expanded playoff, the feedback that you've been asking for. Dabo yesterday noted that his team had suggested they were not thrilled about additional games. Mack Brown had similar comments about North Carolina players. When you hear that feedback, how does that figure into the bigger-picture view of the expanded playoffs? Is there a way to address their concerns while still thinking about playoff expansion?

JIM PHILLIPS: Appreciate the question.

There is. I don't want anybody to foreclose either good or bad on the playoff. We're still learning about the playoff. The football coaches today are going to get to CFP presentation. They may feel the exact same way. I respect Mack and Dabo. Those are two of our tremendous coaches. They have incredible experience.

When I finished up in Dallas at the end of June on a Tuesday, we had CFP meetings Monday and Tuesday, it was brought out that the 12-team playoff was recommended by the board. I had a Wednesday like noon call with our head football coaches. I asked them to do a few things: Get together and talk about it and discuss how they feel about it, to your point about too many games, length of season, healthy and safety issues, what does it do to the regular season, all of those things. But as importantly, talk to the student-athletes, get a feel and read.

I saw Coach Swinney's press statements yesterday. I've seen Coach Brown. I've talked to both of them regularly. I'll see them here later today and tomorrow. Those are real concerns. I think we have to be open-minded to it. It doesn't mean we're going to support it.

The last piece of your question about will it influence us. It certainly will influence us. It will influence President Clements who ultimately has one of the votes. I want us to socialize this process, socialize the proposal. I want it to be transparent. I want us to be able to hear from those constituent groups, student-athletes and coaches, and then have an educated position for our conference.

There's some great things about it, too. We talked a little bit about some of the really major challenges to this thing. There's some terrific things about access and opportunity. The sport has access to 3% of the schools playing the sport of football. Most of our other sports are around 20% and above. Men's basketball is at 19%. Baseball and soccer and others are there.

So there's debate to this thing, which is great. We need that. I'll look forward by September, as we get ready to have another CFP meeting, having the ACC having a position on where we stand.

Q. I was wondering in terms of recruiting and NIL and increasing the prominence of ACC football, does that worry you in terms of competing with other conferences like the SEC that are offering more and more potential economic upside to players?

JIM PHILLIPS: That's back to the point about having a national standard. If we could all get on kind of the same footing for all the reasons I described.

In the end I love what we offer. I love the offer across our 14 schools in the sport of football, the academic and athletic balance, the competition, the coaches, the kinds of leaders we create in our programs, the games we play, the network we partner with. Certainly you can always look at a specific conference and compare and contrast.

But I think if we can get some national legislation, we have a tremendous complement of schools that rivals anyone in the country.

Q. You mentioned earlier coming from a family of healthcare workers. You also come from a family of Olympic sport athletes. What have you told your two children, who are Olympic sport athletes, about NIL? Have either of them dabbled into name, image and likeness monetization?

JIM PHILLIPS: They've taught me a lot. It's real when it's under your roof. As you mentioned, two of our five are current collegiate student-athletes, one in the ACC, one in the Ivy. They have some real ideas about it.

I think where it stands right now is a great start. It just is. They're thinking about it. They haven't quite dabbled in it, but they are considering some things. That will be fun because sometimes I wear my dad hat with them and sometimes I wear my commissioner hat with them. It's kind of a neat role to be in.

But it's good. Again, I know it was a process getting to a point relative to name, image and likeness. But it's like other iterations we've had in college sports. Most recently we had cost of attendance. I was fortunate enough to chair the NCAA council at that time. I know the consternation that took place about cost of attendance, it's going to imbalance, some schools can afford it, some schools can't, it's really going to hurt collegiate sports.

It been fantastic. The recipients have been our student-athletes.

We'll get through this, be stronger. In the end we do need to take a look at where we're at in college sports and really start to get together and do some assessing and do some long-range planning.

Q. You were one of the many teams in this division that has a lot of returning starters. From the macro, do you think that fact there are so many starters returning, how will that affect competitive balance? The sport is waiting for people to crack the Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State stranglehold.

MANNY DIAZ: I think that will be one of the storylines of the 2021 season because so many people return so much experience, at the end of the day does it really cancel out?

What's been great from Miami's standpoint is having such an experienced team, some of the guys we brought with us here today for Media Day, is the off-season. How do we go through spring practice, through the workouts. Guys that are experienced but they came back for the right reasons, they want to see Miami win, and they want to set an example for the younger guys coming into our program which to me at Miami we've not always had. We've not always had really strong, veteran leadership that's been around long enough to influence or recruiting classes.

I think with the senior class, the super senior class that we have, they can help not just transform Miami wins and losses this year but actually going forward.

Q. You have an All-American punter returning in Lou Hedley. Maybe he punted a little too often last year. What do Eric and Mike and the offense have to do to keep him on the sideline more? You don't have Jose to finish drives, what is the place kicking race look like?

MANNY DIAZ: We love Lou Hedley. I do think it's time we want to see him on the sideline. Lou wants to get out there and punt, but he's also there for the team. We set the NCAA record for net punt a year ago, field position, being able to change the field. We know we have a great weapon in Lou.

Offensively we want to look at we have to give up less negative plays in the run game, that's been a big point of emphasis in our off-season study, spring practice, going into training camp. Then be more explosive down the field. Being more efficient in our run game and more explosive in our pass game will help us punt less.

Now, in terms of place kicking, again, you're losing the Groza winner a year ago in Borregales and replacing him with Borregales. Having Andreas come in, taking on your older brother's jersey number, same name, guy just won the Groza, walks out of the program and you take his place.

The guy came in in spring practice in midyear and I think instantly earned the respect of everybody in the locker room. Had a bad day before our first scrimmage at Hard Rock Stadium. Went into Hard Rock Stadium, knocked it right down the clown's mouth every time we had him out there, including a 53-yarder in a one-minute drill situation.

I think that gave the team a lot of confidence in our kicking game. Jonathan Patke does a phenomenal job with all of our special teams, and we take a lot of pride in our specialists. Clay James, our long snapper. We feel like we have the best group of specialists in America.

Q. You had a lot of players come out of this program with professional pedigree. Two of them being here today with Bubba and D'Eriq. Talk about the leadership role.

MANNY DIAZ: I think it's a little bit what I mentioned before. Number one, they've been phenomenal leaders their entire time here at Miami. But they're back here for Miami to win. I think what we've recognized as a team is that when the team does well, all the individuals do well and that my individual goals can be met by the team meeting its goals.

So the way that they can set an example for the way these guys work, I mean, think about the stories of Bubba and Mike and D'Eriq, just in the off-season workouts. These guys, they're not just going through the workouts, This is my last year, I'm going to do whatever. They're smashing the run. If we're running 110s, they're not making the time, they're racing the 110s. I'm a freshman watching that. People can say whatever they want to say, but ultimately we're going to observe, I'm going to see what you're doing.

The way that they've worked from all of Dave Feeley's reports this summer, that's the leadership, real leadership, maybe more so than the Hollywood speech of rah-rah, let's go. Players will follow those that will set the example. There are three guys over there that have done a phenomenal job of doing that in the off-season.

Q. With the defensive new hires as well as the analysts, and you calling -- resuming the play-calling duties on the defensive side of the ball, what does that mean differently for the Canes' defense this year?

MANNY DIAZ: We're going to be improved on defense this year. That is all going to be about the players. It's fun to talk about the coaches and the play calling, this, that and the other. But great defense is ultimately about the connection between the players on the field, the trust and the accountability.

That's where I felt like a year ago we didn't have quite have that. We take a lot of pride in how we play defense at Miami. We took a step back in that regard not to our standard.

Guys have a chip on their shoulder. We have new coaches. What that does, what I like is that it took all of our players, took every one of those guys out of their comfort zone. Now, maybe your coach that you recruited you, the coach that you've been around, here comes a new set of eyes, a guy that's going to challenge you in a different way.

That's what we ultimately needed. We needed to be out of our comfort zone defensively at Miami because we weren't proud of how we finished last year.

Doesn't matter what defense you call if the players don't have that bond and trust. That's what makes all great defenses. I think the new staff, some of the great coaches we've been able to add, that I'm honored to work with, ultimately it comes down to those guys in the defensive team meeting room taking ownership of it and playing with that Miami chip on their shoulder.

Q. In the first nine games of 2020, Miami goes 8-1, then drops the last two. Does that influence the off-season compared to winning out at the end of the year?

MANNY DIAZ: That's hard to say. Again, losing our last two games, it's not first and 12 in our opening game this year. I think what set the tone of our off-season is when D'Eriq King and Mike Harley, Bubba Bolden, Amari Carter, and I could name so many more, decided to come back. I think that's the thing that had not been happening at Miami. It became the thing to do, and for the right reasons.

I think those guys have affected our off-season program regardless. There had to be something in that locker room a year ago that guys wanted to be a part of, and I think that's part of the reason -- and they can address it better than I -- of why a lot of the players made the decision to come back to Miami, to run it back.

I think we felt like we had a pretty good team a year ago. We went through some COVID things at the end of the year that had whatever effect it had, and let's have a proper year and go through and let's see how good we can actually be.

Q. One report has the Hurricanes as having the most experienced offensive line in FBS. How much of a lift does this give you that a traditionally overshadowed group is getting good attention in Miami?

MANNY DIAZ: We had to take some lumps a couple years ago. We started two true freshmen on the offensive line, and that's tough. But the great thing is freshmen become sophomores, they become juniors.

What it changed for us and I had not seen at my time in Miami, was the competition in our spring practice. We had guys -- Garin Justice did a great job of mixing and matching. We didn't want anyone to feel like they had a starting role locked up. Guys had to come to practice every day and they really had to bring it because there was no telling, there's still no telling who the first five are going to be.

All coaches can say that, but really having a guy that can take your job is going to bring out the best in you. I think this is the first time we've had a two deep on the offensive line of somebody that when I walk out to practice every day, if I am not at my best, I'm going to end up on second team by the end of the day. The players told me, Coach, it's amazing how much better everybody got because we had to compete every day in practice.

Q. What does it mean for you to be named co-captain? What does that title mean to you and the responsibilities that come with it?

D'ERIQ KING: Yeah, I think it means a lot, just being named captain of this football just shows the respect that your teammates have for you, right? I think that's the most important thing, what the people think inside the locker room, not what everybody else thinks, what they think inside the locker room. That's the most important thing.

It's a huge honor. I think it's one of my favorite honors. Playing college football, being a captain, at Houston, here, it's one of the biggest honors you can earn as a player.

Q. You've been a part of the resurgence of Miami football. You are built like the old-school teams. A lot of hype. What does that mean for you coming into this season?

D'ERIQ KING: It means a lot. It's a big responsibility being starter quarterback at the University of Miami, right? Just me trying to do everything right, trying to be the guy that my teammates can lean on, trying to be that leader.

It's a huge responsibility, but I'm excited for it. I have a lot of good guys on my team I'm able to play with. I mean, that's the main goal, to win as many games as possible here.

Q. What can you say about everything that you've done in your career, coming from Houston, making the decision to come to Miami, making the decision to come back this year? The road that you've taken, why was Miami the right choice? Why did you come back this year?

D'ERIQ KING: Man, it's a long journey, going from my days at Houston. I love University of Houston. I'm an alumni there, got my degree from there.

And decided to come to Miami, when I entered the portal, I probably had a week to decide where I wanted to go. Obviously, the University of Miami sells itself. It's one of the best universities in the country, one of the most high-profile teams in the country you can play with.

And then just talking to Coach Diaz for a while, and then at the end of the day, Coach Lashlee was the offensive coordinator, just got the job, and I thought I was the right fit for the offense.

Me coming back, it was an easy decision. Being a starter quarterback at the University of Miami is pretty big, right? I love the University of Miami, my teammates. Last year I feel like we had a decent year, a good year, but it wasn't our standard, right? This year we all wanted to come back, a lot of us decided to come back and try to reach our standard and try to do everything the right way.

Not having an off-season last year, going through the whole COVID season, I want to give my all to the university, I want to see the university win. That's why I decided to come back.

Q. What has been the message from the older guys on this team to the younger players about what you want to see happen this year based on what happened last year? How important is that leadership moving forward?

D'ERIQ KING: Yeah, I think it's very important. I think last year was a good step. I think we took the right steps at the program to ultimately get back to where we wanted to go.

This year we wanted to come back and focus on the little things. A lot of people, they see games, whatever. But they don't understand everything that goes into it. They don't understand what goes into a Tuesday team run. We have little hiccups right here, how we handle it.

That was the main thing for us. All the leaders on the team, we wanted to focus on the little things, don't let anything slide this year, come back with a goal in mind to win as many games as we can this year.

Q. Coach talked about the need to have fewer negative plays in the running game. There were games last year where you were the leading rusher, which was not the design. Tell us about your backfield this year, who you expect to step up.

D'ERIQ KING: Yeah, I think that was one of the main focuses of our off-season, was to limit our negative plays. We were decent in every other aspect besides negative plays.

So we have three, four, five really good backs. All the backs came back, Cam Harris, Don Chaney, Jaylan Knighton. The second year in the system is always better. Last year we learned a whole new offense, not really a real off-season. The guys up front had a really good spring. All five of those guys were back. I think we're deep at the O-line this year. Might be one of the deepest positions at our team.

The O-line and all three running backs coming back, myself included, the running game, I think we'll limit the negative plays.

Q. Is there anything in particular that you're looking to work on as far as from a quarterback position?

D'ERIQ KING: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'm working on everything. But the things I want to see my game improve, offense improve as a whole, making more plays downfield. That's big for us. You can make one, two, three plays downfield, that can change the whole game. That's been a big focus.

Getting a better connection with the receivers. Mike coming back, adding a guy like Charleston Rambo, Will Mallory. We have a lot of weapons. It's my job to get those guys the ball. Making plays downfield and staying out of negative plays.

Q. NIL question. You are identified as one of the leaders with the first deals you signed. Are you embracing that? Is that something you're going to talk to your teammates about and guys from other teams to get multiple deals signed there?

D'ERIQ KING: Yeah, I think the whole NIL thing, I think it's really good for college football. My thing was work with good companies. You can't work with everybody. You want to work with companies that align with your core values. You don't want to go out there and work with that company, that company, that company. My main goal is to help as many teammates as I can to earn whatever they can earn.

Not all about me. I want to be by my teammates, for those guys to make as much as possible. Football is still the main thing. A lot of people are worried about how it can affect your play. For us, I know University of Miami, all my teammates, football is the main goal. We're not worried about the NIL thing. We just want to play football. Whenever we have time to deal with that stuff, we'll deal with that kind of stuff.

Q. You completed 64% of your passes last year. This seems like a silly question. Why was that number so high?

D'ERIQ KING: I think my goal is to be over 65%. 64%, it wasn't my standard. I played really good players, guys like Mike, Brevin Jordan, Will Mallory. They make me look good. I have a lot to improve on to get that number 67, 68%, just to make the right decisions.

Coach put me in a lot of good positions to get a lot of first downs. That was probably the reason there.

Q. I know you collaborated with McKenzie Milton on some of this NIL stuff. Did you talk about maybe some of the resistance you would get from your fan bases being rivals and teaming up or is it business is business?

D'ERIQ KING: I think business is business. I've been knowing McKenzie for six, seven years now, back when he was in high school, UCF, I was at Houston. We've been in the same conference. Had a relationship.

Obviously Florida State is our rivals. But like you said, business is business. We both thought it was a good idea to partner with Dreamfield, co-found the company. It's really to help as many guys as we can. The whole platform is for everybody else to make a lot of money, so...

Q. What can you say about Manny Diaz and the relationship in the transfer portal, trying to figure out why to go? Why was he the right fit and why is he still the right fit in Miami?

D'ERIQ KING: Coach Diaz is a great coach. Before he's a great coach, he's a great person, right? I think for me having so many different coaches every single year, I wanted to find obviously a great coach but obviously a great person as well. That was like the most important thing to me.

He's a players' coach. He wants to do whatever is best for the players. That's what I love about him. If he can make anything better for us, he'll do that. I respect that a hundred percent. He's just a great man all around.

Q. You finished last year with a team high 74 tackles. What is it about your game that enables you to get to the line of scrimmage or just beyond it and make your tackles so efficient?

BUBBA BOLDEN: I think the biggest thing is just being instinctive, trusting my teammates, trusting the players around me, allow me to play fast. I take pride in making tackles. I take pride in getting to the ball first. I think that's the biggest thing.

Q. As the leader of this defense, with the emergence of incoming freshman James Williams, how do you get him acclimated?

BUBBA BOLDEN: I think the biggest thing with James, his size, his ability to move, I think that's the biggest thing with him. Now him being there on campus, getting him adjusted to the workouts, getting him adjusted to time management. That's the biggest thing.

We start fall camp coming up in a couple weeks. Getting him adjusted to plays will probably be the biggest thing. As a freshman, you got to work your way in. That's what I'm trying to do as an older guy, get him on pace as fast as possible.

Q. You are in early consideration to be one of the Defensive Player of the Years or the Defensive Player of the Year. How does that feel? Does that put more pressure on you or are you looking forward to being notarized as that?

BUBBA BOLDEN: I don't really look into all of that. I just keep the main thing the main thing. That's coming out every day, working hard, doing whatever I need to do for my team.

All those accolades, awards, they come with hard work and dedication. That's my main thing right now. I'm focused on the team. I'm focused on these workouts, fall camp, then when that time comes, it will come.

Q. Manny talked about the defense having a chip on its shoulder because of how they played last season. Do you feel that way? Do you feel like you can be a much better unit in this upcoming season?

BUBBA BOLDEN: Yeah, a thousand percent. We felt that way last year. This year it's a big thing. We all came back for a reason. We want to win. Coach Diaz being a defensive coordinator now, it gives us a lot of confidence in our defense, spatial with me personally. The chip is on our shoulder, will always be on the shoulder no matter what. I just feel like that's a Miami thing.

Q. Miami ranked just 10th last year in quarterback sacks. The only two players you lose for defense were your rush ends. How does Miami get to the quarterback this year?

BUBBA BOLDEN: The same way: our defensive ends. That's one thing we produce here at the University of Miami, are defensive ends. We lose two guys, but two guys are going to step up. We got Jahfari Harvey, Zach McCloud, Deandre. New guys will step up to the plate. You also got linebackers.

Every player on the team can get to the quarterback somehow, some way. That's the way we play our defense, the play calls that Coach Diaz calls. Somehow, some way we'll get to the quarterback.

Q. I want to talk about your approach to the NIL deal you signed, the things your school has going on with NIL, why you're excited about it, the advantages you'll get.

BUBBA BOLDEN: The biggest thing with the NIL, it's a great opportunity for every college athlete around the country. One thing with us, we've been talking about the NIL since the beginning of the spring. Coach Diaz did a good job of bringing in people just to inform us on how to do it, how to go about it.

The same thing like I said before: we keep the main thing the main thing, and that's football. The deals come. You do it when you can do it. My main focus personally is football.

I'm excited for all the deals, for everyone to get money. But personally I keep the main thing the main thing.

Q. Last year you were tied on the team with touchdown receptions, you also led the team in yards and receptions. Talk about the chemistry that continues to build with your quarterback.

MIKE HARLEY: Yeah, the chemistry, it never stop. Even though he got injured, he been rehabbing, I been with him. He'll be sitting down on the bench, throw a tennis ball at me, football at me. Just get the younger guys going every day.

He's back on his feet now running, dropping, doing steps and everything. We've just been consistent ever since day one.

Q. Three winning seasons in the last four years. What does this say about Miami football since you're arrival in 2017?

MIKE HARLEY: We just on the rise. Just steps. Just a process that we got to take, are, process that we got to love, gain from every win, learn from every loss, just keep going.

Q. What can you say about looking at the fact that this season you're looking to set some records here at Miami? Personally what does that mean to you to be a part of history, the receivers that came before you?

MIKE HARLEY: Just first of all, God does everything for a reason. I question myself coming back. At the end my coaches told me I'm a few catches away, couple yards away from breaking records, being legendary. I take that in. I kind of keep the main thing the main thing, come to workouts, do all the things right, the little things right. Keep my locker room clean, show up on time to practice, meetings. It's going to translate to the field.

This team in general, like Coach Diaz said, we just don't do it, we love it. When it comes to a sprint, being the first, showing the young guys the way. With me, I just want to be like that leader that the young guys never had, a big brother that the young guys never had, to the receiver room and to this team.

Q. A simple one. This year pretty sure you'll have the fans back. How excited are you to have fans at full capacity?

MIKE HARLEY: It's very exciting, man. I played my freshman, sophomore, junior year with fans. We feed off that. This past year we didn't have no fans. But I'm used to it. Just like rec ball, Little League ball, all you got is your parents or your coaches on the field.

It's a blessing to even have fans come back to the stadium.

Q. You start off with a big challenge against Alabama. What does that mean for you guys? What kind of statement can you make with a win?

MIKE HARLEY: The focus now. But when that time come, it's going to come. We can't run from it, can't hide from it. We're just stacking days. Every day we work, every day we work all day, which is stacking days, get the little things right. When it comes game time, comes game time. We got to trust everything, do what we do, trust the coach's call, just win.

Q. As a fifth-year player playing in the league, does your age, experience, familiarity with the league give you an edge over other defenses and younger players?

MIKE HARLEY: Yes, most definitely, as it should. Coming in as a freshman, you just happy to be there. As you get older, you learn a lot of things. For this game that I play, football, it's all mental. As I'm getting older, my mental is getting stronger and better. That's it.

Q. Came in as a freshman but still happy as a senior?

MIKE HARLEY: Oh, yeah, I love it. More happy.

Q. In a league of great running games, Virginia Tech ranked first last year. You don't have Khalil Herbert back this year, but you do have Braxton Burmeister. What does he mean to your running game, and what do you look for from your offensive line and backs?

JUSTIN FUENTE: You're right, it will be difficult to replace Khalil. He was the source of so many big plays. I'm not sure in my coaching career if I've ever had a season with that many big, long runs.

But in regards to Braxton, Braxton is -- he'll probably get mad at me for saying this, but he's probably one of the top three or four athletes on the entire team. He'd say one or two, but I'm going to say three or four. He has played, played as a young player, played some last year.

He's got a chance to be really, really explosive. We need to continue to find a way to share that load, though, out of the tailback room. Braxton is an accomplished thrower of the ball as well. I feel better about that part of it than I have in some time.

But we're going to need to find a way. I don't know that Braxton is going to be the answer to the production that we lost from the tailback position. We're going to have to have Jalen Holston, we're going to have to have Raheem Blackshear, we're going to have to have some young guys that I think have some real, real talent step in there and be able to contribute as well.

Q. Coach Hamilton had a disjointed first year as a coordinator with COVID and the injuries. How big a stride do you expect that unit to make? What areas do you think he's developed as a coach?

JUSTIN FUENTE: I think if we've learned anything, it's that practice is actually important. We, like everybody else, were deprived of spring ball. Our fall camp, once the students hit town, deteriorated into survival mode really quickly.

We had no foundation. I think that's what we've gone back to throughout the 15 practices in the spring. I like the changes we've made and the additions we've brought in to our staff, both from a recruiting standpoint and from a schematic standpoint and knowledge standpoint.

I think having Jon Tenuta in there to be the elder statesman has been a beneficial thing throughout the spring. I'm awfully happy that he's with us.

But the thing that ultimately hurt us in a succinct way is we could not create an identity because we had no foundation. I think we're well on our way to establishing that foundation and creating our identity.

Q. Assessing your five seasons at Virginia Tech, some change now as you step forward here, how would you assess that as you step into your sixth?

JUSTIN FUENTE: Well, it's certainly been interesting. Each job and deal is different and unique. After our first two years, I had a very honest, really good conversation with Whit, our athletic director, talked to him. We won 19 games in two years. I said, Whit, you didn't bring me here for these past two years, you brought me here for what we're about to go through. We were not in good shape. We were in the process of building facilities. We had some issues on our roster that were going to take time to get through. We've now completed many of those facilities. We're now adding, expanding our support staff for our players and recruiting. Now starting to get into having an older team.

I really felt great a year ago about exactly where we were and what we were doing and the status of our football team, a variety of factors have affected that. But I still feel the same way. I'm really excited to see this football team play and kick this season off.

Q. Have you given yourself much time to think about how you'll feel, how you'll react to hearing "Enter Sandman" with a full complement of fans at Lane Stadium on September 3rd?

JUSTIN FUENTE: Certainly. Home games in Lane Stadium are special and unique. Our fans are the best fans in all of America. Our fans show up to the game not to be entertained but to participate, to help our football team win the ballgame. They've been deprived of that opportunity.

But it's more than a game. It's a social event. People show up several days early and begin tailgating, preparing. There's friends and family members they haven't seen that they're all going to be back together for the very first time. I anticipate it will be a special night, an emotional night, something that we'll remember for a long time.

Q. Name, image and likeness, obviously something that every team is navigating through now, each conference and each state. How do you look at name, image and likeness? What are you trying to say to the student-athletes to guide them a little bit and have leadership?

JUSTIN FUENTE: Certainly it's uncharted waters. I think there's a lot of good that can come from this. I think there's a lot of bad that can come from this action too, if we're not careful. Our mission with our young people is to help them capitalize on whatever special skills or talents they may have in a way that we're allowed to help them. Certainly we're restricted dramatically about how involved we can get.

There are some people with those special talents. I don't think anybody feels negatively about their opportunity to go capitalize on that. I just don't want us to lose sight of what's important. I don't want us to lose sight of the long-term game here with our young people. That's their education.

Doesn't mean that we can't have a good time along the way and guys and gals can't make some money along the way, but I don't want it to take away from our long-term mission, which is the education of these young people.

We've tried to bring the focus in on that and help them. We have the software and the systems, all that sort of stuff, to help them with their social media accounts. We're in a pretty cool position. We are the number one sports brand in the state of Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia. We have 250,000 alumni that are anxious to help and engage our players in ways that are legal now that can benefit them hopefully in the long term.

Q. You talked about excitement of "Enter Sandman" on September 3rd. You played North Carolina. What are your thoughts about this kind of emerging rivalry?

JUSTIN FUENTE: Well, when I got into the league, if I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure they were the reigning Coastal Division champions. It's a game that's surrounded by proximity, something that we've embraced since we arrived. I know Frank and them embraced it, too.

We have the rivalry with Virginia, then there's also something there with North Carolina that should be acknowledged. They've always had great athletes. They always have. They've done a fine job down there. We enjoy playing that game. It's usually a hotly contested, usually pretty well-played football game that brings out the competitive juices in all of us.

Q. Speaking about the NIL stuff, have you given any thought to the dynamic in the locker room of if some guys are earning money, other guys aren't, how that might manifest itself?

JUSTIN FUENTE: Absolutely I've given thought to it. It's a dangerous part of it. There's all sorts of scenarios. You all can imagine what they are, from guys earning money that aren't playing or guys that "I should be playing and I'm not." All sorts of -- the litany of that.

It's difficult. It's difficult to be a coach now. It's more difficult than it was 10 years ago. This is another hurdle that we've got to find a way to continue to address, to help keep guys together and understand how it actually works.

So, yeah, it's a huge piece of it.

Q. Do you approach the benchmarks of the program this year differently given all of the atypical scenarios that we went through last year?

JUSTIN FUENTE: Yeah, well, I mean, I think we were just holding on last year. Our mission was to find a way to play last year. I mean, we went through that early in the year. I felt like we did everything humanly possible for us to play. Across the country, there's probably people across the country that, as the year went on, did everything they could to not play. That was just how we approached it. We got to find a way to get this season in.

Our kids did that. They showed incredible resiliency through the entire process. Most of our focus was about how can we patch this thing together so we can have available guys so we can go play.

Certainly, hopefully, as we move forward, that will not be the case this year. This is a case where we can focus on the more fundamental things of team and give ourselves an opportunity to win.

Q. A more prominent role for you this season. How would you describe yourself as a leader? What can you say about truly taking over this offense?

BRAXTON BURMEISTER: Yeah, no doubt. This off-season has really helped with that whole process. Having spring ball this year, being around my guys every single day, I think that I've really evolved as a leader, learned how to communicate better, kind of take ownership of the whole offense. I think the guys around me see that and are giving me that opportunity to do so.

Q. West Coast football, East Coast football, what did you find as being similar and different?

BRAXTON BURMEISTER: West Coast football, I feel like it's more speed-based. East Coast football has definitely been physical and more physical.

Q. Coach talked about how irreplaceable Khalil was. You got all your receivers back. Talk about ways that Virginia Tech's offense will be different this year. You led the league in rushing last year.

BRAXTON BURMEISTER: Yeah, no, we definitely have all of our receivers back. That's huge. James Mitchell is a big target that can go out, flex out at receiver, can play tight end, blocks really well.

Tayvion Robinson and Tre Turner also have played a ton of football and get open, get separation. Whenever our defense plays man coverage, they do a great job separating. It makes my job easy passing them the ball. I think that's going to help our offense a lot, kind of set up the run game as well.

Q. You just touched on the receivers. Can you talk about how important it is to build the chemistry since you've been away, to develop that heading into an opening game where there could be a lot of points scored?

BRAXTON BURMEISTER: Yeah, chemistry is a huge deal, especially this off-season being able to get with the guys, that's something that we've communicated often. We get out there. We have a skills and drills, play and run practice two times a week. Some of our guys try to get together another two times a week. We're really throwing four times a week.

I think it's really going to benefit us and show throughout the season.

Q. Your body language on the field indicates a great deal of confidence. What contributes to you being confident as a quarterback?

BRAXTON BURMEISTER: Our coaches do a great job of having us ready to go. It's kind of like walking into a test. If you know the answers to the test before the test starts, you're going to feel confident, you're going to be relaxed and ready to roll. That's kind of how I feel going into games.

Q. What was your biggest emphasis once you got to spring ball that you wanted to work on from last year coming into this season?

BRAXTON BURMEISTER: Definitely getting more comfortable with our receivers and building that chemistry, building timing. We throw a lot of timing routes, a lot of quick outs, a lot of 10-yard outs. And feeling comfortable to really rip those outs and throw them hard and just being on time with the guys.

Q. Fantastic year last year. I'm interested in what you did in the off-season to make you an even better and more effective tight end this season.

JAMES MITCHELL: Yeah, first off, I added a lot of weight to my frame. Since the last season, I've gained eight to ten pounds. I'm running well. I'm as strong as I've ever been. That was a huge part of me coming back, was continuing to get stronger. I play down there in the trenches. Continue to be able to block those guys on the line.

Also working on my routes. I try to do a lot of things for the offense. Being able to go out there and run routes against DBs and safeties, that's also something I've tried to focus on.

Q. What can you say about the offense under Braxton, the confidence that you have in him, maybe defining his leadership as you step into the season?

JAMES MITCHELL: Yes, sir. I would say one thing about him. He's definitely a confident player. When he steps in the huddle, he's calm, cool and collected. He knows how to get guys behind him and play for him.

Since we had a full spring and a full summer, he's really stepped up with his communicating, just trying to lead guys and stuff like that. He came in last year against Clemson late, started the season and came in against Clemson and UVA. I thought we played really well at the end there with him at the quarterback.

Q. Talk about the importance of the time that you and Braxton and the other receivers have gotten to spend together? What will the difference be? When it's third down and crunch time, what part does chemistry play in getting that first down?

JAMES MITCHELL: It plays a huge part. Like y'all were talking about, the timing of the routes, everything, getting together over the summer, just being able to throw all the time during spring ball, getting a full spring helped out a lot.

Just really building that trust in one another. On those crucial third downs, he can trust me, I'm going to make him that play, and I'm going to trust him to make that throw.

Q. When you watched the NFL game, who would you compare your game after? You remind me of Travis Kelce.

JAMES MITCHELL: I would say I have thought Travis Kelce, also Darren Waller who plays for the Raiders, a guy that can go out there and flex, play by himself at the X, do different stuff. Tight end has become a position where you have to do that stuff. A lot of guys in the NFL do that.

For me, I think the biggest thing for me this year is taking things from a lot of those guys, George Kittle, Travis Kelce, Darren Waller, taking little things from each of those guys and try to implement it into my game for the next level.

Q. On NIL, have you spoken with any brands about that, your approach to that, thoughts on the possibilities that are there?

JAMES MITCHELL: I have not spoken to any brands yet on that. I have had some people reach out. It's just not something -- it's something that I might be interested in, just not something I have taken the time to do yet.

Right now football and finishing up my degree has been my main focus. But definitely maybe something that I'll look forward to or look into when the season starts maybe.

Q. 60 solo tackles, unbelievable. Tell me about the pride you take not only in tackling but getting the guy down on your own.

CHAMARRI CONNER: I take a lot of pride in tackling, of course. I think it's more about me always trying to get to the ball, be the first one at the ball, just running full speed, always trying to get the ball out, anything, just things like that.

Q. As one of the returning starters in this secondary, what can you say about the back of the Virginia Tech defense, how you assess the entire secondary?

CHAMARRI CONNER: I'm very excited for our secondary actually. We got a lot of guys back. We got a lot of guys that got a lot of experience over the last year. We got a lot of guys moving around. We got a lot of depth, much more depth in our safety room, our cornerback room. I'm just excited to get started.

Q. Last year the Hokies ranked 10th in scoring defense and 12th in total defense. Those are not Virginia Tech quality numbers. How do you get better defensively? What has to happen for Virginia Tech to get off the field more often this year?

CHAMARRI CONNER: Last year was a lot going on with really every team. I would say we just got to come back. We got a lot of guys back. A lot of guys missed a lot of games last year, had to sit out, a lot of young guys got thrown in the fire and had to play. I think that actually helped us in the long run. A lot of guys picked up experience. That's really it.

Q. You've worn Coach Beamer's No. 25 jersey twice in your career. What has that meant to you?

CHAMARRI CONNER: It means a lot. We take a lot of pride in special teams, Beamer ball. It means a lot to be acknowledged and for the coaches to choose to put me in the 25.

Q. When we look at video of you, still photographs, you seem to have both a business side of you on the field but also you're not scared in showing that big, flashy smile. Given you seem to be having so much fun, what is it about you that propels the business side and that big smile?

CHAMARRI CONNER: I think when I step on the field, it's always business, of course. I always try to have fun with my guys, especially at practice. Don't want to have nobody down. We always try to make it fun, make it exciting. I carry it into the games as well.

Q. You open up against North Carolina, an extremely explosive offense. Talk about some of the challenges that you'll face.

CHAMARRI CONNER: They are a very talented team. I haven't really gotten into it all the way yet. I've been focusing on the summer. We'll get there when we get there.

Q. Last year 81 tackles, 60 solo tackles. That is impressive. Describe how last season's numbers and performance gets you ready for this year.

CHAMARRI CONNER: It got me prepared a lot for this year. For me to see what I could do last year, lead some of the leagues in tackles. It's just been exciting for me to get ready for next season.

Q. Some of your better teams in the '90s had players named Holliday. There was Corey Holliday and then Vonnie Holliday. Looking at the roster, you have another player of that name this year, just a freshman. Maybe it's an omen. My question, you led the league in total offense in spite of the fact that you allowed more sacks than everybody except for Duke and Syracuse. What goes into keeping Sam Howell more upright this year?

MACK BROWN: Thank you. And Bob is not kin to any of those Hollidays, by the way. Glad we get to see everybody back in person. We're blessed to do this. Fun to have everybody back.

The biggest thing we're looking at with our sacks is we've got the same offensive linemen for the third straight year with the exception of Charlie Heck. He went to the Texans. We've got more experience than probably anybody in the country in the offensive line and at tight end because Garrett Walston is coming back.

We have also established more depth over the last two years, so we can actually play two offensive lines and we haven't been able to do that. We've been playing six and seven players.

A third thing is we've looked at every sack for the two years we've been here, we've looked at why Sam is committed to getting the ball out of his hands faster some because he's so competitive he wants to make every play. We also know we have to do a better job up front in all those cases and use our backs.

One of the reasons we took Ty Chandler from Tennessee as the only grad transfer is we didn't want to go to Virginia Tech with young backs that had not played, big guys, fumble the ball and not know how to protect. And Ty has played in a lot of big games.

Q. We always use the terms 'chemistry' and 'continuity' about players on the field. Can you talk about entering your third season with Phil and Sam, that kind of comfortability and how that translates on the field.

MACK BROWN: Yes, we use the word 'culture' all the time. I'm not really sure what that means. We hear 'alignment,' I hear 'chemistry.' All of it means we're all on the same page.

Sam knows our offense as well as Phil Longo does. In fact, Phil interviewed for a job earlier, and I thought I'll make Sam the offensive coordinator and just move on. We'll save some money. Now with name, image and likeness, I could have played Sam as the offensive coordinator and the quarterback, I don't know, as we look at that.

Continuity is really, really important if it's good. You have to continue to work to bring in great ideas. At Texas we had the same stuff most of our 16 years. The good thing was we had continuity. The bad thing is we didn't get many new ideas.

When we brought in Larry Porter this year after Robert Gillespie left, it was good, got some new thoughts to a really good offense. When we brought in John Lilly after Tim Brewster the first year, we had pro thoughts with our tight end in the tight end game. So our tight end game is better than it was two years ago.

We like continuity, but we don't mind a change every now and then just to create new ideas.

Q. What have been the pillars of orchestrating such a positive turnaround in North Carolina football, in your opinion?

MACK BROWN: Number one is we had to have the buy-in from the administration. Bubba Cunningham sitting in here, and I don't want to embarrass him, but the university has done everything that we've asked them to do. And we've promised never to ask for anything that's not going to help, help the experience of our student-athletes or help us win.

So one of the reasons we've had continuity with our coaches is we're paying 'em, we're paying 'em at a high level. That way we're not going to lose 'em for money. They may have to go to a different place, like Robert Gillespie wants to look at pros closer to home, so I got that. We're not having a lot of coaches leave, and that's a positive.

Secondly, I challenged our fans to buy in. People said fans aren't coming to the games. I said, C'mon, fans, you want to be a good football program, you have to be a good fan base. We sold out every game, one of seven teams to sell out every game in 2019. We've already sold all of our season tickets, which is amazing after the very difficult year most people have had financially over the last year.

When you recruit a staff that's a high-quality staff that knows the area and fits the school, understands who we are academically, understands who fits at our school, it really helps you in recruiting.

So we have a great product, a great academic school, small campus. It's one of the nicest in the country. We have a tremendous staff, a real commitment from our administration, and our fan base is all in. When you put those things together, it makes it for a really special opportunity moving forward.

Q. You lost two running backs to the NFL Draft this year, but you replaced them with Ty Chandler, who you spoke on. Can you elaborate a little bit more on his role in this offense.

MACK BROWN: You lose Javonte Williams and Michael Carter, you lose a lot of your offense. They were tough, smart, they could catch, they could block. But they protected the ball. That might be the most important thing they did over two years. I think we lost six fumbles in two years. That kind of goes unnoticed unless you're fumbling. But it's really, really important.

So with Ty Chandler, he was recruited by Tommy Thigpen who was on our staff, coached by Robert Gillespie. So when he went into the portal, we knew how good he was. He's 210 pounds now I think, he's fit in with our team really, really well. He's having fun. He had a really good spring.

Since he's had four years of being physical, being hit by Tennessee and Alabama -- I mean by Georgia and Florida, Alabama, Auburn, we didn't beat him up this spring. We talked a lot about him.

But we think he is kind of the guy that fits between Javonte Williams and Michael Carter. A 210-pound back, he can run it up inside, tremendous hands, he knows what to do, but he also has the speed that when he gets it in space he has a chance to score. We got to find some other guys with him, but we think he has a chance to step up and be a special player for us.

Q. You mentioned wanting Ty for that opening game at Virginia Tech. What is your level of concern, a challenge there in starting the season on a Friday night in Blacksburg? How do you want to handle that and prepare your team for that?

MACK BROWN: After 32 years as a head coach, I've looked at it both ways. Would you like to have an easier team? It's kind of a scrimmage, you get to work through things, you don't have to show anything. Yes. But do your players get more excited in the summer off-season program if they're opening up against a Coastal rival that's really good? We went to six overtimes and got beat the last time they were there.

I really think it's great for us. We've gotten a tremendous amount of publicity. We've been kind of a media darling. Let's keep our mouth shut now and see if we're any good.

We got to play. Virginia Tech, it's an unbelievable place to play. It's a fun place to play. They've got a really good football team. So it will be a great challenge. It will be a fun way for us to start the season.

Q. You cited Ricky Williams as an example that teams win a Heisman, not school promotions. On the other side of that, talk about as he becomes your -- your player becomes a leading candidate, the pressure mounts later in the season, how you handle that?

MACK BROWN: When we went to Texas, the previous team was 4-7. Ricky said, The Heisman is not important. Well, HeismanRickyWilliams was his email, so it was kind of important I think (smiling). I kind of noticed that as he told me it wasn't important.

So what we found is that Ricky was the best player on our team, so he was really our best defensive player because we weren't any good on defense, but as long as he stayed on field and ran the ball, we didn't have to go out there on defense, so it helped us.

We really got into decisions like we were killing Rice, Ken Hatfield is a friend. Ricky just gained 43 yards against Kansas State the week before. He left him in. He gained 255 yards. Ken was great after the game, I got it, you got to keep him in.

There's that fine line with Colt McCoy and Vince Young. When you're winning a game, how long do you keep them in for stats for the Heisman and when do you pull him out for safety and trying to get a backup quarterback ready to play? It's a delicate path that you have to follow to try to figure out how to playing all that work.

Sam is so good. He's about winning, knows we have to have another quarterback to go in the future. We'll navigate that with him. Whether it's name, image and likeness, the awards you're going to get, it's about your ball, it's not about your brand. If we play well, if Sam is going to play great, if we play well enough as a team around him, and we have a chance to win a lot of games, he'll be right in the mix of that Heisman thing regardless of what we say or do. If we don't play well as a team, it will drift away.

Q. With you guys launching the group licensing for name, image and likeness, how proactive has the university been? Seems like they've been on the frontier of this name, image and likeness and really embraced it. How nice has that been for you to have that backing in the athletic department?

MACK BROWN: It's great for us. Bubba and his team have been working on this for two years. We had a discussion with our team the spring before COVID hit, so last thing, about what this meant, where it was going.

Bubba asked if there were any questions at the end of the discussion. Sam Howell stood up and said, I don't want this to be about the quarterback, I don't want it to be disruptive in the locker room.

That's one of the reasons Bubba and his team are working so hard on group licensing. They're one of the first to do it. That means that the backup right guard is going to have a chance to be involved with opportunities that he wouldn't be if it's three players on your team that are.

I was not in favor of taking away amateurism and moving forward with name, image and likeness. Sally told me something that really makes sense, that the regular student gets to use -- if it's a musician, he gets to use his talent to make money, so why shouldn't a student-athlete get to do the same thing? So I got it.

Now we've all got to figure out those guidelines and what it means. Group licensing helps your whole team. Sam will be okay. Some of the other players will be okay with their opportunities. But what Bubba is trying to do, what I want us to do, is be able to help the whole team.

Are we making guys mature faster than normal? Yeah, we're talking about state tax, federal tax, your agent, the percentage of money that your agent is going to take away from what you get, the legal part of this. They're having to grow up a lot faster than before, which may be a good thing in the long run.

Since it's here, we're all in. North Carolina should be a place where name, image and likeness should be a great advantage for us because we have a lot of great people. We've got to figure out what that means within the rules and how we can help our guys with opportunities without getting involved ourself.

Q. You've shown your support of vaccination. Put your video up in May of you getting your shot. What have your conversations been with your players during the off-season? What percent of your team is vaccinated at this point?

MACK BROWN: COVID obviously is back. I mean, I watch very closely every day. We've got some concerns at the Olympics. We've got a pro baseball game that was postponed the other night. We have a basketball coach in the playoffs that didn't get to participate. We have a golfer that was taken out of a championship on Sunday. It's here. It's real.

I was hoping, like all of us, it would be gone away. Probably people have gotten a little more careless. So we're meeting tomorrow for an hour. We've been working for the last 10 days on a plan to go back and make sure that we're as COVID-safe with our team as we can be.

We're not at 85% for herd immunity with our entire team yet. We're getting really close. We have encouraged everybody to get it. Some, as we know, across our country and our world do not want to get it. We understand that. That's fair. Our job is to educate; their job is to make personal decisions. That's the way we do for the NFL; that's the way we do with everyone in our program.

But we have a great plan in place with what we've got to make sure that we get the numbers right in each meeting room for 85% herd immunity and our training table, in our locker room. That's what we're going to do. 85% herd immunity we've been told means you can go back to a normal process. Maybe the unvaccinated people have to wear a mask still, and the vaccinated ones can wear a mask if they want that as an option. That's in our football building and in our football program.

But we feel like right now we have a great plan in place that we can get back to as near normal as possible.

Q. You went down to Tallahassee last year and lost a game a lot of people, including yourself, didn't expect to. Given your ties to Florida State and your quarterback during the recruiting process, is that a game you have potentially circled as special, or is every game even-keeled as you go into the season?

MACK BROWN: The first question I got today is, You guys are getting so much hype, everybody expects you to win every game, how can you talk about one in the middle when you have to go to Virginia Tech in the opener?

We basically have a three-game season. That's what I've told the players. I'll start talking to you more national after three games, if you haven't lost a game. But let's quit talking. We've gotten hype. We've been hugged. We've had sugar thrown all over us. We're all enjoying it, we like it.

Let's clean it off, and let's get back to facts. We were fifth in the country when we went to Florida State, about 25th when we were leaving. That took about three hours to drop that far.

There were two conferences that weren't playing when we were fifth in the country. I was trying to explain to them, You're not the fifth best team in the country. I tell them you're not the fifth best team in the country, but we got to play. Nobody is good enough anymore to go out there and stand around.

We have some great older players that are leaders, three of them here today, then we've got a bunch of young guys. The young guys have to grow up. We've been circled by everybody in this league.

In fact, I can tell even in recruiting people are being really critical and are cutting us in recruiting. I'm so proud of that. That didn't happen the first year. Nobody cared. So now that we're getting a little better, I'm so excited people are critical of us. So that's a good thing.

But, yes, we'd like to beat Florida State. That's way down that list of issues before we get to it.

Q. Obviously the NIL stuff. How are you approaching it? You're one of the more visible players in the ACC.

SAM HOWELL: Yeah, definitely, it's definitely something I thought a lot about. I hired a marketing team, so we have a marketing team working on my behalf. They've done a good job kind of lifting the weight off my shoulders. The school has been very supportive.

I think the main thing for me is I want to keep the main thing the main thing, which is winning football games. You want to take advantage of the opportunity you have. I've done some things, partnered with a charity called Table in Chapel Hill. We deliver meals to underprivileged kids come Chapel Hill. That's my first partnership.

I'm looking for more opportunities, things where I can involve my teammates, give them some opportunities as well. I think there's a good place for it. I just want to make sure as a team we keep the main thing the main thing, and that's winning football games.

Q. You had excellent chemistry with both Javonte and Michael throwing the football. Almost like an extension of your running game. Two years to develop that. Time is very compressed. Can you bring us up to date on the chemistry with Ty and the other running backs? Are you going to be able to throw the ball as effectively to the backs this year as you were last year?

SAM HOWELL: Yeah, that's a really good question. Our backs were unbelievable out of the backfield last year. I think the backs we have in that room now, they study a lot of film. I watch a lot of film with those guys. I think they have a really good understanding of what we're kind of looking for out of the backfield in the passing game.

They've worked so hard at it all off-season. This is probably the best off-season I've been a part of since I've been here. The guys have worked so hard. Our strength staff does an unbelievable job.

That running back room, they're so hungry. They're hungry every single day. They're competing with each other. They all have a chip on their shoulder because everybody is talking about Michael and Javonte. They have a chip on their shoulder, excited to go out there and show what they have, so I'm excited for them.

Q. You lost a lot of production on offense. What have you seen from those guys in practice trying to fill those roles of the guys that went to the NFL?

SAM HOWELL: Yeah, I mean, they certainly know the situation and the role they have to fill. But like I said, all those guys in the running back room and the receiver room, they have a really big chip on their shoulder. They're kind of tired of everyone talking about who we lost instead of talking about who we got coming in this year.

They've worked so hard. It's been a good challenge for me try to get those guys developed into the players we want to see this fall. They've done a really good job of that. They've worked so hard.

I'm just really excited for those guys to get out there this year and show everybody what they got because they're really talented players and nobody is giving them the credit they deserve. They haven't done anything yet, but I know they will this fall, so I'm super excited for them.

Q. Focusing on the wide receiver room, shed a little bit of light on the positives and growing pains you've seen in that room? What are the expectations looking at that room?

SAM HOWELL: That's a good question. Dyami and Dazz were amazing players for us, a lot of production. I think a lot of those guys in the room have been there for a couple years. They kind of learn from Dyami and Dazz, saw how they worked. Dyami and Dazz were two of the hardest working players on our team. They kind of followed their lead and kind of picked up their work ethic and their same work habits.

I spend so much time with those guys. Those guys, they look at good as ever. I feel really good about that room. I think everyone saw what Josh Downs could do in the bowl game. I think he's going to be a really good player for us.

We have Beau Corrales coming back. He has been a really good player for us. A couple other guys, Antoine Green, Khafre Brown, Emery Simmons, a lot of guys that can play in that room.

Same thing like I just said, those guys have a huge chip on their shoulder because everybody is talking about Dyami and Dazz. Nobody is talking about the guys in that room. They are all super talented guys. They have worked so hard. Coach Galloway does a really good job with those guys in that room, so I'm excited to get out there with them.

Q. I remember watching you at Sun Valley High School. You had hype when you were committed to Florida State. Three years later you have even more hype surrounding you. How are you keeping your head level with all this hype?

SAM HOWELL: Yeah, no, that's a really good question. I'm definitely just blessed by God in the position that I'm in. It's something I dream find of when I was a kid to kind of be in this position.

It's not something I take for granted. There's been so many people that's kind of helped me get to where I am today. That's kind of just relying on my faith and my people, just trying to stay true to who I am. No matter where I go in life, just try to be the same person, try to be who I am on a daily basis.

I don't get too caught up in what other people are saying. I'm just worried about what I think of my myself, what the people close to me say. That's the same mindset of my team. We've had a lot of hype as a team. Main thing we try to tell our guys, if people say we're going to win 10, 12 games, it's not just going to happen. We have to put the work in every day, prepare like it's the biggest game of our life. That's my mindset as a person and as a team.

Q. Your defense obviously got better as the year went along, especially in the bowl game. Still when you finished you were dead last in the red zone. You're the leader of the defense. What do you have to do to force more field goals or get turnovers in the red zone this year?

JEREMIAH GEMMEL: I think it's having fresher bodies on the defensive line. I mean, the guys can play up front, they can play 70, 80 snaps, but you don't want a Ray Vohasek or Myles Murphy playing 70, 80 snaps a game.

And coming from last season to this season, I think that's where we made a huge jump, not just on the D-line, but everywhere on the defense. We're going to be able to roll guys with the second team every other series if we really need to. I think that's going to help in the red zone and early on the drive.

Q. You were named team captain last year. That seems like a great honor and a great responsibility.

JEREMIAH GEMMEL: Absolutely. Coming from the coaches and coming from the players, I worked my butt off to see them look at me and look at me as a captain, I take full pride in that.

Q. On the other side of things, looking at Sam in practice, what he's able to do, we know from the outside looking in what people say about his game, the expectations. What can you say about what you've seen?

JEREMIAH GEMMEL: I can just say, I mean, Sam is a workaholic. He's getting everybody on the offensive side better, but also on the defensive side. When we're doing POPs, you're not going to find many people who can dot or thread the needle in practice like Sam Howell.

Some of the guys get frustrated, like when he gets a ball or hits a good ball on 'em. I just pull like a young corner or nickel to the sideline, not every ball is going to be placed perfectly like that. The balls you're seeing from Sam Howell in practice, not every quarterback in the ACC can throw like that.

Him helping us in practice, Saturdays, Friday night, whatever, when you're going against Sam Howell in practice, that's going to get you ready for your games on Saturday.

Q. Considering that last year at this time we weren't even sure if there was going to be a season, let alone how it was going to go, how much different is it preparing for this season compared to where you were at this time last year?

JEREMIAH GEMMEL: Just having a lot more time with the team. Obviously we didn't have spring ball last year. We're actually going into a camp this summer. We're actually going into a fall camp, staying in a hotel for two weeks, we're going hard for two weeks.

Last year we said we had camp, but we weren't just sitting around, but I'm saying we weren't in a camp. I feel like staying in a hotel brings the team closer together right before rolling into a season.

I got able to learn a lot more about players, like watching them through spring. I didn't take as many snaps in the spring because I'm trying to save my legs a little bit more. I think I learned more about the defensive guys on the side because I can learn what a guy is doing while I'm in there with him. It's totally different when you're standing back on the sideline and you can watch all 11 guys playing.

Q. Obviously you're the quarterback on the defense. Talk about your defensive backs and who you've seen that stood out to you?

JEREMIAH GEMMEL: I mean, Tony Grimes, Storm Duck, Kyler McMichael, Dae-Dea Hollins, Obi Egbuna. That's a good problem to have in our corner room that I don't think we've had ever since I've been here. We got corners that we can rotate all around the field.

That's something big in our defense. I mean, we leave our corners on the island a lot. When they're running on go balls, they come back tired, it's so easy for Storm Duck or Kyler McMichael to pop in there and give you 100%. There's no level drop.

Q. You are currently tied with Lawrence Taylor for sacks. Your next sack will push you ahead of LT. Tell us about your style. Are you old enough to have seen LT in NFL films?

TOMON FOX: Yeah, I think it's an honor to even have my name brought up in the conversation with someone like LT. He is someone I looked up to once I started playing the defensive side of the ball, when I first started playing ball. People like him, Julius Peppers. People I idolized. To have my name up there with them is something to be greatly looked at from them.

Hopefully the first game when I pass him this upcoming season, it's something to be in the memory books, you know (smiling).

Q. Looking at the team this season as you step in, Coach talked about you had sugar thrown all over you, you've wiped it off, you've had the hype and criticism. How do you handle both?

TOMON FOX: We just try and not listen to it. We're all about work here at Carolina. We let people talk, we'll hear them out. Once it's time to go out on the field, we put all that aside and focus on who is in front of us.

Q. You played 47 games in your outstanding career. What has your experience taught you about the linebacker position?

TOMON FOX: Yeah, playing that many snaps as an outside linebacker, I learned you just have to be a versatile player. You have to be able to play the run and affect the pass game, too. The defense we have that Coach Bateman has brought in allows us to do all those kinds of things. He gives us an opportunity, we can make sacks, he also has us out there so we can help out in the coverage also.

Q. You guys are playing in a conference with a lot of offensive firepower. What is the importance of you on the defensive side to make this team more successful?

TOMON FOX: Like you said, the ACC has a lot of offensive firepower. We know as a defense we have to bring it every single week. We can't take any team lightly because of the weapons each team has. Overall as a defense we know we have to be consistent every single game, every single week, every single play, then we'll be able to come on the better side of things.

Q. What has it been like playing with this kid by the name of Tomari Fox on the team?

TOMON FOX: Yeah, Tomari, my little brother, man. Ever since he stepped on the field, made me want to elevate my game. Even since he was smaller, we were high school, middle school, he always wanted to compete with me in every single aspect that we do.

Having him there make me want to go hard, push him. He makes me a better brother and leader because I have someone I'm used to being with, someone I'm used to living with every single day. I know how to talk with him, what to do with him. It also translates to all the other players on the field.

Q. Looking at the last six years as you head into year number seven, how would you assess looking past all this time that you've had at Pittsburgh? Where are things from where you wanted them to be to where they currently are?

PAT NARDUZZI: I guess first thing in the assessment is I'm getting awful old, going on year seven here at Pitt. I really like the football team we have. It takes time to build. You'll meet these three classy young men over here in a second.

But when you look at the quality of player we have. There's times in my first couple years, I'm looking out there like, Wow, okay? That's no disrespect to what we had. I think every year we get a little bit better. I think the quality of personnel that we have, I think our depth.

I think it all starts with roster management. We've been able to retain our players. We don't have a bunch of guys in the portal. Our guys are sticking with us. For example, Kenny Pickett probably could have gone anywhere in the country he wanted to go. He said, I'm coming back for my fifth-year at Pitt. Tells you about the culture we have there.

You know how the game goes, there's the ups and downs of every ballgame. Sometimes it takes a little luck. I'm excited about where we are as a football program, a football team. Again, our depth and roster management is as good as it's been.

There's years like how are we going to get through the season with these four linebackers that can play? Man, if he goes down, if he goes down, if he goes down, we're still okay. I think that's crucial in the ACC.

Q. 29 returning on defense, 31 on offense. You only lost nine lettermen. It seems the Panthers are pretty well fortified this year.

PAT NARDUZZI: We had 13 super seniors, which fortifies you pretty good. When you're from the Steel City, that certainly helps. I think our depth is good everywhere. It's going to be really trying to make sure everybody is getting enough reps and try to keep everybody happy through the season.

Our locker room is full. We have great players. I think we got team concept going on. I like the leadership that our players have shown from top to bottom. Our coaches have done an unbelievable job.

Q. Name, image and likeness, something that every coach has to really think about, break down to the best of your ability. There's a lot of questions. Doesn't seem like there's a lot of answers at the moment. How do you assess it?

PAT NARDUZZI: Number one, it's a great opportunity for our kids. I think as coaches, you look at your children back at home, your children on campus. I look at all our players. The opportunities they have. I want them to be selective, I want them to do the right opportunities. You want to make sure they're organized in what they do.

The opportunities that our kids are getting. It gives some young guys an opportunity to look up at a Kenny Pickett or a Deslin Alexandre and say, I want to be like him. Look what he got. How do I get where Kenny is?

Everybody wants to be in Kenny shoes. It's not a given, he's earned everything he's got. Kenny, when he decided to come back, he didn't come back thinking that this name, image and likeness was going to be something. But he's able to take part in it. It's really going to build him for the future, it's going to build our kids for the future.

I think it's a great opportunity for our young men to build their image. We have a life skills program on campus. Penny Semaia runs it. Since the first day I arrived on campus, he talked about branding, branding. We've been branding for a long time at Pittsburgh. He talks about the first impression, what do people think of you when they step up on this podium today.

Now it's an opportunity for our kids to earn some money, earn a meal, I don't care what it is. Not to have to go to a restaurant and say, You can't give me that appetizer.

It's a great opportunity. There's got to be some restrictions, some lids put on this thing. I think eventually we'll get to that. It's disappointing there isn't already some, like, legislation. I think the commissioner talked about it this morning, I won't beat a dead horse with that.

I think there have to be some constraints on this thing or it can get out of control. I think you want to make everything equal. I think the quality there is going to be important.

Q. Obviously lost a lot of talent off that defensive line from last year to the NFL. How is the unit progressing this off-season?

PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, great question.

With Patrick Jones heading to the Vikings, Rashod Weaver to the Titans, we lost a lot of firepower there. We'll have to blitz a little bit more, bring more linebackers. We have Deslin Alexandre over here you'll get a chance to talk to in a few minutes. We've got Habakkuk Baldonado, a young man from Rome, Italy. John Morgan.

Again, we've talked earlier, as Dan asked those questions about our depth, I'm happy with the way we've recruited. I'm happy with the depth. I'm happy with the development. It all comes down to development. Patrick Jones was a two-star player out of Virginia that I don't want to say nobody wanted, but we were able to get. He only had two stars. I don't know how many rivals guys we have in here or two, four, seven, all that. Our job as coaches is to develop, okay? That's why I like coaching.

When you develop players, good things are going to happen. That's our job to develop more guys that can get to the passer in a four-down situation. We have plenty of players. Whether we have to design something to get pressure, we've been fortunate enough to lead the country in sacks the last two years. We would like to do it three years in a row.

Q. Historically speaking, two of the top five of Pitts' largest ACC victory margins came last year. That's pretty impressive given as goofy as all of 2020 was.

PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, that was last year. I don't remember what happened last year. I think offensively, when you talk about college football nowadays, you got to score points. I think our offense got into a groove as the season moved on. I think when Kenny Pickett was healthy near the end, not 100% healthy, I'll add that, but you get your running game going, I think great things can happen.

I think a couple of those might have been Florida State, Virginia Tech, I'm not sure which games you're talking about. It was so ago, and it was COVID ago. I think those were two games. In both those instances you saw run game. We can't drop back with any quarterback. You can give us Dan Marino back. If Dan has to drop back every snap and throw the ball, you're going to have issues.

I think when the run game gets going, you're going to see a lot more explosive plays, not a seven- or eight-yard pass completion, you're going to see a 78-yard pass completion. Those are the ones we like to have. Kenny would like to have one throw and a fresh arm.

Q. The Coastal is going to be extremely competitive this year. What are some of the key things that will set your team apart, get to the top of the division?

PAT NARDUZZI: It's going to come down to discipline I think. You can have good players, you got to go out and make plays. To win football games, I think it's going to come down to our guys preparing to win. I think we have the talent to win. It's preparing to win.

It's going to come down to the details on the field, the discipline and the details. Our goal is to be the less penalized team in the country. We have to eliminate those errors. We have to win those turnover ratios, all those football coach speak words. Those are going to be the keys.

Then again, I'm going to go to church on Sunday morning at 7:30 and say my prayers and hope for a little luck. Everybody needs a little luck.

Q. We don't often hear questions about special teams during this type of forum. Your thoughts about the Panthers and those special teams unit members going into 2021?

PAT NARDUZZI: Yes, we'll start off with the strength, is our punting game. Again, I think your punt is the most important play in football.

Cal Adomitis, our longer snapper, turned down an opportunity to go to the Senior Bowl last year, had an opportunity to be a drafted guy. Has graduated from Pitt already. Not like he was going to stay to graduate. Had graduated, stayed for another year. Just loves Pitt, college football. That opportunity he knows is going to be down the road.

He's the guy that's going to be snapping it to our Ray Guy finalist, Kirk Christodoulou, one of our punters from Australia. He's an incredible kid. He has made strides and gotten better every year. We have some new weapons and skills that we're teaching him as far as some of the schematics go with our punt teams. Made major strides with our punt game last year. We continue to get better with that as the spring went on and through the summer.

Our protection has been solid. We have to make sure we don't give up any blocks there. Then when you look at our field goal team, the big thing is we're not going to kick field goals in the red zone anymore. Really don't need a field goal kicker this year, we just need a guy that can put it up through the upright on an extra point. When we get in the red zone, we're going to score a lot more points this year.

I think we relied too heavily on Alex Kessman. It's like guaranteed three when you got it in field goal range. So Alex Kessman is not with us. We have two really fine kickers that will be battling out this fall. I think they're two guys that can play for anybody.

We're going to put a lot of pressure on them in fall camp like we did in the spring. I feel comfortable with either one of them lining up. We're going to find out who is that guy that's going to make the money kicks.

Q. Going into training camp after having a spring with Brennan Marion as wide receivers coach, what have you seen him impact-wise on guys?

PAT NARDUZZI: I think that's a great question. It's a great question for our players as well. I think Jordan may be able to answer that question as good as I can. I think I can answer it with a lot of confidence.

I'll first off say Chris Beatty, our receiver coach, left for the Chargers in the NFL. He was a hell of a coach. Great coach, great person. A joy to be around every day in our office. I miss him.

But my job as a head coach is to move on. We can hang our heads and say we just lost a guy to the NFL, why did the NFL have to come and steal our receiver coach. My job is to get a guy good or better. I know there were some sad faces. Jordan had one of those sad faces. Not only did Coach Beatty coach him, but he recruited him as well. They had a great relationship. My job was to go get another guy.

There's always that other coach that can come in and give you even more. Brennan Marion has come in, and those kids are playing with a lot of enthusiasm, playing with a lot of effort.

I like what I see. I think they're doing a better job blocking right now. Again, they're a year older. A lot of that comes with age. It's nothing that Coach Beatty was not coaching, but I just see a lot more effort out there. Again, I think they have a lot of confidence.

It's just a different atmosphere in that room. Every coach, whether my old linebacker days, got a little bit different attitude in that room, a little bit different demeanor. It's been a great change. We're excited about it. I think our receivers are excited about it. Now we got to get into game mode.

Spring ball was great, coaching fundamentals was great. Now we have to get into game mode and make sure we're prepared. That's going to be the key, preparation game by game. When the coverage changes, what are they doing, how we make adjustments. I'm sure Coach Marion will do a heck of a job there, as well.

Q. Last season you led the nation as a freshman in receptions per game and in total receptions. What can you say about building off of that, having your quarterback back?

JORDAN ADDISON: Having my quarterback back means a lot. My freshman season being as good as it was, just gives me a lot of momentum to keep going, keep succeeding. I got a lot to build off of.

Q. Last year you had one game in which you caught 11 passes for 127 yards. In baseball, pitchers talk about being in a zone. Is there a zone for receivers? Last year were you in that zone?

JORDAN ADDISON: I would say there's definitely a zone. I feel like I was in it. Kenny kept putting the ball out there. I was just making plays for him, making it easy for him.

Q. How does it feel for you?

JORDAN ADDISON: It felt great actually. Just coming in after the game, like seeing my family as happy as they was. It was nice.

Q. Taking a look at next season, what is going to be the biggest key for both the wide receiver room and offense in general being more consistent, taking the next step?

JORDAN ADDISON: I believe that is the key, being more consistent, putting the ball in the end zone. Last season coming into the red zone, we had a lot of times where we had to take three. I feel like this season we're going to get in the end zone and we're going to hit a lot of one-play touchdowns.

Q. You played DB in high school. What kind of advantage does it give you as a receiver in college now?

JORDAN ADDISON: Advantage that that gives is you kind of know the tendencies that DBs have, watching film you see what stance they're in with their feet, I feel like they're pressing or not. A lot of things to it.

Q. What did you take away from Rashad Weaver, what he meant to you as you move forward? What are some of those pieces you think had an effect on you from him?

DESLIN ALEXANDRE: Mostly just his approach to the game, his respect for the game. To do the things that he was able to do, every day, how he watched film, how he prepared was just tremendous. It showed on the field.

Q. 13 of the 14 schools return experienced quarterbacks. I don't even remember that happening in the history of the ACC. How does that complicate preparations for defensive ends like yourself?

DESLIN ALEXANDRE: No matter who the quarterback is, we still got to prepare, prepare the same way. Give everybody the respect they truly deserve. The ACC is a great conference. You can never take a day off. We'll be ready.

Q. What is it like switching positions on the defensive line? To the casual fan, I'm sure they would say it's probably not too tough to switch positions.

DESLIN ALEXANDRE: It's not as difficult if you put the time in, you put the work in, do all the little details it takes. It's just like putting your shoes on or wearing your pants: as long as you put the right amount of work to do it, it's not that hard.

Q. How do you think the D-line is coming along after losing all the talent to the NFL?

DESLIN ALEXANDRE: D-line is getting stronger. I keep hearing this question all day, what we lost. What those guys did, they set the foundation for us. They showed us how to work, they showed us how to prepare. I'm very excited for what we have upcoming for next season. We got a lot of talented guys in our room, guys that are going to make a lot of plays for us this year.

Q. Can you tell me about the deals you've pursued via NIL and your approach on that front?

DESLIN ALEXANDRE: Right now I'm not really giving it much attention just because I'm trying to focus on the task at hand, which is football. Just taking a few meetings. If I don't get my job done on the football field, all these opportunities won't be -- just trying to focus on that, keep the main task at hand.

Q. Being a part of Pittsburgh's defense, obviously the history of that holds a lot of weight. Speak on this season, kind of the over-arcing piece of it, which is why did you want to become part of Pittsburgh's historic defense?

DESLIN ALEXANDRE: Just like you said, the historic defense. The guys who came before me, the guys who paved the way for us to be able to speak like this. Even Coach Partridge preparing us all day. All that comes in handy, me making a choice to want to come here, be a part of this great historical...

Q. You registered some really good numbers against Florida schools in your career. Is there an extra motivation for you when you play against Florida schools given that you're from the Sunshine State?

DESLIN ALEXANDRE: Yes, just because a lot of guys I went against in high school are on these teams. A lot of friends of mine is on these teams. It's always cool playing against people you grew up with, grew up around. Just brings a little bit extra competitive edge. But you still prepare for everybody just the same.

Q. I've heard Mark Richt talk repeatedly about you ruining his perfect season in 2017. That was a long time ago. You had many years to develop as a quarterback. Describe the differences in the Kenny we see this year versus the one that took the field in 2017.

KENNY PICKETT: Yeah, I would say there's a lot of differences. I was just a kid then, 18-year-old kid coming out of high school. Had my first throw against the No. 2 team in the country. With minimum experience going into it.

I think going into my fifth-year now, having a lot of experience, I'm excited to lead this time one more time.

Q. Year five, why come back?

KENNY PICKETT: I think a lot went into it. The draft projections, talk with my coaches, Coach Narduzzi, Coach Whipple, seeing the team coming back. I think there's an opportunity for this team to have a really special year. I'm.

Right where I want to be. When I made the decision, I told myself I'd be all in on it. I'm all in on it and ready to go.

Q. Talk about your NIL deal, making sure your big guys got fed, talk about why it was important to be associated with that?

KENNY PICKETT: That was very important. That was something that started back in my high school, actually a tradition in my high school. Carried it into college. Can only do one a season, not getting paid as much. Obviously now have an opportunity to take all six linemen, have an extra guy go in. We can do that once a week throughout the entire season. That was obviously very important for me to get done first.

Q. You have five fourth quarter comebacks, the most by a Pitt QB in 50 years.

KENNY PICKETT: Practice. We do two-minute drill a bunch throughout camp, throughout spring, just repetitions. I have a really good feel for how Coach Whipple is going to call two minute. I understand the flow of the game, how it's supposed to go. He handles the timeouts. I'm focused about moving the chains, getting positive plays. I would just say repetitions, practice, continuity with the guys.

Q. Could you tell me about the process leading up to the logo released earlier this week, how you feel about that, plans for going forward as you bolster your brand?

KENNY PICKETT: That was just something small that I wanted to do, really just to have throughout the season, have some fun with it. Really just a small thing.

But I'm focused on this season. Like I said, it feels like everybody in here -- going into my 15th year so have a lot of experience coming back, and I'm excited for my last one.

Q. You have the seniority over your teammates here. You built some pretty good rep. You're probably the only one I'll ask this question of over the next two days. I'm going to put you on the spot. What is it like playing for your head coach?

KENNY PICKETT: We have a really special relationship. I think it just builds over time. He has a lot of trust in me, I have all the trust in the world in him. He's obviously one of the main reasons I came back. If it wasn't like that, I don't think I'd be here right now.

Excited to have one more run with him and give it everything I've got this season.

Q. Nationally do you feel that you have the spotlight that you think you deserve? Where has your game improved the most?

KENNY PICKETT: I'm not too concerned about the spotlight nationally, handling the media and everything. That kind of handles itself. I'm focused on having a great year.

What was the second question?

Q. (No microphone.)

KENNY PICKETT: Really just pocket awareness is something I worked on big, pocket movement, operating from the pocket. I feel like I can do a pretty good job on the run and getting out of trouble when I need to. Obviously taking the next step inside the pocket, making throws, being more consistent.

Q. Ended the season at Notre Dame, held them to no first downs in the first quarter. Until they had a fake punt that worked, you were dominating the game. From that promising start, what were some of the factors that happened to cause Duke's season to get away from you?

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: That's the first time I've been asked that question. We asked ourselves that quite a bit as reviewed during the season.

I thought we played well. We were healthier than we had been. We had an unusual off-season where 140 days our team was not together, couldn't come to campus. I think there were so many different factors.

But in the end, as I viewed it, I learned a lot of lessons for a 45th year of coaching just how important my job as a head coach is of putting everybody in the best position they can be.

There are no excuses. You go play to win, and regardless of what your team looks like. I think I learned the culture, the chemistry of a team is built from January. I've had an old saying, there's an old farmer's saying that you plant well in the spring or beg well come fall. I think I realized more and more how critically important planting from January all the way through the summer is to be able to sustain a season.

I'm very proud of those young people. Their commitment to each other was impressive. I wished I would have put them in a better position to be successful. But I think that all that we went through will be a part of who we are the rest of our lives.

So I'm not going to blow that season off as a loss. I think we learned a great deal.

Q. You led the nation in turnovers last year. How do you emphasize and discipline and get that message to your team about ball security?

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: That is not the first time I've heard that question (smiling). Rightfully so.

Obviously, we have studied that. I've never had an issue with that in my career until the last two years. Again, that goes back to habits. It goes back to a head coach. You select the people on the staff, the players, everybody involved. You create a practice schedule that creates good habits, if you're doing a good job.

But then most importantly you evaluate it. I've gone back and looked at practice tape, just random Tuesday and Wednesday practices. If you're not doing everything you should do, every drill matters when it comes to ball security. It matters that your team, and I believe these young men believe me, they have to do a better job of giving them ownership.

If you rant and rave about ball security, it's like being in a slump or when I couldn't hit free throws, whatever. The more you hear negative, maybe the tougher it gets to get out of that slump.

I'm asking our squad to own their habits. I'm asking our staff collectively to own that habit. But my job, it still falls on David Cutcliffe to ensure as a head football coach this is all happening right.

So I take full responsibility. And if you don't take care of the football, you're not going to win. That's been the biggest issue we have faced on the scoreboard. The only statistic that really matters is points per game. I don't know of anything that affects it more than turning the ball over because every one of those you're not scoring.

Q. Name, image and likeness is something that is obviously surrounding all of collegiate athletics right now. Being a coach as you have for so many years, what can you say about what you know of it and what you think of it as we step forward?

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: I've been fortunate to serve on different NCAA committees, including the Football Oversight Committee. Had a lot of previous conversations. I think it's a great thing that a player has the opportunity to own and build their image.

I told our players name, image and likeness, we used to call it reputation. Let's not forget that as you build this.

The intention is for a player to be able to build an image and benefit from it. There's a lot of ways you can do it, through even social media. You don't need representation. You can give private lessons at an appropriate time.

What you can't do with name, image and likeness is get so carried away with it that you erode your image. It can be a dangerous thing.

It also should not be a part of the recruiting climate. I winched when I saw a quote from a state legislator, We have to get this law passed, this is hurting us in recruiting. That's not the intent of this. The intent, again, is ownership that's earned. That's a fair assessment of life.

I think my job as a coach is to really try to help parents and players understand, not only once they're in your program but in the recruiting process, that this is not a good selection of a school based on if that's what you're looking for. That's never been the premium value of college football.

It's been my whole life college football. So I embrace the opportunity. I think it's great. But I think a lot of people are going to have to learn how to manage it, not just players, families, coaches, media. There's a lot of responsibility to our great game to make sure that we're very good to our players with this in an appropriate manner.

Q. Can you walk us through the recruitment of Gunnar Holmberg and his progress to this point.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, Gunnar started recruiting me (laughter). No, I'm just kidding, Gunnar.

Gunnar game into quarterback camp and was just so impressive as an athlete, as an enthusiastic young quarterback. Right off of bat, I don't remember if you remember this, Gunnar, but your 40 was 4.5. It popped my eyes wide open. His character.

Then as we recruited Gunnar, the story surrounding Gunnar ended up in our area, getting to know his mom, what a great mom she had been after Gunnar's father had lost his life, just how close the three -- his sister, his mom, and he -- were throughout all of this.

Watching him develop not only as a player but as a person has been extremely important for me. To see his mother celebrate his success. He's a graduate student. Can you believe that? I never got to be a graduate student. My grades got in the way. I'd have been a Rhodes scholar if it hadn't been for my grades, Gunnar.

But he's a graduate student. Just really proud of him.

Q. There's a lot of turnover on the roster this year. You are bringing just under half your starters. What positional group are you looking forward to most see progress this season?

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: It depends upon how you look at our team as far as the number of starters returning.

I think the biggest challenge that we would face is the loss in the defensive line. But we got a lot of young talent. We've got more depth than we've had at that position. Competition always strengthens a team.

So DeWayne and I have talked a lot about that recently. He obviously is a very experienced player. But I'm excited about what they're going to do. I'm excited about every position we have.

Really, I think this team, since we've been at Duke, and this is going into year 14, has the most balance and competition at every position. That is always in my past made a football team better.

Q. Last year the ACC went with no divisional play. This year you're back to divisions. Having experienced both now, which do you prefer? Does it even really matter?

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: I personally like -- I've been part of division play in the Southeastern Conference. I think it creates more excitement for the player to have the opportunity to win a division championship so you get into November where college football gets really serious, where champions are determined. You're going to end up having five or six teams in the hunt for an opportunity to be an ACC champion with division play. I think it's the better way to go.

It's no different than you'd see in professional sports. You're trying to win your division. So I think it's much more player-friendly than the other way.

Q. You're opening with two Friday games on the schedule. When you talk about forming habits, routine, what does that mean for your preparation? Do you think it's an advantage for you to start off with the Friday games whereas other teams have those later in the season?

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: We've got two Fridays and a Thursday. They present challenges. If we're going to play on Fridays, and we are in college football, then I do like Friday-Friday rather than a Saturday and then a Friday, et cetera. The short weeks are what gets hard.

I don't think there's any advantage to any of it. I do think early in the season if I'm going to do it I'd rather do it there because we do have a little time as a staff on Saturday to really evaluate the game, catch up, then you got a Sunday following that.

But I've gone into a lot of detail with our practice schedules already. It requires a lot of overtime work in the summer. So it is always going to be a challenge to play on a non-traditional day.

Q. Last year you played in stadiums that were basically empty. What was that like? How much are you looking forward to actually having crowds? How much does that add to the experience?

DEWAYNE CARTER: Yes, sir. Great question.

I mean, I've answered this earlier today, I said the most thing I'm looking forward to is having my mother and father back in the stands to witness a lot of my firsts which they missed last year.

It kind of weighs on you when you are at your home stadium, you got people doing the wave, but it's cardboard cutouts. You know how the crowd can play into momentum swings in a game, everything else that goes into it. It's going to be a great feeling.

Q. Chris and Victor moved onto the NFL. What did you take away from them on and off the field?

DEWAYNE CARTER: Most importantly on the field, I took away from both of those guys how they pursue the quarterback, how they pursue the running back, how they give their all every snap no matter what the score may be.

And then off the field in the film room, I have a very intelligent position coach named Benjamin Albert who imparts that knowledge on them, and then seeing how they carry themselves in the film room, how they prepare, how they study teams, how they study scheme, how they study individual players. It's kind of something that stuck with me from day one. That's really what I took most away from them.

Q. Every school that you face has an experienced quarterback. I don't think I've ever seen so much quarterback experience before. How does that complicate your preparation as a defensive player?

DEWAYNE CARTER: Yes, sir. Actually going back to my recruiting days, my parents and I, we talked about how the ACC is so wide open, it's straight athletes back there.

Pursuing the quarterback week in and week out will be something we prep for every single year, but this year in specific. I mean, you got guys from UNC, Miami, Georgia Tech, whoever it may be, we game plan, put in different schemes, different games. You have to adjust how you pursue the quarterback in terms of, when you do get back there on those wide-open things, you can't just run out because you know those guys will be able to spin, break more tackles. They're more elusive.

It plays into the mind game, the mental game of the game each week. So that's really what it is, more mental preparation from our coaches, which they do a great job.

Q. 419 points allowed last year. What are the key elements in practice this year to get that number as low as it can be on game day?

DEWAYNE CARTER: Yes, sir. This year what you're going to see from this defense is a defense that likes to fly around, run to the ball, play hard. We're going to be disciplined. Emphasis for us is tackling, as well as stopping the run. That's what we lacked in the back half of the season. This year our focus is disciplining, strength.

When we get down the line, you get in November, December, whatever it may be, we're not going to have those lapses.

Q. Last year you shared the backfield with Deon. How are you preparing this year to be the main focus of the backfield?

MATAEO DURANT: The key is more preparation. I still dig into Deon a lot. I call him. I ask him tips on how he prepared for the upcoming season. Now the onus is on me, as one of the oldest backs in the room, to help everyone prepare also.

Q. Gunnar Holmberg, this will be his first year. How has he looked to you during spring, off-season? Do you think he'll be ready to take on the leadership role as the quarterback of this team?

MATAEO DURANT: Yes, sir. Gunnar has always looked great. I've known Gunnar since a junior in high school. We always built that relationship.

Now I'm glad that he's going to be able to get the opportunity to showcase his skills because he's a very talented quarterback, he's an unquestionable leader, he always make sure the team is fine whether it's on the field or outside the field.

I'm ready for him to get his opportunity to shine.

Q. Without Deon, what have you done this off-season to prepare your body physically for the increased workload?

MATAEO DURANT: I just been able to get in prehab and rehab, make sure everything is great. Also get the younger players ready who are under me. You never know what's going to happen. Preparation is always key.

Me and the younger players will go out, do a lot of individual drills, a lot of things we need to work on prior to the season. That also help build the depth in the backfield, which we have.

Q. Going into this season knowing what you've been able to accomplish already at Duke, but having to share that backfield, leadership-wise where have you gained the most skill maybe on and off the field? What should we expect from you this year?

MATAEO DURANT: Leadership-wise I've grown as a leader being that I'm one of the most experienced backs in our running back room. I talk to a lot of younger players on things that we need on the field and outside the field because if you act right outside the field, that will relay over. We just building more trust and everything.

For the upcoming season, I'm just focused on winning as a team. The individual things come, but the most important thing is winning.

Q. How much does a crowd affect the way that you prepare, how well you play a game? How does that factor into it?

MATAEO DURANT: Crowd factor, you know, it's a big thing, especially when you going into stadiums like Virginia Tech and Miami. The crowd is always lively. It's just a discipline factor that you have to be able to lock in, know what your plays, game plan is, be prepared to run any plays you get.

Q. Your cousin Maddie almost made the Olympic team. Who is the best athlete in the family? You have a lot of college athletes over generations in your family. Do you take that for granted or does that motivate you?

GUNNAR HOLMBERG: First of all, I want to thank you for that article you wrote. That was a great article. I appreciate you telling my story, letting my mom get in on that. Maddie is a stud. We've all been track runners. I ran track up until high school. She's always been fast. We go against each other. I think nowadays she might get me. So I'll give that crown to Maddie.

Growing up, I think that's really what gave my love to college football, to football in general. Always hearing the stories about my uncle who played at Penn State, was a linebacker under Joe Paterno. I'm always learning from him, kind of wanting to see what that experience is like. Really cool to learn from.

Especially nowadays, he's a phone call away, I can reach out to him if I have any questions. Calming the nerves. He played quarterback in high school, but he was a linebacker, like I say, at Penn State. He knows a lot about football, if I have questions I can reach out to him. Definitely a good guy to have in my corner.

Q. David Cutcliffe has known how to train a quarterback or two. What is it like to have this coach at this position for you?

GUNNAR HOLMBERG: Yeah, I mean, it's pretty much the main reason I came to Duke, was to learn under Coach Cutcliffe. I got to meet Peyton and Eli over the weekend, going to the Manning Passing Academy, just seeing their knowledge on the game, it's like a mirror, all stuff I heard from Coach Cut. It's good to see, seeing it come to fruition, see how real it is.

Learning from Daniel was really cool, seeing the way he attacked the film room, seeing the way he worked, off the field, the way he treated people, I think was big-time. It's all the stuff that Coach Cut preaches.

Really being able to see guys put into the real world and on the field is big-time. Just really grateful to be underneath him.

Q. I got to see some of your games in high school. I remember against Wake Forest High School you led two impressive touchdown drives. Three-time state champion.

GUNNAR HOLMBERG: Yeah, they were.

Q. Talk about the learning curve from that moment, which was a pretty high level, to being the quarterback at Duke University? What have you had to absorb and adapt to?

GUNNAR HOLMBERG: I think just knowing everybody in this league is going to be very talented, similar to Wake Forest High School, talented team, Dexter Lawrence and all them went there. Playing against them was always a really good time.

I think even now, my freshman year, understanding how much you have to learn not even the opposing team's defense but your own offense, just how long that takes to learn and the learning curve in that. Seeing a guy like Daniel who just had total command over it, Quentin Harris, their command over the offense I think was big-time.

Yeah, like I say, even the time it took for me to get here, I've always said it's a blessing in disguise, just from giving me time to be able to be very comfortable with our offense. I've been in the system enough to where I've seen what type of defenses guys in our division play, be comfortable with them, familiar with them.

Like I say, the learning curve, it took a little bit. Like I said, I think learning from guys before me helped out a lot.

Q. It's highly publicized, the adversity you've had to deal with off the field, family, injuries. How has everything you've been through off the field prepared you for the next challenge, a starting quarterback in the ACC?

GUNNAR HOLMBERG: I think that goes a long way, dealing with adversity throughout your life. I've always said it, when you go to college, college football, the program you walk into, it's probably never going to go the way you planned it.

I think I learned that from Dan, Quentin, hearing their stories, even people within my family that have played college football, played a bunch of sports, seeing the adversity they've gone through, how you handle it.

I think you also have to step back from the game, understand it's really just the game you love, the game you grew up playing. Just really enjoy it, embrace it. Like I say, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I'm just trying to enjoy the ride while I'm here.

Q. What adjustments of your game have you been most focused on refining as you prepare for stepping into the starting role?

GUNNAR HOLMBERG: Yeah, I think just being consistent and being confident, whether that's telling the play to the guys in the huddle, being consistent with things like accuracy. Ball security was of course a big focus for us in spring coming off this season. Really just being a guy that guys on the team can ask any question to regarding the offense, whether that's an O-lineman, running back, wide receiver, always making sure I have the right answer to that so I can help them out. Continue to fill my shoes as the leader of this team the upcoming season.

Q. Beyond points on the scoreboard, how do you define 'win'?

GUNNAR HOLMBERG: Yeah, I think you define 'win', of course what Coach Cut says, points per game. I think it's also what you take out of that game, what you learn from it. If you lose a game, a close game, which pretty much every game in this division is going to be a close game coming down to the fourth quarter, you have to learn to take away from that kind of your mistakes, what you did well. I think you can learn a lot from your team, kind of the style that you guys want to play from that.

But like I say, I think it all comes down to what you can take away from that game, implement that into your next week, try to build on wins. At the end of the day that's what we're playing for.

Q. Where does your team stand with vaccinations, percentages, how that helps you move forward with a potentially normal fall?

BRONCO MENDENHALL: The University of Virginia has a unique policy. I'm not sure how widespread it is. All students are required to be vaccinated before they come back to Charlottesville. There are possibly two exemptions. Medical exemption is possibly one of them, religious exemption is the other. We don't make those decisions, the university does.

Every player on my team has 100% been vaccinated or been granted the exemption at this point.

Q. Five years and change now as you head into year number six. What can you say about assessing these last five years and what you've seen out of yourself as well as from what your plan was when you came in?

BRONCO MENDENHALL: Assessment and development would be growth and progress. In terms of the timing, I expected our year two to be year one. So year one in Charlottesville was year two post-season, year three was a bowl game victory, year four was the Coastal Championship then to the Orange Bowl, which is a pretty aggressive ascent in four years. I'm not sure where to put the COVID year right now other than in its own category.

Really I would view it as if we were going to a play where we've seen act one, four years, with the COVID not necessarily being intermission, but some different category, now act two is coming, which is the next four years.

I think aggressive success, incremental improvement, and now to apply the learnings from the COVID year will really determine the next four years, including the one coming up.

Q. Virginia gave up 304 yards a game last year. That's not characteristic of your defenses at all. How did it happen? Maybe COVID had something to do with it. What is the off-season tale to fix that problem?

BRONCO MENDENHALL: The biggest determinant on outcomes of games in the COVID year was our secondary's play, yards led to points in the secondary. A little bit of carryover from the year before. I would say the last year and a half.

The Orange Bowl year and our Coastal Championship, the end of that year injuries started to happen. There was a significant dropoff in our defensive performance. Some of those same issues occurred in the COVID year as well. Health, depth, then possibly implementation of I would say the best players at the best time, keeping them healthy, will have a lot to do with our success defensively.

So a characteristic, about a year and a half's worth of a similar result, starting with injury, then possibly not innovating far enough to address the injuries is how I would assess it.

Q. I'm a big Rocky Long fan.

BRONCO MENDENHALL: Me, too (smiling).

Q. I predict much improvement from New Mexico this year with the defense. I want to know his influence on you and his overall impact as a great defensive mind and how it's impacted you in your career.

BRONCO MENDENHALL: Thanks for the question. The coach that's had the most influence on me as head coach, but also maybe more importantly as a defensive coordinator, which I held both roles for a long time. Most of what I learned that was positive and effective about defensive football came from Rocky.

He thrives on an effort-based system, blitzing and unique looks that really are unidentifiable prior to the snap. But really the mindset is what sets his defenses apart besides the innovation.

That served me so well. His system, the 3-3-5, has been replicated and is having and has had a lot of success. It's what I chose to run at Brigham Young University when I first arrived there. The roots of that still have led to I would say my success as a head football coach. So I would attribute it directly to his influence.

No question at New Mexico they'll have more success, so Danny Gonzales, who is the head coach, was my graduate assistant when I was at New Mexico. I coached him as well as being a GA for me. Rocky taught me basically, I coached and taught Danny. It's really fun to see the next generation kind of emerging.

I love the idea of succession planning grown from within. Almost all of my coaches played for me or were GA, so I love that model. Really so much of it came through expectations. Rocky just would not tolerate you not trying hard. He could tolerate a lot of other things, but if you did not try hard, that was not okay.

I've loved and embraced that philosophy ever since.

Q. The team really struggled away last year despite the lack of fans. What do you think about the impact of fans coming back not only to Scott Stadium but to opposing stadiums as well?

BRONCO MENDENHALL: Our current program goes more than the pandemic year. 17-2 is what our record has been at home, we're second to last in the ACC in my tenure on the road. It's not just a pandemic-specific thing. Our program has been built very intentionally to become dominant at home, then we have to expand and be exceptional own the road.

The year we won the Coastal Division, again we were dominant at home, beat not only Pitt but UNC on the road. That's about what the model has called for on the Coastal Division where you have to be excellent at home and at least 50% on the road.

We are currently not doing that. That's the next level of expansion, to have consistency in our program, to maintain what we're already doing at home, which is very strong, then that has to travel, and that hasn't yet. That's one of the areas of growth. And it wasn't pandemic-specific.

Q. You've added some faces through the transfer portal, obviously some new faces coming in. In the secondary you have a couple new guys, potentially you could classify Ronnie Walker Jr. as a new transfer. How do some of these players fit into the system and what do you expect from them this season?

BRONCO MENDENHALL: I think framing how we consider a possible graduate transfer, and I love the idea of a grad transfer knowing that they have completed their eligibility but also have graduated, which is the primary reason to go to college anyway. So I love acknowledging and looking there because they've already shown, they've grasped the idea of doing both things that are really important.

But then it comes to, I think any one of us in any capacity wants to be needed and wanted. I won't consider a graduate transfer that we don't really need, but then I better like him as a person, otherwise what is a grind that is to be with someone you don't like every day. Those two criteria have to be met.

In Jelani's case at tight end, really a good fit and really a good player. We've already seen that in the fall. In the secondary, back to one of the first questions we had, we learned that injuries matter and that secondary controls points. We haven't been quite deep enough.

So we look to the grad transfer market to add some depth and stability, knowing that football is a physical game and injuries can happen. In a secondary, wow, does that affect outcome. So we needed more depth there, which we got.

Each of the choices have been specific, intentional, but also the players know they could be valued and have a chance to upgrade a role than maybe what they had elsewhere.

It really ends up being a win-win. Then a chance for a graduate degree at UVA, that's rocket fuel for their future. Besides football, it's a great thing.

Q. We've seen a lot of quarterbacks today, wide receivers, running backs, safeties, linebackers. Leads me to ask the question, how do you feel about your special teams this year?

BRONCO MENDENHALL: To be determined. So the reason you're asking is we're losing our place kicker and we're losing our punter. To be determined. Really like Justin Duenkel. He was our kickoff player last year, but he earned the job in the spring, which isn't the fall yet, in handling our PATs and field goals as well. Justin Duenkel could be handling all place kicking responsibilities.

Then our punter, Brendan Farrell, I really liked what I saw from him in the spring, but we did add a grad transfer. How far you kick the ball in field position does matter. A graduate transfer from Florida has arrived. There will be competition there.

What I've learned over time is competition usually drives performance. It doesn't allow complacency. Especially in positions of vital impact, yeah, we need that when we punt the football.

We haven't named a punter yet. We'll find out. Justin has the spot through spring. He has to carry it through the fall.

The return game is a whole other issue. Yeah, don't know yet on the returner other than Billy Kemp is our punt returner. Don't have a kickoff returner yet.

Q. You spoke about your grad transfers. One of those guys in the secondary is Josh Hayes from North Dakota State. Speak on his role for the team, what he brings to your locker room.

BRONCO MENDENHALL: Yeah, a pretty simple principle as well I use when considering grad transfers. If I don't think they can start, I won't bring them. When you've played and been successful in a current institution, which he has, three FCS championship games, being a starter, doing really well, doesn't make sense to consider a player like that as a backup, really, or any grad transfer.

Again, we're looking to improve our play in the secondary, improve our play at corner and to improve our play, quite frankly, in managing points and yards through the air. We think, from what we've seen, he could do all of those things, will add a lot of value to us.

But then leadership skills and work ethic, all those intangibles -- kind of back to if I don't like a player, I don't want to be around him every day, I won't bring him -- instantly liked Josh and who he is. He's been a seamless fit to our program. So really excited about him.

Q. How much more comfortable are you now going into your second year as a starter compared to last year?

BRENNAN ARMSTRONG: Yeah, I would say just a lot more comfortable. We got our five O-line returners. A lot of chemistry being built in the spring ballgame, just spring practices. Yeah, just games under my belt. I think games under my belt helps a lot.

Just a huge jump from first to second year already, just through spring ball, having that time with the receivers, just the guys. Yeah, just a lot, lot more comfortable.

Q. Very rare that a team brings two quarterbacks to this event. That says a lot about what coach thinks about you. Talk about the relationship between the two of you. What kind of challenges did the two you of filling some very big shoes from Bryce?

BRENNAN ARMSTRONG: Me and KT, man, when we jumped in together, he came in from Mississippi State, we started having our competition, just like any other place would. Once I got the spot, we had KT just start doing a lot of other different things.

Me and KT's relationship developed a lot through this past fall season. We were texting each other all the time, just like we're staying in there, hang in there, we're just going to keep pushing and pushing and pushing. We have some great texts. I actually will hold on to those for a long time.

Yeah, our relationship is a lot, a lot better than what it started off to be obviously. I'm super excited where we are now with him because he plays a huge impact in our offense.

Q. What does KT do for this offense, the ability to utilize you both, how multi-layered and dangerous does that make you?

BRENNAN ARMSTRONG: It's dangerous. It's hard to prepare for I feel like. With him being able to do a lot of stuff, him able to hop at quarterback, me maybe hop out of quarterback, little things allow that, just hard to prepare for. Different motions with him coming in the backfield, leaving the backfield. Just a lot of stuff that can go on. He can to it all. Run, throw, rush, it doesn't matter.

It's just a hard thing for teams to prepare for. We're going to use that to the best of our ability to make that hard for teams to prepare for.

Q. Going into the season a lot of people thought Lavel was going to be the number one target. His injury, things are shaken up in the wide receiver corps. Who has stood out that you've been able to connect with? What role do you see Billy Kemp continuing to play, considering the production he had last season?

BRENNAN ARMSTRONG: Like I said, spring ball has been huge for us. Ra'Shaun Henry, Tayvion Wicks, Jelani Woods, Billy Kemp always. We've just created a huge chemistry, a lot of chemistry being built.

Ra'Shaun surprised a lot of us, I think everybody can say that. Ra'Shaun Henry surprised a bunch of us in spring ball, made a lot of balls, a lot of big plays.

Billy Kemp is going to always be there. Does what he does, he's going to be in every game no matter the highs or lows of games, he's always going to be there. Can always trust in him.

Ra'Shaun Henry was a huge surprise for us. Pretty excited to see him on the field.

Q. In 2019 you missed four games due to injury. In 2020 you were named a co-captain. What does this say about your approach to the game even while sidelined that earned you a spot as captain?

BRENNAN ARMSTRONG: I would just say I grew up in a small town, worked pretty hard, just have kind of what I do, work ethic is kind of what I try to stand for. I work hard. That just speaks for itself. I felt like the team kind of saw that. I guess that's kind of how I earned the co-captain award last year.

I think, yeah, just working hard always gets you where you need to be. Sometimes words doesn't always speak. Obviously actions speak louder than words. Yeah, kind of what I stand by.

Q. Kind of losing your partner in crime in Snowden, who have you been looking at on the field that has now been your shoulder to lean on as a leader on this team?

JOEY BLOUNT: Name off a couple guys that I'm looking for some leadership qualities and mentality. I'm going to have to say Nick Jackson, phenomenal season last year as our Mike backer. Was one of the top ACC performers in tackling. Really showed us he's a defender that everyone needs to take account for.

But also I want to say Nick Grant, as well, at corner. He came in last year, had a pretty good season, made some plays. But I think me and him both are trying to prove a lot this year, trying to set up the next generation at UVA. Trying to leave this place better than we found it together.

Q. Your father, Tony, played at UVA as well, defensive back. You spoke about the next generation. You kind of fit that. Speak about anything that your father has told you while playing DB?

JOEY BLOUNT: I mean, I wouldn't be the player I am without my dad, that's for sure. He kind of taught me the ins-and-outs, basic techniques about defense, really transitioning those to high school and to the college level.

Definitely got to a certain point where he wasn't coaching me as hands on, more just took the father role, let the coaches coach me.

But playing similar positions, like you said, we both played safety here at UVA, he's kind of just guided me through this way. Let this be my own journey, though.

One thing I'd like to state, making the decision to come to UVA was mine and mine only. He made that very clear that he had his journey set out and his path was already made, and he wanted me to make my own journey and set out my own legacy for myself. Nonetheless, I'm proud to be his son and blessed to be at UVA.

Q. Bronco, just what he's meant to this team, what he means to you as a leader, what you can say it is to be in the locker room with Bronco?

JOEY BLOUNT: I mean, Coach Mendenhall means I guess the world to me. He gave me the opportunity to come to UVA and showcase my abilities. I have a quick story about Coach Mendenhall that I'll share real fast.

I remember being recruited to UVA. It was like a junior day visit. Happened all the time. Came to a basketball game. Pretty sure it was UVA versus either Duke or North Carolina. I got called down to like an underground office under the stadium with my dad. Coach Mendenhall was talking with my dad. He handed me a sheet of paper to read out loud.

Of course I was nervous reading in front of a head coach. I wanted to make sure my words were right, I wasn't stumbling on everything.

I read this document. I'm with my dad. And at the -- pretty much the last paragraph, it just stated: We want to offer you a full scholarship, essentially, to the University of Virginia.

I remember looking up, in that moment, like -- I looked at my dad, my dad was crying, I'm crying, Coach Mendenhall was just proud, smiling at me, saying that it's not just about football here, it's about becoming an all-around man, a good human being.

At that moment I felt like there was more purpose in life than just football. It's been a constant struggle honestly with football ups and downs, trying to find purpose in that.

But Coach Mendenhall really meant the world to me and still does. He's giving me opportunities day in and day out to be the best person I can be.

Q. With your injuries last year, what was your approach in staying mentally sharp given those challenges, and given the challenges of the world?

JOEY BLOUNT: I think 2020 was crazy for everybody. But I may have had a crazier year with football, like you stated. I dealt with bad injuries to my legs. That kind of prevented me from playing in my senior year.

But nonetheless, with everything going around, trying to stay mentally sharp, I knew I was not just by myself, but with the team. I was really trying to influence and encourage all the guys stepping up to positions they were playing, first-time starters, playing in positions that I played in.

I have a lot of experience in the secondary, so trying to pass on those knowledge and keep myself mentally sharp, to lead the team not only the field but take a position off the field or maybe like a sideline leadership.

With that all being said, it wasn't an easy task. I did my best. I hope I did it well enough to pass on good knowledge to everyone else.

Q. You're a wild card of this offense. Bring me into what you can do. Brennan spoke about it a little bit. What are you looking forward to, what you truly bring to 2021?

KEYTAON THOMPSON: Appreciate it. I can do whatever you need me to do. That's the whole idea (smiling).

Just going out there, taking whatever my coaches give me, really be humble about it, really focus in on attention to detail, just taking the coaching.

I feel like we have a great set of coaches. I wouldn't be able to do what I do without our coaches. They coach me to do my task the right way. I'm just able to pick up on that and go on with it and execute on the field.

I think it's a big credit to my coaches for just being able to coach me to do all these different things.

Q. What has that experience been like? You seem to be having a good time today. The bow tie. Has your approach changed at all knowing the difficulties that everybody went through last season? Changed the way you look at the game and how you get ready?

KEYTAON THOMPSON: I really been having a lot of fun today. But, yeah, nothing has really changed. I've been enjoying myself. As far as like off-season preparation and workouts, Coastal is tough. That's definitely been on my mind a lot. Last season did not go the way we wanted it to go. Obviously we knew we had to work hard and amp it up this off-season.

Other than that, just being intensified and just taking workouts, the off-season workouts, serious, trying to get myself in the best physical shape possible to help my team.

Q. Tell me about your reaction to the NIL law, what that is going to open up for you, how you're pursuing those opportunities.

KEYTAON THOMPSON: I think NIL is great. It's great for college football, the athletes at least. As of now, it's a lot of rules and regulations around that. You don't want to get caught up getting in any allegations or any ineligibility because of NIL.

As of right now I'm keeping the main thing the main thing, just trying to focus on myself. I feel like as long as we ball out and get victories, everything will take care of itself when the season come.

Q. You wear No. 99. With the NIL, stuff going on, have you thought about marketing No. 99? 99 things you cause defensive coordinator or anything like that?

KEYTAON THOMPSON: I've thought about it a little bit here and there. Like I answered before, I haven't given much thought to the NIL. I have a lot going on right now with school and football. I'm just trying to take care of that first before I get into the NIL thing.

Good question, though (smiling).

Q. Does losing to your in-state rival for the final game of the season, not reaching a bowl game, sit with you during the off-season?

KEYTAON THOMPSON: Of course. We definitely didn't want to lose that game. I don't know if you know, I broke my ribs in that last game. That was really painful. I couldn't move. I couldn't work out for a nice amount of time after the game. That was all I was really able to think about, was our rival game, being at that game for a long time.

Of course it sat with me. It's motivated me throughout this off-season to push myself, be the best that I can be. I'm looking forward to the next game.

Q. How are the ribs and the health now? If you are 100%, when did you feel like you got back to 100%?

KEYTAON THOMPSON: I'm feeling great now actually. I would say just got back to 100% probably about a month ago. I mean, I've been able to work out for a long, long time. I've been working out and doing stuff. Still had a little pain. No surgery, so they have to heal naturally. It's just dealing with the pain.

It's pretty much subsided all the way. I'm feeling great, ready to get into fall camp, build that chemistry with my guys, get into the season 100% healthy.

Q. Going into Georgia Tech, you had to change the culture, obviously change what it looks like on the field. Where are things at in your opinion?

GEOFF COLLINS: It's an exciting time. We've got 14 new guys that came in in January. The way the culture is set up, how we approach our daily life in our organization, in our building, is completely set. They've done a great job bringing the guys in.

Last year we had a bunch of true freshmen play. Starting quarterback Jeff Sims was a true freshmen. Jahmyr Gibbs started for us at right tackle. Jordan Williams started for us as a true freshmen. I think it was reranked as the eighth ranked recruiting class that played for us last year.

This will be our second recruiting class full that will be reporting in two weeks, preseason camp. Just excited to get to work with them. Coach Caralla, our head strength coach, does a tremendous job with our guys, how we work, how we're developed. Just excited to be back on the grass with them.

Q. NIL, what your approach is, how you're guiding your players through that process?

GEOFF COLLINS: Absolutely. I appreciate it. Let me first say this is the first picture in the last three days that I'm the tallest one on the picture. So I appreciate the ACC doing that so I'm not clowned on social media about all my guys being so much taller than me. Anyway, I digress (smiling).

One of the first things is the mechanism that we have in place to educate our guys, put them in a really good position. We started a 404 Academy. We've had educational sessions in person, via Zoom, to educate them in every way that they can to market themselves, brand themselves, position themselves in this space to maximize all the opportunities. I think those mechanisms are very important.

The thing that I think is the most important, though, is our commitment as an organization to support our guys, be fully invested in this space and help them maximize every single opportunity to elevate their brand, to position themselves through content, and living in the great city of Atlanta, all of the opportunities that they have available to them, them understanding how deeply invested we are in this space for them.

Q. You have a kid who transferred from Maryland to you guys this year. Talk about him coming to you. What does he bring to the team? His father used to be a Morgan State head coach.

GEOFF COLLINS: We have Ace, a linebacker, he'll be up here a little bit. 6'4", 235 pounds. The impact that he has made in our culture, our locker room. We had every single player in the organization vote for the captains for the spring game. The three that are here with me today were voted captain. Ace was one of them, who was a transfer from the Big Ten, just has done a tremendous job learning our culture, enhancing our culture, elevating it. Just a tremendous young man.

Great player first and foremost, but an even better person in how he comes to work every single day. Has been phenomenal.

We have another transfer from the Big Ten, Kyric McGowan from Northwestern, graduated from Northwestern University, played in two Big Ten Championship games, slot receiver, running back, wildcat, quarterback, kick returner, punt returner, all those things, and Kyric has done a masterful job, work ethic, attention to detail, what it takes to take that next step in our program and in our development. So I'm fired up that we have both those guys with us.

Q. Looking at this offense, making that change, going through a COVID year, obviously affects you trying to change what Georgia Tech looks like. Where are things at as you head into the fall? How much did the COVID year affect what you were trying to do?

GEOFF COLLINS: We're excited about where we are. We had three true freshmen start for us on offense last year: Jordan Williams at offensive tackle, Jahmyr Gibbs at running back, Jeff Sims at quarterback. And just the growth and development they've made in our program since January is staggering.

Dave Patenaude, our offensive coordinator, his office is about 10 yards away from mine. Over the last seven months, there's not been a day that I've walked past his office and Jeff Sims is not in that room, watching tape, studying the playbook, learning defenses, the rotation of coverages, where the pressure is coming, how to redirect the protections. Those things are huge.

Then Jahmyr Gibbs, J.P. Mason, our running backs, both got nominated for the Doak Walker award. Well deserving for both of them. You also look at Jamious Griffin at running back, Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Georgia returns for us. Dontae Smith at running back as well does a tremendous job on special teams and as an explosive play-maker whenever he gets the ball in his hands. I think that combination is really good.

The offensive line that Brent Key has recruited, developed, is in a position to help us take that next big step. I'm excited.

Q. What can you learn about yourself in 2020? What about the education of Geoff Collins is going to thrust you into '21?

GEOFF COLLINS: Just fired up about it. So many things you had to be fluid and flexible in COVID, during that last season. But I think the biggest piece, too, is understanding the attention to detail, our focus pre-snap, post-snap. I think we were one of the most penalized teams in the conference. Had a lot of turnovers, finishing in the red zone. All of those things we have to take care of to make sure we're taking the next step in the development of our program.

Q. You talked about Jahmyr, you also have your quarterback Jeff here as well. Both of those guys can do so much on the field. Can you speak about how dangerous those two guys are and what they can do together?

GEOFF COLLINS: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's a dynamic duo within our league, within our team. But one of my favorite things about both of them are how selfless they are, how team-focused they are, giving other people the shine, other people the credit.

When you have two of your most high-profile players are also two of your hardest workers, and also two of your guys that come to work every single day with a tremendous attitude, elevating others around them, I think it sets up for something special.

We're all lucky that we get to coach them and they're in our organization.

Q. You mentioned the red zone. Last year 121st in red zone efficiency. What is going to be the key this year to being more productive inside the 20?

GEOFF COLLINS: I think the biggest thing, too, is the situational awareness piece. Playing with a lot of young guys, some self-inflicted things that ended up happening to us, especially when we got down into the red zone. We play UCF game two, top-10 team, we got inside the 10-yard line three times in the first three drives, come up with seven points. Those educational pieces, those experiences, understanding how impactful they are.

We've spent a lot of time in the off-season educating our guys, the penalty piece, pre-snap and post-snap, taking care of the football at every level of our offense and even on defense as well, then finishing in the red zone on offense, staying down there, preserving the right to kick a field goal if needed. But we want to punch it in and get touchdowns. Then defensively slamming the door if people do get down into the red zone. Those are the three biggest things we've talked about as an organization this entire off-season.

Q. Chemistry and science is such a delicate balance, making sure you have the right mixture. With the popularity of the transfer portal, how tough is it to keep a balance of chemistry every season within a football program?

GEOFF COLLINS: Yeah, one of the biggest pieces is this was the largest influx of transfers that we've taken back in January. Even there's going to be a couple more that have come in since June, a couple more that will be here first day of school.

But just the way the culture is set, the way our organization is built, understanding exactly what we are, everybody open the same mission, having a common goal, understanding exactly how we do things within our organization from the weight room, from the training room, even in the dining hall, recovery, they understand full well exactly what the expectations are.

So now when you bring some guys in from other places, you've got a collective group that are teaching them our culture, how we do things. I think we're in a position in the program that we were able to bring guys like that, and they've made a tremendous impact in our program.

Q. You mentioned the offensive line. You talked about them wanting to take the next step. What does that look like for you in terms of performance and production?

GEOFF COLLINS: Absolutely. Since January making sure we're being able to interchange pieces across the front, just tremendous size that we've gained, either developed or through recruiting, making sure that a guy like Jordan Williams who started almost exclusively at right tackle last season gets some experience on the inside.

Same thing with Ryan Johnson, him being able to do a couple different things. So the position flexibility piece across the front five has been huge. Just having a full breadth and depth of our offense, schematics. We have Brent Key, one of the top offensive line coaches in all of college football, has done a tremendous job recruiting and developing and building a culture within our culture that is really positive.

One of the biggest things that I said for two and a half years in our organization is once the big guys in our program are the leaders setting the culture, setting the tempo, reinforcing all of our values, we've got a chance to be really, really good. I think we're at that position right now with the trust, the work ethic, the ability to move people and to pass protect at a high level is going to pay off. So really excited about that group.

Q. You've stepped into a huge role at Georgia Tech, leadership position. Talk about the development of yourself at Georgia Tech over the last seven months.

AYINDE ELEY: My teammates, they have welcomed me with open arms as soon as I came in the door on the first day. So that's what really helped me to step into a leadership role, is just their support, them allowing me to step into a leadership role.

Since they allowed me to step into that leadership role, I just tried to be the best leader I can for them. It just all comes down to my teammates and everything. I'm just so happy I get to play with them. I just can't wait till we roll it out and I can play with them.

Q. Talk about your father. He was a well-known coach at Morgan State. What did he teach you growing up, as a player, a football player?

AYINDE ELEY: I think at a young age I learned early that you have to fall in love with the process in this sport. The Saturdays and the games, the accolades everything, that's fun, but that's only a couple times throughout the week, a couple times throughout your career. The process is really what makes great players great, what separates you.

You just got to fall in love with the film watching, the recovery, the running, the workouts, the stuff that you get frustrated with when you can't do it. You got to fall in love with that type of stuff. That's what makes you the best player you can be. I feel like that's what he taught me at a young age.

Q. Going from Maryland to Georgia Tech, what made this the right fit for you? What made the most sense to come to Georgia Tech when you had so many different suitors?

AYINDE ELEY: The situations matched up. David Curry, a great linebacker at Georgia Tech, great leader and everything, he was leaving. There was a role there that was open, that I decided to step into. Just the situations, just the atmosphere, it just matched.

Talking to Coach Collins, Coach Thacker, talking to the guys, it was just a match. I just felt like that's where I was meant to be. I feel like it's one of the best decisions I made in a long time to come here.

Q. Do you feel like being in Atlanta opens up more opportunities with all that's going on in that market, given, post NIL, the doors that opens for you?

AYINDE ELEY: Yeah, Atlanta itself, even if you weren't a college football player, anything you do in marketing, Atlanta is a good place for you just to get your name out there. You walk the streets of Atlanta, you'll see a famous person, a celebrity, somebody that can help you help yourself.

I just like with the NIL coming out and everything, I feel like Atlanta's a great place for marketing, just to go around, just so many people there, so many different types of people that you can get into a lot of stuff and everything, especially with the NIL and stuff.

Q. A lot of people watch your tape, looking at it I've heard a lot of comparisons to Lamar Jackson. How do you feel about getting that kind of comparison to a league MVP and a guy that's so electric and a dual-threat in the league?

JEFF SIMS: It's definitely something that I look at and just smile at. At the end of the day, I don't like being compared to anybody because I feel like I'm my own player. But being compared to a player like that is definitely an honor because in my eyes he's a great player, he's one of the quarterbacks that I look up to. Yeah, that's an honor to be compared to him.

Q. What are we going to see the biggest jump from year one, year two when it comes to Jeff Sims?

JEFF SIMS: Just a more comfortable feel for me, just going out there and playing ball how I've been doing since I was seven, not thinking as much, just going out there and having fun, doing what I do.

Q. The center plays a big role in getting the offense started before the snap. What have you seen from your center improvement from last year to this year?

JEFF SIMS: Yeah, with both Mikey and Will, they're both great workers. They keep their head down and they work. They're in the film room learning a lot. They just make sure everything runs smoothly, making sure they know the protection, making sure they run the offensive line, making sure everything's orchestrated.

Q. What are two things you've worked on the most that you feel like is going to make a difference come game time this fall?

JEFF SIMS: One of the biggest things I've worked on this off-season was getting better mentally, staying in the film room, learning all I can. That's one big thing that you will definitely need as a quarterback.

Then the second thing would be my accuracy, just working on those mechanics, staying accurate and being consistent.

Q. Five rushing touchdowns for the season last year, 53 yards rushed per game. Ground game and air attack are obviously physically different. What is it about preparing for running and throwing that might be mentally different?

JEFF SIMS: When you're preparing for running and throwing, I mean, at the end of the day you are going to have to know you're going to have to run. Just preparing yourself for that, knowing there's going to be situations where you got to get out of the pocket and make a play...

Q. For you last season, you don't have fans out there. What did you take away from that? What are you most looking forward to?

JEFF SIMS: It was definitely a lot to learn from last year. There was definitely a lot of things that I watched from last year that helps me improve this year.

Just looking back on last year, I'm glad I got that opportunity to get my feet wet, get that experience under my belt to come harder for the second year.

Q. Last year 13 interceptions. How do you mentally kind of discipline yourself not to take those chances and secure the football more?

JEFF SIMS: Yeah, that's something that definitely has been in my head a lot last year and this year just because I'm very hard on myself. That to me is very unacceptable.

So just going out there and going in the film room, watching like how I made those mistakes last year, what happened on those plays to lead to those. Just going in there, fixing that, getting those mental reps.

Q. Coach talked about the importance of improving efficiency in the red zone. As the quarterback, what falls to you to make sure if you don't get the seven, at least you get the three?

JEFF SIMS: Really everything falls to me because I control the offense, I control what goes on. So just from an execution standpoint we just got to get better at that.

That's something that we've worked on in the spring. We'll have red zone periods in practice where we work on just scoring the ball, making sure that we executing in the red zone, not make as many mistakes.

Q. Heading into the season last year was so difficult for you guys. How is your whole mindset different two weeks out from camp versus a year ago?

JUANYEH THOMAS: We just look back at how it was last year battling COVID and stuff. We just look at it now to see how blessed we are and what we have came from. We are happy to be in the position that we are in now.

Q. Last year the secondary was banged up most of the year. How is the health of the secondary now? What jump in performance do you expect from them this year?

JUANYEH THOMAS: Yeah, we were battling a lot of injuries last year. Good thing now is everybody's healthy. What people can look for is more healthy and a more better secondary, having everybody back, having Tariq along me healthy again is going to be a big gift for us.

We're going to try to make a lot of plays with everybody being healthy now.

Q. Looking at name, image and likeness, it's something you have to think about. Student-athletes of all different sports, all over the country. What thoughts have come to your mind? You're essentially a small business, every player is now. How do you look at that?

JUANYEH THOMAS: Yeah, it's a good thing for us. It's a good way to make money off of your name to help your family and all.

Honestly, I really do think it's a great thing. But for me, I'm not really paying attention to that right now. The focus on us and Georgia Tech, we're just trying to win this year, so...

Q. As a true freshman in 2018, your numbers were really solid. You didn't have that transition issue from high school to college. Every year your numbers continue to get better. What is it about football that just comes natural to you, at least from what it seems on paper?

JUANYEH THOMAS: You just learn. Every year you just got to look at what you messed up on that year so the next year you don't make those mistakes. Growing from that and looking back at that, that helps me get better every year.

You know what I'm saying? Just having in your brain to make plays every year, you will just go up from there.