Addazio Weekly Press Conference: Virginia Tech

Boston College Football
Head Coach Steve Addazio | Monday, September 12, 2016
Weekly Press Conference Transcript

Opening statement …
"Just a recap of last week. I think we had an outstanding defensive effort again. We held them to 122 yards – we talked about that – minus-23 yards rushing, 145 yards passing. We had five PBUs, eight sacks, two explosive passes. We had an interception. There were no touchdowns in the red zone. Offensively, we had 344 yards of offense. We threw the ball for 191, rushed it for 153. We had seven explosives in the passing game, which is pretty good for us. We scored in the red zone: one touchdown, one field goal in the red zone. I thought we played hard. I thought offensively we needed to run the ball better than we did, so I thought that was important. We've got to get that going, so I was disappointed there. I was happy with the way we closed out. I'm happy with the development of our throw game. I'm really happy with the development of our defense. Fundamentally, our defense is much-improved. We've grown with great technique, not just scheme, but fundamentals. I think you can grow and get better when you do that, so I was pleased with that. As we move forward here getting ready to play Virginia Tech, which is an ACC game down in Blacksburg – which everybody knows is a tough environment to go into. On defense, Bud Foster is still their defensive coordinator, which is really an outstanding one. He's one of the best defensive coordinators in the country. Last year they finished third against the pass and 18th in total defense. To their top players, I don't want to mess up anybody's name, but I've seen them three years running here. Number 54, their middle backer, is a heck of a player. Number 19, Chuck Clark, the free safety and the defensive end, number 4 (Ken Ekanem), I think those guys are really fine players. They're back. They're really going to be a problem, a real problem, on defense. They can run, they play a lot of multiple defense and they give you a lot of issues. Offensively, obviously we all saw Jarod Evans out there. I thought he did a great job. We watched him on TV last week. I think he's an explosive guy. They're going at a fast tempo. The running back, Trevon McMillan, a dynamic runner. He's got really good speed. I recruited Sam Rogers when I was at Temple. He went there as a walk-on and then ended up being a fantastic football player for them. They've got him in a bunch of different roles. He's a fullback kind of guy. Very good football players. Isaiah Ford, the receiver, 6-2, 195-pound guy, really good receiver. They've got weapons. This is a team that has been maturing their offensive line. They're starting to have an older group of offensive linemen now so this is an offensive that has been growing up, a little bit of growing up, a bit. Bucky (Hodges), they're using him all over the field. Just a really good football player. I'm impressed by them … Bucky Hodges, he's a heck of a football player. He's been playing for a while. He's kind of a hybrid kind of tight end kind of a guy who can be flexed out as a receiver, can be close to the line, can do a lot of different things. So this is an explosive team offensively. It's an explosive team defensively. There's really good talent on both sides of the ball and the environment they play in is exceptional. This will be a tough, tough road trip. I feel like we've been on the road a while. Last week wasn't real far on the road, but we're on the road for our third week right now. We've got to sure up and take care of the things we need to take care of. We've got to sure up our run game on offense, and on defense we've got to continue to be multiple as we are. I think as we can keep growing and developing this team we're going to continue to get better."

On the team's injury status …
"Everybody seems to be doing pretty good, to tell you the truth. We should hopefully be at full strength. It's yet to be determined, but that's the plan."

If kicker Colton Lichtenberg will be ready for Saturday …
"I think he will be, but Mike Knoll did a great job for us. We'll be ready to roll there."

Will Mike Knoll hold on to the kicking duties?
"He's going to practice all week long so he'll take most of the reps. But the way things go, you've got to have the next guy ready because you never know what's going to happen in the heat of the game, especially with Mike doing all the phases – it's a lot."

On Connor Strachan's status …
"He's doing great. He's doing great."

What he thinks is needed for the run game to come together …
"Young offensive line, gelling and coming together. We're just young up front. We played most of the game with Elijah Johnson at left guard. He's a true freshmen. We're still young. (Aaron) Monteiro is a still a young player. He didn't play until week six of last season. It's just that. I told you guys that from the beginning it takes a while to develop an offensive line. The only true anchored in, developed guy on that line is Jon Baker. Chris (Lindstrom) has been hurt, rolled that ankle in camp, and hasn't been able to practice. He plays in the game but hasn't been getting his practice reps. When you're a young player and you've got that ankle and you're not practicing much, it's hard to play at your level you need to play at. Then (Jimmy) Lowery had a shoulder contusion last week, didn't practice all week long. So your inserting a true freshman, Monteiro missed Wednesday's practice, those other guys missed the whole week. And then you come in there and you're not gelled up really good. And we're young to begin with. Those guys need to be healthy and play together a little bit. The good news is nothing's serious, but the bad news is it's just enough to keep us from working together. I'd say that's where our consistency issues lie right now. Certainly in our throw game, our play-action game, our drop-back game, we're making plays and we're complementing our runs good, and giving us the opportunity for good hits in the run game. We've just got to be consistent. We'll get there. That's going to happen. We've got to get everybody back firing at practice this week. I hope we can get everybody practicing. That'd be a start in the right direction. That's a by-product of the first game tore us up a little bit. But we'll get there."

On the use of the throw game so far …
"We've been practicing a lot on our throw game since the beginning of training camp. We're a pro-style attack: a pro-style run game, a pro-style throw game. We're starting to get more confidence, getting more secure. There's a lot into the throw game. It's the precision routes, the ability to staircase man, it's understanding the concepts, the right reads at the quarterbacks. The lines … that's the one thing I think the line's done a good job in protection. We've been good in both play action and drop, at least to this point. Now they're going to come after you pretty good, Virginia Tech is. Now we've got to enter in here the crowd noise and the silent cadence, which is always a stressor for young players. But the throw game has got to continue to develop. It gives us a good component to go to, especially if your run game's stifled a little bit. We're still running the ball, but we'd like to be running it for more. We'd like to be over 200 yards rushing every game, which I feel like we can be. We missed a couple of hits week one or we would've been. And last week we were just terribly inconsistent."

On Virginia Tech's turnovers so far this season …
"They turn the ball over. It's hard when you turn the ball over. They're going to be back at home this week. I would anticipate that that would get fixed. But the turnovers are hard to overcome, no doubt about it, for anybody."

Does someone stand out on the offensive line?
"Like I said, I think we're talented. It's going to be a really good offensive line. We're just really young right now. I just think it takes time to develop. Usually when you have a line full of guys who have played for two years and they're going into a third year, you really start to have a strong line and that fourth year you're really strong. We're still playing … we have one guy who's in his third year and the rest of them are not. There're 11 freshmen and sophomores that are making up the majority of our offense right now. Whether they be freshmen, redshirt freshmen, sophomores, redshirt sophomore, I think there's at least 11 of them. It takes time. And our defense is a little older than our offense. We have more seniors, juniors in the defense. And you can see that. Just like it was flipped the first two years here: we had more veterans on offense, especially up front on our offensive line. But the talent's in place. I feel really great about our guys. Like I keep saying – and I feel like I repeat myself too much – it's a race to mature and soak and develop. It's a race. It's a footrace. That's what it is. That's what happens when you're reconstructing your program and getting everything balanced back out again. But I like our talent. I really do. You guys have seen two games. We've got some receivers who can run. We've got a good stable of backs We've got good, young offensive linemen. But the operative word there is young. They've got to mature. We've got a good stable of tight ends. I like our quarterback. I like our other quarterback. Darius (Wade) is very talented. Anthony Brown is extremely talented. There' s a great foundation there. But it's got to grow. And it will. It is. That's the key. Great attitude. Great bunch of guys."

His thoughts on Patrick Towles' slide short of a first down on Saturday …
"I think with the new rule that you've got to be careful of is when you're sliding, they spot the ball from where you start the slide. That's the new rule. So he's a six-foot-four-and-a-half guy. So you start sliding and you think you're in for the first down, but you're not. You're still [spreading arms as far apart as they'll go] that far away. You've got to really pay attention. Do you have the first down and you're sliding? Or do you need to get the first down? That's something where we had a good drive going in there and we lost that first down. We didn't need to. It was obvious that he would've been able to get that first down with ease, really. He knew right away when he got up. He knew it. It's just one of those things. He's a really accountable guy. He'll fix that. He'll get that all fixed. But that rule comes into play there."

On the potential of DB William Harris …
"He's a talented guy now. He has a chance to be a big-time player. He's a really good player right now. We knew that coming in. We had a really good player in Justin Simmons, but we knew this guy had a really high end here. He can run. He's good against the run, he's good against the pass, he's real physical. He's a really good football player. He and John Johnson are two quality, quality players."

His thoughts on younger DL players like Wyatt Ray, Zach Allen and Ray Smith?
"Those guys are young guys. I counted them in. I knew they'd have great years this year because you saw that last year. And they're playing really, really well. I think we need to continue to develop the rest of the guys behind them, because you need the depth. Especially if you get into these – well, we are this week – these tempo teams. You've got to be able to roll guys to keep them fresh. So it's really, really important to get the younger guys behind them to grow and develop, which we are. It's nice to see Wyatt. I think Wyatt played really, really well. Wyatt's got a high ceiling, too. He and Zach Allen are going to be really – and Ray. I told you guys, Ray is really an athletic nose. He's not just a big, strong guy, but he's very, very athletic. He's talented. That's a young talented threesome right there. Really very, very good. Three true sophomores."

Who's behind them?
"I think Jack Kenny's a guy who's really done a great job. He's tough. You're already talking at end right now: you've got (Kevin) Kavalec rolling. You've got Harold (Landry) rolling. You've got Zach (Allen) rolling. So you've got good depth there. Noa Merritt on the inside. Noa had a very good camp. Very explosive, very quick and we really liked his productivity in camp. You'll see a bunch of him. He and Jack will start to emerge a little bit more in there … And then we have the young guys, the young freshmen who have come in and are growing in there. Tanner Karafa is a guy who's done a real good job making a position change to the D-line. He's going to be really, really talented. I like him a lot; I like him a lot. I think those are the next rung of guys you're going to start see creeping in."

On his recruitment of Sam Rodgers when he was at Temple …
"We loved him as a football player. We didn't offer him. We should have! He played that fullback position at that time. That's what we saw him as. Are you playing with a traditional fullback offensively? So they become limited opportunities for those guys sometimes. But he's gone on and just really been a dominant player; became a scholarship player there. He's just really good. He is really good. But he didn't really have any offers coming out of high school. Just goes to show you [laughing]. He goes out there and is one of the better players in the ACC. Happens all the time … He's really athletic. He's not just your hammerhead fullback who goes in there and can ram it up there. He's very talented. He's got great hands. He can carry the ball. He's just a talented, tough, hard-nosed guy. My thought with him was, 'This guys is a really, really good football player.' Anytime you come across that you should trust that and know [snapping] take those guys. When they're really good players, they're really good players. It'll work itself out. It'll work itself out. It usually does."

Does Saturday's win take any urgency off the upcoming game at Virginia Tech?
"None. We had a great day yesterday. Came in here, watched the tape, practiced. What it helps to do is give you a little confidence. Everybody understands who we played, and every understands exactly who we're going to play. There is no delusion there. It's just that when you work as hard as you work, you work to win. The gratification comes from winning. That's the thrill of the whole thing, to put it all together and win as a team. So I'm a big believer that when you win you celebrate the win because that's what you worked for. That's what you strived for. And you get accustomed and you want to feel it again. You're not, 'OK, we're all set now.' My god, we know that's not the case. But it's just nice to feel that feeling and to get some reward for your work. That's all positive. With a group like ours, everything's in perspective. It's enjoying that win and let's get ready to roll. We know how tough this is going to be. We opened up with an ACC team in Ireland. We didn't open up with a small school. We opened up with a real game. Our guys have been in it. So they know. And we're going to play the toughest opponent to date in Blacksburg, without a doubt. And they're well aware of that. And they're well-aware of the venue and what's that's going to add to it. The first game was not really a home field for anybody. This is going to be a really tough place to play, as you know. It's very tough to go into a place like that and win. We were fortunate enough a few years ago to go and go do that. It's very difficult."

His impression of the core principles of Bud Foster's defense …
"Pressure. Pressure. Man coverage. Man. Zero man. Man free. Pressure. He attacks what you do: finds your formational tendencies, your personnel-grouping tendencies and comes with a lot of pressure. It's been the same for years."

Addazio Weekly Press Conference: Virginia Tech

Players Mentioned

Zach Allen

Jon Baker

Anthony Brown

Will Harris

Elijah Johnson

John Johnson

Tanner Karafa

Jack Kenny

Mike Knoll

Colton Lichtenberg

Noa Merritt

Wyatt Ray

Justin Simmons

Ray Smith

Connor Strachan

Patrick Towles

Boston College Athletics