Boston College Athletics
Game Week: Addazio Addresses Media on Monday
August 31, 2015 | Football
Boston College football head coach Steve Addazio conducted his first weekly press conference of the 2015 season on Monday as the Eagles prepared to open their 2015 season against the Maine Black Bears this Saturday, Sept. 5. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET at Alumni Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3, while radio listeners can tune in on the BC-IMG Radio Network.
Steve Addazio Press Conference
Monday, August 31, 2015
Opening statement:
“[We’re] Excited and getting ready for that first game against Maine. It’s hard to believe the season is here. I was telling the guys today that the biggest thing you suffer from sometimes during the preseason camp mode which is like, ‘Okay, we have another day of practice today’ and the reality of it is that today is the Tuesday of Maine week. Even though it’s a Monday for us, it is a Tuesday. In camp, you get in this mode of another day, another practice. Well, that’s not the case anymore. It’s finite. It’s exciting. College football is here. You are starting to see it everywhere. There will be a couple games on Thursday. There was one on Saturday. So it’s an exciting time that we all love and we are fired up about it. We have had a good camp and it has been very productive. We have a long week to go. We are a work in progress. But when you have that, it’s exciting because you see the progress. You set frustrated sometimes because you see the process. Sometimes you may have a tendency to take a step forward, then a couple back, and all of a sudden three more for back. But it’s a journey, it’s exciting and it’s fun. The team has looked good at times. All three phases have looked good at different times. The goal is to get all three looking good at the same time and firing together, which is our goal.
“I also have to report an injury to you. Mike Giacone got hurt early in training camp which is season-ending for him. We will look forward to having Mike back here next year. It is a real tough loss for us and for him. He is a great kid and one of the truly great kids in our program who was looking forward to this season. We will miss him this season but we will be fine and he will be back and be able to redo that year. Obviously, our hearts go out to Mike. He has invested all that time and it is heartbreaking when those things happen. It is part of the game, an unfortunate part of the game, but we will look forward to seeing Mike back again. We’ve also sustained a couple of injuries [to] a couple of our freshman. Chris Garrison had surgery today and we will be without him for a couple of weeks, as is Ben Glines. A few of those things have hit us, which affects your depth a little bit. They were all exciting players that we will be without, one for the year, a couple for an extended period of time.”
On Injuries:
“( Chris Garrison) had a hand injury and had to get that fixed. He [and Ben Glines] will be out for an extended period of time, somewhere in that 6-8 week time frame. Mike Giacone will be out for the year with a lower leg injury. Mike will be able to come back for a fifth year. He didn’t redshirt. He has a fifth year. Tim [Joy] is out for a week to two weeks. He just tweaked his knee a little bit. It is not a serious thing at all. He will be back. He wasn’t on the two-deep because he is out. We try to have the two deep chart reflect who will be playing in the game”
On his impression of the freshmen:
“Several guys [have stood out]. Where do you start? You start on defense. I think the three interior linemen: Zach Allen, Wyatt Ray, and Ray Smith. Those guys are going to play a lot of football this year. They are talented guys without a doubt. In the back end, you have [William] Harris at safety Taj-[Amir Torres] at corner. Those are all guys that we feel you will see on the field. On offense, I think you could easily see Jeff Smith in the game. Mike Walker, we have moved from defense to offense. He is playing receiver right now. He is dynamic. Elijah Robinson, you are going to see on the field. Mike Walker and Elijah [Robinson] will help the receiving corps immediately. Those are all guys that you will see.”
On the quarterback situation:
“I would say all those guys are battling. Each one of them has done some good things and they are all a snap away. I can’t tell you that there is a big divide between any of them, including Darius [Wade]. Obviously we have named Darius the starter; there is a little separation there, but not huge. John Fadule is a talented guy, too. I think that all those guys are in the mix. We moved Elijah [Robinson] out of that mix and put him in the wide receiver position, the ‘X’ position, and he looks fantastic. We are very excited about that. We were very excited about Ben Glines and [Chris] Garrison. Those two guys would have played for us right in game one. We are missing those guys. Brendan Nosovitch has done a good job for us. You will probably see him in the first game. He has done a nice job. I think you could see him in the game as well.”
On the starting offensive line group:
“I would say David Bowen at left. Jon Baker at either guard of center. Frank Taylor at either guard or center. Chris Lindstrom and Harris Williams at the other guard. And at tackle, Jimmy Cashman, James Hendren, and Sam Schmal will be there, as well. You are going to see a combination of those guys. The guards are Baker, Harris, Lindstrom. Frank Taylor can play some guard and Jimmy Cashman can play some guard. The guys I mentioned should be the ones you can see in the game. We wouldn’t move Chris [Lindstrom] because he is a freshman so we wouldn’t swing him around [to play other positions on O-line]. We could swing Harris easily, Frank Taylor, Jimmy Cashman easily. They have been doing it all camp. I think Frank Taylor and Jon Baker are the two centers. Austin Stevens is coming at that position. I really like his future at that position but he isn’t quite ready just yet. I like him. Chris Lindstrom will play. For a lineman, it is more critical when you can get a six month jump start and [that is why he is ahead of the other freshman].”
On Addazio’s attention to the O-Line, due to its youth:
“I have been down there a lot. To help, to evaluate and I think Justin [Frye] is one of the best offensive line coaches in the country. He played for me. I have coached him. He does exactly what I want the way I want it done. I have all the faith in the world in him, but there is a lot going on down there. There are a lot of mistakes and it’s hard for one set of eyes to handle the corrections with a young, inexperienced group like that. It needs constant care.”
On the importance of the O-Line gaining trust early in the Maine game
“It’s important. It’s these first games. We played Maine last year right after we beat USC and we couldn’t have played any worse. It was awful out there. We were fumbling it, throwing interceptions, bumbling around. These first games sometimes are not really great definers of anything. It’s more of a ‘Who cannot turn the ball over and can make a few big plays along the way.’ I think with us, we are going to be very careful to not put people in that position that in game one they should not be in. We are going to be careful with the ball and careful with what we are going to do. We are going to take care of the football and manage the first game and get everyone’s feet wet a little bit. There is a lot of working parts that haven’t been in that situation yet. We have more speed, more weapons, and more ability to launch the ball than we have had since I’ve been here. But, we have to be careful what we do with that ball right now, especially early. What would be perfect would be go out firing on all cylinders, you get a little confidence and you can get it around a little better. But sometimes in these first games, it doesn’t go that way. I really want to see us go out there, play hard, play clean, and what I mean by clean is not a lot of mistakes and take care of the football.”
On the young offensive line facing pressure:
“We face pressure every single day with our defense. That is all we see. We wouldn’t know what to do if we didn’t to be honest with you. That is the good news that we see it all the time. From every style, every front and every corner. It’s is not something we should feel worried about. I think there’s a fine line between developing confidence and in the big scheme of things, you will become a better team and a better offense when you learn how to handle all that. There is a fine line with confidence. It is much easier for a defense to throw a bunch of blitzes then for an offense to pick them up early. I think it will benefit us and when we play the game, it will be a much slower game. We see it from every front and from every corner of the field. We have seen more blitzes in preseason training camp then some teams will see in three years.”
On incorporating Mehdi Abdesmad into the defense:
“He’s looked good. He’s going to get his action. We need to play him into game shape but from what I’ve seen he’s been dominant in camp. I wouldn’t want to be blocking him. I can’t wait to see Mehdi play against a different team. He owns one-on-one pass blocks, destroying blockers. He’ll take one of our guys in camp and have him in the QB’s lap in a second, I want to see him get a real sack.”
On Harris Williams:
“Harris hasn’t taken a live snap in camp. There’s no point in letting someone fall on his legs or anything like that. He’s going to be playing his way into game shape, as well.”
On position battle between Mike Strizak and Ty Schwab
“Mike (Strizak) has been hurt most of camp, and Ty (Schwab) has done great. Ty has done a good job and we have just gotten Mike back in the last 3-4 days.”
On getting the QB group ready for the season
“You do everything you can to simulate game situations, but until you’re under the bright lights you can’t be sure of anything. I feel confident we’ve done everything situationally to get them all the reps they need to be prepared. But at the end of the day the decision is on the quarterback in the game. Game management is crucial, choosing who to throw to, whether to tuck it and run, punting is never the worst scenario either. Some teams can just go out there and let it rip. Our margin for error is much different. We need to be much more calculated in every aspect in order to be the team we want to be. We have a faster and more athletic team right now than we had the past two years, but with that comes inexperience, you can’t let that inexperience kill you.
Coming through that tunnel, year three, how is it going to feel?
I feel the same sense of urgency every year wherever I’ve been – high school, college, Florida, here. You’re totally invested in your program, invested in everything. I carry a lot of anxiety. You’re anxious about the unknowns, the things out of your control. You don’t know what you’re going to see. I love opening day because its opening day, but I don’t love it because you don’t entirely know what’s going to happen. It’s anyone’s guess. Especially when there’s a lot of inexperience.
On the secondary
“[They’re] Much more athletic, faster, talented. I like where we are on the back end a lot. We got some guys who can run, I’m very encouraged. Justin Simmons in particular should have his best year.”
On Bobby Swigert:
“You will see him on the field. He’s had a pretty good camp. He’s ready to roll. We’ve managed him; we haven’t given him a ton of snaps. He’s one of those guys that is on one, off one, on one, off one. He’s a sure-handed guy. He’s made some really great catches. I’m excited to watch him play. He will play, especially on third down.”
On the first opponent Maine
“Maine has been one of the steadiest teams in FCS football. They’ve had some great seasons. They are well coached, well put together, tough, physical. They’ve got some really good players. They are a very fine team. We have a ton of respect for them. Put on the tape from last year. We had just beaten a top-10 overall team and we found ourselves down 7-0 to start the game. What’d we do? First snap of the game we fumble it. Same series we throw a pick. They are on scholarship, they practice all preseason too. It’ll be a really good contest and we have a lot of respect for them. That’s a god football team. Maine, New Hampshire – those are really good football teams. They can play with a lot of people. You can play weak FCS opponents. We’re not playing one here. This isn’t a weak FCS opponent. This is an excellent FCS opponent that has a history of winning big games.”
