NC State Game Week: Addazio Address Media

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Boston College head football coach Steve Addazio addressed the media at his weekly press conference on Monday. He discussed the Eagles' loss to Virginia Tech, the play of freshman walk-on quarterback John Fadule and what the Eagles (3-6, 0-6 ACC) can expect as they play for their first ACC win on Saturday against NC State on Senior Day.

On the upcoming matchup with NC State…
"We're playing a great NC State team. They're really a veteran team. They have seven returning starters on defense and eight returning starters on offense. They've got a veteran quarterback in Jacoby Brissett. He's a great pocket passer and really accurate guy. Running back Matthew Dayes, tight end Jaylen Samuels and wide receiver Jumichael Ramos are good skill players on offense. They're well-coached and a big physical team. I think they always have the capability to score a lot of points.

"On defense they're 10th in total defense. They're 27th against the run and 13th against the pass. Middle linebacker Jerod Fernandez, defensive end Mike Rose and defensive end Bradley Chubb are all very talented guys. They're as strong an interior defense as we've faced. They're big, physical and get a lot of push.

"We're playing another outstanding defense and we're playing an offense that really has a lot of big-strike capabilities. I'm sure they'll be well prepared coming in here and looking for another ACC contest. It's senior day here for us, so it'll be an emotional game. We're excited to get started and get going."

On Jeff Smith's injury status…
"Jeff [Smith] did get cleared to play Friday afternoon, but he hadn't practiced all week long and we were pretty set on how we were going to handle the game. We wanted to start with Troy [Flutie] and then go to John [Fadule]. I think John moved the team and we did some pretty good things on offense."

On the play of the offense against Virginia Tech…
"I do not think we got handled in that game. We actually blocked fairly well in that game. Against Louisville, I thought we got handled. We had some issues [against Virginia Tech], but I thought we moved the ball and had some real good opportunities in there that were just a missed read away or a block away [from scoring]. That was encouraging to see."

On the quarterback situation moving forward…
"I think we'll keep developing all of our quarterbacks. But as we go into the week, John Fadule will be getting his share of the reps with the ones. That's going to happen. I'm not into just straight anointing people given how quickly this has come about. But certainly his performance is one that we're excited about. Exactly how we'll divvy up [the quarterback reps]? I can't tell you that yet. But we're excited about his performance and looking for him to build on that. What I think he brought into that game was real toughness, real energy and he moved the team. That's really important. There's some stuff that needs to be cleaned up but nothing that you wouldn't expect from someone who hasn't taken too many reps in running the offense."

His reaction to John Fadule's performance …
"I wasn't surprised. I kind of felt that was going to happen, but you never know. It's hard to say that you can take what you see in practice and parlay it into a game. The actual game just brings about so many unknown things that can happen. Can he throw it? Yes. Can he run it? Yes. Is he an intelligent guy? Is he a competitive guy? Can he compete? Just check the marks across the board. Yes, yes and yes. But until you get on the field, it's hard to see how guys react. I thought he reacted well."

On Fadule's mechanics…
"He throws the ball well. He throws a tight spiral, he's got a pretty strong arm and he's got a pretty quick release. He kept his eyes down the field and made some plays. I think he's got to get used to the pocket, which this year, it's been a challenge to begin with because sometimes the pocket isn't always what it should be. But there were times where we had a good pocket. It's just about hanging in there and being comfortable and taking some reps. But as far as finding open receivers and making plays down the field? He can do all that."

On Fadule's development at BC, attitude and drive…
"I know we saw him at Choate and he was considered as a real competitive, tough guy with a strong arm. He had a chance to go play football at Harvard on scholarship, but he wanted to play Power 5 football. He was willing to walk-on and earn a scholarship [at Boston College]. That really impressed me. Here's a guy that's willing to give up that opportunity so he can have the chance to be a walk-on. All he wanted was a fair shot to earn a scholarship. I think that tells you a lot about a guy. I had great appreciation for that. He came in here, kept his mouth shut and went about his business. He wasn't getting a lot of reps in training camp. Then by the end of training camp you could begin to see that he had some ability in terms of throwing the ball. But it was inconsistent and we [were focused] on getting Darius Wade ready. But little by little, we built up a bank of watching him. I think what caught my attention was against our defense he was making plays without much in front of him. After that we started filtering him in on 7-on-7's and different things. He made all the throws and we kept increasing his reps little by little.

"One day, a month ago maybe, I grabbed him and said, 'I'm not sure that you can't play here.' That emotionally touched him and you could tell how much that meant to the guy. That impacted me. I was like, 'Wow, there's something to this here.' Then I wanted him to start taking some reps."

On giving John Fadule a scholarship…
"Those are one of the things that we'll have to address at the end of the season. There's a lot to all of that in terms of NCAA regulations and numbers-wise. But my philosophy is real easy here. If you go do it on the field and you earn it on the field, then you get a scholarship. That's the way I look at it. I like to see guys earn it and get it.

"Sometimes in Division I football, you start to think [having a scholarship] is a right and not a privilege. And sometimes in Division I football, people start taking things for granted a little bit. So it's refreshing sometimes to see someone who expects nothing and gives everything. It's good to see guys walk-on and earn it. That's something we've done here before and we'll continue to do that."

On whether Fadule's play was a breath of fresh air…
"I like toughness and you can see on the field that he brought that on Saturday. He was lowering his shoulder on people and making some plays. I like to see all of those things, but I also know that one game doesn't make a career or make a season. I've been around long enough. So let's just let it go a little bit. He's still a young guy and he's still a freshman. He hasn't played a lot of football. I don't care who you are, there's going to be a rollercoaster ride. We've been on it several times this year.

"All these young guys have ability. They're all going to have some good moments and some bad moments. That's part of being a young guy. Nothing is as good as it seems, nothing is as bad as it seems; somewhere in the middle of that is where reality falls."

On the competition among the team…
"I love to see competition. It brings out the best in you. If it doesn't, then you're missing something. The more competition we have at every position, the better and faster this team will grow. My antenna goes up when I notice some people are a little squirrelly with competition. What I hope is that with great competitors everybody raises their game and then everybody benefits from it. It's hard to get better when there's not a lot of competition."

On Matt Milano….
"His game is at a real high level. I think that is one of the lesser talked about things because he has followed a couple of really good players playing in his position. I think he is doing an outstanding job. And like those other guys, he's outstanding on the special teams, as well. He makes a lot of plays. He made a great play on the punt coverage and a great play on the kickoff team. He is all over the field. He doesn't say anything. He kind of goes about his business. He is a good guy and a good football player. Great family. A real tough kid. Competitor. He's in his third year playing right now and he is really coming into his own."

On what the offensive can expect from NC State….
"I would say it's an accurate statement [that BC will see the type of defensive front they saw at Louisville]. Louisville was really stout and physical. But they also had those real athletic speed rushers off the edge. They're going to see the same stout interior physicality that Louisville had. This is a real good defensive front and it will be a challenge for them. One of the benefits for [the offense] is that they'll be at home and won't be on silent cadence. That is hard on a young player sometimes, more than some people realize. The silent cadence, you don't get the same jump. When you don't get a good jump against a good D-Line, you're really compromised."

On Michael Walker...
"He has great speed. When a guy has real good moves, he has the subtle wiggle to him with speed. He is a real football player. He is a guy who I really think is going to emerge next year, not just as a special teams but as a receiver. He has a lot of skills. He has really good hands. He is physical and he can run. He has speed. He was a former high school quarterback. He goes from defense [in the preseason] to offense. That tells you about his skill set. He has speed and toughness. He is a multifaceted guy that can help us in a lot of areas. He is a very exciting young player. He and Elijah [Robinson] and Ben Glines. Those are exciting players."

On whether young players are ready to go now….
"We're probably not to activate Ben [Glines] right now with three games left because he was injured. You're seeing more and more of Mike Walker and Elijah [Robinson]. You'll get to see more and more of these guys because we're trying to get them more and more prepared. The more live reps they get, the better they'll be next season. On defense, we've taken a few hits on the back end. With Isaac [Yiadom] and Kam [Moore], we're a little depleted. It's the first time the defense is really experiencing a few of the things the offense is experienced. We have to address that from a depth standpoint. We may activate Lukas Denis. We feel strongly that he has a bunch of ability and he has worked real hard. It's another young face in there. We have a lot of young guys playing right now. That's a good thing. It's really exciting to see that. Sometimes you look out there and you're like, 'Wow, this is really kind of crazy!'"

On the senior class
"The senior group is an eclectic group of guys. What I mean by that is some are sixth-years, some are fifth-years, some are fourth-year. It's kind of a melting pot group. I thought they've done a real good job. I meet with them every Sunday. The way they've handled themselves has been outstanding. Some of them are playing their best football right now. On defense, I'm looking at Mehdi [Abdesmad], he is playing great. Justin Simmons is playing great. Steven Daniels is playing great. Connor Wujciak. Those guys pop out on defense and are making plays. On offense, David Dudeck has been a steady contributor for us. He is doing a great job. Louie [Addazio] is doing a great job for us. He and Mike [Giacone] were both starters for us last year. He is playing real good ball for us right now. Harris [Williams] has been through the mill. Here is a guy playing on his ankle that has never been the same. He fights through it every week because it means so much to him. There are guys out there battling and they're good guys who love football. They've done a great job with the young guys trying to set a culture. I told them that after the game. For a lot of reasons, we ended up being a real young football team this year. We knew we were going to be pretty young on one side of the ball but it's just evolved with injuries and everything. These guys are going to be a part of really setting a great foundation as we move forward here. What happens is, you have a little glitch in your junior and senior classes as there was no collective class. That's why this one is eclectic. They kind of came from different pockets to form this group of guys but there are really voids in those classes. I don't even know what the counted number of people that should be there that aren't there. [The seniors] have had to fil that void and because of that; it became a vacuum in here. I knew that was going to happen as soon as their first year and some of them, their second year when a lot of these guys weren't playing football anymore. Whether it was medicals or they weren't good enough, or if they didn't want to play anymore. That whole thing, that happens. These guys had to be that group to find a way to come together because they weren't naturally classed together. They've done a really good job with that. They really have. Every year is unique and different. The uniqueness of this year will be that this group will be the group that really bridge it forward. You watch our team. They play really hard. We don't play really efficiently. Obviously. But we play really hard. They're tough. We battle. And I think these guys have set that forward because that is kind of the standard here.

On looking ahead for the rest of the season...
"Now we're trying to do that down the home stretch to stabilize our injuries and become more execution-orientated. Get some more execution here. When you don't really have a veteran O-Line and you don't have your veteran running attack and you don't really have your quarterback – you're on all three fronts - you're kind of compromised a little bit. Now we're trying to re-bite and get a playmaker going at quarterback. Let this line continue to grow, which they definitely played better last week. Try to get some productivity going on offense, which I feel like we can do even though we are playing the top-10 defense in the country. When I watch tape all over the place, what's unbelievable to me is the skill level, the quarterback level, the experience there. That can make up for a lot of ails up front. Or that dynamic back can make up for a lot of things. We're trying to get that mold so we can try to create some of those explosives again. That's where it's at. I'd be lying to you if I didn't tell you that we need a bye week in a hurry: 10 weeks is a long time to go. This team is physically tired. As we've talked about, we've got five or six days. We all have to run the gun lap right now. We have to go in here and find a way to beat NC State, because we have an opportunity to beat NC State and then we get a week off. Then we play Notre Dame, which is a rival game in Fenway [Park] and then close against our rival in Syracuse. We have the opportunity to get to six wins and six wins does not preclude us from getting to a bowl game. There is some exceptions in there. What are those percentages? I can't tell you. But I can tell you that it's real. We just have to walk into this game and take those baby steps. Just keep fighting and scratching. And you never know because it's a rollercoaster ride with the young guys. I saw some things that we were literally little bits away from big chunks. We gave away seven. That doesn't need to happen. We had seven taken away from us. That doesn't need to happen. We missed a field goal. There are a fair amount of points in there. It's not that far off. When you see a guy running around making some plays, keeping plays alive, getting it down the field a little bit, the ability to throw it a little bit, keep swinging at it.

"When you love football and you're a football player or a football coach. You love football. Then your best part of your day is going to play football. You don't need some reward to go play the game. Because you have a passion to play the game. If you have the right competitors, then it's time to go play ball. If there is something else that runs that for you, then you have to reevaluate how much you really love it. That's my message and that's how I feel about it. I think we have a bunch of young guys that love [football]. Disappointment. Yes. But you get over disappointment. That's a different deal."

On the retirement of Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer...
"I love Coach Beamer. He is one of my favorite guys. My wife loves Coach Beamer. She goes down to the meeting to talk with him. He is just a great guy. I've competed against him for a long time since I went to Syracuse in 1995. I've got a lot of respect for him and the way he built his program. There was a time when they were about to run Coach Beamer out of dodge at Virginia Tech. They hung with him for one more year. Well, that one more year ended up being the catalyst that he was building a program that lasted as the national contender for a long time. He is a classy guy, great coach and a tremendous person. After the game, I had a chance to talk to him briefly. He had a couple of kind things to say and he said, 'I don't just say those things.' He is a guy that means what he says. He is a legend. Sad to see those kinds of guys leave the game. He has had a great career and I hope he enjoys a bunch of wins the rest of the season. He has had a great career and you can only hope and aspire to have a career like he has had."

Players Mentioned

Steven Daniels

Lukas Denis

David Dudeck

John Fadule

Ben Glines

Matt Milano

Justin Simmons

Jeff Smith

Darius Wade

Michael Walker

Connor Wujciak

NC State Game Week: Addazio Address Media

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