Dave Doeren’s 2018 Media Day Press Conference: Part 1

Head Coach Dave Doeren held a press conference at yesterday’s 2018 Media Day. Part 1 of the presser is below, with a BULLETED breakdown underneath.

• Year 1 did a position study of every position group in the ACC. Average heights and weight. We were shorter than we wanted to be in the receiver room. Put a premium on length and speed in recruiting at that position. Coach MacDonald has done a good job not only recruiting that type of player, but developing them. Teaching them to be tough. Fun group to watch. Not only strong group on our team, but in the conference.  It’s not just a couple of them that are strong, but the depth…to see what RS SO CJ Riley and SO Emeka Emezie are doing behind JR Kelvin Harmon and GR Steph Louis, and the emergence of RS JR Jakobi Meyers…going from QB to WR over the past year…just a completely different player. Coach MacDonald deserves a lot of credit, and so do the players
• Freshman nickelback Tanner Ingle is probably Top-5 football aptitude that I’ve ever been around. His ability to comprehend information and apply it in the live play is uncanny. His application of knowledge at his age is real impressive. Very physical…a striker. Definitely a guy who is going to play as a freshman, and will have a big role for us on special teams and as we work through the defensive install, we will have to see if he hits a wall at some point.
• Talk a lot about eliminating distractions and ignoring the hype. He congratulates them when they make a watch list, but then reminds them they don’t win anything by being on a watch list. It’s helpful to see how it was with Bradley Chubb.
• Junior cornerback Kishawn Miller has had some good days for us.
• Was really excited about Freshman running back Trent Pennix early, but he’s been out a few days now with an ankle. He’s ahead of where we thought he would be.
• Redshirt Freshman Damien Darden has shown a lot of improvement.
• Redshirt Freshman Ibrahim Kanrte has made some good plays.
• Freshman place kicker Chris Dunn has continued to do good things. Made a game-winning field goal in the stadium yesterday. Was a 45-yarder, so it was great to see that.
• As long as we are going from graduating seniors to players with experience behind them, I think that’s the recipe. For instance, now it’s time for Senior DE Darian Roseboro, Senior DE James Smith-Williams, Senior RB Reggie Gallaspy, Senior DT Eurndraus Bryant. Players with experience and age like RS SO TE Cary Angeline and RS SO DT Val Martin. With that being said, health his a huge factor. After losing a lot of players, you don’t want to run out 7 or 8 guys with no experience. We don’t know where we will be game 1 in regards to health.
• Yesterday had 5 different running backs practicing. Coach Kitchings just rolled them out there. Every three plays, a new guy. None of these are long term things. The timing of yesterday wasn’t good. Redshirt freshman Nakia Robinson was a little banged up. Happened the day before the scrimmage, so we weren’t going to put him in that position. Looks like he’ll be back tomorrow. Freshman Ricky Person is pretty close to coming back. Looking forward to getting him back out there. He’s been patient, but frustrated. Wants to get out and play. Freshman Trent Pennix is close. He ran today on the side. I would think in the next 5-7 days we will have that full health backfield, but right now it’s just a bunch of tough guys helping out the team. RS SR Nickel Stephen Morrison, FR Safety Tyler Baker-Williams, RS SO WR Tyler Dabbs, RS SO RB Will Dabbs, GR RB Brady Bodine are all playing running back right now to help us out until everyone else gets back.