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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 24, 2012Randy EdsallMIKE FINN: We now welcome Maryland head coach Randy Edsall. We'll bring on coach, ask for a brief opening statement, then go to questions. Coach. COACH EDSALL: Thanks, Mike. Well, we got Boston College this weekend up there, a team that you see them, they're playing very, very hard. We've got to make sure that we have a good week of practice. We know it's going to be a very difficult road test for us, but looking forward to the opportunity. MIKE FINN: Questions for Coach Edsall. Q. Coach, how has Darin Drakeford improved as a player this year? COACH EDSALL: Drake is having a very good year, playing extremely well for us. I've just seen a guy whose game has gotten better from last year to this year. I see a guy that is really understanding the game even better in terms of how people are going to try to attack you, the schemes that he's going to see. He's just playing with great passion, enthusiasm. The technique in his pass‑rush is getting a lot better. Again, we just need to have him out there playing that way, continue to have his leadership that he's given us. Q. I wanted to ask about C.J. a little bit. I know since his injury back in August, he's still been around, done a lot of stuff with you guys. I'm curious how much of an influence he's been on this team and how he's kind of coped with his situation behind the scenes? COACH EDSALL: He's done a tremendous job for us. Again, he's one of our captains. He's in on all the meetings with the quarterbacks, helping those guys out, then on the headset on the sidelines during practice. He's not out at practice. He's getting his academic stuff done because we don't want him standing around for two hours at practice. But all the meetings, just been very, very helpful. Been around the guys, encouraging them. Nothing but great things for him in terms of his contribution to our team, even though he's not out there playing. Q. Randy, with this latest quarterback injury you have to deal with, how does this influence your thinking about the position going forward? How do you feel about the depth you have at that position? COACH EDSALL: I feel good about our situation. I think that Devin and Caleb are very capable quarterbacks. They'll be able to go out and execute the plan we have in place as we go into this week. Then you have Brian McMahon and Shawn Petty who were high school quarterbacks, now we're working to get them ready as a third. That's who we have. Like I said, I feel good about it. We'll keep coaching those guys up, getting those younger guys better. I have a tremendous amount of confidence in Devin and Caleb. Q. Which guy starts and then you bring in the other guy? COACH EDSALL: We'll just continue to go through practice, evaluate the situation, then make a determination either tomorrow after practice or as we go into the game on Saturday. Q. The way you play on offense, does that change because of the latest injury or do you feel you can do what you've been doing with a different guy taking snaps? COACH EDSALL: I'm confident that our guys can do whatever we call upon them to do in terms of the scheme of what gives us the best chance to move the ball and score points. Q. Going back to C.J., he's served as a mentor for Perry. Do you see that role increasing with the fact they basically have the same injury and C.J. can help him get through the rehab process, the pain? COACH EDSALL: I'm sure he will. We would want him to do that. In terms of what he's experienced with the surgery, Perry's injury wasn't as severe as C.J.'s. But handling the mental part of it, how to get through it, how to cope with it, the intensity you need to have in rehab, I think C.J. will be a great mentor for Perry as he goes through that process, as well. Q. C.J.'s rehab, as far as a medical hardship, is that something you are starting to formulate paperwork for that? COACH EDSALL: His rehab is going as planned. Trainers are happy with where he's at right now. We'll sit down once the season is over and discuss that situation. But I know that he's in the process now of working to try to get into grad school. Like I said, when we have a little bit more time when the season is over, I'll sit down with C.J. and we'll have those discussions. Q. With so many young players playing, how do you have to manage their psyche? I'm specifically thinking of Brad Craddock, who has done some good things for you this year, but had a bad moment last week. How do you prevent a young player when things go wrong losing confidence? COACH EDSALL: I think what you do is you just talk them through it, tell them, The next time you get that opportunity, you'll put it through the uprights or you'll make it happen. It's one of those things, I think you got to know the individual, too. If you've seen how they react to adversity, you know how to kind of handle them a little bit better. Usually for a guy coming in who might experience adversity for the first time, again, I think you have to handle them each differently in terms of their psyche, their emotions. But again, Brad's a competitor. That's one thing I do know. Brad is usually the type of guy, if you show him what happened, then he'll go to work to correct it. That's what we'll do with him. You just let him know you have a tremendous amount of confidence in him. Like I said, on Sunday we went back out there, put the ball at the same place and he drills it. Again, what we'll try to do is make sure sometimes in practice is put him more into those type of pressure situations, have him kick the ball, and I'm sure he'll do well. Q. Has he played football a long time? COACH EDSALL: No, not really. It's totally different football over there. Australian Rules is very different than American football. Again, Brad was more of a punter than a place kicker. He did them both. But that was something that as he came over, we looked at him more as a punter first. Then when we had the situation we had with our place kicker, he's gotten extremely better. We just have to work on some technical things with him. MIKE FINN: Coach, I think we're done for the day. Thank you for being with us. Good luck this weekend. We'll talk to you next Wednesday. COACH EDSALL: Thanks, Mike. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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