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Inside Access Catches Up With Roof, Davis And Camero Monday
DURHAM, N.C. - Duke football coach Ted Roof sat down with the media Monday along with free safety Chris Davis and defensive tackle Casey Camero to discuss Duke's game with Georgia Tech (Saturday, 1:30 p.m., Atlanta, Ga.). Roof also discusses the Boston College game and the rest of the season.
Ted Roof
On going back and playing a game at home:
"That is kind of a trick question. Home is right here; this is home. I certainly have a lot of familiarity with their program, a lot of respect for what they’ve built down there, and a lot of friends that are around that program. It is fun to be a part of it. You like playing against friends and people you’re familiar with, but that’s not what this game is about. It’s about the Duke football team versus the Georgia Tech football team."
On Duke having and advantage through familiarity with the program:
"Unless you’re in the coaches’ meetings and the players’ meetings that week. Yeah, you may be familiar with some players, but you can be familiar with that off tape. No, I don’t see that as any real advantage."
On having that same advantage in earlier games:
"Same difference. As a coach you get so focused on your team, and making sure your team is ready to play and what your team does and well and needs to do better. Certainly I guess familiarity may be an advantage sometimes, but sometimes as coaches we can overanalyze things too, and spend too much time thinking about reinventing the wheel."
On stopping Calvin Johnson:
"He is probably the best receiver in college football, and you see people try and do all types of things to him on tape. The crazy thing is, sometimes there are two or three people and they’ll still throw it to him and he’ll catch it. They’re very balanced. That is what happens when you have a weapon in the backfield, a solid offensive line and maybe the best receiver in college football. There are a lot of challenges there. I don’t think you stop Calvin Johnson. Hopefully you limit his effectiveness some, but I don’t think you stop him."
On the team’s injuries:
"Justin Boyle is done for the year, Eli Nichols is probably done for the year and Cameron Goldberg is kind of wait and see. Justin Boyle was probably playing as good football as anyone on our team. We’re certainly going to miss him. I thought Re'quan (Boyette) and Cliff (Harris) stepped up and did some good things the other night. With Eli, you just feel so bad because of the sacrifices that he has made for our football program. You want to see him finish his career on the field, not limping off the field or carrying him off the field, especially after we thought we were going to have him back after what happened at Alabama. It was a freak injury; it was a non-contact injury. Most of the time defensive linemen don’t have non-contact injuries. Boyle’s you could see on tape exactly what happened. And then we didn’t have Cameron Goldberg in the second half and he is kind of day to day. But part of being a team is that injuries are going to happen, and when they do, someone has to step up and perform. We preach all the time that you’re an ankle away from being the next guy. I thought those guys responded well the other night, and I expect them to continue to get better and play well for us and perform."
On Jerrod Holt:
"He had more repetitions at the guard position than the tackle position, and we’re talking about a true freshmen offensive lineman. We’re not talking about a fourth or fifth year kid. He played tackle position in the left tackle slot in the second half, and he made some mistakes, but he completed and fought hard. He was physical. He got better as the half progressed, and I anticipate that he’ll get better this week."
On Georgia Tech being a hometown rivalry game:
“I’ve played against a lot of guys on their team. I was heavily recruited by them and of course my family is all out there. I’m looking forward to going back and playing in front of all my family and friends.”
On this being a special game:
“This will be my last time playing at Georgia Tech. Next year we’ll play them here in Durham. I played there as a freshman but I didn’t have as big of a role as I do now. I’ve been getting calls since the first game of the year from people trying to get tickets and come to the game. I’m just really looking forward to being home and being around family.”
On being a Georgia Tech fan growing up:
“I followed the program. They started recruiting me when I was a junior in high school and I definitely had a little spot for them but I decided to go to Duke and I don’t regret any of my decisions.”
On Duke being farther away from home:
“Getting away from home was kind of a thing on my list but it really wasn’t a determining factor. I came on my visit to Duke and really fell in love with my teammates and everything like that. It wasn’t anything negative at Georgia Tech; I just fell in love with the guys here at Duke.”
On fond memories of Duke winning against Georgia Tech:
“I wasn’t here when they won but I was being recruited at that time. I was being recruited by both of the teams and then Duke came up with a big win. That still wasn’t the determining factor but I definitely remember the win that Duke had over them.”
On Georgia Tech and when he first started following them:
“They were a good team. I remember Kelly Campbell, a great receiver there, and Joe Hamilton. I followed both of those guys a lot. They both ended up in the NFL. They had some pretty competitive teams while I was growing up and I definitely watched them.”
On Coach Roof’s history at Georgia Tech;
“We’re both Georgia natives and he has come up to me a couple of times already and said, ?Are you ready to go home and have a big game?’ and things like that.”
On how offense plays in practice:
“Sometimes we get tough breaks but our offense has been pushing and been doing everything they can. Everybody has been getting better. We had a freshmen quarterback and right now he’s not necessarily a freshmen anymore because he has played in ten games and he has been getting better. Our offensive line has been doing great. Maybe they’ve struggled in the past but so has the defense. In practice, everyone works together.”
On problems defending against the run in the last 2-3 games:
“We definitely need to keep working on staying focused. Sometimes when you’re struggling guys try to do more than they’re supposed to do. Really we just need to keep trusting in each other and play like we played earlier in the season, which we’ll definitely get back to. Just staying focused, that’s really the big deal.”
On playing the final two games of the season:
“Personally, I go out the same way every game. We have a chance to win every one; it starts out 0-0. We’ve been in some games against some great opponents and we have the talent to win. We just need to find a way to do it. Some more people need to step up and make plays. Somebody other than John Talley has to make some interceptions. Just little things like that. We’ve been in position this year to do that and it hasn’t happened. We just need to take it upon ourselves to make things happen.”
Casey Camero
On the team’s morale:
“We’ve been in this thing since day one and we’re not going to let anyone fall off now. The people are so much invested in this. The older guys really made a connection to the younger guys. They care about us and we care about them and no one is going to jump off yet because as a team we still desperately want to win a game or two games. We’re very hopeful.”
On Georgia Tech:
“I remember back on that great day my freshman year, ripping down the goal post when we beat them with Coach [Ted] Roof at the helm. We’d definitely like to repeat that memory.”
On the offensive line:
“The offensive line has progressed tremendously; they’ve made great strides. They’re still a young group of guys and most of them should have two or three years left of eligibility. They’ve all put on weight and gained strength and mass, and have become much more efficient.”
On how he wants to close out the season as a senior:
“I think all of us seniors have had the role of keeping everybody on board and having everybody buy in; I think we’ve done a really good job. Of course we want to close the season 2-0. We want to give them [the returnees] the confidence they need going into next year. I’m sure they’re going to have a tremendous off-season like we always do. They’ll train hard in the spring and have good lifts throughout the summer and fall. My job mainly is to make sure that everybody knows that we’re still a team for these next two games and that the season isn’t over. We still have a great opportunity to get these next two wins.”
