Duke head coach David Cutcliffe on team injuries…
“I’ve never even been close to this. We have minimally now 12 scholarship players that will be out of the first game. At the end of June, it didn’t look anything like that. July was a difficult month for us, and certainly August has continued on the same path. But our guys are resilient. They’ve been resilient since we’ve been here. This is a resilient staff. If a group can handle it, it will be this team. This team is a unique make-up of a lot of kids that have played a lot of football and gone through a lot together. So I’m hoping that we’re able to rise to that occasion.”
NC State head coach Tom O’Brien on Tennessee…
“Well, they’ve gotten starters back on offense. Their whole offensive line is back. Tyler is back at quarterback. He was playing exceptionally well till he broke his thumb last year. People think if he comes out this year, he might be the first quarterback taken. They lost a wide receiver, but they get one back in Justin Hunter. They’re big, they can run, they have good speed out there at the wideout spot. Certainly a very capable team. Defensively, just the unknown. They ended spring with a four-down linemen team. When they released their roster, they’re a three- down, four-linebacker type team, similar to what Coach Sunseri coached at Alabama. The unknown on defense, exactly what we’re going to see, what packages of personnel we’re going to see as we go through the game.”
North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora on leaders on defense…
“I think we’re where we need to be at this point in the season. Going into our first game, I think our guys have a very good feel for our base defense and what we’re trying to accomplish. Then from week to week, we’ll continue to game plan and add things and take things out according to what will benefit us in the game. The guys that I would say are the leaders, the guys that are standing out on that side of the ball, starting on the back end, Tre Boston has had a really good camp. I think Jabari has had a really good camp at the corner. Reddick in the middle, it’s his team, it’s his defense. He’s the leader of that crew, that unit. Then you go up front and you have Sly who has done a tremendous job for us this camp, and then Kareem Martin has had a big camp. I think those are the guys that have stood out in camp, and it’s going to be interesting to see who rises up each and every week and plays at a high level.”