Terps Kick Off Football Season at ACC Media Day
7/22/2007 8:00:00 AM | Football
July 22, 2007
PINEHURST, N.C. - For the Atlantic Coast Conference and its 12 member schools, football season quietly kicked off this weekend far from the gridiron in a quaint town in rural North Carolina surrounded by beautiful pine forests. Pinehurst, N.C., home to eight challenging golf courses and the host of two U.S. Opens, welcomed the ACC to its historic hotel Saturday for the ACC Football Kickoff.
The event marks the official opening day on the football calendar for the ACC, and few locations could boast a better venue for such an event. The hotel and resort offer fine southern cuisine, lavish accommodations, and overflow with golf history. The walls are covered with images and equipment from bygone eras in golf lore.
Senior offensive guard Andrew Crummey and senior safety Christian Varner are representing the team, along with head coach Ralph Friedgen. Director of athletics Debbie Yow is also in attendance. The annual event gives players, coaches, media and bowl representatives the chance to mingle together over dinner and a round of golf.
"This is a good opportunity to meet and hang out with guys we've competed against for four years," said Crummey. "We can finally put a face to the name."
After dinner and lawn bowling Saturday night, the players gathered in front of the Carolina Hotel Sunday morning wearing their uniforms for a group photo opportunity.
After lunch with the bowl partners and ACC commissioner John Swofford, the two Terrapin student-athletes met with local and national media, answering a wide variety of questions concerning Maryland's prospects this fall and the state of the conference as a whole.
"Parity is a benefit to our conference," Varner said in response to a question about the lack of elite teams in the league. "It keeps everyone hungry because every team can win."
Crummey and Varner were shuttled around to seven different electronic interview rooms, talking on camera with ESPN's Joe Shaad and other national college football reporters from Jefferson Pilot Sports, Fox Sports Net, and the NFL Network.
After the electronic media session, the two Maryland standouts met with the print media and local beat writers from the Washington Post, Washington Times and Baltimore Sun.
Sunday wraps up with dinner and a round of chipping golf balls to an island green in the hotel swimming pool. On Monday, the players and coaches will hit the course to take on Pinehurst's challenging links in the Marvin "Skeeter" Francis Golf Outing.
Friedgen and the other 11 head coaches will visit with the media Monday afternoon.
Maryland Quotes:
On last year's late losses to Boston College and Wake Forest and winning the Champs Sports Bowl:
Varner:
Our season didn't end the way we wanted it to, but it taught us a lot of things about mental toughness and consistency. We have to push through adversity. The positive side is, it can be a stepping stone for us. A lot of guys didn't know that feeling of winning because we were 5-6 the year before. But the way we finished by beating Purdue in the Champs Sports Bowl was a great experience. Now guys are hungry.Crummey: It was within reach and we didn't get it. It was very disappointing. But, it capped off an interesting year for us. It was good for our program as in a lot of guys maturing and the team coming together and winning again. Finishing off the regular season with two losses was tough. But I think coming back, playing well and beating Purdue in the Champs Sports Bowl was a testament to our team being able to come back and really focus on getting the job done and doing what we did earlier in the season.
On a breaking in a new starting quarterback:
Crummey:
The offense has kind of gone off without a hitch since spring practice. Whatever quarterback gets the job is going have his own distinctive impact on the offense, how he gets the team going, and how he approaches the game. We're very confident in those three guys. The impact that battle has had is it's really gotten the offense to rely, not on the consistent Sam Hollenbach, but to instead rely on the offensive line, the running backs, and the receivers and tight ends. We want to spread out the responsibility and the pressure. That way, when the quarterback steps in the offense will have a lot of confidence as a whole.
On star wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey:
Crummey:
I think on pure talent he's amazing, and his work ethic is amazing. I've seen that guy mature in his approach to the game and his focus. He's a potentially explosive player. He can do so many things for us. He's a huge difference-maker.
On last year's successful 9-4 season:
Crummey:
The positive thing about last year is we had a lot of guys who were instrumental to us winning and they understood what it takes to win, and that's going to pay dividends down the road. Hopefully we can get back on that streak of winning every year.Varner: When we first came in we were winning 10 games, and for us to go 5-6 back-to-back years, we felt like we weren't doing the program justice. Other guys that were on those winning teams were coming back and it just didn't feel right. It felt like we were letting the program down. We went through a lot of growing pains together. It took a lot of character, a lot of heart, and a lot of hunger, but people came out last year with a little more experience and that hunger showed. We wanted to win, regardless of whatever it took. Maybe that was a stepping stone and we can win 10 games again this year.
On the state of the ACC:
Crummey:
I think the ACC is one of the best conferences in the country. Just look at the raw talent of the players in the ACC. I get excited looking at the guys I'm going to play against this year. When you play in a conference where you're battling week in and week out, I think that makes football that much more satisfying [than getting easy wins against a weak schedule].
