Dino Babers starts his Monday presser early. He reiterates that he thought his team's effort was better against Clemson than Liberty. "I didn't feel like we were totally mismatched on the effort part of it."
"Taj is okay. I saw him in the team meeting yesterday. Seems like he's in good spirits. I was excited to see Anthony Queeley and how he played against Clemson."
Babers on the young players stepping up vs. Clemson: "I was really proud of how they played. I thought they competed a lot more than they did the week before. I told them they'd get a chance to tackle some 1st round #NFLDraft picks, and I told them to bring them down."
Babers on what the difference was between Clemson performance vs. the week before against Liberty: "Sometimes I think I have the craziest profession. They played really well against Clemson and not so much the week before. We don't want to be inconsistent. We're trying."
Babers on QB JaCobian Morgan getting some run late against Clemson: "I wanted to get him out there and get a taste of it. Even with 19k in the house at Clemson, that's the most fans our freshmen have ever played in front of before."
Babers with more on QB Morgan: "We're going to put our best guys out there. There will come a point in the games where we'll get some of our younger guys out there and see how they do."
Asked again about QBs, Babers said "there's something to be said" for scarring young players by throwing them out there too early. Said it's important that those guys are mentally ready, and that they can physically protect themselves.
Babers on the rise of CB Garrett Williams and the stellar performance he had vs. Clemson: "He walked in as if he was going to be a Week 1 starter. His dad told me was gonna be there. I said we'll see. And what do you know, there he is. A guy who can be here 4 more years."
Babers on Wake Forest DE Carlos 'Boogie' Basham and what they're going up against this week: "Basham had a chance to make some money last year, I'm sure he had to turn it down. That's going to be a tough matchup this weekend."
Babers on his young DB's vs. Clemson: "Ja'Had Carter and Robert Hanna are growing up back there. I think when you get a testament by fire so to speak, they'll understand how hard they need to train in the off-season so they can be outstanding next year."
Babers on why Andre Cisco was so great at Syracuse: "He was constantly training his body as a professional, mentally and physically. If you're watching Andre Cisco, it's going to make you a better football player."
Babers with an injury update on RB Sean Tucker: "I don't have an update yet. Our doctor will get off his other job and comes by late Monday. I won't have an injury update on him until later on today."
Babers on why Tucker's been so good early on: "I think of my dad and how he used to say Jim Brown was so great, and that was long before I coached at Syracuse. With Sean, the first guy doesn't bring him down. All the good RB's, the first guy doesn't bring them down."
Babers on how he's recruited here at Syracuse, when asked to give his own appraisal on how he's done: "Recruiting is such a turkey shoot. Hardest thing is opening a guy up and seeing what kind of heart he has. That's the one thing we're not able to do in recruiting."
Babers with more on recruiting: "The more survivors that you have, that have that "it" thing that you can't put a price on, those are the guys who end up playing. I love how in the Super Bowl they mention how many "stars" each guy had. If you can measure that, let me know."
Babers with more on recruiting, on Robert Griffin III when he was at Baylor: "Texas turned him down, Oklahoma turned him down because he said he wanted to play QB. So he went to Baylor [via Houston] and gets drafted in the first round...as a quarterback. It's recruiting."
Babers continues on recruiting: "Recruiting isn't who you don't get, it's about who you do get. I can't get mad that the girl wanted to marry the other guy. I need to be focused on who comes here and plays for us."
Babers gives an assessment on Wake Forest and DE Carlos 'Boogie' Basham: "You know, there are guys out there who are dinosaurs, and then there's Godzilla. Basham is Godzilla. He's just a monster out there. I don't know how you block him. We're in for a great matchup."
Babers on Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson: "I was lucky enough to follow him at Bowling Green. He's a great coach and look up to him. As for my time at Bowling Green, I'll always look back fondly on my time there. I think of how we went 3-1 against Big Ten teams."
Babers when asked about his philosophy on 4th down and whether to go for it: "Unpredictable."
/End