Took my son to this event last night. It was a fun event for sure and another beautiful evening on the Farm. As usual, too, the players were very friendly and engaging, willing to field any number of questions.
We sat with two offensive linemen, one a RS frosh and the other a junior. My first question was about the strength conditioning program. The junior said it was night and day from his first year (under Shaw) to last year and this one. The old training program was rigid and disciplinarian, and, worst of all, generic for every player; the new one is friendlier but much more rigorous and, most importantly in their opinion, position-specific. The sophomore indicated that in less than a year he's gone from ~30% body fat to under ten, adding 30+ pounds of muscle along the way. My next question was which DL/OLB were the toughest to face in practice/scrimmages. For the DL both said Braden M-O (Patterson was mentioned, too). (And then during the player panel, Bernadel mentioned BMO when asked who among the younger guys was standing out.) As for OLB? Both said David Bailey without hesitation. One of them said he's a "beast" who's been "unleashed." I asked if that meant he's being allowed to rush the passer and not fall back so much in coverage, and they both smiled and nodded. The younger player also said he expects Aybar to have a big season. My son asked if they'd played themselves yet on NCAA 25, and they both had (and were surprised how fat they appear in the game). His followup was which ACC opp they most anticipate playing -- Clemson and Louisville were the respective answers.
Coach Taylor was his usual self, I'd say. Relaxed, gracious, well-spoken. He singled out the lines as being the biggest difference makers in football and followed up with something to the effect of, "I can't guarantee x number of wins, but we're better and deeper across both." "Still not where we want to be," he then said, "but we're getting there. Stick with us." Reading between the lines, he seemed to suggest the d-line was further along than the o-line, but he didn't elaborate, of course.
