ACC Kickoff: From the huddle

Editor's note: Stephen Allan will provide updates from the ACC Kickoff in Greensboro today. Two players from each team met with the media this afternoon.

GREENSBORO — The 2008 season started out disastrously for Clemson, with a 24-point loss to Alabama, and  then the forced resignation of coach Tommy Bowden after six games.

But even with star running back James Davis gone, current starter C.J. Spiller thinks this team will actually be tougher thanks to strong leadership.

"We're far more dangerous," Spiller said. "We don't have as much outside attention, but I've emerged as a leader."

Spiller said he was just one of many leaders cultivated this offseason by new head coach Dabo Swinney. He said he would try to let his actions speak for himself, and with no Davis to share carries with, it looks like Spiller will have plenty of opportunities to live up to his words.

• Duke shaping up: Duke coach David Cutcliffe was appalled at his team's conditioning upon his arrival in Dec. 2007, describing it as the worst-conditioned team he had ever seen.

His players found out that the amount of work they had to put in last summer to get into game shape was just the beginning.

"He has emphasized conditioning even more," quarterback Thaddeus Lewis said. "We've run 5,000 more yards than last summer."

Lewis said the team had run several more sprints and Cutcliffe had kept track to show the team the new level it had reached.

Of course, the summer isn't just all conditioning. Because the team already has a solid foundation and won't get tired near the end of games, Cutcliffe has been able to implement new strategies without cutting back, Lewis said.

• T.J. Yates, UNC point guard: T.J. Yates said he wanted to play college basketball for some time before settling on playing quarterback for North Carolina.

When he got to campus, he got the opportunity to play in a game with Ty Lawson, who just got drafted to the Denver Nuggets. Predictably, it didn't go so well for Yates.

"He was goofing off, throwing no look passes," Yates said. "I was sprinting up and down the court just to try and keep up with him."

Needless to say, Yates will probably not be filling Lawson's spot this upoming fall.

• Boone's position adjustment: Current Virginia Tech tight end Greg Boone played quarterback in high school and was expected to do so for the Hokies. After taking a redshirt his first year on campus, though, he switched positions to the tight end.

A reporter asked him if he would have gone to Virginia Tech had he known he would have switched from quarterback, and Boone took several seconds before answering.

"Just thinking of me going to the down stance after being in the up stance my whole life was new," he said. "I'm not sure [if I would have gone elsewhere], because a lot of people were recruiting me for different positions."

• Chris Turner, quarterback turned politician: Most college football players would spend their summers running stairs or hitting tackling dummies in preparation for the upcoming season.

Maryland starting quarterback Chris Turner has spent his preparing for life after football on Capitol Hill.

He is interning with congressman Steny Hoyer in the 5th district of Maryland. He said he has done the usual intern assignments, from getting coffee to filing paperwork.

"Most people don't even knowI play football," Turner said.

He said he found it funny how seriously people take football relative to politics at times. He said he enjoyed it a great deal and wanted to be there later.

• Skinner discusses option: Riley Skinner was asked what would happen if Wake Forest began running the option more often as it had before Skinner became the established starter.

"[The coaching staff would] try and get the ball out of my hands as quickly as possible," Skinner said with a chuckle.

The question was a follow-up to Skinner's comment about Georgia Tech's triple-option offense, which he said was incredible because it won nine games after just one offseason.

Wake Forest does not run much option, but Skinner seemed to imply it was possible it would be run more often.

4:15 p.m.: The room where the media interviews the student-athletes has been cleared out. The next round of players will be here in half an hour.

• Young explains decision: N.C. State's Willie Young could have left for the draft after this past year as a disruptive defensive force.

Even with a third-round projection from the NFL advisory board, however, Young chose to come back to school. He said since he only needed three hours to graduate and felt like everything was coming together, it was worth coming back.

"It's clicked," Young said. "I want to go full steam ahead."

• Ponder likes Tar Heels:  Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder was asked what playing North Carolina in Chapel Hill on a Thursday night would be like.

Not only did he say it would be one of the team's toughest chances, he liked their chances to win the whole league.

"They have a chance to win in the ACC this year," Ponder said. "It will be a very tough game."

• Rivalry games overhyped: Miami's Randy Phillips had some interesting thoughts on rivalry games, specifically when Miami and Florida State play.

"I always take losing terribly, regardless of who it is," Phillips said. "But family, classmates, friends--people who are not in the game--take it more personal. I'll just be glad when the game's over."

Sounds like someone's not looking forward to the pregame hype in that week.

• Dwyer shocked at Heisman hype: Georgia Tech running back Jonathan Dwyer knows he had a good season last year.

But good enough to get him mentioned as a possible Heisman Trophy candidate this year?

"I finally heard about it and it was shocking," Dwyer said. "I knew I had a good year but compared to Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford?"

Dwyer was named ACC Player of the Year after rushing for 1,395 yards and 12 touchdowns.

• Quiet in BC: Boston College has produced a rookie of the year quarterback and a starting defensive linebacker for the New York Giants in the past few years.

But there was no Matt Ryan or Mathias Kiwanuka to talk today, and the BC table was noticeably uncrowded.

In fact, at one point the conversation did actually shift toward former players as current defensive end Jim Ramella said there was no bad blood between Virginia Tech and BC for an incident with Kiwanuka where he got chopped below the knee in a game.

• Virginia ignores rankings: Virginia is expected to be near the bottom of the ACC rankings when they are released tomorrow. Tackle Will Barker was clearly tired of hearing about it when someone asked him.

"It's pretty much more motivation," said Barker, who sighed and looked annoyed. "Maybe it's a good thing."

If it is, they will have to wait until October--the Cavaliers' first conference game is Oct. 3 at North Carolina.