FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Get To Know The Secondary

Jim Noel

On his personal goals and expectations for the season:

Noel: I don’t really have any personal expectations. Just to get better every week that we play and become a better player on the field and a better person off the field.

On his expectations for the team:

Noel: I’m not looking to set any high expectations. It’s the same thing I want to see us getting better every week and succeeding at the end of the season.

On where the secondary is compared to this time last season:

Noel: I’ve seen improvement in every aspect. The DBs and linebackers, the quarterback, it’s all a lot better.

On the youth and inexperience of the secondary:

Noel: We might be a young group, but I think we’ve got a whole bunch of talent back there. We’ve got young guys willing to step up and make plays and just come up and play every day.

On his new role as captain:

Noel: I’ve become more of a leader. I try to lead guys in the right direction in what to do on and off the field. Just lead by example.

On the depth in the secondary and their ability to compete in ACC play:

Noel: I think we have a lot of depth in the back end, and I think we can compete in our conference.

On how the team interacts on the field:

Noel: We’ve known each other for a while now. I’ve known guys like Al Louis-Jean and Dominique Williams and Sean Sylvia for a while, since high school. I think we’ve grown a lot and grown to trust each other on the field [to] also manage the game.

And off the field?

Noel: We’re pretty close off the field too. We hang out together and play video games. We bond pretty well.

Manny Asprilla

On his personal goals and expectations for the season:

Asprilla: I’m just trying to do better than last year. That’s basically it. Just have a better season than I did last time. Now I know more about what’s going on and I learned a lot.

On his expectations for the team:

Asprilla: We want to win games. There’s nothing else to say. Last season we did all right, but we could have done better. We figured out how to practice to win and how to play to win but it was a little too late. We want to start off right away like that.

On the youth and inexperience of the secondary:

Asprilla: I believe we’re young. It doesn’t really matter to me. As long as we go out there and play, we’ll be fine.

On his increased role on the team after starting at the end of his freshman year:

Asprilla: I have to step up. I definitely have to try to be a leader. Even if I’m not a captain or anything, I still have to try and be out there and be a leader, not only to the younger guys, but to all my teammates around me. They’re counting on me to do my job and to do what I have to do.

On Jim Noel’s leadership:

Asprilla: We played on the same high school team, and he was the captain then. I look at him as the same captain as then. He’s always been a captain to me, basically. Anytime we have any problems or anything, we talk to Jim about it and he gets the message across to the coaches. He’s a perfect captain.

On the return of CJ Jones from injury:

Asprilla: When he came back, he was looking pretty good. He can run and do everything fine. He’s the same player he was last year.

On the loss of Al Louis-Jean:

Asprilla: We have guys that were behind him and will fill his place, and when he comes back everything will be the same. But losing him, I don’t really know how to explain it.

On where the secondary is compared to this time last season:

Asprilla: I think we’re better than last season definitely right now. The way we’ve been practicing, everyone goes hard and knows what we have to do. We’re all very focused and mentally tough. Last year, as soon as we started losing, our practices weren’t going well and everyone was getting down on each other. This year, everything is consistent. All the practices have been good.

On how the team interacts on and off the field:

Asprilla: On and off the field, we’re like brothers. One man goes down, and we make sure we take care of him.

CJ Jones

On his personal goals and expectations for the season:

Jones: We came into this season as a young secondary. That’s still no excuse, and a lot of us have playing experience. I feel like we have a good unit and that it’s one of our most talented units. We have guys who make plays and some young guys ready to step up.

On his expectations for the team:

Jones: We’re looking to play every game like it’s our last and take it one game at a time. We’re not trying to get too far ahead of ourselves. We have high goals and expectations for ourselves, but we’re just trying to take it one game at a time.