James Conner: I Still Have A Bad Taste In My Mouth
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) – Pitt running back James Conner joined "The Fan Morning Show" Tuesday live from the 2015 ACC Football kickoff in Pinehurst, North Carolina to talk about preparing for the season.
Conner said that, although he has not played a game under his new head coach, Pat Narduzzi and his staff have done a great job in creating a winning environment and reaching out to Pitt's players.
"It's been nothing but good vibes," Conner said. "From day one that he came in, the whole staff, more than just him, they established great relationships with all of us. Just nothing but positive vibes and just working toward that main goal which is that championship."
Narduzzi has said that he plans to use Conner more in the passing game next season. Conner is excited for this opportunity to show that he is capable of being a weapon out of the backfield.
"That's a part of my game I have to work on, picking up protections and blitzes, catching passes out of the backfield," said Conner. "I just want to be as valuable to my team as I can and show people that I can do it all and not just a straight line runner and that I can help in the pass game, so just improve my game overall."
Despite seeing the results of the ACC Football Preseason Poll just hours after its release, a poll in which his team was picked to finish second to last in the Coastal Division, Conner said that the polls mean very little to him because he and his teammates don't need to use it as extra motivation to win.
"No, we don't need that at all," said Conner. "All the watch lists and the preseason polls, those are irrelevant. At the end of the day, the players need to execute and we just got to do what we got to do."
Despite receiving ACC Player of the Year honors last year, Conner was not the top vote getter in the Preseason ACC Player of the Year poll. But, does he gain any extra motivation from that?
"Nah," Conner said. "At the end of the day, we just want to win ball games. My Player of the Year trophy was awesome but I still kind of have a bad taste in my mouth the way the season ended. Our whole team is working really hard this offseason and to win games first and I know when we win games, the yards, the touchdowns, the trophies will come."
The interview can be heard here:
