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The ALOST Podcast @ the 2017 ACC Football Kickoff: Coastal Division

Sara D. Davis/TheACC.com
After winning the Coastal Division last season, all eyes are on Virginia Tech and WR Cam Phillips to see if they can repeat. (Sara D. Davis/TheACC.com)
After winning the Coastal Division in 2016, all eyes are on Virginia Tech and Cam Phillips to see if they can repeat. The Hokies have won the Coastal six times in 12 seasons after the conference split into divisions. (Sara D. Davis/TheACC.com)

CHARLOTTE — Over the past two days, you could have mistaken the atmosphere at The Westin Hotel Charlotte with that of Christmas and Halloween beingrolled up into one, at least to a number of college football-starved fans in the South.

The reason for that is because college football season is indeed just around the corner, as evidenced by the 2017 ACC Football Kickoff, the annual meet-and-greet of the league’s coaches and best players with members of the media. For the second time, A Lot of Sports Talk had a spot on radio row and was able to speak with many of the players and coaches representing each of the 14 members in the league.

Part two of our coverage on radio row – with editor-in-chief Adesina O. Koiki and senior reporter Lauren Foti covering the event and asking all of the tough (and facetious) questions – dealt with the always unpredictable Coastal Division, with four different teams winning the division in each of the last four years. If any team in the division has the pedigree to repeat as champions of the division, it’s the team that won the Coastal in 2016, the Virginia Tech Hokies, and we got a chance to have an extended interview with head Justin Fuente. Included in the interview is his memory of a 1997 game that he played in for Oklahoma and how shocked he was that the Sooners quickly became national champions after his playing career at OU. Yes, most of the talk in the interview is indeed about the Hokies.

Miami is looked upon as the favorite in the league, even despite the fact that the Hurricanes lost quarterback Brad Kaaya as an early entry to the National Football League. Unlike the Hurricanes, Georgia Tech, Duke and North Carolina all have won the division title since the divisional format took shape in 2005, and look to do the same this season. Pitt looks to continue its high-scoring ways with USC transfer Max Browne taking over the quarterback job while Virginia looks to rebuild under second-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall.

Please enjoy the podcast, and leave us any and all comments that you have. Click here to go to the A Lot of Sports Talk podcast page on iTunes, or click here to find the podcast on Google Play Music. From there, you can download this show as well as subscribe to our podcast page and receive new episodes on your device the second it is posted. You can also open iTunes, and in the Podcasts section, type in “A Lot of Sports Talk” in the search box to find our shows.

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/ALOST/2017_ACC_Football_Kickoff_Coastal.mp3]

Interview Order: Intro (0:00 – 4:25); KeShun Freeman – Georgia Tech (4:28 – 14:59); Bentley Spain – North Carolina (15:02 – 24:03); Bryon Fields Jr. – Duke (24:05 – 33:39); Avonte Maddox – Pittsburgh (33:40 – 46:57); Justin Fuente – Virginia Tech head coach (46:58 – 1:04:46); Ricky Jeune – Georgia Tech (1:04:50 – 1:14:40); Brian O’Neill – Pittsburgh (1:14:41 – 1:24:00); Quin Blanding – Virginia (1:24:01 – 1:31:17); Shaquille Quarterman – Miami (1:31:18 – 1:32:31); Daniel Jones – Duke (1:32:32 – 1:35:45)

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