Needless to say, the ride back from Winston-Salem was not a lot of fun.

But it’s in the past. I don’t really want to talk about it and I don’t think you want to read about it. I know talking to the team, we’re looking at this Saturday’s game against Duke as a must-win. We can’t afford to lose any more games and to play like we played last week.

They key for us is coming together and trying to have a great week and to set the tone for Saturday. Saturday was a big wake-up call, which is good in the long run.

The good news is we have the personalities on this team to bounce back from a tough loss like that.

Willie Young is not a guy you’ll meet every day. He’s a great guy to be around – he’ll brighten your day up. He’s a hard worker and a good leader, someone you can follow and respect. He enjoys life and what he’s doing right now. I’m proud to be on his team.

What you might not know is that he’s also a really good cook when it comes to fish. We both like to fish, and we’ll bring them back and he’ll fry them up and it tastes amazing. He has this special seasoning that I think he makes himself, and he keeps with him at all times. He puts it on everything. Even if we’re eating at the Murphy Center or a dining hall, he’ll reach into his pocket and pull out this seasoning. I’m like, “Do you carry that everywhere in your sock or something?’

Jeraill McCuller is the joker of the team. He has a pretty big personality as well. He can tell you something and just expand it for hours. He’ll make you laugh. He’s our captain, but he’s respectable and easy-going at the same time.

As for the running backs, Curtis Underwood has a big personality. James Washington, he’s our dancer. Whenever you put some music on, he starts tossing, turning, flipping, dropping it – he brings those Florida moves up here.

I feel like I have a lot of respect on the team, but it’s more of a lead-by-example type of deal. I’m not a really vocal type of leader. I can be vocal if I have to be, and when I am, people tend to listen because I don’t speak that much.

We have Duke coming up this Saturday in our barn. I know they gave Virginia Tech a pretty good run last week and we have to come out ready to play. We need to show that we’re a better football team than we showed last week.

We’ll see you at the game.

– As told to Kate Shefte