A little rundown of what we heard on radio row on Monday at the ACC Football Kickoff…

The day began with an interview with Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl President & CEO Gary Stokan. He described the process of growing his event from a solid upper-level bowl game to a college football showcase enterprise. Stokan credited his organization’s inclusion in the College Football Playoff rotation to three things: attracting a kickoff type of game, moving the College Football Hall of Fame to Atlanta, and hosting marquee matchups in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl that were nail-biters until the very end. He also said the impending move to Mercedes-Benz Stadium—a brand new $1.4 billion venue—was also instrumental, and he says it will help the brand grow even more.

Stokan said they re-adopted the “Peach Bowl” moniker at the request of the CFP committee, making it similar to other bowl games (Fiesta, Rose, Sugar, Orange, etc.) that were already part of that group. He wants Clemson back in his kickoff game and spoke very highly of the charity work the group has done over the years. He is also ecstatic about moving to state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Stadium—the $1.4 billion future home of the Atlanta Falcons—and said it will allow the game to further grow and move forward.

Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson grinned when he told me how excited he was to get a new season started. He said there were 24 or 25 first-year players that saw the field due to an enormous rash of injuries that hit the football team hard. He was also blunt in assessing his defense, telling me that when the offense struggled last year, “we saw what the results were”. He wants continued improvement on that side of the ball.

Johnson will benefit from the expertise of new offensive tackles coach Ron West, a former Clemson assistant. He says he prefers to have two offensive line coaches on his staff and is excited to get back to that staff alignment. He said he’s never seen anything like what he saw a year ago in his first 37 seasons as a coach, especially losing seven players at one position (running back). He thinks there are a lot of teams very close together in the Coastal Division, and he also thinks his team will be markedly better in 2016.

Quarterback Justin Thomas said he didn’t know from game to game what to expect last season. He thinks the growing pains experienced helped him mature into a better player as he moved through his frustrations. He doesn’t plan to take as many chances as he did last season now that he sees the value of punting the ball from time to time. The former Alabama commit also made an interesting comment about his recruiting, saying he picked Georgia Tech because they were “more up front” than any other school.

Thomas said he has made it a point to invest in his teammates during the offseason. By going through drills and watching film with them, he said, it’ll make everyone better within the program. He said he’s looking forward to facing off against Clemson for the last time as a senior with the Thursday night vibe at home.

Pittsburgh quarterback Nathan Peterman has a connection to the Clemson football program through some former players. He grew up in the Jacksonville area and graduated from Bartram Trail High School—the alma mater of former Tigers Kyle Parker and Xavier Brewer. He said he draws inspiration from the battle he’s seen tailback James Conner fight with cancer over the past year-plus. He also said he’s worked on some balance issues to try to become a more accurate passer during the offseason.

He said Pat Narduzzi is a passionate guy who loves to coach and has a lot of fun. We saw that side of the Panthers’ head coach, as well. He joked that the folks in Clemson aren’t worried about his squad, suggesting that we should talk about Deshaun Watson rather than Peterman during his interview. He was personable and honest in assessing where his program is heading into year two at the helm.

Narduzzi also touted the family atmosphere he has instilled in his program, saying you have to have it in today’s college football. He said he would like to see Penn State and Pitt play more often, but he also acknowledged that rivalry has become a thing of the past among current players. He also seemed to deflect praise of his program at every turn, comically rolling his eyes and cracking jokes every time I alluded to a strength of his program. He was my favorite interview of the day, with Stokan coming up a close second.

Virginia Tech fullback Sam Rogers says not much has changed in terms of program philosophy as the Hokies have transitioned from Frank Beamer to Justin Fuente as head coach. He cited learning how to finish games as the next step for this group of veteran players to take in order to get back to elite status. He also questioned whether his team would lose any physicality; in fact, he was adamant a physical style of play will continue to epitomize Hokie football in 2016.