North Carolina Tar Heels College Football Pregame Quote, 10/28/2019

We had a great Saturday for us. We had 102 recruits here who all had a great time. When you have recruits in and you have a game like that, especially a rivalry game, it’s special and they love it. They want to come back and want to be a part of it. It really continues to boost our recruiting because our atmosphere has been so good at home. Really appreciate the students not only being here, but their enthusiasm. Our fans are making a difference. They’re loud throughout the game, they’re into the game, they’re focused, they’re staying, and I’m really, really proud of them. I can’t even imagine Saturday night; it’s going to be a special environment.

I’m proud of the guys because the plays we didn’t make at Virginia Tech we came back and made to win this game. It’s interesting that Javonte’s [Williams] fumble, when you go back and study it, he’s a guy who doesn’t fumble. He had one fumble at Wake Forest all year. He’s trying too hard. And he’s wanting to win the game. I told the guys yesterday, ‘Quit trying too hard. You’re good enough to just be you and just play.’ And instead of diving at the goal line and having the ball out, we really were trying to kill the clock. We wanted to use their three timeouts, we wanted to score slowly. So, we didn’t need to score so fast. It would’ve put us up by 10, but still, we’re kicking off. So, if we could’ve used the clock and scored, that would’ve basically ended the game. He comes to me and wants to apologize to the team, and I said, ‘No, you gained [133] yards. You don’t need to be apologizing to the team. What you need to do is hang on to the ball. And don’t try too hard. Don’t try to do something outside of what you need to do to win the game.’ I think that game goes back to, in our players’ minds, the Virginia Tech game last year, where we were going in to win it and we fumble, their 97 yards away, they take it down the field. The difference is we made a play this time. We didn’t make a play last year. It’s an exciting time for them, so hopefully, that’ll be a step forward to them, just because they learned how to win and made the play to win. Jeremy [Sharpe] also found a stat that our seven games have been so close and come down to the last drive; that’s been the closest games in the history of college football [through eight games] since 1936, when the polls were started. I guess that’s cool. I don’t know if it’s cool or not; I’d rather it not be that way. But it seems to be coming down to that more than not.

Offense really didn’t get on track, other than running the ball. We were inconsistent in our passing game, inconsistent with some protections and had pressure on Sam [Howell]. But Sam still made the big plays to win the game. We drop a touchdown pass in this corner with Dyami [Brown], but Beau Corrales stepped up and made some great plays. Dazz Newsome is playing now like I always thought he could. He’s had two great games, not good games. And that catch he made out here, I don’t know how that’s second on SportsCenter’s list. What a play. And he’s confident and he’s doing the things he needs to do to help us win. … We’ve really got to handle our ball security. That’s the first time we’ve turned it over three times, and we’re not good enough to turn the ball over normally and win, so we’ve got to go back. Michael [Carter] had a fumble early that we got back on, Sam had a fumble on a zone read that we got back on and then we lose a fumble and throw two interceptions. That’s not who we’ve got to be to win. We’ve got to handle ball security better.

On the other side, I thought our defense played as well as they have since the Clemson game. We were tackling, we stopped the run, we put pressure on the quarterback and forced three turnovers, which was the difference in the ballgame. The one thing I would say negative about our defense is when we go up 14-3, that’s the time to go out there and stop them again and make them punt. Let’s get it up to 21-3, and that’s when you start beating somebody. That was the worst series we had all day. They drove right down and scored and scored very quickly. We’ve still got to learn. We’ve got to learn that [there are] moments during the game where it’s time for us to step up and do things.

The last play of the game, you go back to we kept telling the guys we’ve already stopped them on a goal-line stand earlier in the game, when they were at the 6-inch line going in. We’re on the sideline trying to figure out with 18 seconds left and no timeouts, what do you do? I said fade because that’s the safest thing and we’ve had trouble with that play. I think they’re going to take two or three shots up on our corners. And Jay [Bateman] said, ‘No, I think the pop pass. I just feel like it’s a pass. They can’t run it because if they run it and we lay on them, the game could be over. They’ve got to get up and be able to spike it and then kick a field goal to go to overtime.’ So, we felt like it would be a pass. We felt like the quarterback either moves and throws because he’s got time to do that; throws it away because he can’t get sacked; or throws the fade, which is safe. And Jay said the pop pass. I don’t know where he came up with it. I don’t know why. I’d never heard that before. And then we’ve got about four guys there waiting on it. In fact, Chazz [Surratt] said he jumped up and it was so low he thought he was going to miss it. So, great call by Jay Bateman and what a play for our defense to show that they can make plays to win down the stretch. It was just a great game. You’ve got to give Duke credit. When they got the ball at the 3, they drove it right down the field. We have a fourth down and we get a stop, but we get a facemask. We can’t help ourselves. And then we get the pass interference call in the end zone. So, we had to make a play, a stop, somewhere in that, unlike Virginia Tech last year that overcame a fourth-and-19, I think. But in this case, our defense did that, so that should really help us.

I’m proud of Noah Ruggles. He came back and kicked the field goals after having a tough week last week. He seemed very confident as he was doing it. We kicked the ball off well after the first couple of times, and our punting was pretty good. The Duke punter kept us backed up the whole third and fourth quarter. It’s amazing what he did. That guy is one of the best I’ve ever seen. And we’re still not doing a good job of returning punts. When a guy is punting it over 50 yards and that high, you should have a return chance, and we’re not doing that. So, that’s one of the poor things we did. Kickoff return by Michael Carter again was good. That’s the second one he’s had this year that was really significant and helped us.

The alternative uniforms, the way I understand the policy is now that the guys get to choose an alternative uniform once at home and once on the road and they have to use the same combinations. So, I would think at Pittsburgh they’ll probably wear the navy pants, the white shirt and the navy helmet. I don’t know. That’s up to them. The leadership committee decides what they wear. So, every week we ask them, they have to stay within the confines of their normal uniform at home and away except for those two games. And those uniforms were ordered last year. So, they were already ordered when we got here. They’ll get another alternative uniform for next year. And the kids pick them; they get to pick what they want. They liked them. They also sell those helmets and already 100 of the 139 have been sold, and it’s just Monday. So, those helmets are going to go real fast.

This is the military appreciation game. We also have our players and staff and coaches dedicate the game to someone in their life who is really important in the military. They will call that person and tell them, ‘My week is dedicated to you because of all you’ve done for our country and fighting for our country and we appreciate that very much.’ The Bell Tower Walk will be more special. We’ll have 50 members of the Army from Fort Bragg and their families who will lead the team through the Bell Tower Walk. If you haven’t been up there to the Bell Tower Walk, it’s been really special. Guys have shown up. It’s exciting and a fun way to tell our players how much they appreciate them. So, we want the fans to all get out early and be able to say thank you to those 50 members and their families of the Army from Fort Bragg. The honorary coin toss participant will be retired Army Sgt. 1st Class and Green Beret Brant Ireland. He had seven tours in Afghanistan and lost a leg and he’s a Paralympic athlete. It’ll be a very emotional crowd, too, because of what we all think and want to pray for and appreciate our military.

Virginia, they’re one of the more talented teams in our league. Bronco [Mendenhall] has done a great job. I don’t think he’s gotten the credit for the recruiting that he’s done. I haven’t really studied them and watched them in the last couple of years. The quarterback is a superstar. He’s made them go. They’ve lost three games on the road. They’ve been really powerful at home. They’re a defense very much like Duke and Virginia Tech. They’re going to be very multiple up front, they’re going to move a lot, they’ve got two of the best outside linebackers in the country. Offensively, they’re throwing the ball better than they have in the past, and they’re throwing it quite a bit. We’ll have our hands full, but it will be a fun challenge for us and, again, kind of a rival game between Carolina and Virginia. So, it will be fun. It’s fun to be in late October and the game means something. Our guys will be really excited about that and I think our fan base is, too.

On what happened with Jordan Tucker after the Duke game:

I didn’t look at it. I have people who do that for me and look at it. Somebody got his helmet, they said, and he went back down to get his helmet. And then after that, I think he might’ve waved at the crowd or something. I’m used to Texas and [Oklahoma] fighting before the game and them having to separate them and throw flags on everybody. At the end of an emotional game, if somebody says something to somebody, I figure, ‘Yeah. Probably going to happen that way.’ What I’m going to suggest is that we put the bell somewhere that’s not near the other team and we don’t need the teams coming together after an emotional game to get that bell because that bell is important. So, put it in the middle of the field. Don’t put it over there at the entrance. And I think what happened is they’re supposed to put it where they think the team is going to win. Duke thought they were going to win, so they were just taking it and putting it over there right in their entrance, and that probably wasn’t the best. I think you move on. I tell our players to always have class.

On the process for Myles Wolfolk and Trey Morrison to get back:

They’ve been running. Nick Polino has been running. I don’t know where his status is. I think the biggest thing is you’ll practice them and you see they’re healthy enough to be back out there or they wouldn’t let them come. So, that’s been done. The doctors have said they can play. Now the question is, how functional will they be and how good will they be? Will they be worried about their ankle or their arm? That’s what we’ll have to see in practice this week going forward. But all three of them practiced yesterday. The offensive line didn’t do as much. But watching Myles [Wolfolk] run, Myles was the first one to run over and get the bell after the game. I said, ‘He looks well to me.’ So, I told on Myles. I wanted to video that and say, ‘OK, Myles, you can run to the bell, bud, then you can run to the quarterback.’ But that’ll be the process this week. We’ll practice them and just see how they do. We probably won’t be able to make a decision until Thursday or Friday because, will they have soreness? Will they be nervous about planting or tackling? And we’ll just have to see all that because with Trey Morrison, you can’t hit him. You’ve got to wait until probably a game for him to have a lot of contact.

On if Nick Polino is a separate situation:

Yeah, I think. I haven’t been told, but I think Polino is, again, one of those where he’s inside. Can he plant off his foot? Can he handle all those things? With [Jace] Ruder, too, all four of them are functional and the doctors have said now we can look at them. The question will be, No. 1, can they practice all week? No. 2, how sore will they get, if they get sore? And No. 3, are they going to be confident enough to be able to play and help us?

On if he’s been surprised by how connected he is to his players and how emotional he’s been after some of their wins:

I would think probably yes, but I cry when we have ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’ I love the games, I get excited, I love to see the kids having fun, I love to see them come back. I love comebacks more than anything. I hate to get behind, but I love comebacks. And to win at the end like that in a rival game where these kids haven’t won in this game for a while, it just kind of gets me. I need some time. They stick a camera in your face. People are talking about the mouthing after the game, I didn’t get to see anybody. I saw the young lady who was out there with the camera in my face and the mic. I don’t get to see anything else after I saw David [Cutcliffe]. And I hate that because I like to shake the hands of the kids on the other team. Usually, I’m good if I have a moment. But when the sideline reporter is asking those questions and I’m thinking about the significance of what these kids are doing and how hard they’re fighting and playing, it gets me. I can’t help it.

On if that’s different than when he was at Texas and at this point in his career:

I’m not old and looking at the end here. … I cried some at Texas. I did that. We just won all the time. So, I expected it. When you’re winning all the time, you don’t cry much because it’s kind of what you expect. You cry when you lose. But I sat there and watched the Virginia Tech game last year at the end, even to a point that I was getting ready to text Coach [Larry] Fedora because I like him so much and I was texting him congratulations and that ball pops up. I thought, ‘Eh, 97 yards. We’re still OK.’ And then I have to go back on the set, so thank goodness I didn’t send it. We kind of can watch while we’re sitting there waiting on the set, and they scored with 19 seconds left or something. I’m telling you, the significance of this was it was the same thing ‚Äì the ball pops out, 97 yards away, can you stop them? There were a number of times on fourth down that we could have and didn’t. I could not believe we stopped the quarterback counter and we have a facemask ‚Äì the game is over. So, you’re talking about emotional. ‚ÄúGame is over. Nope, it’s not. We’re kidding. Let’s go again.’ And then the fade and the interference and the first-and-goal. And then I’m thinking, ‘We’ve messed up so many things. Don’t take it in the end zone. We’ll get a safety and have to punt for the kickoff.’ All that is rushing through your head, but what I saw is kids coming off that field thinking Virginia Tech and I saw kids go out there and make a play to win the game. And that is so significant for these kids and the rest of their lives and so significant to believe and not quit and keep trying for our fan base. It’s just a wonderful message, and I think that’s what got me.

On if what happened after the game will enhance the rivalry with Duke:

People mouth all the time. I was involved in a rivalry with NC State where two coaches tackled each other in the middle of the field after the game. Now, that one was kind of nasty, I thought. I’m sitting in the locker room and I’m so happy we won the game, and a guy sits next to me and says, ‘Hey, one of your coaches just tackled a guy out on the field.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘I’m just telling you, one of your coaches tackled a guy out in the middle of the field.’ And I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said, ‘One of your coaches just tackled. And it’s on TV, too, so you’ll get asked about it.’ People get emotional over these things. That happens, and I think it’s a good thing. As far as the rivalry, it helps that we won to make it more of a rivalry because it hadn’t been one for a while. They’d won five out of seven, so give David credit and give Duke credit and give our kids credit for wanting that bell. If it’s a rivalry and you’ve got a bell, you can’t get mad at them for being excited when they get it. I didn’t want them painting it after the game because I heard we had some problems with that at one time. So, I waited until Sunday to paint it. I tried my best. Now, I think the thing that will help the best is we should not put emotional kids ‚Äì one team that had just been devastated by a loss and one team that was so excited by the win ‚Äì we shouldn’t put them in a corner together with a bell. That’s not smart on our part, in my estimation. So, I’m going to find out how we do that. To me, put it in the end of the field, somewhere away from both sidelines, so when some team goes to get it they’re not getting away from the other team; it’s theirs to get. You can leave it on the sideline of the team that has it until the fourth quarter, take it and put it in a secure place where nobody can mouth to anybody, and then we’ll be good.

On decision to put Noah Ruggles back in over Jonathan Kim:

It was a bad kick and it didn’t look like a confident kick to me. I thought, ‘Let’s try it. Let’s go back. The change didn’t work.’ Jonathan [Kim], he kicked very well during practice so when he kicked that, I don’t like missing field goals. If you’re going to kick them, you need to make them ‚Äî that’s what I told him. ‘It’s your only job. Do your job and if not we’re going to go for fourth downs.’ I think we’re one of the top [teams] in the country going for fourth downs and making it. I’ve told receivers, ‘If you’re not going to catch it, we’re not going to throw it to you.’ I’ve told quarterbacks, ‘If you’re not going to complete them, we’re not going to pass.’ I’ve told kickers, ‘If you’re not going to make them, we’re not going to kick. So make them.’ And what I have to do is see in practice that they’re making them so I’ll have confidence that they’re making them in a game. You just have to go with your gut. He just looked nervous and the kick was off to the right. I said, ‘Okay. Go back with Noah [Ruggles]. Let’s try it and see what we’re doing.’ Even down here, you have to make significant decisions during the game. I think we’re fourth-and-4, there’s about probably 2:40 left in the game and we’re up by 3. So in my mind, if we kick the three, obviously we force them to drive the length of the field and score, but they beat us with a touchdown. If they drive the length of the field and kick a field goal, we go into overtime. So, in my mind, we had to go score a touchdown to put the game away because we’re leaving ourselves a chance to lose if we just kick a field goal because it’s six points instead of seven. That’s why we went for it. Then we were trying to slow the game down and make them use all their timeouts so when we scored to go up by 10 they wouldn’t have any time left. And that’s when we fumbled.

On whether he coaches confidence differently for kickers versus other positions:

I probably do. I just tell them we need to make them. We’re very positive; we do it every day. That’s the way we start practice every day. We kick from all three spots ‚Äî left hash, middle and right. We kick both guys, we have crowd noise, I’m on a speaker phone and I say, on the last kick of each guy, ‘Seven. Kick to win! Six. Five, four, three,’ like a fool every day. Then we see if we make them. To me, it’s like anything else. If you’re going to be winning in golf, you’ve got to put good. So, kickers have to make them.

On Noah Ruggles’ response to being benched:

[Noah Ruggles] had a great week and he was focused. I told our team it’s a great lesson for all of us. You get benched because you made a mistake at Virginia Tech and you don’t pout, you don’t get your head down. You go back to work. He seemed to have a real good drive and real good focus for the week. Then we tested them both in pregame like we always do. They both did well, they both made all their kicks and then after the first kick, I just said, ‘We’re not ready for this. Let’s go back and do the other.’

On his relationship with Jay Bateman:

I love Army. I’ve been a West Point, Army fan my whole life. Love those kids and the way they fight ‚Äî and Navy and Air Force, but Army’s been kind of my team of the three. Always wanted to coach at Army. That was kind of a dream of mine at one point ‚Äî it just never got to that for them and for me. When I got out of coaching, Jeff Monken asked me to come up and spend three or four days at Army and I was so honored. I talked to their staff, I talked to their team, I talked to their high school clinics, I watched them practice and I was very impressed with Jay [Bateman] and what he was doing. They were losing, but I still thought the guy’s got energy, he knows what he’s doing and they’re putting a defense together. Then I called a couple of their games ‚Äî I had their San Diego State game two years ago and they had [Rashaad] Penny, the great running back who was up for the Heisman, and they absolutely shut him down and won the game. Then the Oklahoma game last year, when they held them to 21, I thought, ‘I’ve seen his players. You can’t do that.’ Then to see what we did out here with Clemson when we were a little healthier‚Ķ I think Jay is perfect for us. He’s smart, he’s tough, he’s high energy. If somebody gets hurt, he’s used to putting somebody else in. He doesn’t worry about it. He says, ‘Next.’‚Ķ We could not lose a corner again and Storm Duck goes down on the first play, and we put a nickelback [DeAndre Hollins] at corner who has played very little out there. We trained him a little bit last week, and he did a really good job. Most defensive coordinators would freak, ‘Oh my god. What are we going to do, man? We’re going to lose the game. We don’t have anybody.’ And he said, ‘Eh, Hollins will be alright. Leave him out there.’ I said, ‘Okay, that’s what we got.’ But Jay’s a very confident, very positive person with the players and he also knows everybody in recruiting. He’s recruited this state 15 years I think, so he knows all the high school coaches and that’s been a real help for us as well.

On Jay Bateman outside of football:

He’s a great father and a great husband. Does things right with his family and his family’s very important to him.

On what he hopes to exploit from Virginia’s road-game struggles:

The first thing is they lost at Miami in a really close game and we all know Miami can beat you any week. They just beat Pittsburgh on the road. And then they lost to Notre Dame who’s really good and that was a tight game until the end. Then this week they lose to Louisville and Scott Satterfield and those guys are doing a great job. They beat Wake Forest on the road, they’re running the ball well, they’re doing some really good things. You don’t want to go to Louisville right now and play; that’s a tough place to play. So, the three games they’ve lost, they were all close games and they were all against teams that can beat you. They’re really good. So, what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to start making this environment every week one that is such an advantage for us that it becomes a disadvantage for the opponents, and I think it’ll be that way this weekend. Our players have to gain confidence about being able to win all the games at home again and we haven’t done that. Hopefully, Saturday night will help us get it going, but I think they start with their quarterback. Guy’s just a great player. He’s turned their whole program, made a difference. Then what they’ve done is they’ve done a great job of building a defense and they’re very well-coached. I coached against Bronco [Mendenhall] twice at Texas when he was at Brigham Young, and he’s a dear friend and he does a great job with American Football Coaches’ Association board. He’s on that board and cares a lot about what’s right. I’m proud for him and proud of him. He’s a dear friend for a long time and I look forward to seeing him, but I don’t want him to be happy.

On players understanding the important of preparations for this game given the current Coastal race:

I told them yesterday, ‘Whatever you’re doing to prepare, you need to do a little more.’ So, if you’re spending an hour on video, spend some more. If you’re a scout teamer, you need to show us the picture. Go watch Virginia, go watch the guy you’re going to be and play and try to help us prepare for the game. I think that’s part of our process of learning to win again. Especially with our early morning practice the guys are off the field at 10 and they’ve got the rest of the day and night with some strength and conditioning, classes and study hall and such, but spend a little time with your coach. It has to be voluntary, but they can come up and ask for help and they can come up and see video. I think that’s an area where we can do better. I think we can know our opponent better than we’re doing right now. We’re doing a good job, but I think we can do a better job.

On Joe Reed and Virginia’s special teams:

We’ve done a pretty good job with our special teams. We haven’t done a great job with our field goals because we’ve had some blocked and we’re still working on that. Our punts have been pretty good and hopefully Jonathan [Kim] kicks the kickoffs out, but [Joe Reed]’s really good. You cannot get him the ball in space.

On success of older coaches including himself, Herm Edwards and Les Miles this season:

I think the question is energy. There’s no doubt that I have a lot of experience, Les [Miles] has a lot of experience and Herm [Edward] has a lot of experience. Even questioned Herm with college experience, but he still knows how to coach, he knows how to communicate and be around people. Experience is a valuable thing. You even see with me coming back, I wanted Sparky Woods, I wanted Darrell Moody, I wanted Kenny Browning because I wanted old sets of eyes’, advanced-age sets of eyes’ experience because they can walk around and they see things I might miss. They’re not coaching so they can very well say, ‘Watch this a little bit. I’m worried about that,’ and it’s valuable for me. But how can you take Les Miles who won a national championship and say, ‘ He’s not going to make it’? The only reason the older guys wouldn’t make it is energy. If you don’t have energy, this is a hard job. These are all hard jobs every minute of every day. I left recruits a few minutes ago to come down here. You have no time off, but if you’re Les and I and Herm and you’ve been out for a while and you miss the game so much, you’re going to have the energy or you wouldn’t go back. You would feel that. But I think that’s it. I watched the end of Les’ game the other night which was really cool ‚Äî hate it for the kid at [Texas] Tech because he was going to win the game and he pitched it back‚Ķ I showed it to the team. There was a punt that Notre Dame tried to pick up and Michigan got it back on a short field and I showed that to the team. I said, ‘Come on guys. These are heartaches so let’s don’t do this stuff.’ But I think that’s it. Experience is a valuable thing. We’ve seen about everything you can see in this business so not much gets you up and down anymore. Hopefully we can anticipate the next move and be in a good position to try to stop it before it happens. It’s just like me trying to figure out that bell so nobody will be griping at who said what to who. Next time, we’ll all have it where it’s simple and classy, but I think that’s what it is.

On why he brought Kenny Browning on during his first tenure at Carolina:

[Kenny Browning] was the best high school coach in the state. He just won a state championship, he was a Shrine Bowl coach. We lost Dan Brooks to go to Tennessee and I thought Kenny was perfect for us at that time. He was connected to every high school coach in the state and at 73 years old, he still is.