North Carolina Tar Heels College Football Pregame Quote, 08/26/2019

Before we start, they just told me there are only 500 tickets left for the Miami game so that’s a great sign and if people want to come to the game, they need to get their tickets and get their tickets fast.

We’re excited about getting started. You coach for lots of different reasons, but Sally once said I’d have the best job in the country if it weren’t for these games. People get upset over the games. Well you have to have the games. That’s what the guys get excited about and what the coaches get excited about because you need to see where you are. And you’ve made some progress; you feel good about guys; you’ve changed positions; you’ve looked at what you’re going to do and who you’re going to get the ball to and who your best blitzers are and all that stuff. But you’ve been working against your own, so now it’s time to put yours out there against somebody else and see how it works. All of our guys went to coaches’ houses this weekend and watched the Miami-Florida game. They watched it together and they were talking about game plans and things that they could do. It’s very obvious that in opening games, more games are lost than won because it’s sloppy. Your tackling’s sloppy because there’s less tackling now in preseason than there was before because of concussions and lack of depth on your depth charts. There’s obviously less live-kicking game. You don’t have an NFL preseason game so you’re going into a game and you have not been tested in a lot of different areas. I thought that was obvious with the two games we saw on Saturday night. I made until half of Hawaii and Arizona and then checked it the next morning. But a lot of turnovers in games, a lot of penalties, a lot of mistakes, and those are things you try not to have in an opening ball game to give yourself a chance to win. We’ve talked to our guys about this is about now ‚Äî it’s not about my past, it’s not about their past. It’s about what we do starting on Saturday and that’s a new era, whatever you want to call it, but their legacy will be this team this year and especially the seniors. And that’s what we’ve tried so hard ‚Äî there’s some good seniors on this team and we’re hoping they leave with a very positive legacy as they get ready to move forward. But like I said, you practice year round; you practice a lot like Olympians just for twelve games. And that’s what you do. You get 365 days for 12 days and you’ve gotta make those days count. Looks like it’s going to be a pretty day in Charlotte. They said it was going to be about upper 80’s, five to six mile per hour wind. It’s not going to rain I don’t think, so we’re in pretty good shape.

On team preparedness and whether the team progressed as much as expected during camp:

Coaches never think their teams are ready so if you said ‚ÄòDo we need another week,?’ Yes, but it’s time to go. We had a mock scrimmage Saturday and we had a lot of mistakes. Thank goodness we had that in the stadium and we were able to go back and talk about corrections yesterday. We practiced yesterday for an hour and a half, and today’s our day off. But it was frightening ‚Äî the number of mistakes we had. And this is the first time the staff’s worked together, it’s the first time this team and staff has worked together. It’s new schemes in all three phases so we’ve got a lot to get done before Saturday and all the things we screwed up Saturday, we need to correct.

On Sam Howell’s performance since earning starting position:

I think Sam [Howell] has done better since he took over. It’s one of the reasons we felt like we needed to announce a quarterback, because we were not getting very good leadership at that position because all three of them were trying to get the job and none of them felt like they could step up. And Sam’s not real vocal, Jace [Ruder] isn’t real vocal. But both guys now, they know who they are, they know where they are, they know the role they play at this point for our team and I think Sam’s done very well. We did not think ‚Äî number one, we didn’t think it was right to wait the 11 days for the three quarterbacks before we made a decision and none could transfer that wanted to. I mean, if you want to leave you should be able to leave and Cade [Fortin] did that obviously. Secondly, we felt like if it was going to be Sam for sure, we didn’t need to announce him the day before the game or the day of the game. He needed to have felt that for 10 days or two weeks that he was the guy and get comfortable with [the media] and get comfortable with it.

On whether Sam Howell will start against South Carolina:

As of today, [Sam Howell] will start Saturday.

On Cade Fortin’s decision to transfer:

You would have to ask [Cade Fortin], but the conversation that we had, he said he wanted to start and he wanted to play in the NFL and he felt like he would look elsewhere for better opportunities. And I said, ‚ÄòWish you’d stay as a great young man. Wish you the best of luck.’ He said, ‚ÄòWould you try to keep me from going anywhere?’ And I said, ‚ÄòNo. Go where you want. We’ll try to help you.’ And we’ve had some calls from different schools and been very, very positive about him with all of them. He’s a really good player and a great young man, so we just wish him luck.

On Fortin’s replacement as third-string quarterback:

Vincent Amendola, walk-on from Raleigh, would be our third-team quarterback. I walked by Chazz Surratt yesterday and he looked at me and I said, ‚ÄòYeah, it may be you brother.’ He said, ‚ÄòCoach, I’m overloaded right now.’ I said, ‚ÄòGood. Just hang on. You may get an emergency call. I hope you don’t, but‚Ķ’

On whether both Sam Howell and Jace Ruder will play against South Carolina:

No, we would like to play them both for a couple of reasons. Last year, Larry [Fedora] had three that were knocked out of games so you’ve got to have another guy ready. So we always would like to play two. Then you’ve got to figure out how, and we’re not there yet. When do you them in, and does it disrupt your team, and does it take away from Sam [Howell]? But with both of them being so young, we feel like this year we’re going to need both of them to play.

On whether Sam Howell has been more vocal since earning the starting quarterback position:

[Sam Howell] is not a vocal guy, really. He’ll call somebody out if he needs to, but he really leads more with his actions. He works so hard. He’s in the office every day. He’s watching video by himself every day. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a guy work harder than Sam Howell has just to get himself ready.

On whether games will bring out the vocal leadership in Sam Howell:

Absolutely. And they said [Sam Howell] did some this summer. You know, we weren’t around when they had their player practices, but they said he was more vocal and called them up once and challenged them. So I know it’s there and I think he’s a good player, so when he plays well, I think it will help. And [Director of Football Communications and Branding] Jeremy [Sharpe], I think told me this is the first time we’ve potentially ever started a true freshman quarterback at North Carolina in an opener.

On what he believes plays the biggest part in getting through camp without significant injuries:

Number one, you’ve gotta be lucky because you hit every day. And number two, at Texas, we kept them out in the heat too long and got them too tired. Over time, we learned in 105 degrees it’s stupid to leave them out there instead of making them tougher. They’re exhausted. The other thing is since I got out of coaching and back in, the GPS system is really helpful so we can test kids for sickle cell ‚Äî and we were doing that at Texas ‚Äî but that has been a huge help. We know during practice we’re monitoring how much they’ve run, whether he’s near a hamstring pull or not and they will take him out and give him fluids. And all of those things just didn’t happen before. And we’ve really challenged the guys to be tougher. If you are hurt, get out. But if you’re sore, come on man. This is football, and that’s something that we’ve got to do. So we’ve challenged them to stay on their feet and be aggressive and help each other. We’ve been blue versus blue most of camp and white versus white, but we’ve also challenged them to be smart. It’s your team so practice like the NFL. If a receiver’s hanging out, don’t take his ribs out when you might in a game just because it’s the nature of the game ‚Äî you’ve gotta knock the ball loose. But don’t hit your own teammate when he is in an awkward spot.

On the GPS tracking capabilities:

GPS, we should get our trainer Luke Ross or Brian Hess up here at some point to explain it. [The players] actually wear a vest and [the GPS] is hooked on their back and it monitors everything about their body during practice. We have a strength coach, Dan Moege, sits up above the practice and he monitors every one of them. If it comes up red, the young guy’s in trouble and we need to get him out. They’ve got red, green, yellow just to show you it’s the green light so it’s really a cool thing for kids that the game is much, much safer for them now than it was when we just had to see when he got tired, he started cramping, what do we do. In fact, we haven’t had cramps in preseason either. And I’ve been eating ‚Äî they’d have to explain it ‚Äî but they give them beet juice. I hate beets and I’ve been drinking beet juice. Yeah, I eat a lot of vegetables, but they give you a vegetable shot they call it that’s green and really ugly so I’ve been doing it with them. I’ve been taking it every day. But the trainers and the strength staff have done a phenomenal job of keeping these kids in shape, in health and healthy. It’s been fun to watch.

On whether the idea of game week is surreal after six years of retirement:

You know, I really haven’t thought any different. It’s like I never left. I practiced really hard when I was with TV and I prepared really hard. That’s just what you do for your job, but I haven’t thought about anything any different. Saturday, for me, will be another game and I’ve had 43 years on that sideline so I think it’ll be the same way.

On his relationship with Will Muschamp:

Will [Muschamp] worked for me for three years. I hired him from Auburn. He was actually our head coach in waiting. He did a tremendous job for us there. We had a chance to win the national championship while he was there. That’s why we gave him that title. We thought we wanted to keep him, and a lot of people were coming after him. He’s smart, he’s tough, he’s aggressive. He did a tremendous job for us. And then when he left us, he became a head coach at Florida and he’s doing a great job at South Carolina.

On if Muschamp leaving Texas strained their relationship:

No. He left for a head-coaching job, so it didn’t strain it at all.

On the process of trying to get the players to start fresh:

We had a women’s clinic in June, I think, and we had a panel. Antonio Williams, who has been here one year, came in from Ohio State, (was on it). They asked the panel of the four guys, ‚ÄòWhat’s the biggest thing you’ve got to overcome for this season?’ He raised his hand very quickly and said, ‚ÄòLack of confidence. We’ve got to be a confident team.’ What we’ve talked to them about is our process of how we win, because some ask about that because the previous two years they’ve struggled with winning late games especially. And we told them, ‚ÄòHere’s the process. You win by doing the process.’ And then we’ve tried to point out every day in practice, ‚ÄòHere’s why you win. Here’s why you lose.’ We had entirely too many penalties last year and too many unsportsmanlike penalties. We can’t do that. We’re not better than anybody on our schedule. So, we’ve got to be good at everything we do. We call them the little things, but they’re all big things. Penalties are big things, they’re not little things for us. Turnovers are huge, whether we get it or lose it. How are we going to do on third downs? We were poor on third downs last year on both sides. We turned it over too much and we didn’t get it back enough. So, you start looking at the process of winning. We’ve tried to show them, ‚ÄòDon’t get into we’re good or we’re bad. Get into this is what we’ve got to do to be successful.’

On what he remembers about the 1997 win over Indiana, the last Power 5 team that UNC beat in a season opener:

Cam Cameron was the head coach and he was from Chapel Hill. I can’t remember exactly the score, but I think it was a tight game. Maybe we won 20-13 or something. I’d have to go back and look at it because I haven’t. But [Director of Football Communications and Branding] Jeremy [Sharpe] told me that last night, and that’s been too long. We need to fix that.

On if South Carolina can be a rival again:

I think so. We both recruit the same regions. In recruiting, it’s like NC State, Duke, Wake [Forest], Clemson, we’re all looking at this pool of guys in this footprint. It was my first game when I was here before with Coach Joe Morrison. In fact, they beat us like 38-14 and after the game, he said, ‚ÄòYou really have a bad team.’ I said, ‚ÄòThanks, Coach. I was fully aware of that before, but you just reinforced it.’ Hopefully Will won’t tell me the same thing Saturday after the game. But I think it’s a great game. I think the fact that we’re halfway between the two [schools] and Charlotte is fun. And Charlotte is a hot bed for recruiting for both of us. It does matter to win any game, but when you’re playing somebody all the kids are aware of and they know the coaches on both sides and they’re being recruited by both sides, it is more important.

On how he’s handling the ACC-mandated one-half suspensions of Patrice Rene and Dominique Ross:

We haven’t made the final decision yet (on if they’ll sit out the first or second half). But it has to be in this game. It couldn’t be in any other game. And you get to pick the half, the way I understand it. So, we’ve got to figure out if we’ll play them in different halves. We still haven’t gotten there yet. But we’ve been very honest with the team and told them, ‚ÄòThese two guys were in a fight after the NC State game and they really regret it. It’s going to cost them some playing time in the opener. So don’t fight.’ You get nothing out of fighting. In fact, when they used to fight here before and at Texas, I always said, ‚ÄòJust leave them alone. Let them fight. They’re in the heat, so they’ll quit pretty soon. If we all run up and grab and try to separate them, then it gets big and exciting and all that. Just let them go. Let them over there in the corner and let them fight and say, ‚ÄúWhen y’all get tired, come see me.‚Äù’ We said, ‚ÄòThe two best things that can happen if you fight during a ball game are you break your hand and you get kicked out. Those are the most positive things that can happen. So don’t do it. Don’t do it. Keep your composure.’ It is completely a lack of composure. Dominique and Patrice told the team that. They said how regretful they are. That happened after [the game]. I wasn’t here to see it, haven’t look at it. That was a decision by the ACC office.

On how he expects to replace Rene and Ross:

It’s early in this week and we’ve looked at all of it and we actually have taken them out of practice some and put other guys in to give our team the mentality that they’re not going to be there the whole game. But we’ve got to figure out who and where and when. Is it better to start well and have younger guys after? Or is it better to hang in there early and then try to bring in your older guys later? That’s stuff we’re really working on right now.

On if there’s been an update on Cam’ron Kelly:

No. We’re still looking at the process and trying to get a positive outcome. We hope to hear something final any day. We’re not able to coach him. He’s been on the Gray Team for the last four or five days because we can’t coach a guy who we don’t know is even going to be on the bus going to Charlotte on Friday. So, it’s got us in a really tough spot and him; I shouldn’t say us, but all of us.

On if there’s been any communication with the NCAA on why it’s taken so long to hear about Kelly’s eligibility:

If you could call them for us and ask. We are letting our compliance staff handle it completely. I’m out of it because I don’t think it’s my place, unless they ask me to be involved. But our compliance staff has been in constant communication with them since May. We’re still waiting.

On how Chazz Surratt has progressed at linebacker:

Tommy Thigpen has done an amazing job with Chazz Surratt to get him in the right places. He played some safety in high school. He’s never played linebacker and he’s 230 pounds and can run a 4.5 [40-yard dash]. So, he’s really doing some good things now that we didn’t see in the spring. I think he will be a really good linebacker for us before he leaves.

On how Michael Carter has impacted the team and created a family atmosphere:

This team has been very quiet. They’re not a vocal team. They laugh and cut up, but they don’t call each other out. We’ve said, ‚ÄòCoach-led teams are very average. Player-led teams are very good.’ The best teams I’ve ever coached, the players in the locker room and on the field handled all of it. They told them to shut up and do this and act right and play harder. We’re working on that now. We’re still not there and we’re going to need that Saturday. There’s going to be adversity in any ball game, especially first games. There are more upsets in opening games and bowl games than any other time in the year because there’s this span of time where you have less practice live and kicking game live. That’s why those two games are so unpredictable. But you take a guy like Michael, we’ve challenged him to step up and lead. Michael is a really good player and maybe a better person. He’s very positive and he’s very upbeat. He’s still not the most vocal guy. So, we’re trying to get them all to just pick each other up. Our running backs are all good. Antonio Williams has lost weight, he’s in much better shape and he’s much quicker than he was last year. So, I like seeing him play and practice. But those three guys, they can play about anywhere and they’ve got to help us get the other guys stirred up. There’s not a guy who speaks in the offensive line. Coach [Stacy] Searels does and he was hoarse yesterday and finally said, ‚ÄòWould somebody please start talking? My throat is hurting. I’m tired. I’m not going to be out there Saturday, so please just do it.’ They just don’t speak.

On if he’s had a team like that before:

Usually one guy stirs them all up. Right now we don’t have that guy. We need a guy to stir the pot with those guys. Usually they’re more quiet than the defense. But this team is quiet. It’s just a team where I think probably that little lack of confidence has been why they’ve been like this. Now, it’s time to be aggressive and go. I told them Saturday, ‚ÄòWhen adversity hits, you get stronger. You have better body language. That’s because it’s going to come. The team that overcomes adversity the best is going to be the team with the best chance to win.’

On what he expects to see from South Carolina:

They’re always aggressive on defense, but with a true freshman quarterback, Will is going to put a bunch around the line of scrimmage and blitz them and try to stop the run and hit the quarterback. That’s easy. That’s a no-brainer. And Will is one of the better defensive coaches in the country, so he gets that. Offensively, I would think they’ll try to line up and run the ball against us because they’ve got the two big backs. Both of them are 215, 220 [pounds], with [Tavien] Feaster coming over. The transfer portal has changed things to where Feaster plays against South Carolina at Clemson in November and now he’s going to play against Clemson for South Carolina this year. It’s just different than ever before. They’ve got the really good quarterback [in Jake Bentley]. He’s experienced, he’s an older guy, he’s a smart guy, he’s a coach’s kid. They’re big up front on defense. But you start looking at what these guy can do. Bentley has been around a long time and there’s a huge receiver, [Bryan] Edwards, No. 89, who is 6-foot-3, 215. He’s a guy they’re going to go to. So, I think they spread them out, they try to run the ball and try to get us in one-on-one situations. And then Bentley is really accurate, so he’s going to try to get the ball to his big backs some on the edge in the passing game, right up inside and then throw to Edwards.