Biggers, Conley, Simmons On Their Changes, Improvements & More

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina completed its sixth practice of fall camp early Tuesday afternoon, and it was the first time the Tar Heels have been in full pads and had full contact.

Afterward, four Tar Heels were made available to the media to discuss camp so far, themselves, their position groups, and much more. Graduate transfer running back Ty Chandler was one of the players we spoke with Tuesday and ran his entire interview, including the whole transcript, separately.

So here are videos of the Q&A sessions along with some notes and pulled quotes from what junior safety Gio Biggers, sophomore safety Ja’Qurious Conley, and junior wide receiver Emery Simmons had to say:

*Junior Gio Biggers has been one of the surprises of the entire offseason for the Tar Heels so far. He got plenty of work with the ones and twos in spring practice, and that has continued here in fall camp. Considering Biggers played just 84 snaps on defense last season, this is a big jump for him to where he will get, as defensive coordinator Jay Bateman said Monday, “starters reps” in games this fall.

The path to this point has been quite a journey for Biggers, but one from which he has gained.

“So, my freshman year, I came in undersized, and I just wasn’t ready at the time,” Biggers said. “I just worked really hard, understood the playbook, put on some weight, and just looked at the guys over me – Don Chapman, Cam Kelly, Trey Morrison, Myles Wolfolk when he was here – trying to learn from those guys, emulate what they were doing to out myself at a better position to be able to play.

“I went through a lot my freshman year, but I love how Coach (Jay) Bateman coaches me, because if he didn’t stay on me every day I wouldn’t be where I’m at now.”

*At what point during the spring did he realize things were clicking and he was positioning himself to be a part of the rotation, and what was the key?

“I would say confidence,” Biggers said. “Coming in as a freshman, I wasn’t really super confident in my ability to go out there with those guys. And just understanding the playbook. As a safety you’ve got to be able to talk to everybody, so me being able to understand the playbook, gaining confidence and gain the trust of my teammates and my coaches is the biggest obstacles I had to overcome. And once I did that, I’ve been pretty comfortable back there.”

*Biggers has a pretty good understanding of the wide receiver group since he goes up against them every day. So, who does he see as guys stepping up on that side of the ball?

“Obviously Josh Downs, he’s electric. He’s going to have a year this year,” Biggers said. “Two players I think are standing out, Stephen Gosnell and Justin Olson, those are two guys that I really think are going to have a great year for us.

“I don’t really go up against the outside receivers much. The freshman (tight end), Bryson Nesbit is going to be a really good player for us.”

*Ja’Qurious Conley started five games at nickel last season and played 292 snaps on defense. But he moved to safety in the spring and will play there this fall, he says.

“I say I’m pretty much locked in at bandit,” Conley said. “All the coaches think that’s the better fit for me to be more physical and be more in the run fit.”

*Conley started out as a safety at UNC but was moved to nickel last season, and then he was thrust into a starting spot when Myles Wolfolk was academically ineligible, so Trey Morrison was moved from nickel to Wolfolk’s safety spot. That was for UNC’s second game of the season when the Tar Heels traveled to Boston College.

But did Conley think in the back of his mind he might eventually go back to safety?

“I thought that was going to stick, but once spring came, he (Jay Bateman) just threw me to the fire and put me in at bandit and he wanted me (there) for this certain reason and this reason,” Conley said. “So, for now, I’m just trying to learn the plays and make sure I’m in the right place at the right time.”

*The difference in communicating as a nickel as opposed to safety is considerable, and that was an adjustment for Conley, and perhaps still is. He isn’t the most talkative player on the team or in that room, so how has that challenge gone?

“Honestly, it was kind of hard for me because I’m not as vocal, even outside of football, I don’t talk that much,” Conley said. “So just being able to come down and tell everybody else who they got was hard for me at first.

“At nickel, (I) just look back at Trey or whoever was playing free safety at the time, and they’d tell me what I got and I really don’t have to communicate that much. But, now I really have to communicate and tell Trey ‘I’m running this,’ or tell rushes what I’m running and what they’re running and where to fit and when I’m fitting in.

“So, I think I became a lot more vocal and I’m loving that about myself.”

*Last fall as a sophomore, Emery Simmons caught 15 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown. His long play went for 51 yards. This fall, however, Simmons could be one of Sam Howell’s regular targets and UNC’s deep ball threat.

You see, his teammates like to joke about Simmons not being that fast, but the Fayetteville native gained weight this offseason so he could get used to running routes carrying more before losing some weight here recently, which he says has made him faster because he’s carrying less when he runs routes now.

“It’s not even last year, it’s still now,” Simmons said, smiling and saying the ribbing continues. “They kind of joke with me about being slow, and of course we have guys like Josh Downs, Antoine Green, Trey Morrison, Kyler McMichael, Storm Duck, those guys – we all know they can move pretty well.

“It’s always been the case line, ‘Emery, you think you fast, don’t you?’ I’m like, ‘I’ve never been slow, nothing about me has ever been slow. The last couple of practices I’ve been on the GPS I’ve been number one on the board the last four or five days. I’ve been clocking over 21 miles an hour.

“But that’s been apart of my summer regimen, how we’ve been doing with our strength and conditioning. I got up to 205 (pounds), and that’s the heaviest I’ve ever been playing football, and coming back into camp my goal was to be 200-205 and then drop back down during camp. So, when I do get to run, I know how to move with that weight.

“But now I’m back at my regular weight 190 and I’m flying past everybody. So it kind of feels good that everybody is leaving me alone now about joking with my speed.”

*Ty Chandler came in after spending four years at Tennessee and is the clear starter at running back. What has Simmons seen from Chandler and has his presence been like around the team?

“Ty is a very quiet, soft-spoken person,” Simmons said. “In the running back room, he reminds me of Javonte (Williams). He’s just quiet, he keeps his head down, he works, and that’s it. He’s like a quiet funny guy. I don’t know how to explain it, but his jokes are subtle funny, if that makes sense.

“I enjoy being around Ty. I hang out with him a lot outside of football. I enjoy him.”