Bowl Prep Presser: Gemmel, Tucker, Duck & Howell

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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina began preparing this past Saturday to face South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, and Monday some Tar Heels were made available to the media for the first time since their loss to NC State the day after Thanksgiving.

UNC faces the Gamecocks on Dec. 30 in Charlotte, and that game, getting ready for it, plus some personal decisions about playing made by each of the four Heels were the main topics Monday afternoon.

One note UNC offered up right before the interviews began is that cornerback Kyler McMichael informed the coaching staff over the weekend that he has opted out of the bowl game.

Here are the full interviews and some notes and pulled quotes from what Jeremiah Gemmel, Jordan Tucker, Storm Duck, and Sam Howell had to say:

*The Tar Heels will close out the season taking on a 6-6 team from the SEC, and one in which it faced in the first game of UNC Coach Mack Brown’s second stint at the helm. Gemmel is excited to play another game and close the season on the right note.

“It’s kind of cool,” Gemmel said. “I think we’ve gone full circle. It is where we started and it is where I finish, I think that’s the cool experience for me. Being able to finish in the place where I got my first start, and getting a win in there (versus) South Carolina and being able to turn the tide and turn Carolina into what we see it as now.

“That’s a good way to really finish the season is to go back an finish what we started.”

*The bowl practices are the last weeks Gemmel can lead the younger linebackers in the room, so he is doing his best to make the most of working with, primarily, RaRa Dillworth and Power Echols. The true freshmen entered highly touted and showed some glimpses this season, and Gemmel is excited about their continued growth.

“That’s been my objective the whole time is to give back the same way Cole Holcomb and Andre Smith gave back to me,” Gemmel said, regarding mentoring the younger guys in the room. “I think the guys completely understand it. They know where they sit with me, and they understand that’s the standard that we have set here.

“I’m passing the baton off to Ced (Cedric Gray) next year, and he’s doing the same thing with Rara and Power that I’m doing with them now. They understand you want to pass down the information to the young guys in the room. Even if you’ve got a guy behind and are trying to hold your spot, you want to give him all the information you can so he can get better and you can push yourself to get better. I think that’s the standard we set in the linebacker room and what Ced’s going to be able to carry on next year.”

*Mack Brown mentioned Tucker’s name last month as one of the guys who was walking on senior day but could decide to return, depending on the information he got regarding his place in the NFL. Tucker said Monday he plans on the bowl game in Charlotte being his last as a Tar Heel.

“Talking to my family, my trainer at home, and the coaches here, just watching over film and stuff like that, just really diving into my personal film, I’m still on my decision of leaving after this year,” Tucker said. “It’s been a great five years now – it’s been a great five years, hard to count.

“That’s where I’m at right now. My process is, there’s not really much thinking into it right now, I’m just trying to finish this game off.”

*What was the feedback he got from the NFL, and how does he believe he improved his game this season to solidify his next move to the highest level?

“I’ll say for the most part, a lot of teams were wanting me to finish more and be more consistent in my play,” he said. “And I feel like I did make strides toward that this year as opposed to last year. And (the) positivity is really good on me, and I just really want to take this opportunity to go out there and go and try it out.

“I think I’ve done my due time here – three seasons with Mack, two with (Larry) Fedora, and I think it’s just a matter of time.”

*With Kyler McMichael opting out of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, Duck and Tony Grimes are the obvious starters and will get the majority of the reps there, but what does the pecking order behind them look like?

“In terms of depth we’re looking pretty good,” Duck said. “We have Obi (Egbuna), Dontae Balfour, and Tymir Brown – those guys have been getting a good amount of reps and, and just being ready for the game, that’s the main thing, just getting those guys in. Rotating them in and out, we’re all rotating right now.

“The main thing is just getting repetition, that’s the main thing.”

*Mack Brown has said multiple times he believes Duck is an NFL player. But, he missed essentially 13 months because of an injury suffered early last season aside from playing 26 snaps versus Virginia in September. Duck played a lot over the last four games, so did he give the NFL any consideration?

“I had looked at it a little bit, but I felt like it’s best for me to stay another year,” he said.

Why, and what does he need to improve on?

“Just playing a whole season,” Duck replied. “Just being there for the team the whole season, that’s the main thing.”

Note: Howell said he still has decisions to make regarding the NFL, but also didn’t brush aside multiple questions about this being his last game and his legacy at UNC. We will have a more thorough report separately on all of that.

*Howell’s first game as a Tar Heel was a 24-20 comeback victory in which he threw a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. But with his final game at UNC versus the same team in the same stadium as his first, what does he recall looking back at his debut more than two years ago?

“It kind of all just comes full circle,” Howell said. “That was my first start playing in Charlotte, my hometown, against South Carolina. It was a pretty cool game for us. Being able to go there again and play those guys, it will be a lot of fun. It will be cool to be back home and a lot of people can come to the game and stuff.

“It’s just an awesome opportunity for us, and is definitely something that I’m going to try and take advantage of and soak it all in.”

*What is his defining memory of that first game against the Gamecocks?

“I have a ton of memories from that game,” Howell said, smiling. “Probably the first one is I took a lot of hits in the first half. I was running around like it was high school, and I kind of got some welcome-to-college-football hits. I remember sitting there at halftime hurting and hurting bad.

“We went out in the second half with the right mindset, and we had like two 95-yard drives or something in the fourth quarter and ended up winning the game. It was a lot of fun, I had a great time down there just being able to fight with me guys and have a comeback like that, and just how resilient our team was, was just a lot of fun.”