CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Defensive Coordinator Geoff Collins met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference to discuss his side of the ball from its win over Charlotte, and in general.
The Tar Heels are 2-0 and coming off a 38-20 win over Charlotte this past Saturday at Kenan Stadium. They next face North Carolina Central this Saturday at home for a 6:00 PM kickoff.
Above is video of Collins’ Q&A session, and below are notes and quotes from what he had to say:
*With Kaimon Rucker out, Tyler Thompson and Jaybron Harvey are handling the rush position with the Charlotte game the first extended action of their careers. Both are redshirt freshmen and are still very much in the developmental phase. But with Thompson getting 28 snaps to 23 for Harvey, what did Collins see from the tandem?
“I was very proud of how they approached the situation, approached the news (of Rucker not playing). I didn’t feel like the moment was too big for them. Tyler getting his first start in college and Jaybron playing a bunch of reps, I thought they handled it very well.
“There’s been a consistent maturation in both of them over the past eight months, and I think they were ready for the moment. They went out there and played really, really well.”
Collins also said they are different styles of players, which he elaborated on. Thompson is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds while Harvey is 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds.
*Carolina’s defense allowed eight explosive pass plays in the win over the 49ers. The completions went for 34, 42, 28, 25, 37, 23, 30, and 40 yards. Collins offered his take on what went wrong.
“Way too many explosives. There were eight explosive plays; 80% of their yardage, 80% of their first downs were off of eight plays. The rest of the game, I thought the guys played lights out. But we can’t have those explosive plays.
“Four of them were simply an issue of leverage. We were supposed to have outside leverage on the guy. If we have outside leverage on four of those plays, there’s no play.
“So, it’s just a learning experience. We’re in game two, just making sure that as the formations change, as the looks change, the leverage, relative to where you are on the field, should be consistent.”
*Travis Shaw has played well in the first two games, and he’s drawn praise from UNC Coach Mack Brown, teammates, and Collins. He played 22 snaps in the Charlotte game with the 49erd running 56 offensive plays, and he was in for 19 snaps at Minnesota with the Gophers running 55 offensive plays.
Among what has pleased Collins to where he’s mentioned it a couple of times is how the junior from Greensboro has gone from 370 pounds in the winter to 329, which was his weight Sunday. But he feels good about other aspects of what Shaw is doing.
“Just the eight months that I’ve known Trav, just his maturation, how he’s matured, how he’s approached the game has been a consistent improvement climb, and just the way he’s playing right now…
“He’s executing at a high level, playing within the framework of the defense, but still being very productive and being very disruptive. A lot of the times when we’re making tackles for loss, it’s Trav that’s destroying the play.”
Collins also said he and the staff have talked about the kind of future Shaw could have if he develops toward his potential. They see a further-enhanced Shaw as an NFL player who could stick around.
*In addition, Collins also spoke about the improving depth at linebacker and the need to just get some guys out there so they can have “exposure” to different looks, teams, and environments. He also discussed Marcus Allen, Kaleb Cost, NC Central’s offense, and more.
