CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina coordinators Phil Longo and Jay Bateman met with the media for their weekly press conferences Monday as the Tar Heels prepare to host Western Carolina on Saturday in Kenan Stadium.

Longo and Bateman discussed the Notre Dame game, blocking up front, depth at the linebacker position and much more.

Here are videos of their full pressers along with some notes and quotes from what they had to say:

*UNC struggled mightily with pass and run blocking against Notre Dame, with the Tar Heels’ offense finishing with just 298 total yards, their lowest single-game total this season.

While run blocking has been solid for a majority of the year, pass blocking has been something Carolina’s offensive line has consistently struggled with in 2020. So, does Longo think it’s harder for players to master run blocking or pass blocking?

“I think run blocking probably is a little less difficult,” Longo said. “Pass protection has a tendency to put you on an island one on one. It's not quite as aggressive in nature, so I think just in general, I would say pass protection and pass blocking from a technique standpoint and an athletic standpoint is a greater challenge than being a good run blocker.”

Here’s Longo’s overall evaluation on where his unit is at now in terms of run and pass blocking:

“Well, I don't know that they'll ever where you want to be, you always want to be better...,” Longo said. “Our guys have done a great job over the course of the last two years of continually improving week to week and, when you play games like this, sometimes it will expose or reveal something that you want to spend more time on or emphasize.

“And so, that's what we need to do from this Notre Dame game is take what we did not do well and emphasize that and make sure that, the next time we're in that same situation, we're able to perform a little bit more, a little bit higher level.”

*Going back to UNC’s struggles moving the ball last Friday, particularly in the second half, Longo said Notre Dame did what he and his players expected them to do defensively.

There were no shocks in terms of scheme or personnel and, instead, Longo puts his offense’s second half struggles down to some adjustments the Irish made at halftime.

“We thought, based on what was in their wheelhouse, what they had done over the last two years, we would either see more cover one, more man coverage, or we would see more pressure,” Longo said. “And I think, in the second half, the ladder is what we saw. We saw more pressure as a result of some of the success that we had the first half.”

*Both Chazz Surratt and Jeremiah Gemmel played all 73 snaps at middle linebacker for the Tar Heels against Notre Dame and were the only position group to not see significant rotation.

The likes of Eugene Asante and Khadry Jackson were expected to relieve Gemmel and Surratt and provide much needed depth at the linebacker position this season but, as of right now, they have both seen limited action besides on special teams.

So, why are Gemmel and Surratt playing so many snaps on defense?

“We've had this discussion with Khadry Jackson and Eugene Asante, who are their backups, who I think are really good players,” Bateman said. “I have a hard time taking those two (Gemmel and Surratt) off the field. And we talk about it every week and I guess the way you phrased it is probably right. We feel like those two are really important to us and so we're gonna let them play a lot.”

*True freshman linebacker Desmond Evans played just 11 snaps against the Irish, with most of those coming early in the first half, before seeing limited minutes in the second half.

What went into the decision to limit Evans’ snaps?

“I like a lot of things about where he's at,” Bateman said. “He started the game, played really well. There are some schematic things that he didn't do well that we kind of got fixed. And then, just the way the game was flowing, I feel like Notre Dame kind of adjusted a little bit.

“We probably should have put him back in a little bit more at the end to gospel you, but I think early on he did a really good job of helping us get edges set. He's gonna be a tremendous player.”

*True freshman cornerback Tony Grimes got the first start of his college career against Notre Dame on Friday, replacing senior corner Patrice Rene, who only played six snaps compared to Grimes’ 67.

While Rene has played well for the Tar Heels this season, Bateman gave some insight on what went into the decision to start Grimes, who should technically be a high school senior right now, ahead of the veteran corner.

“It was very obvious early on that Tony's really talented right, so it was a matter of, we're gonna bring him along to a point where we feel like he's ready to go,” Bateman said. “And it might be this year, it might be next year and then, after the Wake Forest game, we just felt like it was time for him to go play. And I thought he played really well.”

*UNC Coach Mack Brown said during his press conference that he felt like senior linebacker Chazz Surratt, who finished with seven tackles and one sack, had his best game at linebacker against the Irish.

Does Bateman agree with Brown’s thoughts on Surratt’s performance?

“So, I think what you saw Saturday was Chazz playing linebacker like he's going to have to play it at the next level,” Bateman said. “I thought he did a really good job taking on blocks, holding the point, not trying to run around things and make every play because sometimes Chazz gets frustrated and tries to go make every play and I understand that.

“That's what you want out of a player. But, I thought he did a really good job of kind of doing his job at times. I thought he played like a linebacker fundamentally really well. And I agree with Coach Brown, I think he played really well.”

*Deana King contributed to this report.