CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina sophomore linebacker Power Echols was the Tar Heels’ defensive MVP in its win over Florida A&M last Saturday night, and following practice Wednesday, Echols met with the media via zoom to talk about his performance and much more.
In addition, Echols was asked about the Tar Heels’ game this weekend at Appalachian State, the environment they will face, the kind of offense App runs, plus Echols went into detail about his passion for playing football, among other things.
Echols registered 10 tackles versus the Rattlers, including a pair of TFLs, one of which was a sack.
Above is the video of Echols’ Q&A session, and below are some notes, tidbits, and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*FAMU scored 24 points while gaining 335 yards and converting 20 first downs, with almost all of the production coming through the first three quarters. But not everything went well, so from Echols’ perspective, what have they been working on the clean up and fix this week heading to Boone to face a much better App State team than the one they took on this past weekend?
“Some things on the back end, some miscommunication,” he said. “But we all got that squared away, we got that fixed this week.”
*Regarding Echols’ defensive MVP honor, he praised his teammates noting they play as a unit, and “anybody could have gotten it.” He said the key for him was doing his job and “what they (staff) asked me to do.”
As for making plays, Echols said, “That’s what I came here to do.”
*App State has a very productive ground game and a sixth-year quarterback in Chase Brice. Echols and the Tar Heels expect to see a mature, fortified unit that will go right at them.
“A lot of hard-nosed football,” Echols said. “A lot of outside-zone stretch and run plays, things of that nature with a play-action off of it. It’s going to be a hard-nosed gritty game and very physical game.”
Echols also said App is well coached and it will “be a great atmosphere.”
App is reportedly bringing in an additional 10,000 seats bringing capacity to more than 40,000 for the game.
*The atmosphere is going to be wild all around Kidd Brewer Stadium. Even the bus ride into the stadium, police escort and all, will be different than the norm. But Echols is already in the mindset of deflecting that stuff. Carolina is going there to win a football game, so the craziness surrounding the scene shouldn’t affect the Heels.
“Just be locked in and everything, just knowing what we’ve got to do, ‘do what we do,’ as Coach (Gene) Chizik would say. And just be keen and focused, locked in for 60 minutes. On the whole trip there, just understanding what we’ve got to do.”
*During one of his answers to a question Wednesday, Echols described football, as a “beautiful game,” so he was asked a few minutes later exactly what he means when describing a slobber-knocker sport like football as beautiful.
“The grass, the way it feels in the summer going into the fall, the way the seasons change,” he said, before continuing. “The way it sounds when you hit somebody - the click-clack. The energy you have, the camaraderie, all of it. All of it is amazing.
“When you see it unfold and when you play it the way it’s supposed to be played, it’s very unique, it’s not like any other sport.”
*Echols also said he tries to get better every day by one percent and his approach each day is to “trust the process,” and if you do that “over time you’ll slowly grow and get better each day.”
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